You look all dazed and confused. That ain’t surprising, cause not making any sense is kind of our thing!
-Matoi Ryuko
-Matoi Ryuko
Series at-a-glance:
Genre: Action, Comedy
Creators: Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima
Studio: Trigger
Length: 25 episodes
Years: 2013-2014
Highlights: Pure Awesomeness
Genre: Action, Comedy
Creators: Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima
Studio: Trigger
Length: 25 episodes
Years: 2013-2014
Highlights: Pure Awesomeness
One of the first shows we covered on this series was one called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It was made by a studio called Gainax, and it is awesome. At the time, it was the most hilariously over-the-top show I had ever seen, and as such earned a place among my favorite anime series ever. Several months after I wrote that article, I watched a series that is all that TTGL was and more. It was made by a number of the same creators after they had left Gainax and formed their own studio, called Trigger. It is called Kill la Kill, and it is one of the greatest anime series ever made.
Kill la Kill is the story of a girl named Matoi Ryuko (纏 流子).
Kill la Kill is the story of a girl named Matoi Ryuko (纏 流子).
For the past six months, she has been traveling all over Japan fruitlessly searching for information on the woman who murdered her father. Ryuko has dubbed her “The Woman With the Scissor Blades” after the murder weapon, half of which she now carries with her as her own weapon. She finally gets a tip to travel to a school called Honnouji Academy (本能字学園), which is ruled as a fascist state by Student Council President “Lady” Kiryuin Satsuki (鬼龍院 皐月).
She enforces her iron-fisted rule by bestowing Goku Uniforms (極制服) to her loyal followers, which provide super-human strength and abilities, due to being made of an extraordinary material called Life Fibers (生命戦維). Suspecting the President of being her father’s murderer, Ryuko challenges Kiryuin to single combat, but is easily defeated by one her underlings.
Desperate for answers, Ryuko returns to her family’s abandoned mansion, where she finds something unusual: a talking school uniform. In return for drinking her blood, the uniform provides Ryuko with enormous power similar to that of a Goku Uniform, enabling her to go head-to-head with the students of Honnouji Academy. Dubbing the uniform “Senketsu”, (鮮血, meaning "Fresh Blood") Ryuko returns to the school.
Desperate for answers, Ryuko returns to her family’s abandoned mansion, where she finds something unusual: a talking school uniform. In return for drinking her blood, the uniform provides Ryuko with enormous power similar to that of a Goku Uniform, enabling her to go head-to-head with the students of Honnouji Academy. Dubbing the uniform “Senketsu”, (鮮血, meaning "Fresh Blood") Ryuko returns to the school.
Faced with Ryuko’s new-found power, Kiryuin offers her a deal: defeat every student that comes after her, and then she will tell Ryuko the truth behind her father’s murder. With the help of her new friend Mankanshoku Mako (満艦飾) and history teacher Mikisugi Aikurou (美木杉 愛九郎), Ryuko begins her long battle to the top of the school’s social ladder, which will eventually culminate in a battle with Kiryuin’s “Elite Four” lieutenants: Disciplinary Committee Chair Gamagoori Ira (蟇郡 苛), Information and Strategy Committee Chair Inumuta Houka (犬牟田 宝火), Non-Athletics Committee Chair Jakuzure Nonon (蛇崩 乃音), and Athletics Committee Chair Sanageyama Uzu (猿投山 渦). But is Kiryuin Satsuki actually the Woman With the Scissor Blades? And if not, then who is…?
In many ways, Kill la Kill is basically Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann taken up to eleven. I didn’t think that it was possible to make a show even more absurdly awesome than TTGL, but I am very happy that Kill la Kill proved me wrong. Every single character is completely and utterly insane. Every single Goku Uniform is more ridiculous than the last. And every battle is simply unbelievably epic. All the characters are extremely hammy, shouting out every attack at the top of their lungs and elevating even the most seemingly innocuous event to the stuff of legends. This show takes itself even less seriously than TTGL, and in addition is very self-aware of its own medium. Much like works such as Annie Hall and Pulp Fiction, Kill la Kill plays with its own medium; for example, the show emphasizes anything of importance (characters, Goku Uniforms, weapons, everything really) by plastering giant red kanji on the screen; for example...
In many ways, Kill la Kill is basically Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann taken up to eleven. I didn’t think that it was possible to make a show even more absurdly awesome than TTGL, but I am very happy that Kill la Kill proved me wrong. Every single character is completely and utterly insane. Every single Goku Uniform is more ridiculous than the last. And every battle is simply unbelievably epic. All the characters are extremely hammy, shouting out every attack at the top of their lungs and elevating even the most seemingly innocuous event to the stuff of legends. This show takes itself even less seriously than TTGL, and in addition is very self-aware of its own medium. Much like works such as Annie Hall and Pulp Fiction, Kill la Kill plays with its own medium; for example, the show emphasizes anything of importance (characters, Goku Uniforms, weapons, everything really) by plastering giant red kanji on the screen; for example...
Mako enjoys giving incoherent yet heartwarming lectures under a spotlight which always seems to be available no matter where she is. Oh, and did I mention that one of the main characters is a talking sailor suit? This is a show that absolutely revels in its own insanity, delighting in its absurdity and basking in its sheer madness. Plus, it delights in unexpected plot twists (which reminds me: don’t search for this show on the internet; it’s very easy to accidentally see spoilers).
Not only that, but its own hysteria is actually one of its primary philosophical themes. Like TTGL and earlier works, Kill la Kill continues Gainax/Trigger's tradition of tackling fascinating philosophical concepts using unusual vehicles. Neon Genesis Evangelion talked about the nature of humanity and existential loneliness through mentally damaged teenagers piloting giant robots. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann talked about the power of the human spirit, also through people piloting giant robots. Kill la Kill talks about friendship and the nature of freedom through the lenses of its own self-aware post-modern insanity as well as the concept of clothing. Yes, clothing is a major theme of this work, as well as the inverse of clothing: nudity. The heroine wields half of a giant scissors as a weapon, every enemy is empowered by their school uniform, and defeating them usually means Ryuko has to shred them bare. At what first seems like merely fanservice quickly reveals itself as a core thematic topic, although in keeping with its self-awareness the show is also aware of the sexual implications of the nudity. Yet it never becomes the defining aspect of the show, and the nudity universally played for laughs.
In the end, Kill la Kill is a bizarre combination. It is a show with action so amazingly awesome it would make Michael Bay look extremely humble, a large amount of comedic nudity, and a majorly philosophical look at the nature of clothing, all wrapped together with a heaping amount of postmodern self-awareness. But all in all, it is simply awesome. In the end, it is impossible for me to convey the sheer amazingness of Kill la Kill. It’s awesome, it’s hilarious, and it’s epic. Go watch it, just go watch it now. Your mind will never be the same.
Not only that, but its own hysteria is actually one of its primary philosophical themes. Like TTGL and earlier works, Kill la Kill continues Gainax/Trigger's tradition of tackling fascinating philosophical concepts using unusual vehicles. Neon Genesis Evangelion talked about the nature of humanity and existential loneliness through mentally damaged teenagers piloting giant robots. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann talked about the power of the human spirit, also through people piloting giant robots. Kill la Kill talks about friendship and the nature of freedom through the lenses of its own self-aware post-modern insanity as well as the concept of clothing. Yes, clothing is a major theme of this work, as well as the inverse of clothing: nudity. The heroine wields half of a giant scissors as a weapon, every enemy is empowered by their school uniform, and defeating them usually means Ryuko has to shred them bare. At what first seems like merely fanservice quickly reveals itself as a core thematic topic, although in keeping with its self-awareness the show is also aware of the sexual implications of the nudity. Yet it never becomes the defining aspect of the show, and the nudity universally played for laughs.
In the end, Kill la Kill is a bizarre combination. It is a show with action so amazingly awesome it would make Michael Bay look extremely humble, a large amount of comedic nudity, and a majorly philosophical look at the nature of clothing, all wrapped together with a heaping amount of postmodern self-awareness. But all in all, it is simply awesome. In the end, it is impossible for me to convey the sheer amazingness of Kill la Kill. It’s awesome, it’s hilarious, and it’s epic. Go watch it, just go watch it now. Your mind will never be the same.
This article is part of the Guide to AnimeLand series. Recent entries have included Rebuild of Evangelion, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and The Animatrix.
RSS Feed
