Kill La Kill

Looks like I'm in the minority here when I say I feel the massive exposition of the female body in this anime makes it pretty difficult to watch. If I'm not being progressive because I feel uneasy when I see the outfits then I'm sorry, but I still just see it as fan service. I hope that future episodes make up for this later on and/or make it more believable, but as of now, the costume designs are one of if not the biggest weakness in this show, in my opinion at least.

That said, I still love the animation and the uniqueness of the story, and don't get me started on how colourful some of these characters are. Hell I could be entertained just by looking at some of them.

So many gurren Lagann shade avatars in this thread (imagining Godzilla on spiral energy would be awesome).

?

I'm only counting 2.

Personally, I think this◊ perfectly reflects my thoughts on the Great Kill la Kill Sexism debate.

Anyways, who else noticed Senketsu's resemblance to Mazikaiser? Because that's kind of a nice touch.

edited 19th Oct '13 3:44:53 PM by Sparkysharps

Make it 3.

Regarding the fanservice...to me, this just makes this a series that I can't recommend to most of my friends. I just go "Well, that's something, all right."

Dunno, the eyes just make them seem like Ganmen to me.

That's exactly what I thought! XD

Now, as someone already mentioned in the thread, we need a gattai moment.

It bugs me that people have been using the word "fan service" exclusively to refer to sexual themes when there are other kinds. Also it's mostly used in a negative context. I mean, mythology gag stuff like the logos for Gunbuster and Ideon, that one tennis captain who looked like Viral, that's a kind of fan service too, right? And isn't the act of providing quality entertainment a service of it's own, directly or indirectly towards fans?

Also this took about 3 million years in Paint.◊

edited 19th Oct '13 7:55:04 PM by kelax

I know what you mean, and I used to be the same way, but it's been thrown around so much that at this point you can't say 'fan service' without people seeing it in the negative/perverted light. I've also come around to using it in that context since it's easier than saying 'those tit scenes'

Nope.

Fan service is a subculture terminology. As such, it doesn't matter what started as, if everyone uses fanservice to refer sexual themes, that's what fanservice is going to mean. It's the connotation that matters.

edited 19th Oct '13 8:11:35 PM by dRoy

Welcome to how we use "fanservice" on this site, and most of the Internet (even in other languages, I've noticed). You are referring to what is usually termed "pandering". It's odd, but such are the quirks of language.

I find the costumes grating (and I watched all of Nisemonogatari barely batting an eyelid), but they do kind of fit in with the black humour and ridiculous social setting. I had a similar reaction to Gollum's loincloth in the films. It's not so much that they are too revealing, but that I can't swallow that there would be no nipples or pubic hair showing. Also they look uncomfortable as hell; a message of doing what you want suffers when it doesn't look like something anyone would want to do. And I don't find them appealing in the least.

But Trigger/Gainax manages to be fanservicey in its own unique way. I don't like but I like the way they go about it.

edited 19th Oct '13 9:15:08 PM by RJSavoy

For me, I'll have to see where we go from here. Because if they delivered that Aesop and then continue to pull a ton of panty and vag shots on an underage girl for the remainder of the show, that kinda sounds like having your cake and eating it too. "Oh hey look we're indulging in the sexualization of a minor, but it's okay because we're acknowledging its wrong."

I'm kinda reminded just a bit of the controversy around Sucker Punch, and the director basically telling offended women "You totally missed the point! The fan service was a condemnation of sexism!"

Except Sucker Punch was meant to be taken seriously, and the leads had the personality of cardboard. KLK is supposed to be fun and over the top with a satirical edge to it typical of Gainax.

See that's the thing, some people are arguing it's just a joke and not meant to be taken seriously, but then you have the power point arguing the fan service is actually somehow about empowerment and not letting perverts dictate your life.

Which is why I said for me, the deal breaker is where they go from here after dropping that little aesop on the audience.

edited 20th Oct '13 3:09:43 PM by comicwriter

People keep using satire in a way that makes me wonder if it means what they think it means.

I don't know if this was mentioned before, but let me get this straight:

We have the student council president at the very top of the school's class system, four students who are considered the most powerful among the other students, are directly under the president in the hierarchy and serve as her elite generals, and a whole slew of other students who are stronger than the average mook and each specialize in a form of combat based on a specific category.

I'm not the only one who got Pokémon vibes from this anime, right?

edited 20th Oct '13 4:13:59 PM by magictoaster

So Ryuko is gonna catch em all for senketsu?

So long as she had Mega Charizard X on her side, she'd be a-okay:

edited 20th Oct '13 4:22:13 PM by Demongodofchaos2

It's in the same area as irony, which is misused more than correctly used.

edited 20th Oct '13 4:21:31 PM by AnotherDuck

It's like raaaaiiiin, on your wedding day...

edited 20th Oct '13 4:26:05 PM by magictoaster

Having looked over the arguments made in the last three pages, I have to say that while I am not offended or disgusted by the skimpy clothes as I have been in other shows^cough Strike Witches, cough, I find it ugly and I am not convinced it is genuinely empowering or progressive. That may change in coming episodes. It does help a lot that the only man of any importance is outrightly exhibitionist.

It certainly avoids two common pitfalls of the medium: making the girls into simple fanservice vehicles, they have plenty of presence and personality; and sex-shaming. It can seem odd that mildly pornographic shows (and not only in Japan) are so often shaming their leads and their audience for enjoying sex. But it's easy to explain: partly it's to make it look forbidden and daring, partly to make it easier to swallow for those who can't take sex as it is. One big reason I like Nyarko San is that it is thoroughly sex-positive and includes the best portrayal of male auto-erotic behaviour I have seen anywhere. As it is, KLK is not character-centric enough in its sexuality to do the same.

Rynnec: Those are reasons for which KLK is better than Sucker Punch, but not for the message to be different or more genuine.

Sparky: "Satire" goes back to 1509, meaning a work ridiculing vice or folly, coming from a Latin word that once meant a poetic medley, and before that a full dish, cognate with "sated". Its current form came from a mistaken etymology linking it to Greek satyr drama. Hope that clears things up. Let's face it, the term can mean any work that uses irony or ridicule to deliver a message to society.

One thing that called my attention was that Aikuro told her that it was her father who designed the Kamui to be like this (and probably had a hand on Satsuki's one). It's not her fault, but I think it's a Chekovs Gun info.

Also, do you know how many episodes are planned? Because it seems it'll follow a strict Formula of Club President of the Week.

edited 21st Oct '13 12:37:23 PM by RN452

I doubt it. I say that there's a high probability things will change later on, like what happened with TTGL. Also, the series is planned for 24-26 episodes.

edited 21st Oct '13 12:41:39 PM by tvsgood

I wonder how much more revealing powerful the uniforms can get.

There is no way that at some point there's going to be uniforms that are 4 stars or above.

I read somewhere that the first arc will end on episode 8.

Things have already deviated from the formula pretty significantly, what with Ryuuko fighting Satsuki on equal terms in episode 3 and all.