It's pretty much said that if you are embarrassed by the outfit, the outfit will be depowered. Thus, when Ryuko wore her cloak, she wore it because she was embarrassed by it. She was horrified of what the outfit made her look like, making the outfit weaker than it should have been.
As for why it covers the arms and legs, the outfit enhances your abilities in places by connecting to your nerves. Thus, it can only make your arms and legs stronger by latching onto them. Every muscle that it needs to enhance is covered; it just leaves the torso and back exposed because you don't directly need those muscles to hurt somebody. Well, unless Ryuko could somehow hurt somebody pretty bad with her boobs.
I'm pretty sure her boobs do a better job hurting herself. But good point. Okay, so Ryuko is not allowed to get embarrassed at the suit that forced itself on her and make people fap to her?
Non Indicative Username
She didn't have to keep wearing the outfit; she chose to after the first time. Yes, Senketsu kind of forced her to wear him the first time he saw her (because he was really hungry), but after that, he never said he had to be worn after that. Pretty sure that he cared enough that he would have left her alone if she didn't like what he did. She just kept wearing him because he provided the power she needed.
As for the embarrassment bit, that was the whole point. It's normal to be embarrassed over an outfit as skimpy as that. But she learned to realize that she shouldn't care what other people think. Satsaki specifically said that in her speech to Ryuko after Ryuko called her an exhibitionist. And that was really the whole point of the show: not to let other people's opinions or society affect your opinion.
Being hungry is not a good excuse to suck people's blood without permission. (Does this remind you of anything?) We are never shown Ryuko's favorable opinion over Senketsu's design. At best she sees it as a necessary evil to accomplish her goal. That being said, being able to overcome embarrassment to achieve a greater(?) goal is certainly a plus in my book.
Non Indicative Username
Being hungry isn't a good reason, no. I'll admit that. It was moreso played for comedy than anything else and because Senketsu is well, made out of alien beings that have the normal instinct to consume people. Being hungry probably brought out that instinct he normally keeps suppressed. And I don't think Ryuko ever really liked Senketsu's design (as evidenced by the many times she denies being an exhibitionist), but she simply learned to accept it because it provided her power. She only wore him because they both needed each other in terms of power and friendship.
Leave a Comment:
A nice show with its own merits
Warning, a good chunk of this review is about fanservice. Yeah, I know, but I can't resist it.
The first half of Kill la Kill is usual shonen fare with "who killed my father." Club President of the Week, Tournament Arc, excuses for people to awesomely and hilariously beat each other up. It can dragged on a bit, but I don't find it repetitive or dull. Episode 7 even has really good drama and character development, even when things go back to status quo. There is a big reveal midway through and then it becomes the second half of Gurren Lagann and Sonic Adventure 2's ending. Some commentaries about consumerism and fashion obsession are always nice, but they sometimes get drowned out by the bizarreness of the show. BTW if the moral of the show is how "clothes don't make the man," then how come members of Nudist Beach get thrown around like a rag doll by Kamui wearers?
The characters are the series' strong point. I love pretty much every good guy in the show. Their relationships are rather sweet too (peeping in the shower notwithstanding). I don't like how supposedly badass normal characters get lagged behind.
I accept that the ridiculous Kamui are supposed to be parody about fanservice (not that it stops people from getting aroused either, Misaimed Fandom?) However, Ryuko initially didn't want to wear Senketsu and definitely didn't like to have people ogle at her, so the moral is now "if you don't like this ridiculous suit that make people want to fap at you, you'll like it eventually because it's EMPOWERING!" There is reasons for these suits to cover as little as possible, but seriously those stockings and gloves cover a good chunk of their skin; the only things that get exposed are their T&A. Also, the option that both avoids being stripperific and empowers at the same time like wearing additional clothes on top of the Kamui is overlooked (Ryuko wears a rather badass cloak briefly in episode 1.)
Conclusion: A rather average plot driven by strong and likable characters. The supposed messages concerning fanservice unfortunately falls prey for fridge logic. 3.5 stars.