Review: Kill la Kill

"Bitch."

3ET: Kill la Kill

Review Scale

Warning: the following review contains SPOILERS and does not lose its way.


Kill la Kill is not Gurren Lagann. Kill la Kill is NOT Gurren Lagann. Got it? Now memorize it and repeat it to all the morons who use that as criticism, as if it fucking means something. Now, that doesn't mean that it can't be compared to Gurren Lagann, something I could easily do in this review. What that means is that Kill la Kill deserves to be analyzed and critiqued on its own merits, not held up to the nearly impossible standards that this staff's seminal work set when it came out over seven years ago.

I've spent a lot of time criticizing story and characters in previous reviews, mostly ignoring the art of animation. That's because I don't think that the animation has had much to do with whether or not I found those shows good. Those shows were driven by their narrative to a much greater extent than Kill la Kill. That's not to say the plot was inconsequential, obviously it was. But, more than anything, this show was meant to be an experience that assaulted your senses. Its success depended on whether or not it got people emotionally invested just by the pure spectacle of watching it. And in that respect, it succeeded.

Ryuko upon realzing that sometimes she needs her friend to punch her in the face.

Visually, this show is a feast for the eyes. The setting of Honnouji High School is an imposing structure, one that begs to be conquered in the first half of the story. The character design is brilliant, with most characters' personalities bleeding from the screen without them either moving or saying a word. And the fights, oh the fights. Characters move around the screen, bounce off and crash into walls and floors, and clash in absurd and ridiculous displays of power. Even some of the conversations (namely Mako's pep talks) are a lesson in visual storytelling, with her manic personality coming through as the animators practically make it possible to follow what she is saying, even if the show were being watched on mute.

Of course, watching this show on mute would be a mistake. Because the soundtrack is as much of a spectacle as the visuals. Sawano Hiroyuki has constructed a great aural backdrop for the action, conversation, or really any other scene that takes place in this show. The most noticeable track, "Before My Body is Dry", is the perfect music to pump the audience up for the action, with Ryuko usually doing something cool and/or amazing at the chorus of "Don't lose your way!!" And other tracks are wonderfully appropriate for the specific characters and situations.

Careful with that, you'll put your eye out!

And now it's time to talk about the plot. The story about Matoi Ryuko's goal of getting revenge for her father's death is one that starts out simple, but gets tied into a plot to destroy the world with sentient clothing. But, as always, I feel that the intricacies of the plot are secondary to the characters, and in this case how they relate to Ryuko. While characters like her teacher, Mikisugi-sensei, are important, the most important character was Mankanshoku Mako. She is a constant, who is mostly useless on the battlefield, but her role is to give Ryuko a reason to not lose her humanity, a role she performs admirably. She even gets one of the better episodes of the first half, where she and her family become rich thanks to her using Ryuko's fighting abilities to create a club. Eventually, they lose the fortune and go back to being poor, but not before learning an important lesson about being close as a family.

Speaking of family, it's time to talk about Kiryuuin Satsuki. For a good chunk of the series, she serves as the nigh-invincible final boss of Honnouji High School. The audience is shown her rise to power, both in her hard work and gathering the strongest people around her, so she has earned her place at the top. But, she gets knocked down several pegs thanks to her mother, Kiryuuin Ragyo, who reveals to her that since she isn't her real daughter, she can't defeat her. And the only one who can defeat Ragyo is her true daughter, Ryuko. After this, Satsuki doesn't act like a petulant brat, she does what is necessary to support Ryuko. Although I suspect she enjoyed beating some sense into Ryuko after she falls under Ragyo's influence. She even sullies her pride a bit to bring Ryuko back to the side of humanity when she wears the sentient uniform that has given Ryuko so much power.

When your sentient uniform is such a bro, you don't even have to wear him and he'll protect you.

That sentient school uniform is Senketsu, and his relationship with Ryuko is the most important one in the show. She is his only link to the human world, and his unique qualities as a school uniform add some good humor to the show, and never in a creepy way on his part. The most important thing he does, and what makes him such an awesome character, is how loyal he is to Ryuko. It makes the scenes where Ryuko shuns him, whether because she lost control by wearing him, or because he reminds her of her own inhuman nature, being both a human and the sentient clothing known as Life Fibers, especially heartbreaking. Yes, I was getting emotional for a piece of clothing, because he is that awesome. In many ways, he became a character that showed more humanity than many of the humans in the show.

There are, however, some things that hold Kill la Kill back. First off, several characters don't really do anything in the second half of the show. I'm thinking primarily of Tsumugu and Mikisugi. They are introduced as powerful fighters against the Life Fibers, but are used mostly as inept comic relief in the second half of the series. Second, there are a couple episodes where the show feels like it is spinning its wheels. Namely the fourth episode (why is it always the fourth episode with Imaishi) and a lull about two-thirds of the way through the show where nothing happens for a couple episodes. Finally, Ragyo and company were terrible villains. They were completely one-dimensional, evil for evil's sake, types of villains. As a result, there was no sympathy for them when they lost. And their loss wasn't even satisfying. Ryuko's father's killer doesn't get her comeuppance, getting absorbed into Ragyo for a super powerup. And Ryuko isn't even allowed to kill Ragyo, she rips out her own heart in a lame death not fitting of such a villain.

One of many camera shots where it was necessary to show Ryuko's cleavage. Classy as fuck.

And then there is the whole question of whether or not Kill la Kill was a feminist or a misogynist show. This is the wrong question to ask because Kill la Kill is simultaneously both.  On the one hand, yes, this show featured badass women in roles of power who didn't need no man to support them. And that's a good thing. I think there needs to be more shows with casts like this. However, I can't ignore the blatant sexual objectification of Ryuko and Satsuki. Not just in the transformation sequences, I mean, the guys in Satsuki's Elite Four got the same treatment. But, the uniforms were so skimpy, and the scenes were shot in such a way that it was impossible for the viewer to ignore. And before someone argues that the men in the Nudist Beach organization were objectified in the same way, it needs to be said that objectifying men is not the same as objectifying women. Objectifying men doesn't come with the baggage millenia of subjugation in both Western and Eastern cultures in the same way that doing it to women does. Yes, Ryuko does own that she is wearing Senketsu's skimpy battle form of her own volition, in a way owing her sexuality. But, that doesn't mean her battles had to be shown with the camera halfway up her ass.

Despite all of that, I really enjoyed Kill la Kill. It uses the fact that it is animated to do things that would be impossible to do in live action. I liked everyone in the cast I was supposed to like, and I hated everyone that I was supposed to hate. And when a major character died at the end, I was crushed. I feel that a show like this deserves to be seen by everyone. It is not the classic that its spiritual predecessor was, but that is no great crime. This is a solid piece of anime.

Final Score: 7/10