I actually got disinterested around episode 6 and episode 7 got me back into the fold due to it being the first episode with an actual clear message. It's only after I watched the entire anime once and got to see it again that I started to appreciate it for what it really is.
Story: 5 : To be honest I said to my friends around episode 4 or 5 that "Ryuko and Satsuki will end up having sex before the end of the anime or they'll end up being long lost sisters". And I could also predict lots of little elements in the story just from the storytelling and the setups. It's another story in a school(although there are none of the usual school mechanics, no classes, no making friends, nothing but Ryuko, Satsuki, and each of their gangs), lots of things are predictable, and I also predicted the main twist in the story. So overall bleh.
Art: 9 : I don't care what anyone says about the overabundance of cheap still images and obviously quickly-drawn animations, I find the art to work absolutely perfectly here. With the use of CGI, stills and animated scenes, the art in general works as well as can be. Facial expressions, body language, general locations, style, everywhere the style is flamboyant and expressive, except when it's willingly meant to look sort of ugly and bland. Kill la Kill works especially well as a style without substance anime, and its style certainly gains a ton from it. The apparent simplicity hides a richness with lots of content shoved into many scenes and where you often see a thing the second time that you missed on the first time. The abuse of a comedic drawing style can sometimes do wonders to emphasize the events happening or the characters' feelings and that also is both something in semi-bad taste and something that works perfectly for this anime.
A less favorable point is the fights: there are many, they have shaky cam syndrome, they generally are technically weak and although the characters personalities are the centerpiece of the clashes, it doesn't excuse the generally very poor choreographies and uninteresting clash and clash and clash and clash fights.
Sound : 10 : Excellent soundtrack, I've listened to a lot of the songs outside of the anime, especially Ryuko Matoi's main theme, Before my Body is Dry. The sound design overall also does an excellent job, and in general the voice acting is as good as it gets.
Nuuuuudisto Beeaaaaach~i
Characters: 7 : Surprisingly for an anime carried by its characters this is quite weak, but to be honest none of them shine, not even Ryuko. Ryuko's quest is an easily relatable vengeance one, most of the other characters have their backstories given through flashbacks, none of them are that memorable, in general they all work well and are enjoyable in the context of the manga, but I don't find any of them to warrant a particularly deep look. I have a very soft spot for the earnest and open pervertedness of Aikuro Mikisugi, but he's more of a parody than a good character.
They work well and are enjoyable, like almost everything in this anime.
Enjoyment : 8 : I'm tempted to give a 9 but it would need better fights. Or less fights. In general as I said KLK works AS an enjoyable anime. Its story is very bleh and I didn't think highly of characters, or themes, or anything. Nothing in this anime shines particularly bright apart from some parodies and the gorgeous flamboyant style. Yet this got me very, very well, it got under my skin very efficiently. Finishing it the first time I felt like it had been mostly nice and maybe I'd watch again. Finishing it again, I felt like i had seen a really great and fun anime, despite its shallowness. KLK is meant to be enjoyed beyond anything else. The style is meant to be enjoyed, the characters are meant to be enjoyed, the setup is meant to be enjoyed, nothing in this anime is there for the sake of anything but enjoyment.
For all the efforts some animes can give to making something powerful or memorable for themselves, or something really funny, Kill la Kill comes off as not doing that much effort to be enjoyed. It's better than that. It seems to enjoy itself and to want to enjoy itself as much as possible, and be enjoyed by others. It's the kind of project that was done by people who loved it and went all out with it.
Overall: 8 : Let's be clear on one point, if you are into anime for a story or depth, KLK will never deliver and has no intentions to. If some animes are about giving a good story thanks to animation, KLK wants to be an anime and be great at it. This is an animator/anime maker's wet dream, not a profound outlook on anything. Being myself someone who enjoys story and doesn't really care about animation, I wanted to drop it after episode 6. And despite episode 7 bringing me back, it's only once I knew what the show was out there for that I really got to appreciate it for what it is. The feeling of it being mostly empty and just about the flamboyant style intertwined with parody was something I loathed, but I ended up treasuring it, especially after watching KLK a second time in its entirety.
The second go almost completely changed my mind from "this is kinda fun but I'm not all that interested" to "this may be an empty shell but it's so much fun". The shallowness of the story and simple characters may have been a turn-off at first when I was expecting something out of them, but when I went again knowing exactly what to expect, understanding the finer points of the parody and the more subtle aspects of the story and world(which can only be truly well understood after the first watch, which is probably a design flaw), and appreciating the fun for the sake of fun, the craziness for the sake of craziness, just expecting nothing but a smile on my face and some happy insanity, I enjoyed myself immensely and had a great time, especially with the first half, not that the second is worse but it's very fight-centric and fights are still bad.
Kill la Kill may never reach the heavens and it may forever be just a fun and bombastic anime, but I ended up truly loving it for what it was, and I'll watch it again and treasure it.
