10.06
So it’s come to this… weekly blogging about episodes of an anime. Well, if Dalek and Marquis can do it, then so can I definitely probably maybe! By the way, sorry if my gratuitous Spanish title makes no sense – I just like the way it rolls off the tongue.
It took less than 90 seconds for me to fall in love with Kill la Kill. By the end of the first episode, I was infatuated. It’s probably unhealthy. But I just can’t resist the butter smooth animation or that unique art style. I adore the characters, the action, the humor, the voice acting, the use of color, and pretty much everything else about it. It’s like Trigger made this show specifically for me. If you want my full thoughts on episode 1, I invite you to check out our most recent Clusterfuck. We all worked very hard on it!
Some criticism has been leveled at this series opener on account of two things. I did not mention either of these in my Clusterfuck entry as I personally thought they were no big deal; however, it has been brought to my attention that at least a few people feel otherwise, so I would like to give my thoughts on them, and open up a (civil) discussion if possible. First is the way protagonist Ryuuko Matoi obtains her superpowers. The bad guys in this series are given special abilities by magic school clothes known as Goku Uniforms, but Ryuuko does not have one to call her own, and therefore proves ineffectual at fighting them. After being utterly defeated in her first encounter with the evil student council, she returns to the home of her dead father, and discovers that he’d left behind a unique Goku Uniform in the basement, presumably made for her.
If only he'd also left her a ladder or something.
What follows is a rape joke. Well, it’s not actually a rape joke; in fact, the punchline is that there isn’t any rape. The dialogue is written and framed to be suggestive of unwanted advances, but there’s nothing outright sexual about the scene, and Ryuuko is never raped or even in any danger of being raped, which I suppose makes it a “not rape” joke. It’s the only uncomfortable moment in the entire episode, and I would certainly say its inclusion was ill-advised, but after examining the scene and thinking about the context, I do not feel that its intention was to make light of sexual assault.
Let’s take a look at what transpires in this scene. Ryuuko awakens the Goku Uniform – which apparently can move and talk on its own – by bleeding on it. It’s hungry for blood, and wants to be worn by her so that it can escape from its underground prison and be fed more delicious organic spaghetti sauce. She figures it probably wouldn’t be such a good idea to use a homicidal maniac for clothing and thus opts not to wear it, but then the uniform forces itself onto her. Then she powers up and a beam of light explodes out of her.
Now, if the outfit had been forced onto her by another person with a perverted or erotic bent, I would have been repulsed. Something like that would be absolutely disgusting and tasteless. But we’re referring to a talking inanimate object here. Yes, it rips her previous clothes off, but there’s no sexual connotation. It’s not lusting after her body, it just wants someone to wear it, and in my experience, most people don’t change outfits by leaving the first one on and pulling the new clothing over it. I don’t see how this is all that different from the Symbiote latching onto Spider-Man or Eddie Brock against their will. In fact, I believe this scene was actually meant to portray the Goku Uniform in a negative light, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being a villain later on, much like the Symbiote. Really, this part just seems like a classic superhero trope played for laughs. It definitely comes across as more creepy than funny, but I don’t think it was intended to be offensive or mean-spirited.
I don’t mean to be insensitive. I can easily see why some would find this part of the episode problematic. That said, I’d argue that Trigger is probably the last anime studio who would ever promote rape culture or make light of sexual violence. Their previous OVA – the marvelous Little Witch Academia – is a family-friendly affair potentially aimed at young girls, and my good buddy BlackCatula has written a great piece on how the last show these fellas made before leaving Gainax – Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt – is one of the most feminist TV series out there. These folks consistently produce great work that I feel tries harder than most anime to be inclusive of all demographics (provided they have a taste for the silly and bizarre).
So now Ryuuko is supercharged and ready to beat down the bad guys! Unfortunately, her Goku Uniform looks like this, which embarrasses the boxing club captain:
That armor's actually conservative by RPG standards.
Some have argued that this undermines her character. I do not agree one bit. Yes, it’s provocative, but why does that matter? Ryuuko has already proven to be a fantastic character, and I’d argue that the show actually does not use this design to objectify her. Hear me out.
First of all, this entire episode has a very satirical bent to it, and her outfit is part of that. I’m not sure how, considering that Kill la Kill is anything but subtle, but a lot of the satire in this show seems to have flown over people’s heads. The story of this first installment alone comprises an entire arc of a standard battle shounen anime – hero shows up in a new place, hero fights villain, hero gets defeated, hero retreats to increase power, hero comes back and kicks the villain’s ass – and here it’s all over and done with in 25 minutes. The student council being an all-powerful fascist dictatorship is most definitely a parody of how student councils are portrayed in most modern anime as being more influential than their respective teachers and principals. The first kid’s dead body being displayed and the way Mako is held captive are references to kung fu movies. And Ryuuko’s battle uniform is a joke about how female superheroes and their ilk are almost always dressed scantily to appeal to a perceived male audience. The characters even comment on this within the episode. Various posters show that her Goku Uniform eventually turns into something more modest, which lends credence to the thought that this is all part of some elaborate joke.
If you’ve seen Gurren Lagann, you may remember a man named Kamina. He was drawn to look handsome and never wore a shirt, but he was an inspiring and loveable character that many anime fans still consider among their favorites. I see Ryuuko in the same light. Her battle uniform is sexy, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that so far she has proven to be one of the most easily likeable protagonists in any anime. In every scene, she is portrayed as a legitimately good person. Take, for instance, when she steals the delivery boy’s bike to escape from the school. He complains about how she stole his deliveries, so she actually brings them back to him. Now, yes, this is a silly one-off joke, but it also constitutes subtle character building. A more obvious example of her kindheartedness is how she risks her life to save Mako despite only knowing her for a couple hours. She beats the first villain with determination and skill, and avoids any innocent casualties. Even Superman couldn’t do that! The point is, what does it matter what she wears? A woman is not defined by her clothing… she’s defined by her personality, and Ryuuko has plenty of that. She’s a true hero, and a damn good one at that.
Future installments of this series will likely go up on Thursdays or Fridays. I actually wasn’t planning on writing a non-Clusterfuck piece about episode 1 until earlier today. The rest of the entries will probably be more like what you’d expect from episode blogging; I doubt I’ll spend any more time defending controversial elements.