Your opinion on Kill la Kill's Mako Mankanshoku

[Pixelspeech]

I just watched the latest episode (14) of Kill la Kill, which seems to be rather popular around here. I won't say I am a "fan", but the ridiculous plot and Ryuko are enough to have me tune in once a week to see what's up.

However, I really can't stand Mako. I thought she was alright in the first episode where her jokes were fired off so rapidly that you couldn't really think about them, but ever since the show started doing those strange, stop-motion scenes and that "money corrupts" arc she was involved in, she quickly became a nuisance.

Seems to me like her character could easily be replaced with a different friend for Matoi without hurting the overall quality. Do you agree? Disagree? Discuss!

In loving memory of Eren Yeager: who got absolutely torn to pieces the last time I did a similar topic.

 

[Legion]

Funnily enough my opinion is the exact opposite.

She is a stereotypical joyful airhead and I was concerned that this was literally all she was going to be. While she certainly lives up to it, like everything else in Kill La Kill she is ridiculously over-the-top with it.

She is the funniest part of the show as far as I am concerned, especially her interactions with other characters such as Gamagōri. If she wasn't in it, I think it'd be completely detrimental to the show, because she fills a certain niche in regards to the over-the-top nature of the series.

Plus she has some of the best lines.

 

[Pixelspeech]

Funnily enough my opinion is the exact opposite.

She is a stereotypical joyful airhead and I was concerned that this was literally all she was going to be. While she certainly lives up to it, like everything else in Kill La Kill she is ridiculously over-the-top with it.

She is the funniest part of the show as far as I am concerned, especially her interactions with other characters such as Gamagōri. If she wasn't in it, I think it'd be completely detrimental to the show, because she fills a certain niche in regards to the over-the-top nature of the series.

Plus she has some of the best lines.

I will definitely agree that some of her more regular interactions are really fun and I enjoyed the battles against the Elite Four even more because all the losers ended up next to her. Perhaps it's just the stop-motion shtick that I despise, which makes it a shame that it's so horribly common.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I just view her as the comedy relief character they sometime have in a show. I mean the scene with her does tend to be funny which is a good thing since she does tend to defuse the situation quite abit!
Even then she has helped out Ryuko more than once (that speech in the above video did make her realised that she need to embrace Senketsu) like she slapped her out of her berserk mode!
I know for one thing, the show would be alot less funny without her (not even the fabulous Aikuro alone will keep me chuckling).

 

[Drummodino]

Spoiler: Did someone say Mako?

Mako is one of the highlights of the show for me. She's the comic relief character, and she's damn good at it. I love her over-the-top enthusiasm and how she winds up in ridiculous situations all the time. Plus her interactions with other characters (not just Ryuko) often have me laughing like mad.

That is not all there is to her though. Much like the show, she actually has a surprising amount of depth behind her. The fight club arc is where this was most obvious, and I've really enjoyed the development of her friendship with Ryuko over the course of the series. This culminated in the midseason finale quite nicely:

Spoiler

When she calmed down the out of control Ryuko.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

***** please, Mako is the best.

That isn't even an opinion, it's objective fact.


You just can't handle her mad swag.

Mako is the most endearing character in the show, she's hilarious, oblivious, and isn't threatened by anybody. Poor Gamagori, she doesn't take him cereal.

MAKO OUT!

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I like her as the comic relief, though I do think the joke has started to wear off. The law of diminishing returns and such.

I also keep thinking her name is Makankosappo Mako.

 

[Yopaz]

Seeing I'm a little behind on Kill La Kill (European schedule is currently at episode 7) I haven't seem as much as you, but I love her.

She's not a well written and engaging character and that's exactly what they're going for with this. They're checking off the boxes for the various tropes and stereotypes and using them purposefully.

So I can see your point and why you would think the show would be better without her and you're likely right that it could improve the quality of the show. However that's not a concern.

So in conclusion (I've written a mess of a post) I agree with your statement that removing her wouldn't hurt the quality, but I love her and would probably not like the series as much without her.

 

[kailus13]

If it wasn't for Mako giving Ryuko some humanising qualities, Ryuko would just be Eren Jaeger in a skimpy costume.

You are now imagining Eren Jaeger wearing Senketsu. You're welcome.

Seriously though, if Ryuko didn't care for this completely useless person, wouldn't she be rather boring?

 

[teh_Canape]

she's the fucking best
sure she can get a bit annoying at times but thankfully nowhere neat as annoying as mui ir whatever her name is

I really just watch the show for her and ryuko

 

[anthony87]

Seeing I'm a little behind on Kill La Kill (European schedule is currently at episode 7) I haven't seem as much as you, but I love her.

Where are you getting your episodes? Myself and a bunch of other people in Europe are up to the current episode at the moment.

 

[teebeeohh]

i love her.
she is over the top funny, which works better than being over the top...pretty much everything.
and she makes all those super powered people more human when she is around

Spoiler

the part where she hangs out with the student council guys is so funny

 

[Weaver]

I really like her! I think she compliments the always serious Ryuko really well and balances things out a lot.

 

[Zak757]

She started out as a hit-or-miss character who missed more often than not during the first few episodes. I didn't like the "Mako Moments" because they rely mostly based on Japanese visual puns and double meanings for humour, which flew way over my head and just came across as randomness. I also didn't like her voice to start with either, but now I just think it's adorable. From episode 5 and onwards, she's gotten considerably funnier for me. Her interactions with the Gamagoori were hilarious and she got me to laugh out loud in episode 14 during her trip to Osaka. And of course, she is more than just comic relief, she also serves to humanize Ryuko Matoi and turn her into a 3 dimensional character who is more than just some tough delinquent loner out for revengeance.

And of course, episode 7 Mako is just too fucking BOSS to not love.

 

[rednose1]

I love her personally. Everyone else is acting rational (as rational as can be expected i guess) and she is just off on a whole separate tangent. She still retains enough to chip in and help when needed though.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Actually, I think Mako is a necessity for Kill la Kill to be what it is, and not just because of her wacky antics. Mako provides an effective foil to the seriousness of what Ryuko goes through and helps take the edge off of it, and prevents everything from falling into depression. Without her to lighten the mood, the other over-the-top aspects of the series would be much less effective. She also helps keep Ryuko down to earth, which is kind of the opposite of what you'd expect from a person like Mako; Ryuko would be a much less relatable character if she didn't have Mako keeping her from being a completely revenge-obsessed loner. Her strangeness actually reinforces this; because Mako is so strange, the fact that Ryuko is such a close friend to her is more effective at giving Ryuko likable personality traits and makes her seem more protagonist-like.

 

[Coakle]

Naw, Only recently did Ryuuko surpassed Mako as my favorite character. I mainly watch Kill la Kill for the jokes, so removing Mako or replacing her with a more serious friend would be disappointing. It would also be redundant, Senketsu is the more serious friend who helps Ryuuko fight.

My favorite Mako moment was her explaining Ryuuko to Trigger.

 

[Yopaz]

Seeing I'm a little behind on Kill La Kill (European schedule is currently at episode 7) I haven't seem as much as you, but I love her.

Where are you getting your episodes? Myself and a bunch of other people in Europe are up to the current episode at the moment.

Premium member at Crunchyroll, they just recently started to grant access to European members as far as I have seen. I don't mind waiting though, there's a few other series they're airing in January which keeps me interested and a good deal of backlog.

Edit: It might be as specific as my country. Oh well, never mind.

 

[Dansen]

Shes just a souless sock pupet used to trick the audience into thinking the show has a heart. You could remove her from the show and you wouldn't lose anything.