Recap: Ryuko creates the Fight Club, in an attempt to dismantle Honnouji Academy from the inside out. However, when she designates Mako as president of the club, things don’t go exactly as planned.

Gee’s Thoughts: Both silly and heartfelt, this episode was a great breather episode while also doing some great characterization and setup for future plot developments. Sick and tired of being attacked by increasingly arbitrary and esoteric clubs, Ryuko decides to form her own club, hoping to beat her way through Honnouji Academy from within. Realizing there’s actually a bunch of paperwork and commitment required, she hands off club duties to Mako. This causes an interesting ripple effect. While Ryuko is free to beat on as many clubs as she likes, Mako is suddenly saddled with the numerous responsibilities that being a club president entails. However, she also becomes a one-star student as a result, instantly upgrading her entire family’s lifestyle from the hilariously impoverished to the reasonably well off. Determined to protect the happiness that  her efforts have earned her family, Mako fully commits to the duties of club president.

Of course, as anyone who’s even remotely familiar with instructive fables will know exactly where this is going. Ryuko and Mako’s success soon lands them a cushy lifestyle as two-stars, but the happy family dynamic of the Mankanshokus is lost in the process. In the end, the two completely end up playing into Satsuki’s hands, culminating in a heated battle between Ryuko and Mako. Yes, the very premise of this entire episode is hinged on some really dumb ideas, but if you were expecting anything smarter out of Kill la Kill, you’re watching the wrong show. Yes, the whole “money can’t buy happiness” lesson is as old as fiction itself, but Kill la Kill does it with so much heart and soul that I can’t help but love it anyways. As Mako goes through hell and back to bring her family misguided happiness, you can’t help but feel for a girl with so much passion and heart. Also, bancho Mako is quite possibly one of the most badass and adorable things I’ve seen all season. It’s a shame her two-star uniform was destroyed in the end, I was kinda hoping we’d get to see it return one day. Maybe during the climactic over-the-top season finale? The idea of Mako being substantially more powerful than 90% of the cast is both hilarious and awesome.

Interestingly enough, despite coming off as filler, there’s some interesting things going on in the background. First, we see that Satsuki is more than capable of manipulating Ryuko to serve her own needs. This has me thinking that by the end of the first 12-13 episodes, Ryuko will have played right into Satsuki’s hands. Whether Ryuko can figure this out in time or not remains to be seen, but for the sake of drama, I doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon. In addition, Satsuki is performing a purge of her own allies, getting rid of the weaker ones. Goddamn this girl is prepared to do anything to bring down Ryuko. Knowing this anime is from the same crew that brought us Gurren Lagann though, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ryuko is the least of her worries, and she’s restructuring the academy to serve a greater cause.

Zigg’s Thoughts: I know I seem to say this every week, but this was simply the best episode yet, equal parts funny, heartwarming and plot-relevant. Yes, the ultimate outcome of Mako’s journey is totally obvious as soon as her family displays even a hint of hubris, but the journey they go on to get there is still extremely enjoyable. I think they key is that Mako and company don’t immediately become massive jerks but go through an intermediate stage where you’re genuinely happy to see them climb the social ladder. Anyone who didn’t go ‘awwww’ when Mako and Ryouko discover they have bunkbeds together has a heart of stone.

The other key is that the show never lets up its hyper-bombastic presentation , making the journey to the moral extremely funny along the way. Once again the show excels at drawing humour out of the briefest moments, be it the amazing designs of the cannon-fodder club captains, or the Makanshou family’s hyper exaggerated displays of pure jerkishness, or (in my favourite joke of the episode) the complete non-reaction of the Four Devas as their table is blown away. The sense of frantic energy in even the tiniest detail means that the show continues to feel hyper-alive and is so frenetically paced and well directed you never have time to draw breath.

Even though we all know the big emotional finish is coming, it’s still effective when it comes, through equal parts good writing and good presentation. Mako’s dumb bancho outfit is a terrific gag and the subsequent beatdown is fantastic to look at and, in a weird way, genuinely cathartic. Even at the very end, when she breaks down into a sobbing mess, Mako is never anything less than utterly adorable and you feel for all involved so  strongly. It’s just another example of, even in this brief span of time, how close we’ve gotten to these characters.