Anime Inspiration: Kill La Kill
Nearly a year ago (!!!) CF readers thunderbuckett and Kelsie recommended Kill la Kill for an Anime Inspiration article, and at first I was apprehensive. (Read: a loooooooootttt of partial cartoon nudity.) But after watching the first episode, I was HELLA hooked…like bingewatched-in-less-than-72-hours hooked.
With its breakneck pace, imaginative action sequences, humor, and self-awareness, Kill la Kill flips the script on the magical girl anime trope that defined major anime hits like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Tokyo Mew Mew. Its protagonists are badass but feminine, driven but vulnerable, dynamic and robust, and its treatment of the protagonist’s fukus (and their skimpiness) is funny and fairly woke, IMO.
Table of Contents
Kill La Kill Crash Course
Kill la Kill follows the adventures of Ryuko Matoi, the daughter of an assassinated scientist who seeks revenge for her father’s death. Armed with only a half of a pair of giant scissors left behind by her father’s assailant, Ryuko enrolls in the totalitarian Honnouji academy, where students are assigned scientifically enhanced uniforms made in part of an alien species called life fibers that grant the students superhuman abilities.
Honnouji is lead by the ferocious and beautiful Satsuki Kiryuin, the daughter of an equally totalitarian and powerful fashion designer. An altercation between Satsuki and Ryuko reveals that Satsuki knows something about the origin of the scissor blade, and Ryuko swears that she will defeat Satsuki to learn who killed her father.
After a swift defeat by one of Satsuki’s underlings, Ryuko retreats to the ruins of her and her father’s home to find a sentient uniform made entirely of life fibers (a kamui) designed especially for her. With her kamui and scissor blade, Ryuko fights her way through the ranks of Honnouji academy in order to face Satsuki and avenge her father.
