Sunday, April 6, 2014

Anime Review: Kill la Kill


Hello everyone, a few bits of news for everyone. First and for most is in regards to the Conception II demo I reviewed last week. As the six or seven people who actually read my blog might know, the reason why I posted that review as because Atlus was having a sweepstakes where the winners can get a download copy of one of four games if you posted some sort of content about the demo, including a blog post (also I wanted to try something different). Low and behold, I was one of the contest winners, and so I got a copy of Etrian Odyssey IV. Immediately after the announcement from Atlus, I got a huge boost to my view count. So if you're one of the individuals who came from Atlus's twitter, welcome to my blogs. I'm Crescent, or CRES if you are on the Mighty No. 9 forums, and here I review various anime and video games and I post a new review, or a mindless, rambling, barely coherent rant every Sunday (usually before 5 PM PST). I also now have a Twitter account (because I needed one in order enter the sweepstakes) @CRESC3N7. Follow if you want, I don't really care. Anyway, here is an introduction to the type of reviews I do: Let's review Kill la Kill.


It isn't every day that a sailor suit with an eyeball is forcing himself on you.
Ryuko Matoi is on a quest to find her father's killer, her only clues are the over-sized scissor blade that killed him and Honnouji Academy: an elite high school with a very rigid status based structure thanks to their Goku Uniforms. These Uniforms give super human strength and power to those who wear them (just roll with it) and at the top of this hierarchy is Satsuki Kiryuin, the student counsel president and daughter of the school's CEO. None defy her well, None except for Ryuko. With the help of Senketsu, a sentient high school uniform that transforms into a skimpy outfit of immense power (again just roll with it), Ryuko will get the answers she is looking for. Even if she has to beat the living snot out of every single person in Honnouji Academy just to get to Satsuki. But how are you suppose to fight against the super powered Tennis club president in an outfit that leaves nothing left to the imagination? Get ready for intense over-the-top action, ridiculous comedy, skin tight uniforms, nudists, and larger-than-life characters in Kill la Kill, made by the same people behind Gurren Lagann.

Aren't you two cold?
 The easily way to describe Kill la Kill is to imagine the most ridiculous thing you can possibly come up with, and then multiply that by 20 and then raise that to the 14th power. And that only accurately describes the first 3 minutes of the first episode. The rest of the series is an exponential growth curve that doubles itself every 5 minutes. Much like Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill plays off like a perpetual game of "I dare you to come up with something more over-the-top than this" that remains strangely coherent. The entire thing about a sentient school girl uniform and the scantily clad heroines is actually one of the more SENSIBLE things in the series. By the end of the series you just have to accept that element because the line between ridiculous, silly, and serious is so amazingly blurred that the only term that can accurately describe it is "It's like Gurren Lagann."

Just in case you think that only the girls get naked.
Of course that is where the series will lose you. Kill la Kill is insane, quite literally too. The only logical thought process is the one that the series invents for itself, and like Gurren Lagann it goes SOOO far into this bizarre and ridiculous premise that if you have any reservations about the series than you will be completely out of it by the time the title appears in the first episode. Simply put, there is a special kind of ridiculous quotient that you need in order to enjoy the series. One where you just have to accept what the hell is going on on-screen, no matter how ridiculous it is. Anime fans may already have this quotient, but regular.... people, probably don't.


Kill la Kill is a REALLY hard anime to review, because it is one of those things that you just have to see in order to understand what it is like. Did I enjoy it? Yes, it is ridiculous fun from start to finish; however, the key word there is ridiculous. If you are a sensible person or do not find the ridiculous entertaining, then you probably will not get Kill la Kill at all. In fact I am almost certain that if this is shown in any sort of academic circles, it would be viewed as juvenile, poorly written, and sexist. Fortunately, most anime circles revel in the ridiculous. Kill la Kill is Highly Recommended.

Watch Kill la Kill on Crunchyroll: http://www.crunchyroll.com/kill-la-kill

Until next time.

-Crescent, I look at her, and she looks at me, and I look at her, and she looks at me, and I look at her...

13 comments:

  1. Fantastic review! I agree, the series is completely insane and nonsensical, but in the best way possible.
    Haha, “imagine the most ridiculous thing you can possibly come up with, and then multiply that by 20 and then raise that to the 14th power” is definitely the best way to describe the series!
    Mako’s pure comedic hilarity was one of my favorite parts of the series. She jumped in out of now where at the most hilarious of times!
    Cool blog too, but there is the follow button? Also, do you mind if I link to your review at the end of my review post? At the end of my anime reviews, I usually post links to others that have reviewed the series that I am reviewing, so I want to add a link to yours if you are OK with that.
    Here is the link to my review if you are interested.
    http://jandjproductions1809.blogspot.com/2014/04/kill-la-kill-review.html

    -James

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    1. Thanks for that review of... my review... Feels like I'm about to enter Inception territory. Anyway, I don't mind if you link my review, I could always use the traffic flow. As for a follow button, I don't think I have one up; however, I post a new review every Sunday some time before 5 PM PST... Usually.

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    2. Haha, Reviewception! Anyway, cool, I added the link now.
      No problem, I am going use the link feature on the blogger dashboard to follow your blog.

      -James

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    1. I have my issues with Gurren Lagann, namely I didn't much care for everything after the time skip.

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    2. well of course it had it share of problems not saying it was perfect but I enjoy it more so than Kill la Kill while I enjoy it as well I just prefer Gurren that all.

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    3. I kind of prefer Kill la Kill, if only because the ending was far more cheerful than Gurren Lagann.

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    4. Oh I agree the ending for Kill la Kill felt more better than what happen in Lagann but in Trigger studio made animes I really don't care much for their plot(who should). I also will say that I prefer Kill la Kill ost over Gurren Lagann as well so there that too.

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  3. Might I ask as well Cres who your favorite character in Kill La Kill? my is Satsuki

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  4. I watched Gurren Lagann the next day after watching Kill la Kill, and while I enjoyed Kill la Kill a lot, I think I prefer Gurren Lagann more for the reasons that Crescent disliked it. I can't say that one is better than the other, since my friend is a big Kill la Kill fan, but I loved the time-skip and that people in Gurren Lagann died. It added more weight and suspense for me, but that is entirely up to personal preference. I am admittedly a fan of the bitter-sweet ending, like Gurren Lagann.

    @Jaku Hudson: I know you are not asking me, but I would say my favorite characters are Mako and Satsuki. I love Mako mostly because it is one of the few times where a comedic relief character is actually done right.

    -James

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    1. Since I feel the need to justify my reasons I'll go into depth about the things I didn't like about Gurren Lagann (Spoiler warning, if you are not Jaku or James and have not watch all of Gurren Lagann).

      My problem with the time skip isn't so much with the skip itself but rather several of the issues I have came after this skip which makes it almost a perfect place to say the series Jump the Shark. The entire "Nia becomes evil" element I felt like it was only there for unnecessary drama. And this goes to the fact that in 99% of anime with a romance near it's focal point, the story never goes beyond the boy and girl saying "I love you." Because when it does either the series is over, one of the two die, or something like this happens. This also happened in Shakugan no Shana, which was a constant annoyance in the third season of that series as well.

      Another problem I had was with the action scenes from that point on, just adding and adding to the size of their giant robots. Before most of the combat was still between the "normal" sized robots and the larger mechs moved with the weight that that scale demanded. However, once we reached galactic size all that sense of scale and weight was thrown out the window and the ridiculousness wasn't quite enough to compensate. I also felt like some of those fights just went on for far too long, I personally don't care for fight sequences that last more than two episodes.

      And finally, the ending I felt was more of a hollow victory than a bitter-sweet ending and felt at odds with the ridiculousness of the battles that came before it. I mean, we had a fight where galaxies where being thrown around like shurikens and before that Simon punched a hold in the fabric of space and time, having whole "Simon's not god" angle feels out of place especially since everything before that was all about "We can do anything if we put in enough GUTS!"

      As for the question of favorite character, I don't really have one. I've never thought of the series in terms of which character I like best, especially considering everyone is one form of insane or another.

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    2. You have make excellent points about the problems you had with the series, and I can definitely understand your reasoning behind it. I also do agree to a certain degree about the romance.

      However, I think Gurren Lagann is the type of series that you love for its insane over-the-topness or dislike for the same reason, and I think both sides have valid arguments. It ultimately comes down to personal preference more than anything. Normally, series that throw out logic bother me, but I, in the words of Kamina says, "kicked logic to the curb." Also, I thought the fact that the Gunman were literally powered by "Fighting Spirit" is kind of a commentary on most mecha series that go beyond the impossible without explanation.

      Regardless, it is fun discussing the series!

      -James

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  5. @James its cool you can answer it as well but I agree it does make Gurren Lagann stand out more than from your typical good endings but I do consider the other side of the coin as well about people complaints of the time skip and they are reasonable too.

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