I. Just. Fricking. LOVE. Kiryuin. Ragyo's. Theme(or OST). I think it is also used somewhere else, so to be more specific, I am talking about Blumenkranz.
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Kill la Kill is an anime which I encountered during my early days of being an otaku. That time I didn't really know much about anime, so I just gave a try to everything new I saw. So there was a youtuber whose videos I really liked back then. And he had just uploaded a post about anime recommendations. In there were about 8 anime(from which I had heard about only one lol). And one of them was Kill la Kill. If your favourite youtuber has told something, OFCOURSE do it. Now for some reason, I got particularly interested in Kill la Kill. So I just went to the seamanned website I used and started watching the first episode. I only watched it for about 3 to 4 minutes and then closed it (dunno why). I didn't actually understand much by watching it and it also felt boring so I just added it to my 'On-Hold List'. It stayed there for about a year. Then I started watching it again. And watched about 12 episodes and then started rewatching it from ep 1 to 24 (because it was a long time since I watched episode 12 and I had probably forgotten what had happened). So now that I have completed it, here's the review:
If someone told me to describe this anime with only one word, then I would just say 'CRAZY'. Even though I have not watched like thousands of anime, Kill la Kill is one of the most unique ones that I have come across. Whether it be the weird-styled yet interesting and crazy world building or the skill of the creator to put ecchi in every damn frame possible, Kill la Kill has got you covered. Now if you have ecchiphobia or something, PLEASE! Stay away from it.
Story: 9/10
Now I really appreciate the fact that this anime has a female protagonist and how it just throws away the idea of a typical male protag which most of the anime have/had at that time atleast. Either dumb,foodie,reckless, stubborn or a 17 year old highschool student. And what's even better? The antagonist is also female. That's one of the many reasons due to which I called KILL la KILL unique. But what's still sad is that even though the protagonist is our pogchamp girl, the dad is missing this time too :( . And from that is where the story gets started. Ryuko Matoi is a 17 year old girl who is in search of the person who killed her father, Isshin Matoi. While searching she comes across Honnouji Academy, where most parts of the story takes place. Now before watching Kill la Kill I had seen a meme in which the powers of the student councils from various anime were shown. The meme was that SpongeBob one and Kill la Kill was the last anime in that. I was wondering what is so special about the student council of Kill la Kill. And when I watched it, I totally understood why the meme was made so. Basically, the student council president of Honnouji Academy is the Headmaster/Principal of the school. Or something even greater than a mere Principal. And that is none other than Kiryuin Satsuki. Everything there i.e. from the ranks of the students to where and how the people of that town live, is decided by her. Why is the story great:
1. The story starts in a very weird environment, which makes this more interesting.
2. Its so damn crazy that it will leave you with your mouth wide open.
3. It stays true to its genre. There are many ecchi anime out there. But when there are any serious moments/fights going on in them, the ecchi-ness just dissappears. But Kill la Kill is not like that. In fact, it's the total opposite. The more serious it gets, the more ecchi it gets. You will know that if you watch atleast till episode 3 or 4.
4. Kind of the 3rd point again. It has some really good comedy scenes. A lot, tbh.
5. The plot twists and direction of the story. This is one of the main reasons why I called it crazy. Like, I kinda cannot describe how, but it IS crazy. It will take you on a rollercoaster. While watching this, I literally felt the story was gonna end just at that particular episode I am watching when it was far from being ended. For example, it felt like it was gonna end at episode 3 or 4, then around episode 7, then 13 and finally 20. Of course it didn't end in any of those episodes. And then there are the INSANE plot twists which I cannot talk about because I don't want to purposely give any spoilers :].
Art:9/10
Art or Animation whatever you want to call it, I give it a rating of 8.5 out of 10. Now most of the people think that for the animation to be good, it has to have a very high budget, it has to be very high quality no matter what the scene is.... Basically, the higher the quality= the better the art style/animation. But I do not quite believe that. Animation should be so that it adds more flavour to what is going on. And I must say, TRIGGER has managed to do that. For example, the animation should be of course high quality during fight scenes, but when there are comedy scenes, lower quality animation does pretty well. Not only does it look more funny, it also saves a lot of budget. Nice huh? And oh I like flashy stuff so that's also a reason ;). Also if you just WANT to talk about quality, then still it's pretty good. Especially the backgrounds in Kill la Kill. They look so awesome. Next up is 'Sound'.
Sound: 10/10
ILOVERAGYO'STHEMEILOVERAGYO'STHEMEILOVERAGYO'STHEMEILOVERAGYO'STHEMEILOVERAGYO'STH- Once again,
I. Just. Frickin. Love. Kiry-
Well that's enough I guess. No need to say it again. You got it anyways.
Now THIS is the real thing about Kill la Kill. Music. Most of its soundtracks are just too good. Of course you expect nothing less from Sawano Hiroyuki. I don't think I have much to talk about music so I'll just tell some of my favourite themes and openings/endings.
1. OP 1. 'Sirius'
2. Blumenkranz (Kiryuin Ragyo's theme)
3. InuKA3L
4. KiryuhaKiLL
5. Nadzuke sensu 0-gata
6. OP 2. 'ambiguous'
7. Ending 1. 'Gomen ne, liko ja irarenai'
Oh and I think I forgot to mention something....
I love Kiryuin Ragyo's theme.
Character: 8/10
There are some really great characters in Kill la Kill. Of course, I liked Ryuko alot. She has great character development throughout the series. But there is also one other character worth mentioning. That is, Mankanshoku Mako. I mean, who doesn't like her? There maybe some people that do not particularly like her, but atleast nobody hates her. She also has some really good character development. I can't tell much cuz I may give spoilers :<.
Enjoyment: 10/10
I really enjoyed watching this series. With awesome music and epic battles (and also flashy stuff and those kam- uhm nevermind), how can I even get bored? Of course there was more entertaining stuff like those plot twists too. So yeah 9.5 - 10 for enjoyment.
Overall: 9/10
This was a really awesome anime, probably one of my favourites. It just blew up my expectations. I just thought like.... Yeahhh.. it's just gonna be some ecchi shit typical boring anime. But NOPE. It ISN'T. It's far more greater. And I bet you that most people did the same thing. Underestimating it. Overall I would like to give KILL la KILL a solid 9/10. So yeah, one of my favourites. Worth another rewatch. That's it for the review.. It was really long but still worth your time. And if you are planning to watch this anime, I would certainly recommend it to you :).
