11.17
This is easily my favorite episode to date. That’s high praise.
You know how almost every American cartoon comedy has that one episode where the characters randomly get rich out of nowhere and it turns them into complete assholes? That’s this week’s Kill la Kill. And it pulls off that concept really well. Not only is this installment funny as hell, it also has a lot of heart, and contains what is quite possibly the finest JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure reference I’ve ever seen. I struggle to think of a more perfect “trial of friendship” in anime. Ryuuko x Mako shippers are probably going wild right now.
Something I’ve always loved about Japanese storytelling is how frequently the tone can flip between utter silliness and piercing melodrama. Admittedly, it doesn’t always turn out well, but when done right this can lead to amazing results, such as Sion Sono’s masterpiece, Love Exposure. With both this installment and those of the previous two weeks, Trigger has proven that they are quite capable of pulling off such dramatic tonal shifts with great results. Nowhere is this more prominent than in the final act of this episode. It goes from goofy comedy to over the top action to emotional character drama and back again without missing a beat. I laughed at the setup and mid-jokes, got hyped during Ryuuko’s fight with Mako, and will freely admit to getting a bit teary at its conclusion. Mission accomplished!
On that note, I find it interesting how an absurdist comedy where the main character nearly gets naked to power up, defeats her opponents by cutting their clothes off, and works with a perpetually-stripping dude from a group called Nudist Beach somehow manages to do dramatic scenes and character drama better than most serious anime. I’m not even joking, I legitimately think KLK is more effective at crafting intriguing and emotional moments than the majority of the grimdark and tearjerker series out there right now. For me, its tendency to revel in audacious depravity works in the show’s favor toward making the un-silly scenes feels more natural and less forced. Kill la Kill is honest with the viewer, and doesn’t give a shit whether or not one likes it; it doesn’t hide anything from you in an attempt to make you feel something later via cheap shot, it just tells a story that its target audience will likely find appealing.
There’s no discernible cynicism anywhere in this series. It works because it embraces both the strengths and shortcomings of its medium, proudly declaring its love for cliches new and old, occasionally taking them at face value and often cranking them up to 11. Simply put, it’s an anime for anime fans. It exists to be enjoyed and not thought about too hard (ha). You’re supposed to like Ryuuko and Mako not because they’re particularly well-written characters, but because they’re the heroes. The action is over the top and filled with impossibility because that’s fun. There are boobs and asses and pecs everywhere because why the hell not? And I think it’s this mindset – that pure entertainment comes before anything else – that makes it so insanely enjoyable. Maybe that’s not highbrow enough for some folks, but to me it’s a breath of fresh air. I’m so tired of anime that clumsily stumble in the dark attempting to be “deep” or give you “dem feels” that over the top action genuinely comes across as well-written by comparison.
Make no mistake, Kill la Kill is an immature show. But there’s a lot of maturity in that immaturity. It is stupidity perfected. To make something so inherently dumb this compulsively watchable must have – ironically – taken a lot of intelligence. The scripts are self-aware without winking at the audience. The expert pacing successfully covers tons of ground in each episode without causing sensory overload. The direction is second to none. It doesn’t play out like a new studio’s early attempt at pandering to make money at all, it genuinely feels like a labor of love. It may not have been all that obvious in the first few installments, but I think it’s plain as day now. I can certainly see why it wouldn’t appeal to everyone, but in my mind Kill la Kill is immaturity done right. And at the end of the day, isn’t that the very essence of a good cartoon?
As for the rest of the episode, I quite liked Ryuuko’s fight club boss rush in all its limited animation glory (the budget wisely saved for her battle with Mako). Every villain design in these moments is unique and characterized by creativity, inviting instant replays, frequent pausing, and even frame by frame viewing for the truly insane amongst us. I especially loved how our hero’s success in this endeavor was all planned out by Satsuki from the beginning. Coupled with the uncharacteristic smile she sported upon the protagonists rekindling their friendship near the end of the episode, that reveal perfectly showcases the secret respect she harbors for her opponent. Even if she is a fascist dictator, it’s the little things like this that make me unable to dislike her. I absolutely cannot wait for her next showdown with Ryuuko.
Next week, Gamagoori takes driving lessons. THIS SHOW JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER.