Kill La Kill: First Impressions
So to follow up from the last post(TTGP analysis) I thought it would be nice to do a review of Kill La Kill. For all those who don’t know TTGP and Kill La Kill are directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by Kazuki Nakashima, their first series together was in my opinion, really amazing(a little weird at the end but still overall, really good). This is their first series together in 7 years, so there’s been quite some hype regarding this series, and I would really like to have another heart felt story like TTGP. I’ve watched the first episode and I’ve got some thoughts, so let’s goo!
What I expect
- Heartfelt series like TTGP
- Fascinating characters that you have no option but to like
- Loads of philosophy and existentialism
- Crying and heartbreak from death of characters
- A SCISSOR BLADE THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS
First Episode Thoughts
This series takes a lot from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. One of those things is the settings in which the characters live. The weaker people live in dumps closer to the ground, as the more powerful people live in upper areas that get more luxurious, depending on the level of power. The town is run by the school who is run by the Student Council President. Now the student council in this high school holds all influence in the school, over the teachers and over the administrative staff and the President is in charge of giving out these
Goku Uniforms that allow for her loyal students to become stronger. So another similarity between this and Gurren Lagann would be the concept of being inside something that makes you amazing capabilities. Ryuko the main character wears a special uniform though, one much stronger than the other Goku Uniforms like Lagann and Simon in Gurren Lagann.
So I’m seeing a lot of similarities but is this series Gurren Lagann level? No, not even close from what I see in the first episode. In the first episode of Gurren Lagann, you know that Simon and Kamina were about to embark on a journey of self fulfilment, discovery and romance, that’s what gives the series all the heart it has and you knew that from episode 1. Kill la Kill’s plot is driven by revenge, which is totally cool, like actually revenge is a very interesting human emotion to write about but here’s why I don’t like it for Kill la Kill. Kill la Kill uses humour and ecchi together as well as the revenge factor, the ecchi makes the series seem very amature, it doesn’t have the heart that TTGP has because when you take something as cold as revenge and try to add soft factors like ecchi and humour, it doesn’t mix. It’s like eating cereal with with water, the two are good on their own but together, just no. I’d rather have Kill la Kill focus more on the cute humour than the revenge because when done well, it’s actually quite entertaining. TTGP worked and had so much heart because it was about a young boy and his best friend, looking to become something bigger than what they were told. And because it was about two best friends, humour was used well and when it got serious it was used properly. Kill la Kill is taking every chance it can take to be sexual, the revenge thing is an afterthought. I hope I’m wrong, I have only watched one episode.
Final Thoughts on Episode 1
I don’t see the series being as good as Gurren Lagann, I hope it does but for now, I don’t see it getting to that point. I’m going to watch more and do a follow up review soon. Thank God for Crunchyroll’s stream, I can watch a lot of these episodes in class. So for now I’ll give the first episode a 6 out of 10. Not horrible but doesn’t stick out from other series. So if I was the producer of Kill la Kill, I would focus a lot on using more humour, less serious cliché revenge and more character depth because the characters, especially Satsuki, the School President-she’s got tons of depth, I really want to see how her story unfolds and it’s what’s keeping me from abandoning after the first episode.
