Kill La Kill is not a smart anime. It's not a revolutionary anime, or a mind-blowing anime. What it is, like the creative team's other big hit, is a whole lot of fun.
Like TTGL, KLK treads a lot of familiar ground for shonen anime. Superpowered teens, bizarre weapons, Martial Arts and Crafts, New Powers as the Plot Demands, Heel-Face Turn, The Power of Friendship, Quirky Miniboss Squad, True Companions, etc, etc. And like TTGL, KLK's greatest strength is in playing these tropes straight to the hilt with joy and gusto. It's appropriate that an early plot point has to do with main character Ryuko Matoi having to overcome the embarrassment of wearing her combat outfit in public, because clearly KLK feels no shame in hitting every last shonen action trope it can, and why should it? The difference between a cliche and a trope is the execution, and KLK's is all but flawless.
Of course, that raises the fanservice. If a viewer knows anything about KLK before seeing it firsthand, it's probably that the main character's aforementioned outfit is Stripperiffic and, like every other trope present, shamelessly cranked to 11. What it is not, though, is plain spank material. When Ryuko dons her battle bikini things are about to get brutal and very, very bloody. Fights in KLK are not settled by striking sexy poses and neatly magicking the foe away, but by charging into bone-breaking, limb-hacking, blood-drenched melee combat with a giant half-scissor blade. When Ryuko does pose, it's one that any male hero would happily strike, and her injuries would look right at home in the middle of Goku vs. Frieza. Ryuko's outfit makes Taarna look sensibly dressed, but she has stronger agency than the majority of her fully-clothed female peers. It's arguable that this raises Unfortunate Implications about such a strong female protagonist needing to be presented 90% naked to be palatable, but at least there's solace in that KLK is just as gleefully ready to exploit the male form as others are to exploit the female. Heck, maybe moreso: the Bishōnen leader of La Résistance wears little more than a perpetual Lens Flare Censor, and poses sexily (and frequently) to deliver exposition. Your move, Yoko.
KLK is fast and tightly paced, action-packed, and absolutely unashamed to be rote, dumb fun. If you liked TTGL, you'll like KLK.
Magical Girl Told as Shonen Action
Kill La Kill is not a smart anime. It's not a revolutionary anime, or a mind-blowing anime. What it is, like the creative team's other big hit, is a whole lot of fun.
Like TTGL, KLK treads a lot of familiar ground for shonen anime. Superpowered teens, bizarre weapons, Martial Arts and Crafts, New Powers as the Plot Demands, Heel-Face Turn, The Power of Friendship, Quirky Miniboss Squad, True Companions, etc, etc. And like TTGL, KLK's greatest strength is in playing these tropes straight to the hilt with joy and gusto. It's appropriate that an early plot point has to do with main character Ryuko Matoi having to overcome the embarrassment of wearing her combat outfit in public, because clearly KLK feels no shame in hitting every last shonen action trope it can, and why should it? The difference between a cliche and a trope is the execution, and KLK's is all but flawless.
Of course, that raises the fanservice. If a viewer knows anything about KLK before seeing it firsthand, it's probably that the main character's aforementioned outfit is Stripperiffic and, like every other trope present, shamelessly cranked to 11. What it is not, though, is plain spank material. When Ryuko dons her battle bikini things are about to get brutal and very, very bloody. Fights in KLK are not settled by striking sexy poses and neatly magicking the foe away, but by charging into bone-breaking, limb-hacking, blood-drenched melee combat with a giant half-scissor blade. When Ryuko does pose, it's one that any male hero would happily strike, and her injuries would look right at home in the middle of Goku vs. Frieza. Ryuko's outfit makes Taarna look sensibly dressed, but she has stronger agency than the majority of her fully-clothed female peers. It's arguable that this raises Unfortunate Implications about such a strong female protagonist needing to be presented 90% naked to be palatable, but at least there's solace in that KLK is just as gleefully ready to exploit the male form as others are to exploit the female. Heck, maybe moreso: the Bishōnen leader of La Résistance wears little more than a perpetual Lens Flare Censor, and poses sexily (and frequently) to deliver exposition. Your move, Yoko.
KLK is fast and tightly paced, action-packed, and absolutely unashamed to be rote, dumb fun. If you liked TTGL, you'll like KLK.