Review of Kill la Kill (2013)

Moving picture, 10 hours

Seen in 2014.

At a gigantic school in the middle of Tokyo Bay, one delinquent seeks to avenge the death of her father, a man who believed that clothing is a virus.

Fabric-softened SF action.

The first major work of Trigger, branched off from Gainax, where director Imaishi and writer Nakashima both worked on Gurren Lagann (2007), a show that exaggerates mecha conventions. Kill la Kill similarly exaggerates the shōnen tournament flavour of school drama. The two are very similar in tone and overarching plot.

The energy level here is even higher than Gurren Lagann, full of wild incidental detail. I like the idea of the fashion industry being dominated by interstellar evil, but I have yet to make the show—or myself—sound good to anyone by saying so. Gratuitously sexualized character designs and situations afflict men and women.

References here: “Sex & Violence with Machspeed” (2015).

moving picture Japanese production animation fiction series