Disclaimer: This will be an extremely long wall of text.This may actually be the most i have ever written.So if you can't take reading alot,(Curse you kids and your tweets.) better book it.Now.Other than that,see yah at the end of the thread.

Now,when Kill La Kill first came out,i loved it.And to be honest,i still do..Kind of.It's become a guilty pleasure.Still though..There is sort of this other side of my brain,that keeps telling me that my love is blinded,and that this show is terrible.And i hate to say it,but i am sort of starting to give into that voice.Overall Kill La Kill is not that impressive,and i don't exactly recommend that anyone go out and watch it.And that could just be where it ended.However,my brain has a habit of going extremely overboard with things.For instance,lets say i play a new video game.If i play that game constantly,my brain will force me to study it,and have it down to an art form.What i'm trying to say is,that i'm trying to understand why my brain is telling me,that this show is bad.Especially when there is a part of me,that tells me this show is good.So,it's time for me to dissect Kill La Kill.

Now let me be clear,this is not a review.I'm not a review kind of person.I like to think of myself as a critic,but not a reviewer.A review is where someone takes a piece of entertainment,and judges whether it is worth your time or not.I will be operating under a basis of why i don't recommend it to you,and think of it as..Kind of a waste of time.

A general thing in these threads of mine,is me often dancing around a topic,then giving my opinion on the topic itself.Then capping it off with a wave,and being on my mary way.This time,i will be very direct.There wont be much joking around here,just an annoying guy ranting about pixels and frames on a screen.But before we get to that,i need to discuss Kill La Kill's effect on anime as a whole,and why it was hyped so much.

Kill La Kill was the debut work of studio Trigger.A stuido made up of big names such as,Hiroyuki Imaishi,and Yoh Yoshinari.Both of these guys have key animation credits under there belts.It's obvious that most of the reason for the hype of this show,was because of these heavy hitters.And for the fact that people were expecting an over the top awesomeness,that anime has not seen since 2000-2010.And this is where it gets hard for anyone to discuss this show,at least if you look at it deeper,and really try to dissect the show.

It's almost like trying to review Fullmetal Alchemist,without ever saying Edward Elric.The two are linked so closely,that its impossible to talk about one,without talking about the other.I'm of course talking about the comparison of Kill La Kill,and Gurren Lagann.Which are from the same creators.Now,i don't care if you have not seen Gurren Lagann,and i don't care if you did not like Gurren Lagann.The fact remains that Kill La Kill is trying to be like this show so much,that its not even funny.
When i first sat down to watch Kill La Kill,i'd like to think that my expectations were in check.i was not expecting the next Gurren Lagann,and i was not expecting anything really.It was just a new show,made my people with big names.So,now its time to talk about the design,and animation.

Alright,all non animation geeks listen up.Imaishi is known for a style of animation that makes use of slowing down frames,and stock color values,along with over the top and exaggerated movement.He will often cut between frames to offer more visceral movement.Most of the animation in anime has every single framed filled in.Making it look much more realistic.
Now,did anyone here get what i was talking about..No? Alright,let me simplify it for you.Now do me a favor and watch just a bit of these boxers throw a few punches.You may stop at your leisure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yoVL8gjxE#t=20

If you have ever seen a punch thrown in real life,you will notice that it will only seem to do extreme impact if it moves very quickly.In animation,certain artist take this to the extreme.Just look at some of the fights hajime no ippo.Certain artist know how to do this very well.They can deliver very exciting motion,while cutting down on the frame rate.Thus boosting efficiency for the audience.

It's why the fights in DBZ look so epic,when in reality most of those frames were animated very poorly.But its lack of fluidity gave it a very stylistic edge,which made it alot more interesting to watch.Shows like Gurren Lagann,and hajime no ippo do this alot.Along with almost every long running shonen series ever.And lets not leave out Kill La Kill,from shows in this category.
From what i can tell,Trigger is basing most of there ideas from this animation.Dropping the frames fluidity,for a more stylistic edge.And to be honest,i am totally okay with that.I love the way hajime no ippo did this.And little witch academia blew me away with its animation.However,i think they really dropped the ball with Kill La Kill.

If you put Kill La Kill in the same category as those shows,while thinking of it as a send up to this style of animation.(And you are,according to studio Trigger themselves.) You will see that it is trying so hard,that its failing.When its not decently animated,its destroyed by disgusting CGI.And when it does not do that,they literally use CUT OUTS! FREAKING CUT OUTS!

I don't care if you think this is not a big deal.The fact is that this is a fully budgeted television series,created in 2014.Cut outs are not exceptable.Especially when they are this relevant in the show.Now i'm not the first person to say this,but the animation is irritatingly sporadic.With the exception of the final episode,which is actually one of the best final episodes i have ever seen,there is no level of consistency in animation.Even Panty And Stocking had better animation then this.And the cutouts used in that show are for comedic effect.And yes,cutouts in Kill La Kill were used for that effect to.But the reason it does not work,is down to the very character design.

Panty And Stocking can get away with hilariously cartoony animation,because of its cool design style.Kill La Kill is designed like a run of the mill anime.But,i will give credit where credit is due.When Kill la Kill is good,it is really,really good.The fights with Ryuko and Satsuki early on in the series,are very good.And the final episode is genuinely a marvel.But here is the thing,those good moments are so few and far between that it almost makes me annoyed that they are even there in the first place.All it shows is that the animators are not completely oblivious on how to make a good show.
Here i am slogging through multiple scences of terrible animation,when something like this pops up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay05HJMr6K4#t=143

And instead of it feeling awesome,it just takes me out of the experience even more.The show gets so incredibly close to a show i want to see,and then it screws it up so bad so many times that it makes me wonder why it just wont be a completely good animated show,or a bad one.Not some abominable half breed.It has its moments of genuinely good animation,but its to inconsistent to be seen as a merit,and instead just takes you out of the experience.

Now i can already here some of you going-"But i don't watch anime for animation,i watch it for a good story." Listen,watching anime for a good story is like only eating food to get full.Yes,that is why its there for you in the first place.But there are alot of other factors that play in for you to enjoy anime.And that leads me to my next point,Kill La Kills story is not that good.
Now,nobody was expecting it to be anything special,well..I know i wasn't.But since in my eyes it failed at the primary aspect it was going for. (A.K.A Shut up,and have good fight scences.) There are not many redeeming qualities.But do not worry,i will explain why i think the story is bad to.Now then,i expect that most people watching this have already seen the show,so i do not believe i need much of a story synopsis.Kill La Kills plot is as basic as they come.

Main Character who is out for revenge arrives at a weird town.She starts looking for trouble with the wrong crowd of people,and ends up uncovering a deeper plot for everything.That oddly,only she can stop.Becuase you know..Plot relevance.
There is alot of shouting,lots of fighting,and lots of angst.A general rule when it comes to story telling,is that when you have a basic plot you make up for it with something else.A good example is a film called Sword Of The Stranger.



The whole story is just there,so they can have the extremely well choreographed fight scences.What i am trying to say is this-"A basic story is not exactly a bad thing.However,if there is nothing else going for it,then we have a problem." One would think we can establish interesting characters,and plot.NOPE! Why would we do that,when we can do Mako's annoying hallelujah sketches?! Or when we can have Ryuko go all edgy and depressed on us,after finding out that she is basically a life fiber crack baby.Kill La Kills story does not have much going for it.Yes,it has some cool plot twist here and there.Yes,some of the characters are genuinely interesting.

(Just a quick little gag.Let me play a game with you.One of these two are the best characters in the entire show.Which one is it?)


However,the story as a whole is just a mess.And i hate to dip into nitpicking territory,but let me tell you one plot point that i really hate.Ever since i was a child,i have always hated the "Destroy the world plot!" Why the heck would you destroy the one place you live? Unless you're an alien species,or you pull a Lelouch card on us and just rebuild the world in your image.We never get a very good reason for why we ragyo wants to hand the world over to the life fibers.
In the character department,you have your typical variety of anime characters.

Big honor bound guy.
The computer nerd.
The hot blooded warrior.
The flat chested chick,with the annoying voice.
The character i like to refer to as,The Big Boss Bit-..Female Dog.
The useless family,that is just there for comic relief.
The useless waste of space for comic relief.
And finally,the edgy main character,that..Oddly reminds me of shadow the hedgehog...

The relationship of the characters can easily be summed up in short sentences.Mako and Ryuko are best friends.Ryuko and Satsuki are bitter rivals,until they find out they are sisters and go all Tsundere for each other.And the rest of the cast does not get enough of time to be extremely talked about.Basically everything i said before about them,is all you need to know.
Now then,are there any deeper messages to this show? And before you throw me that Tumblr image of Kill La Kill being a deep statement of the nature of fan service in anime,and of course "The Male Gaze." Don't you worry your silly little head over that.As i have already factored that in.And let me tell you what i think of that,its stupid.

It sort of reminds me of most religion.You can't prove its right,but you can't prove its wrong either.Which gets everyone stuck in a purgatory of arguments that go back in forth.However,i would be stupid to say that there was at least some deeper sub text.Kill La Kill obviously has some certain ideas it likes to throw out there.And the viewer can gain different symbolic messages in the show.

HOWEVER! (If i had a dollar for the times i have said that in this post.) Knowing that these messages exist is one thing.Does the anime hold its end of the bargain,and follow through with those themes? I mean..I would most likely not be writing this if it did,because it would most likely be alot better,but anyway.Kill la Kill is one of those anime that like to throw certain ideas out there,but does not follow through with them in the end.Lets see what some of the subtext in Kill la Kill talks about.

In the show,your worth is literally based on your appearence.And we have the theme about how in alot anime,everything is based around highschool.Both of these are hinted at,and mentioned a few times in the story,but none of them actually tie into the main plot.And because of this,the central narrative has a very weak foundation.

Ryuko wants to find out who killed her dad.
She finds out who killed her dad.
Then she has no idea what she wants to do.

Then later on the story gives her a stupid reason,for why she now has to save the world.
Kill la Kill fails in this aspect,because at times it feels like there is nothing the characters are fighting against.The only way they were able to fix this,was at the end.With the whole "SHE GONNA BLOW UP THE FREAKING WORLD!" Plot. Still,there are a bit more things i can talk about.

Kill la Kill has this thing with clothing,and how its responsible for the evolution of mankind.The message here is that the clothes,literally make the man.And in all honesty,that is pretty interesting.And the show does have a decent way of keeping this up.The other part of this theme is that the main characters gain strength from these clothes,by being comfortable while wearing them.Early on in the seris,Ryuko is lacking in fighting skills because she feels ashamed by wearing the revealing armor that is senketsu.That is until Satsuki delivers her famous quote,which is most likely the best line in the entire show.

"This is the form in which a Kamui is able to release the most power! The fact that you are embarrased by the values of the masses only proves how small you are!"

The reason i say this show failed with this aspect,is because it is never really talked about later on in the series.It teases you with the idea of this theme.And the reason why the characters where this clothing.But eventually,it just drops that idea.Now for the second thing.The idea that Kill la Kill is a statement of school in anime.I actually think this is one of the best things in the show.At least in the first half.In case you have not noticed by now,anime has this thing where it revolves around high school SO MUCH! Kill la Kill does its best to take this concept,and mock it.

The center of the city,is the academy.Your worth in the city,is tied to your rank in the school.This is shown in episode 7.As it is shown that your living quaters,and basic ways of living are split up based on your star ranking.Characters who are not students are not even given the time of day.

But i must admit,the fact that these themes are here,and can even be discussed are not an automatic merit towards the series.For godsake people,there are themes that can be discussed in the star wars prequels.Or even Spongebob.
And that my friends is a rant...But you know what..I still like this crap.I have know idea why,but i still enjoy this show.I guess you can say that i am a bit of a masochist.Even though it is unfocused,poorly animated,and is constantly trying to follow up the design legacy,of a show that is mostly better than it.But be aware,i am bashing the show,not its fans.And as i said before,i like Kill la Kill.But i have said it before,and i will say it again.

"I feel as if it is best to anaylze both the good,and bad things in any medium.As they help us see why good things work,and why bad things don't."

Anyhow,with that i will be leaving.As i have a friend coming over soon,and i need to find a place to hide my Ryuko body pillow.But before i go,i would like to ask you-the viewer,a question.What do you think of Kill la Kill? Do you think its pretty good,or just mediocre.Anyhow,see yah! *Waves*

Oh yeah,i lied.There is no cookie...