What They Say:
After 6 years since their collaboration on the ground breaking anime series, ‘Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann,’ Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima are back to shock the world! Ryuko Matoi is a vagrant school girl traveling from place to place searching for clues to the truth behind her father’s death—the ‘woman with the scissor blade.’ The journey has led Ryuko to Honnouji Academy.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After a few weeks, Kill la Kill is back to kick off 2014 with its second half. The previous episode had a great deal of eventfulness that brought much of what had been built up to a close and began to set up even more. Ryuko has finally succeeded in her goal of locating the woman who murdered her father, but the encounter didn’t go as ideally as she imagined, or as the rest of her encounters tend to. After what happened, the gradually less antagonistic Satsuki prefers for all-out war and Ryuko laments her weakness in both combat and self-control, refusing to put on Senketsu or even get out of bed. There are even a few seconds of quiet, which this show absolutely does not do. And so, someone has to come and shake up the one part of the series that’s acting a little too peacefully, and fortunately for the sake of that, there’s still a very big enemy out there who has in no way been stopped.
As is not terribly uncommon in situations like this, Ryuko isn’t seen until we get a look at a few of the other major goings-on, and there’s plenty to see. Although Satsuki is clearly very concerned about Nui’s arrival and Ryuko’s berserk outbreak and what this all means, she didn’t really have to dirty her own hands, and as such is able to maintain her composure relatively well. That’s a good thing, because even for Satsuki, coming face to face with her mother is quite the intimidating ordeal. I’m sure this won’t last once she becomes a more regular character, but all of Ragyo’s appearances so far have been incredibly powerful, accented with overbearingly bright rainbow effects all around and bolstered by a signature piece of music both worryingly eerie and movingly dramatic. Like most of Imaishi’s work, this series is at its best when it’s epic, and Ragyo is definitely the most epic thing about this episode, and one of the most in the entire series. The tension between Satsuki and her mother also adds to these scenes to make them far more compelling than anything else going on.
On Ryuko’s end, what seems like it could be a one-episode subplot meant to jolt her out of complacent self-pity is revealed to be something much more, effectively rendered but also bringing with it some incredibly stupid elements (I won’t give anything away, but the “data disappearing” scene hurt to watch, mostly because it was treated as serious in the show itself). Needless to say, a certain current threat does make an appearance, and as huge as what she does in such a short time is, I have to say I care most about how amusing the tangibility of her on-screen caption is, not only able to be interacted with by her but also having its own shadow. While the episode had its lulls, the weight of what happens at the end guarantees to have you intrigued.
In Summary:
Kill la Kill is the same as always, a stylistic treasure that never fails to leave a little to be desired in the substance department. With over half the series behind us, it really has to make some impressive strides to hope to live up to its pedigree, and I’d really like to believe it’s trying now. Along with the usual masterful elements, the final events do promise to make for big movement.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, 27” 1080p HDTV.
