Recap

Ryuko, enraged by recent revelations, casts aside Senketsu and her allies, vowing to kill Ragyo and Nui now once and for all at Honnouji Academy where they’re waiting for her. When the rest of our heroes discover Satsuki’s survival and her location at the same place, they stage their own mission to rescue her before it’s too late.

Gee’s Thoughts

How Kill la Kill can continue to be an ever escalating series of increasingly crazy moments is beyond me, but I’ll be damned if Trigger doesn’t somehow pull it off almost every week. After last week’s relatively slower paced breather, things kick back into high gear. Friendships are torn apart, giant ships are launched, mistresses are rescued, fights are had, and the mother of all role reversals hits this episode.

Oh Ryuko, you’re one of my favorite protagonists of the year, but you’ve been on edge a lot lately and you keep wandering into these obvious traps while being kind of a jerk to everyone who cares about you. The previous episode was basically devoted to showing how much Senketsu cares about Ryuko, and it’s terrible to see the guy treated this way. While I saw it coming, I was still thrown off when Ryuko brushes off even Mako of all people. It’s a tragic situation, but I also have a feeling this won’t be Mako’s last “Hallelujah” moment. As Gamagoori said, her earplugs are earplugs of the heart…whatever the hell that means.

I have to say, I’m really enjoying the character dynamic of the newly formed alliances. I was already prepared to accept the paradigm shifts as a result of Satsuki’s betrayal, but both last week and this week’s episodes have really solidified my feelings on the matter. The Elite Four, Nudist Beach, Mako, and even The Dosh King Takarada all together is a ton of fun. No lie, I was laughing like a maniac at Takarada’s salute as the rest of the heroes sailed off in their totally-not-Dai-Gurren battleship. Trigger had already done a great job of making the Elite Four a likable bunch of characters throughout the show, and its paid off in spades now that they’re good guys. The shift of alliances don’t suffer any believably issues at all. All of their actions and personality traits in recent episodes still fall in line with the same characterizations we were given since the beginning. While Kill la Kill certainly isn’t going to be winning any awards in story writing anytime soon, I do think people underrate the great job Trigger’s done at creating a likable cast of distinct characters who all play off each other really well.

However, even with Satsuki cutting her way through Covers with her goddamn toenail and Ryuko running roughshod through them, not all things are fun and games. In fact, Ryuko’s indoctrination at the hands of Nui and Ragyo was pretty heartbreaking. The montage of her rewritten memories overriding her old ones added to the harshness of the act, and while I’m sure this is only temporary, it was still hard to watch. Now that Ragyo has two life-fiber infused beings at her disposal, one of which is wearing Junketsu, lets hope our heroes got what it takes to fend them off.

With Ryuko in Junketsu of course, there was only one way this episode was gonna go down, and that’s with Satsuki in Senketsu. While a lot of fans speculated that they would eventually be wearing each other’s uniforms, I’m not sure anybody quite expected it to turn out like this. Still, I’m pretty excited to see the two clash in their traded kamui. Now that Ryuko’s lost her way, I think we’re going to be in for quite the fight next week.

Marlin’s Thoughts

I think it’s pretty great that there’s no break in the action between last episode in this one. When you think you’re just watching a last episode recap, in pops Mako reminding Ryuko who her real friends are again. What we have to understand is that Ryuko is obviously not listening to logic anymore. When Ryuko initially fought Ragyo, she was in a state of clarity, one in body and mind with Senketsu, but now that the truth is out, she wants to lash out in order to hide the pain she feels at the loss of her humanity.She is being driven by grief and disgust over her own being, and that inability to accept what she truly is has driven her into Ragyo’s clutches where she can easily play with her fragile mind.

While no one would ever call this new plot twist groundbreaking, the execution was simply fantastic. Satsuki’s state is a perfect mirror of how Ryuko’s was at the beginning of the episode. It’s due to her faith in her subordinates that she did not give up hope. This was another badass showing by the elite four as well, always ready to show why she has such great faith to begin with. Just watch, next week I bet Satsuki is gonna give Ryuko the friendship speech that she refused to hear from Mako.

Zigg’s Thoughts

As we near the end of the show, episodes like these are reaping the rewards of the hard work done building these characters earlier in the show. Now we’re emotionally invested it gives way more weight to these sequences, and the net result is that while this may not be the most flat out insane episode of Kill la Kill it packs huge punch and the big moments are as impactful as anything we’ve yet seen.

One cool thing about now having the Satsuki and Ryuko camps on the same side is that we get to see characters interact in new and interesting ways, like the Elite Four teaming up with Nudist Beach. With Ryuko basically out of commission as far as the whole ‘being the hero’ thing goes, it falls on this lot to take the helm as the good guys, and they do it remarkably well. It’s very gratifying to see their loyalty to Satsuki and although there’s not really a big emotional reunion, the straight-down-to-business scenario makes much more sense and actually works better as far as established characterization goes. It’s a great episode for Satsuki too, re-establishing her badass credentials in style, but also showing a more vulnerable human side that’s necessary as she basically becomes the main protagonist.

On the flipside, this is a rough time for Ryuko and that’s something the episode does a good job at portraying. The opening is perhaps a little temper-tantrum-y and I don’t think that basically starting with one of Mako’s comedy interjections was a particularly good move, as it kills the tone a little. The show is starting to hit the stage where its more comedic stylings are sometimes bumping up uncomfortably with the serious drama going on, although there are still jokes here (such as the ridiculous 70s super robot freezeframe of Takarada) that work really well. Ryuko’s plotline becomes a lot better once we reach Honnouji Academy and she’s largely on her own, as the show does a great job of cranking up the desperation. Most of us figured that Nui wasn’t exactly what you’d call human and while the revelation that she’s yet another human/life fibre hybrid is a little out of the blue, it’s a cool way to bind her closer to Satsuki and Ryuko. One complaint I do have is that this fight is so laughably lacking in animation it’s very anticlimtaic. The do their best with the artsy still shots, and the ‘killing’ move is super awesome, but it’s still a disappointment.

What’s definitely not disappointing is Ryuko’s enforced Junketsu takeover, which is memorably chilling. I’ve heard some argument to submit so easily is out of character for Ryuko (especially since she broke free of mind control pretty sharpish a few episodes back) but I don’t really agree. The show has done a great job over this and the last episode of showing how mentally worn down she is and coupled with the freaky nightmare that Ragyo is using I can see her succumbing. Speaking of that nightmare, it’s a great moment and perhaps the first real time the show has gone to the unsettling, creepy place I want my major villains to take me. Stuff like the thread-man groom is scary and disturbing and Ryuko’s agonized face at the end helped sell me on the evilness of the villains more than anything up to this point.

That leaves us in an odd situation at the clsoe of episode 20. In essence, our major villain has become our primary hero, and our hero has developed into a lead villain. To do that organically and while keeping in line with established personality and motivation is a really brave and audacious move that requires excellent writing. The show should be commended for both getting to this point and making it feel like the massive deal it is. but it does make me wonder how we’re going to turn Ryuko back and have the final showdown in the space of a few short episodes. Needless to say I’m terribly excited to find out.