I know I'm late to the discussion of this show, but I have a personal rule that I don't watch a show until it's finished its airtime so I can make sure it doesn't vanish up its own butthole halfway through and walk away from the experience with a bad taste in my mouth. Especially after I broke my own rule and checked out Attack On Titan and had to drop it after Episode 6 or so for the sake of my own sanity.
Anyway.
I recently started to watch Kill La Kill, having heard on /a/ that the series has finally concluded its run and remained good all the way through.
I very much enjoyed the show, and would probably rate it as the best new anime to come out in recent memory. It keeps the pace up so we never have to dwell on the (thankfully rare) weaker aspects of the storyline or action scenes. The character designs are all great, and just about every character has a sympathetic backstory and a couple of good jokes. The fanservice is prevalent, but it appeals to both the male and the female demographic, so I didn't think much of it.
Then it hit me. The fanservice was actually part of the show's metaphor. After browsing a few more threads on /a/, I found that no one else had come to this conclusion.
Kill La Kill is a story about a girl's womanhood, her sexual maturity, pride in her appearance and body, and the power that sexuality holds over us.
For those not in the know, Kill La Kill is a fighting anime about a young girl named Ryuko who transfers to a new academy ruled over by the tyrannical Student Council President Satsuki Kiryuin, who seeks to subjugate the world with her legion of students, armed with the power-boosting Goku Uniforms. When Ryuko does battle with these students, her uniform becomes an incredibly skimpy costume that make what most strippers wear appear frumpy by comparison. This, of course, is much to her chagrin, as Ryuko repeatedly mentions that she hates to be undressed in front of other people.
Which is the brilliance of the show's metaphor. Satsuki constantly goes on about her purity, her discipline, and the personal power she holds over other people, and just about every member of her entourage is quick to remind each other of Lady Satsuki's beauty and strength. And just to make it better, every member of Satsuki's entourage is attractive to at least one niche group in the anime fandom. Gamagori, of the Disciplinary Council, is a massive, long-blonde-hair-sporting beefcake who uses masochism and discipline as a weapon. Inumuta of the Information Division is a tall, thin, glasses-sporting techie who wears bishonen like a neckbeard wears a trenchcoat. Jakuzure, a pink-haired sprite who's known Satsuki since her childhood and is who risks life and limb to protect her best friend. And last but not least, Sanageyama, a strong and utterly honorable young man, one born too late to be a samurai. Every last one of these characters is a sexualized niche within the community, and since only the most attractive characters are the credible threats within the show, I started to wonder if there was something else at play besides just fanservice.
Ryuko, in order to fully realize her strength while wearing her uniform, has to accept her own body and "become naked, one and the same" with her incredibly sexualized outfit; which I realized was a metaphor for her coming to terms with her own body.
As time went on, Ryuko seemed to become more and more comfortable wearing such a skimpy outfit, and more often than not, other characters would bring up the attractiveness of their peers after a major defeat or in the middle of battle. She even came to enjoy the way that her friend's father, brother, and dog were drawn to her perfectly-proportioned, supple body.
I would go into detail about the rest of the show, the resistance group who call themselves Nudist Beach composed once again of handsome bishonen men who have a vendetta against fighting garments, but for now, I'm just going to ask: do you think that my theory is sound, or am I just reading too much into things?
Anyway.
I recently started to watch Kill La Kill, having heard on /a/ that the series has finally concluded its run and remained good all the way through.
I very much enjoyed the show, and would probably rate it as the best new anime to come out in recent memory. It keeps the pace up so we never have to dwell on the (thankfully rare) weaker aspects of the storyline or action scenes. The character designs are all great, and just about every character has a sympathetic backstory and a couple of good jokes. The fanservice is prevalent, but it appeals to both the male and the female demographic, so I didn't think much of it.
Then it hit me. The fanservice was actually part of the show's metaphor. After browsing a few more threads on /a/, I found that no one else had come to this conclusion.
Kill La Kill is a story about a girl's womanhood, her sexual maturity, pride in her appearance and body, and the power that sexuality holds over us.
For those not in the know, Kill La Kill is a fighting anime about a young girl named Ryuko who transfers to a new academy ruled over by the tyrannical Student Council President Satsuki Kiryuin, who seeks to subjugate the world with her legion of students, armed with the power-boosting Goku Uniforms. When Ryuko does battle with these students, her uniform becomes an incredibly skimpy costume that make what most strippers wear appear frumpy by comparison. This, of course, is much to her chagrin, as Ryuko repeatedly mentions that she hates to be undressed in front of other people.
Which is the brilliance of the show's metaphor. Satsuki constantly goes on about her purity, her discipline, and the personal power she holds over other people, and just about every member of her entourage is quick to remind each other of Lady Satsuki's beauty and strength. And just to make it better, every member of Satsuki's entourage is attractive to at least one niche group in the anime fandom. Gamagori, of the Disciplinary Council, is a massive, long-blonde-hair-sporting beefcake who uses masochism and discipline as a weapon. Inumuta of the Information Division is a tall, thin, glasses-sporting techie who wears bishonen like a neckbeard wears a trenchcoat. Jakuzure, a pink-haired sprite who's known Satsuki since her childhood and is who risks life and limb to protect her best friend. And last but not least, Sanageyama, a strong and utterly honorable young man, one born too late to be a samurai. Every last one of these characters is a sexualized niche within the community, and since only the most attractive characters are the credible threats within the show, I started to wonder if there was something else at play besides just fanservice.
Ryuko, in order to fully realize her strength while wearing her uniform, has to accept her own body and "become naked, one and the same" with her incredibly sexualized outfit; which I realized was a metaphor for her coming to terms with her own body.
As time went on, Ryuko seemed to become more and more comfortable wearing such a skimpy outfit, and more often than not, other characters would bring up the attractiveness of their peers after a major defeat or in the middle of battle. She even came to enjoy the way that her friend's father, brother, and dog were drawn to her perfectly-proportioned, supple body.
I would go into detail about the rest of the show, the resistance group who call themselves Nudist Beach composed once again of handsome bishonen men who have a vendetta against fighting garments, but for now, I'm just going to ask: do you think that my theory is sound, or am I just reading too much into things?
