Anime Kill la Kill

Just started on this; I love how much personality the show has in every scene, and so far it's not super formulaic or anything. Since I'm late to the party, what's the general consensus on the outfits and the

Spoiler

"get naked" speech

in Episode 3? Empowering? Exploitative? Silly?

 

I like it. While I know much of the series is meant to be silly, I took their stance on nudity as promoting nudity rather than seeing i as socially unacceptable. Like, it really makes you think, "Why do we care so much about women or men and how they dress?" And it's also evident with how Ryuuko learns not to be shy about wearing Senketsu: the only reason she feels this shame is because of how she lets herself be affected by other people's thoughts, rather than how she thinks of herself on her own as a strong individual who just happens to not be wearing a full-body covering outfit.

 

It's a weird mix of all three to me, though imo the empowering aspects, while certainly not canceling out the more problematic scenes, do end up shining much more as a whole.

From the creators standpoint, they said in an interview at the Anime Expo that they weren't purposefully saying anything about sexuality through the show (nor was it anything to do with post-war Japan as someone else asked). I read this somewhere, and am searching for the link now.

Anyway, I could see why the Kamui themselves and the overall sexual nature of the show can be exploitative; Senketsu's introduction had overtones of sexual assault (which, can be explained as Senketsu/Junketsu not having had blood for years and only just awakening, as we see Junketsu literally try to drain Satsuki the minute it arises, but it's still very sketchy and a disservice to his character for those who only watched the first three episodes and only view him as the Sexual Assault Cloth), and similarly the gags that Mako's dad & her brother do on peering into Ryuko and the shot of Ryuko unconscious with Mako's brother/dad shadowed over and grinning are definitely unnecessary.

There's also, forspoilers later on, Ragyo's sexual abuse of Satsuki, which Satsuki never reacts to or really acknowledges. The only time her safety in that regard was brought up to her was Soroi back in episode 6 when Satsuki visited Ragyo to explain why she took Junketsu out. The Elite 4 even had more of a recation than she did when Ragyo took her captive and kept her in a basement nude and battered for a whole month. I dunno, I'd feel a lot better about the Ragyo stuff if the creators focused on that aspect of Satsuki's hell beneath Ragyo as they did her main motivations for rebellion. Even if Satsuki is hardened as much as she is, there has to be some part of her that feels something strong towards that abuse. At the very least they showed Ryuko react to it quite lividly, but still. If they wanted to show Satsuki was powerless to her mother, the producers could have either showed her react to this or just have made Ragyo only physically abusive without the incestual sexual abuse..

On the other hand, I do think that the "get naked" speech and Satsuki's speech about the Kamui do end up being pretty empowering. Ryuko's held back in the first three episodes due to her embarrassment of wearing Senketsu; she's brought to almost 'bearing it all,' and has most of the students (males and even Mako on occasion) leering after her.* When Satsuki transforms, the male students do blush and have nosebleeds, but the aura is still professional and they clap out of respect; Satsuki is in command of both herself and thus the way other people see her. Even the shots of Satsuki, while still sexual in nature, emphasize her as this towering figure, of this person who demands your respect and will get it.

That's what Satsuki's speech came across as to me; that she doesn't (nor should Ryuko) give a damn about what she's wearing or who is staring, that the Kamui is her tool, it's her way of seizing power and using it as she pleases. She doesn't concern herself with how she looks in it, because the important thing to Satsuki Kiryuin and to everyone else is Satsuki Kiryuin.

And I think this does help to inspire Ryuko to bring the focus and demand the attention onto herself rather than what she looks like. I don't think it a coincidence from this point onward that there is hardly anymore leering from men aimed at her and even when it does happen again in Episode 9, Ryuko doesn't even notice it and just goes back to fighting with Gamagoori, at which point the male leering stops as soon as it began.

I can go into why I (and the characters) think the Kamui themselves are, but that will dive into plot heavy spoilers, lol.

*Although, I do think there could've been more effort made to make us sympathize with her conflict more, as the way it played out did make it feel as though she was at fault for this setback rather than the males who are actively leering at her figure.

 

Get ready you Kills, OVA (episode 25) has been released with the final blu-ray today, and the subbers are probably working on it as we speak. This episode will probably be crazy knowing this show, so remember 2 pray to ur god:

 

If I had the time or energy, rewatching the series would be nice leading up to this.

 

If I had the disposable income, I'd buy all of the Blu-rays ;.;

 

Thank you Eyebrow-Gods

 

Letting you guys know that a sub for the OVA is out.

 

Hey guys, putting up an update to let you know that the Kill la Kill OVA will be airing at New York Comic Con for any of you lovelies who can go there. They've also announced the voices of Ragyo, Nui, and Tsumugu:

Ragyo Kiryuin - Laura Post
Nui Harime - Stephanie Sheh (Flying Fairy Bitch)
Tsumugu Kinagase - Kaiji Tang

To go with that, here are three short samples of how they sound:

Personally, I think they all sound good. And I have to respect anyone who can down a Ghost Pepper dipped in Mad Dog Inferno Hot Sauce and not immediately pass out.

 

Ragyo is my least favorite of those three. Just...sounds silly, not crazy or intimidating or anything but silly to me.
Nui is perfect.
Tsumugu is....eh. I think the voice actor could pull it off, but some of the words just sound phoned in.