So in a move to keep the pacing fast, this episode already broke the monster of the week formula, only to get back to it again next week. That’s good. Monster of the week can be awesome when done right, and having a fight with the main bad guy this early keeps things fresh. Aside from that, there are two other keys that are necessary for this format to work:
– ‘Interesting’ individual episodes (interesting can be anything, as long as it’s good)
– Building up to something, and using this at the end.
So far kill la Kill is on the right path. The fast-paced battles so far are enough to keep my attention from start to finish, and it’s too early to tell whether or not this is going to succeed in the long run, there still is potential for it either way, but it’s definitely not a bad attempt thanks to this episode spicing things up.
The acting also is pretty damn good: the villains all have presence and really are threatening, the main is engaging, and even that annoying side-kick for once is so weird that she’s somewhat endearing. You can really see that the creators here are big fans of old school anime, and they aim to put their own twists to them. Gurren Lagann was a homage to the mecha genre, Panty and Stocking were all about american cartoons a la Invader Zim and the Power Puff Girls, and now this show is about the school genre, taking the genre completely over the top using the exact tropes that were already abused so often and taking it over 9000.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)
I get the feeling this current monster of the week setup will be broken by the 8th episode. If it follows the path of gurren lagann then the current villain will end up not being the main villain and there will be a shift in tone.
In fact I get the feeling that the student council president will end up becoming a Viral.
fun episode again.
im going to make a guess and say that teacher mikisugi will be the real villain in the series, he will don a super powerful kamui and be very nearly butt naked, matoi and kiryuin will join forces to defeat him.
could be wrong about the teacher but matoi and kiryuin will definitely join forces against an even greater foe.
little nitpick, i find it a bit too wrong that the father of mako likes to peep and his wife puts up with it with a smile, maybe in japan that would deem to be funny, but i dont find it funny from a north american perspective. maybe they can rectify it by making the wife more indecent.
His wife is actually somewhat passively sadistic against him. She acts and sounds like a normal housewife, but she has no problem with him paying for his indecent actions, creating a contrast with her personality that fits a show like this.
Not to mention, the “housewife” image IS one of the popular images in support of feminism in Japan (founded by the journalist Raicho–whose view of proper feminism involves complete freedom of choice, but dedication to womankind’s role in the household, since that is something they are designed by nature to be great at, whereas men can’t physically replace them in their social role–in other words, duty that requires freedom to be most efficient, much in the same way men have their social and family duty they can’t run from).
It’s not the only form of feminism in Japan, but it’s a very popular, widespread idea that is often misleading to Western ears and eyes, as they don’t see the underlying privilege and pride women have in this role. Mako’s mother seems to embody this principle, if only for her passive sadism that she’s not afraid to express to strangers in front of her husband. =P
Yes, this is over-analyzing, but it’s also relevant to your concerns, so take this as you will. =P
I so wanna see him go into seductive-creep mode in a skimpy Kamui. Please.
I also fully expect Kiryuin not to be the final villain here. This is Imaishi after all: At the midway point of the series it will explode into something far bigger than high-school battles.
And it will be glorious.
I love this shit.
That is all.
Jesus help you if you go on /a/ though.
As for Satsuki Kiryuin and the villain shift thing, she’s fine but I have no reason not to hate the bitch.
The folks making this anime are… interesting. I looked them up, and this is their first full-length anime. They’ve only done shorts before this. In other words, it’s a really new animation studio. I really didn’t expect one of those to appear these days.
Oh, and they did a Kickstarter for another animated project recently – they’re interacting with western fans a lot more than most other studios are.
Do you know TTGL and Panty&Stocking? Some of the big name staffs (Hiroyuki Imaishi, Masahiko Ohtsuka, Sushio, Yoh Yoshinari, etc) that made the better animes from the acclaimed studio, Gainax, left and formed Trigger studio. That’s why people were anticipating their first series and here it is. The studio might be new, but the people are veterans that know what they’re doing.
as for interacting with western fans. the studio owner imaishi and his cohorts know they have a large fanbase in the west so it should be natural for them to interact and foster this relationship. basically its online community management, its been an important facet for a lot of companies in the last several years.
The animation and fightscenes are so ridiculous it’s like this is the final episode of the series. It’ll be interesting to see how they will follow up for the remaining 9 eps.
It’s actually a 2 cours anime but yeah I agree, I want to see how they are going to keep up with these high-budget looking episodes. I actually want to see more low-keyed episodes from Kill la Kill.
Wow, well i don’t think this is an anime you should be too technical about… Just my opinion
My only problem with the show was the stupid ass outfit the MC wears, and now the main villain wears it too. Aside from that being really annoying, I enjoy this show.
The over-the-top-ness is fabulous. This is a hoot. I normally abhor fan-service, but they make fun of it themselves in the show, so we can play along. The ditzy family is a comedic delight. I had reservations about this show when I heard about it (if I see big boobies on display, I assume it’s not forme, 90% of the time–Bleach and TTGL being exceptions. This one fits in the 10%. Fun!
The fan service is too much, but I can’t help shaking my head and laughing at the ridiculousness of it. I’ve rec’d it to a friend of mine, not sure what he’ll think about my tastes haha.
It’s so so so over the top, but that makes it amazing. I think it’s the fact that it can make fun of itself that makes this a good anime.
Whoa! Where did this come from? Everything that I love about anime in one place. The fan service is a bit too much at times, but holey shit this is a quality show that packs so much in one episode. Everyone is so likable and that art style makes my eyes feel good.
The fight scene was one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. I skipped panty and stocking, but I’m glad to see something from the folks that brought me Gurren Lagann and I’m never board watching it.
Better than Attack on Titan? I think so. So what gets dropped for this series for me? Probably Flamenco unless this next ep steps it up big time.