Apr 11, 2014
It's been a while since I've had so much fun watching a series. More than anything, I think it's the style that makes this show what it is. I'm unsure if Kill la Kill would work at all if it looked or sounded any differently. Everything from that bold red typesetting to those bizarre interludes Mako does is just so flamboyant. There's no way a show like this could have been made by people who don't really love animation. There's so much enthusiasm and energy put into it that it's difficult not to be swept along with it. Similarly, the music is also fantastic, providing
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a number of catchy songs and themes. Even the voicework, though I don't feel like anything stands out too much, is totally solid. Impressive work all around.
Unfortunately, it's the writing that disappoints for me, particularly in the latter half. From the outset, I never expected Kill la Kill to be anything more than a simple revenge-driven plot. In fact, there really isn't much to it for a while as it follows Ryuuko going around taking on clubs. It's all very monster-of-the-week, and that ain't necessarily a bad thing. It may not be especially thrilling, but the production of the show makes it all extremely entertaining to watch. Then at some point, they start rolling out the plot twists. Initially I was excited to see where this was all going, yet as more episodes went by, I found myself longing for the earlier, sillier episodes. I know this is essentially a show about a talking shirt, but they really start laying it on pretty thick with the plot. I was drawn in by the promise of a simple, action-oriented show with a goofy sense of humor, but now the whole thing has become so convoluted and I'm not sure how I feel about it anymore. With the serious factor dialed up, the comedic elements don't seem to work as effectively and the balance is thrown off. The dramatic bits become less potent and the comedic bits become less funny. I find myself weirdly unsure whether or not I'm supposed to be laughing at certain moments. It can difficult to find the humor in a scene when the previous scene featured a mother uncomfortably groping her daughter. Perhaps most disappointing for me is the unshakable feeling that it's become like so many other action series—the fate of the world hangs in the balance and only the heroes can save it from some generic and uninteresting evil.
I still think this is a decent show, don't misunderstand. Hell, I was sitting on a solid 9 for my score for weeks. It's just a shame that the writing is not as tight as the other aspects of the production. In this case, some work on the pacing probably could have made some of the issues less apparent. Getting so much of the plot dumped in the latter half makes it seem sloppy and it all leads up to a pretty disappointing (and that's putting it mildly) conclusion. Maybe it's just not my thing and I suspect there are those you might feel the same way. Certainly my views won't be popular, but, like I said, I still think this is an all right show with a helluva lot of charm. It's a show that I very much want to show to my friends, both those who do and don't like anime just so I can see what they think. I can see why so many people love it and I think that's great. If you haven't seen it, it's a ride worth taking—I could do without the bumps though.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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