![\"KLK2\"](\"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/KLK2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSomewhere in Japan, and anime cafe is working on a recipe for mystery meat croquettes. I guarantee it.<\/em><\/p>\n Kill la Kill<\/i>\u2019s first and most obvious balancing act was the way in which it constantly defied expectations while still embracing the conventions of Big Dumb Action Shows.\u00a0 At first glance, we have a fairly typical shonen plot structure: a rebellious loner with special powers takes on increasingly challenging opponents in a quest for revenge, which ultimately leads to a climactic battle with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance.\u00a0 Along the way, friends are made, lessons are learned, and monologues are shouted at maximum volume by heroes and villains alike.\u00a0 Anyone seeking a modern version of the Dragon Ball<\/i> or Fist of the North Star<\/i> franchises could watch Kill la Kill<\/i> and come away satisfied.<\/p>\n However, despite its adherence to the rules, Kill la Kill<\/i> was still able to constantly catch viewers off guard.\u00a0 After getting a look at the cruelty and scheming of Ragyo and Nui, many probably guessed that Satsuki would eventually come to her senses and side with Ryuko.\u00a0 We expected a Return of the Jedi<\/i> moment where Satsuki would interfere at the last second and help Ryuko snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.\u00a0 Instead, Kill la Kill<\/i> showed us how gravely we\u2019d underestimated Satsuki when it revealed that she\u2019d been plotting an organized rebellion from the very beginning.\u00a0 Suddenly, we understood why so much time and effort had gone into humanizing Satsuki and the Elite Four, who began the series as the ostensible villains.\u00a0 (See one of my past articles<\/a> for just how completely the show had me fooled.)\u00a0 By starting off as a \u201cstyle over substance\u201d action series, Kill la Kill<\/i> set itself up to constantly surprise its audience with how clever it could be.<\/p>\n Viewers were also kept guessing by Kill la Kill<\/i>\u2019s seemingly contradictory efforts to empower and sexualize its female characters.\u00a0 On one hand, nearly all of the show\u2019s heavy hitters are female, a rarity in this genre.\u00a0 I challenge you to find another shonen action series where the protagonist (Ryuko), best friend\/love interest (Mako), rival (Satsuki), archenemy (Nui), and evil mastermind (Ragyo) are all women.\u00a0 The ladies of Kill la Kill displayed a wide range of intelligence, physical power, emotional depth, and believable flaws as they stood constantly in the spotlight.\u00a0 On the other hand, the series reveled in having these characters wear skimpy, ridiculous outfits on a nearly constant basis.\u00a0 The revealing costumes weren\u2019t limited to the female characters, but the battle attire in Kill la Kill<\/i> always seemed to be at odds with its other themes.<\/p>\n Eat your heart out,\u00a0<\/em>Madoka Magica.<\/p>\n Of course, by \u201calways,\u201d I mean \u201cuntil the last episode.\u201d\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until the aftermath of the final battle that we saw the whole picture.\u00a0 In the process of defeating Ragyo and the life fibers, the last of the heroines\u2019 uniforms were destroyed. \u00a0In his final moments, Senketsu told Ryuko to replace him with new clothes.\u00a0 His request was honored in the epilogue, which showed the show\u2019s surviving characters wearing street clothes of their own choosing in a newly peaceful world.\u00a0 This change punctuated an idea that slowly built up over the course of the series.\u00a0 In order to fight their enemies, Kill la Kill<\/i>\u2019s female characters needed to put on revealing outfits.\u00a0 We can interpret this as an analogy for the way in which women in anime action series are frequently used as \u201cfan service\u201d characters, their fighting abilities ignored in favor of skimpy clothing and sleazy camera angles.\u00a0 From this perspective, Ryuko and Satsuki\u2019s battle takes on a symbolic quality: their struggle is as much for the freedom to dress how they want as it is to save the world.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure this lets Kill la Kill<\/i> completely off the hook for its costume design, but it does elevate it a notch above less ambitious titles.<\/p>\n Looking back, Kill la Kill<\/i> reminds me of other anime titles that proved to be smarter than they first appeared.\u00a0 It stands on level ground with shows like Black Lagoon<\/i>, Gurren Lagann<\/i>, and Fate\/Zero<\/i>.\u00a0 Each can be enjoyed on a surface level as a mix of impressive action and high drama, but there\u2019s a more complex layer waiting for anyone willing to take a closer look.\u00a0 Considering that I\u2019ve watched each of these name-drop shows at least twice, I suspect Kill la Kill<\/i> will soon be due for a second viewing.\u00a0 It\u2019s the kind of series that simply demands more attention than can be paid in a single sitting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Kawaii Overthink is written by Paul Jensen. You can follow his ramblings about anime on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The finale of Kill la Kill aired last week, wrapping up a journey filled with epic battles, shocking plot twists, and absurd outfits.\u00a0 It\u2019s safe to say that this show generated plenty of interest and debate amongst anime fans, and the constant buzz that surrounded it was not without good reason.\u00a0 Kill la Kill carefully [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":931,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions\/931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n