Anime: Kill la Kill

I already watch so may anime as I know it in elementary. From what I have seen, this one is one of the worst I've seen in my life. Well, story in manga and anime are way too different on many ways.

To make it short, I will say it in important things :

Art and animation : i give it five because it using 90's style that even didn't match with current art right now. Too much annoying kanji that it should have make it small enough to make it all clear view for watchers. In addition, using animation effect is many out of sync especially in shouting special attack or say something important.

Sound : i give it eight because song was interesting and voice character is pretty good. Well, just a bit miss on voice timing, but that was great.

Story : i give it three because it's way out of story. When mc and her friend become one, it was way too out of story order, especially on her friend. She was too annoying in first place, too much butting in fight and conversation especiallly in good timing. And the worst of it is about how to die. Usually in most common of anime, they will die because of blood loss, getting killed by severing head or some kind if that, plus your vital point is destroyed like liver, heart or etc. This is ricidilously out of common sense. Even their head severed or your heart is gouged out from body, it's still alive until end of story, that was very bullshit u know, where is this nonsense idea coming from? And using clothes made from fiber of life as ultimate weapon for fighting? it's just like when Sailor Moon meets Pokemon in this case. The pace of story is way out of track, it's like when u want hit a jackpot in random chance and u can't predict it when it will happened.

Character : I give it two because most of characters are very annoying in most of episodes. They are using too much nonsense joke, even it isn't funny when in fight or in out fight. Too much joke than fighting makes the story become lessiinteresting. Sudden appearance on new and strong characters are totally mess. They even didn't use some common sense like introduction first or testing their skill and telling their names later. It's just barging in and do fighting as they want to. That's why i give it so low that they didn't do some basic concepts of making characters.

Value : I give it four because it just have little value left in story. It is unwise for making this anime because it throws out the most important point of what u want to show and what is the idea of making this anime. If it's just for joke, please do it somewhere else, don't do it in here.

Enjoyment : i just give it five because it didn't entertain me, it's just plain story, not too good yet not too bad.

That's all i have to say about this.

Kill la Kill is the spiritual sucessor of Gurren Lagann's insane style and, although it falls short of its quality, it offers a highly entertaining experience fueled by lots of shounen action, ecchi influences, and over-the-top plotline. There are, however, many flaws in the show, which can be mostly attributed to the fact that it changes whatever seriousness its predecessors had for ecchiness and bits of sexual innuendo, making it a sort of mix between Gurren Lagann and Queen's Blade. The result is a far shallower experience even for a show that bases itself on being nonsensical and over-the-top, which reflects greatly on the shounen-inspired character templates that never get to charm you or make you care about them at all.

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Art & Animation
Kill la Kill continues the style of its predecessors, offering lots of cartoonish scenes mixed with others where proportions are more realistic. The art quality is sharp and visually attractive, especially when you take into account that the recent trend is for shows to have the very same character design, which Kill la Kill smartly doesn't. Animation, however, lacks the fluidity and consistency of today's standard, overusing the 90's trick to promote a sense of movement with just half a dozen frames. While using this trick doesn't harm the action experience, it is somewhat frustating to watch an action show today that doesn't offer much more than what Revolutionary Girl Utena did. When not making use of such methods, however, Kill la Kill goes to the exagerated style and tons of colorful effects to turn the show into something more cheerful and busy.

Sound
Surprisingly, Kill la Kill is far less noisy than what you would think. Although there are many scenes of yelling and overraction, the dose is nearly perfect for what it tries to be, never getting irritating but also never failing to remind you that this is about who is bigger, stronger, and has the most awesome equipment (which translate to the sexiest uniform). The voice-acting in general is nicely done and well directed, which is a huge plus for those who hate the yelling. When it comes to sound track and effects the show also offers a solid quality that only lacks to further enhance the sense of grandeur and awe it already has.

Story
Ryuko Matoi is a girl in search for answers to her father's demise, which takes her to a strange school where students are gifted with super powerful uniforms and ruled by Satsuki Kiryuuin, an imposing girl which appears to know something about the death of Ryuko's father. In order to extract the information from her, however, Ryuko must beat the school system itself with the aid of a blood-draining uniform left as a legacy by her father.

1. 
   ...what?
   Super uniforms? A school with super powers? Japan? Hell, what a mess. With this premise Kill la Kill already starts quite bizarre yet it manages to get every element that overflooded today's shows: school setting, powerful student council, cosplay clothing, shounen super powers, and many opportunities for fanservice. While it all starts looking quite stupid and just yet another fan-luring type of show, Kill la Kill starts growing into what Gurren Lagann was, maturing along the way while these tiring elements funnels into a big piece of over-the-top action.
   
   Over-the-Top Action/Over-the-Top Ecchiness
   Remember Youko and the dozens of sexy shots of her breats and tight shorts in Gurren Lagann? That was probably the main attraction of the first quarter of the show joined by the yelling Kamina, and it was already kinda overwhelming. Now multiply that by ten.. no, by a hundred! There you go! Now you have Kill la Kill.
   
   The very concept of the super-powerful uniforms was probably elaborated by the author as an excuse to the overly sexy clothing the girls in the show wear when fighting. The first episodes, in fact, are entirely focused on that exact aspect, making jokes about Ryuko fighting nearly naked and so on. It's easy to understand the choice for such ecchi approach: that will sell LOTS of toys and doujins, maybe rivaling school uniforms... wait, Kill la Kill has girls uniforms too! Win-win situation!
   
   Anyway, while the ecchi focus of the show can truly make things look even more childish and non-serious than what it did back in Gurren Lagann, at least sometimes you get a few funny moments that take us back to the late 90's absurd ecchi fares such as Maze or Photon.
   
   But its pace...
   Sadly, even with all the super powers and nakedeness, the show starts dragging a lot in its middle part and very little is accomplished in its second half. By no means the show gets boring, it still offers fresh action every episode, but the plotline hardly moves from its start. The twists are not anything out of what you'd expect, so after you watch it for a while you can start to feel like "hey, it's nearly ending but very little happened of importance". It's not a show-killing problem, but it's worth stating.
   

Character
Unfortunately, the skimpy clothing and ecchiness that Kill la Kill added to the nonsensical genre had to take its toll from somewhere: the cast. Instead fo growing characters and charismatic personalities what we have here is a very basic shounen template show where you will only remember each because of its awesome super power or sexy uniform. Basically only Ryuko and Mako gain a share of development in the first half, which sadly becomes useless to Mako as she ends the show in the very same way she started it. Ryuko, on other hand, can gain a few points for at least gaining self-control over the dozens of fights and events she faces, yet it ultimately feels disappointing to watch so little evolution in her personality after all that and even with a stupid loss of self-control in the later part.

1. 
   Ah... student council
   When did it start? I mean, who created such a ridiculous concept such as "high-school students that act as if they ruled the mafia or even the entire world just for being in a council"? I remember Utena doing that in the past... but was it the first? Well, this concept is certainly one of the most over-used of the recent years, where school became the default setting and the student council became the basic platform for gathering villains or bringing lovely couples together. Kill la Kill's student council works in a way to gather the super-villain's minions, which turns out to be a bunch of random shounen templates with special powers so you can wonder who is stronger than the other. They are just that and nothing more, which is a shame considering the bizarre setting could use of better background for these guys to make everything more attractive.
   

Value
It's always refreshing to see something different from the norm. That is the main reason why Gurren Lagann (and FLCL as well) managed to win so many points in the industry when released. It was flashy, noisy, insane, had its own unique style, and was void of the common trends of its time. Kill la Kill is half that and half not. It has the style and insanity, but it is build exactly upon the common trends of other shows, which turns out to make the show far less aluring and valuable than its spiritual predecessors. It doesn't offer epic comedy in a school setting, nor did it manage to bring ultimate super-power shounen with a studend council on it. It only manages to be fun when its ecchiness kicks in and when some fighting occurs, yet it does it while putting any bit of seriouness it could have in the trash can.

Enjoyment
Mindless fun is all about what Kill la Kill is. The first set of episodes can be disappointing to those who weren't expecting so much skimpy clothing and fanservice, but when you get used to it the over-the-top action manages to make the show a confortable and safe ride. Sadly it never turns out to be anything that epic, mainly because it forgets to build a serious base so its plot could grow on quality, but anyone looking for pure enjoyment can certainly use Kill la Kill for that.

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Comments
I would respect what Kill la Kill tried to do if it didn't resort to so overused elements we had in the last years. I was rewatching Revolutionary GIrl Utena a few weeks back, and jeez, it's absurdly annoing how the student council can get and how little it can contribute to a plotline. It was the case back then and it's still the case nowadays.

Anyway, the fun aspect of Kill la Kill, however, makes up for its flaws and as a whole it offered a solid experience, especially when compared to the others released in the same season. Those looking for a mindless fun show and maybe into some ecchi stuff may actually love what Kill la Kill does, so it's worth a watch.

Kill la Kill

Introduction - "Back with a vengeance"

Just like the producers of this show I reappear from nothingness to bring you a review. The thrilling question is: Is this review garbage? Or is it the show?

Art & Animation - "Speciality is my speciality!"

These days it is surprisingly common, how well most shows look. But while the actual production values are a sort of mechanical element, artstyle certainly isn't and is usually subject of sadly annoying otaku-discussions.
Personally, I value creativity, where artstyle is concerned. And boy, Kill la Kill certainly mixes things together very uniquely. Not only does the show look good and incorporates some stellar animation, it also generates its own identity. That's something that can't be said too often these days.
I liked the kitchy character drawings in particular.
Effects are mostly good.

9/10

Sound - "Dooooon't loooose youuur waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

Can't argue much here, either. Kill la Kill sounds gorgeous: Fantastic voice work, great (if slightly repetitive) soundtrack and some crunchy battle effects please the ears.

9/10

Story - "I looooooooooost my waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

I was genuinely intrigued by the first 12 or so episodes. The setting felt fresh, unique and offered a very good promise. And for the first half of the show the plot actually surprises and baffles the viewer with its surreal, over-the-top twists and turns.
I will further dwell on this matter later, but let me say that redundancy and absurdity are a terrible plotkiller. And in the second half of the show you will most certainly realize that the plot of Kill la Kill goes nowhere at all. The story unfortunately culminates in what can only be described as a horrible, nonsensical and downright disappointing mess. After having watched Gurren Lagann I have to say that this is the style of these guys, but that's something I neither like nor objectively can understand.

I was glad, when the last episode was over, I could not have endured one more degrading episode. Such a pity for a truly wonderful exposition.

5/10

Characters - "At least I am cool."

Kill la Kill offers a lot of very funny and kitschy characters. If that is your thing, you will certainly be entertained, probably even until the end of the show. With the two sisters you get enough serious character development as well. All in all, it's a mostly pleasing mix between over-the-top clichés and some serious, steady character portraying.
On the downside, however, the main antagonist turns about to be rather boring, flat and generally annoying. Her sidekick is cool in a creepy way, though.

7/10

Value - "Look how crazy I am. Look. PLEASE LOOK."

It's mostly fun for a full run. But there is little reason to come back afterwards. It relies too much on the same concepts and elements of absurdity and madness to make it longlasting.

6/10

Enjoyment - "It was fun, while it lasted."

While I was certainly giggling during the first episodes, where the show nicely uses genre-clichés to create its own identity, I have to note that things got extremely repetitive and boring during the remainder of the show. Kill la Kill never succeeds to go one step further: You basically have to watch the same nonsensical collage of jokes and typical shounen-elements in each episode. In the end I was genuinely bored by the repetitive content that - because of its redundancy - keeps on losing charm and momentum. This is especially sad, because it feels so fresh at the start. After 5-10 episodes, you'd certainly not expect such a massive drop in creativity and quality.
Nevertheless, it's good fun for a while and I commend the show for bringing in the funky spirit.

Verdict

I must most certainly be the only person on this planet that has seen Kill la Kill before Gurren Lagann (I will write a review for the latter as well). Nevertheless I can honestly say that I was slightly hyped by the buzz in the interwebz, when I started to watch the anime.
And surely, this show starts on a high note: Nice fights, a great premise and some truly incredible characters set things up very nicely for Kill la Kill.
However, things get repetitive quickly. The fights become dull, the jokes keep staying flat and the story doesn't know where it wants to go, instead it ends without closure or credibility (even for its own silly standards).

I had, however, a good time. Kill la Kill is certainly neither a bad production nor a waste of time. It just leaves you wanting.

If you are into kitschy, over-the-top shounen-parodies with a little too much sexism, I will recommend the show to you. Otherwise, it's probably not your cup of tea to begin with.

Final score:
7.5/10

Kill La Kill (KLK) is an above average action anime that pays homage to nearly all action animes of any importance that came before. No less, but sadly no more.

Video

There is a fashion trend called "trashion", which uses all short of shiny materials picked from god knows where (often the garbage bin) to create some weird stuff that kind of works as long as you are willing to give it the time of day. KLK's visual style is best described as that kind of trashy art style.

You may hate it at first, but it kind of grows on you eventually, because it ultimately works for the show's artistic vision. KLK's visual style is executed consistently, goes very well together with the show's retro aesthetics and generally allows things to get wild at the drop of the hat and then get serious again as soon as the plot demands without so much as skipping a visual sequence beat.
The problem with this visual style is the same problem as with the whole "trashion" movement. It is good at overloading your senses with shiny things and good at creating weird amalgams of all things that came before it, but ultimately it doesn't have a soul of its own. As a result, while i am able to say that i liked what i was looking at while i was looking at it, i am still very much struggling to remember any memorable visual scene from the whole thing. And that's a sign of artistic failure in visuals department.

KLK sets out to look like any other retro action anime and succeeds at it with flying colors, earning itself 6 points out of 10 for great technical execution and a further point for a good marriage of visual style with overall aesthetics.
However, having succeeded in that goal, KLK pays the price of looking like any other retro action anime - being utterly forgettable.
7/10 is the best i can give this show in Video section.

Sound

Barring the absolutely horrid OP/ED sequences that i positively hated and skipped every time, it still needs to be said that both voice acting and music in KLK are superb. KLK's authors understand very well what supporting action with sound entails and deliver very well on character themes, environment sounds and voice acting.
While suffering from the same issues of generic forgettability as the visuals, which prevent it from scoring above 8 points, the audio part avoids the pitfall of "trashion". Instead of trying to pull and stich together various pieces from God knows where, KLK's audio succeeds in well and truly conveying the exact sound of KLK's magical girl action.
A well deserved 8/10 in Audio section.

Story

The story in this show is ... all over the place.
It does ultimately address all the important things that a story encompassing the entire humanity should. There are notions of order and freedom, conflict between beautiful-yet-ugly unlife and ugly-yet-beatiful life. The story even takes a stab at the ultimate answer.

Problem is, you can't just tack these things onto a vaguely heroic vengeance-for-family narrative. They need to be woven into the world from the start and be at the core of the story conflict from the very beginning. Kill La Kill, however, ignores these notions entirely for the entire first half of the series, so all the establishing character development is done with no regard for the story's core conflict. Furthermore, once we finally get to see all of those grand designs, they are delivered in a way that leaves the viewer no real way to connect with the big story and thus no real way to see why the antagonist may or should win. As a result, big and strong as the final antagonist is, the hero's victory over him is a completely foregone conclusion. The final fight isn't even close and the ending i found to be completely unsatisfying :(

Yeah, also on-screen nudity doesn't really help to deliver big philosophy things.

Leaving the second half of the show aside, though, the story in the first half was actually pretty good. The hero's slow ascension to the Big Bad, while learning her powers, numerous setbacks and crushing defeats along the way, from which she only sprang back stronger - all of these were quite juicy and entertaining. It is a shame that stories like these only last for as long as the protagonist doesn't get too strong for all the armies of the world to handle. Good stories know when it's time to quit. KLK didn't.

On the merits of the first half alone, i'd feel comfortable giving the show a 7/10 - nothing too original, but a well done sincere work. However, the second half does actually qualify for a "no story here" 1/10 mark, so the end result has to be 4/10.

Character

Characters are diverse and well-presented. There are all sorts of them, all given some time in the spotlight, all having impact on the storyline.
Well, at least until the storyline goes off the deep end, which is when the entire "good" cast of more than 10 characters might as well be reduced to just three most important ones. The only ones who are interesting at all are the two protagonists, while the plucky sidekick seems to carry the entire secondary cast on her own.

That being said, "interesting" here is a fair bit of stretch. While characters do undergo various trials that should leave them changed, ultimately they seem to just shrug it off and carry on as they did before - with trials only serving to up their battle stats in one way or another (or sometimes not even that).

The situation on the antagonist side is slightly better, as we have some meaningful interaction between two characters. Problem is, they are stuck in the loopy-land of clothes supremacist philosophy that makes them very hard to relate to and their development impossible to appreciate.
So, despite the diversity of character cast, there is almost complete absence of actual character development, combined with secondary cast slowly but surely becoming downright irrelevant.

Kill la Kill tries (and - to an extent - succeeds) to make up for that by making every character's appearance or action a SCENE. There is MUSIC, special effects out of the wazoo and any character getting the spotlight is guaranteed to make the absolute most out of it for as long as it is able, not showing any real development, but rather showing off everything they have got. This is probably the most flamboyant show since JoJo when it comes to character presentation, and that alone gets the character job halfway done.

Sadly, the other half is simply not there. 5/10.

Value

It is important to - once in a while - get a nostalgia trip. Just to remind you of everything that made the trip worthwhile. You don't need conflict or originality or any sort of development on that nostalgia trip. All you need is an anime chick having a swordfight with other anime chick, while wearing next to no clothes, while being looked upon by a cadre of overly muscled dudes, everything to the cool J-Rock tune. Deliver that, and a lot of people will have a good time, and maybe come back to the show again. KLK succeeds in that part very very well. In fact as far as nostalgia trips go, this is one of the best around.

Too bad there is not much else - and definitely not much of anything that would make me want to revisit this show or recommend it to anyone who never saw anime before. 4/10.

Enjoyment

I'd lie if i said i didn't enjoy it. This wasn't the kind of blow-your-mind enjoyment that shows like JoJo's Bizzare Adventure or From the New World got out of me. However, i was looking forward to new episodes and as far as timewasters go, the show is pretty decent. 6/10.

Animation:
KlK brings back the feeling from some of older anime works by incorporating a drawing style that's reminiscent of previous series from Gainax, the influence of which can also be felt present in other aspects of the show like story and characters. However the cultivation of experience till now seems to have paid off. For such a demanding action-oriented series, the directing is impeccable. From the very first episode, intense, larger than life, wild and crazily imaginative action scenes concluded by oil painting-like still shots, stamped with giant red kanji, grip you tight and won't let you off this visual rollercoaster till the end. It is, by literal meaning of the word, epic. It bombards you with a range of vibrant colors, from blood crimsons to a rainbow's brilliance, all escorting a flurry of motion crafted through a master artist's emotion. It's an exhilarating, utterly satisfying experience to merely watch some of the more lavishly produced episodes: It has made me, for the first time, re-watch every new episode successively whenever it was newly aired, be it 2 times or up to 5-6 times.

Sound:
The soundtrack is an absolute blast and a festival for the ears. Leitmotifs strongly affirm all key characters and allow their presence to grow even stronger. They also set the tone for the masterful action scenes. One particular example is Before My Body is Dry, which is already established as an anime anthem of sorts. It follows whenever some grand action is about to be delivered and its combination with the visuals blows the audience away. This is one show that tells us why a true classic cannot be complete without proficiency in the audio department.

Voice acting also is superbly done, easily among the best works by some famed actors who are at their prime. They virtually breathe life into their characters, vividly portraying them as charismatic, adorable or loathable based on the need.

Story:
KlK's story starts off crazy, runs wild and goes out with a bang. It establishes itself as somewhat of a revenge story that further opens up towards the end with many characters' relations tying up around a big picture that's not revealed till later. It's fun, it's sexy, it's awesome but even though the show comes off as being at the borders of incomprehensibility, it's far from that. It harkens back to Trigger crew's previous work in Gainax, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann in both style and ambition, but this time they do a more thorough job at explaining weird stuff and not just be content at mostly building the story over the rule of cool and fanservice. One thing worth mentioning is how they explain the reasons behind scantily clad people, and boy, does it make sense. Now that's something I never ever expected to see from anime.

The story is primarily about clothes and how they're an integral part of society, culture and even human behavior, defining who we try to be and affecting how people view us. But that's presented as a crazy thrill ride that includes gorgeous suit transformations, mechas, legions of badass characters duking it out no holds barred and going above and beyond the norm in kickass action and cool style.

Character:
Characters are the main driving force of the story and it benefits from that greatly, as the spectacular cast includes badass action girls, detestable villains, lovable goofs in strongly bonded teams. Though the show is already very tightly packed without a minute to spare, it does a great job at giving even not so significant characters their time shining in the sun. They charm you and then surprise you, even you expect to be surprised. That's not an accomplishment easily done. Even some characters that I first dismissed as unlikable at first, later managed to grow on me. All in all, it's one of the very rare times that I can say that I liked every single character of the cast in such a show that's both character-driven and has a large body of individuals. They're crazy, they're willful, they're energetic, they're awesome. They carry the show and deliver what you want and more.

Value:
The pace is insanely fast, there's hardly a pause anywhere and I'm pleasantly surprised to say for once that, if anything, this series could be even longer to present the same content. You get a great deal for your time, even the recap 'episode' is what should be an industry standard. I'll just say that much to not ruin it for you.

KlK is easily already at the top 5 shows I devotedly rewatch, but it got a first in making me do that continuously as it aired! I wouldn't believe this could ever happen. And I can confidently tell you that I'm among a big group of people doing that, this show is that good.

Enjoyment:
I have to say, before I first started watching it back then, I wasn't sold on the big hype that building up due to director Imaishi's previous widely known works. Sure, I liked TTGL but had mixed feelings about Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt and was much less enthusiastic about FLCL. So I wasn't expecting much, even something at the level of TTGL would be much more than I would dared to ask. KlK was like a sports car key arriving in a tiny present box. It's the most entertainment I got from an anime in recent years and has got itself a grand throne in my pantheon of anime. It set not standards but new high points for me and honestly, I'll be missing the growing, almost palpable excitement I had towards airing of a new episode every week.

Bottom Line:
This is one show you owe yourself to try, no matter who you are and what you like. It's not something that I could possibly score this high based on its basic premises, quite 'inconceivable' of me. A classic that's surfing over one of the highest waves of this decade, KlK, as it was popularly predicted, saved anime!

First of all, how many noticed that this series copied ideas from Revolutionary Girl Utena? A prestige school where a weird student council rule, a tomboy-ish female who challange them to duels, and her hyperactive best friend... yeah. I'm not saying that stealing ideas makes a bad anime though, as long as it has proper handling, it could turn out even better! Sad thing is, Kill la Kill is not only inferior to Utena, but also to Imai's previous (and so far best, imo) work, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Why? Because (so far) Kill La Kill is a episodic monster of the week show (I think most people are tired of those kinds of anime), with one dimensional characters (I would be surprised if they get any proper development), decent animation at best (obvious budget problems and many still frames. Also, the director's obession with the color red gets annoying), action scenes that pale compared to many other action anime (there are no tactics either), a soundtrack that is OK but not memorable (right now I can only remember the OP and ED), voiceacting that is fine but not great, and its main "appeal" being the fanservice. It's not as symbolic and memorable as Utena, and it lacks the charming characters, grand animation, and world shaking-ly epic feeling of TTGL (not that TTGL is perfect, far from it actually).

In short, I think Kill la Kill is average.

Enjoyment is very low for me, not only because of the simple plot and just as simple characters, but also because of the fanservice. At first, I thought it was because I'm female, and just can't appreciate half-naked fictional ladies (and some half-naked macho men here and there), but then I heard that there is even guys who find this tasteless. I don't mind some skin, but it should be shown in a sexy way, not reveal pretty much everything there is, leaving little left to your imagination. If you like it, that's fine, I won't judge you, but this is waaay to much for me.

Kill la Kill is not bad, but nothing special either, and I really doubt it gets any better (if it does, I will eat my cat. I know what I said).

I'm sorry, Kill la Kill, but you are not as epic as you think.

(Three is no actual spoiler here, just a gif)


So far: 5/10.