Recap

Ryuko and Satsuki, now allied, take the fight directly to Ragyo. Meanwhile, the Elite Four and Mako do their best to rescue the captured humans as well as protect the flagship from the vicious Life Fiber assault.

Gee’s Thoughts

Things are winding up as we approach the grand finale of Trigger’s TV debut. In the penultimate episode, we get what is basically one gigantic fanservice episode; of the crowd pleasing variety, not the perverted kind (well, maybe the perverted kind if you’re into that). With the glorious return of Mako’s bancho uniform along with some great cameo returns and the reveal of the even newer and more improved Elite Four uniforms, we get an episode that is basically full of fun Kill la Kill references and moments that gives nearly everyone a chance to shine. This episode felt more like something out of Gurren Lagann than Kill la Kill, in its bombastic fist-pumping execution. Honestly, this episode was just filled to the brim with those “hell yeah!” moments, where you just can’t help but smile and shout like a maniac at the screen.

There’s obviously Mako’s amazing scene-stealing power at work again, her ridiculous speeches and awe-inspiring friendship power managing to take the spotlight, even in what is ostensibly Ryuko’s moment. And seriously, can I just talk about how great Mako is? Not just her usual moments, but her character as a whole. Watching her go from the silly butt end of physical comedy into Ryuko’s closest friend is just heartwarming to take in. All of Mako’s moments in this episode were all about her devotion to her friend and her desire to protect the things her friend cherished. It’s a bond that goes beyond mere friendship into something truly special. I have no regrets declaring Mako as the best-best friend of the year in 2013, and after the past few episodes, it’s gonna take a lot to dethrone that title from her this year too.

But there are plenty of other great moments throughout the episode where others shine. The Elite Four’s return to form was fun in that Gurren Lagann kinda way, rife with explosions and badass speeches. Special shout out to Gamagoori continuing to be the infallible shield of his mistress and Sanegayama’s balls-out awesome moment when it’s revealed that his eyes have been opened up again. Another moment I must mention is the return of the former 2-star club leaders, even if all they do is run in a hamster wheel. But hey, it’s that kind of low-effort high-reward fanservice that makes the show so fun to watch. Sure, we all knew these things were gonna happen, but that doesn’t make it any less fun.

I think it’s when all Ragyo can do is stare in disbelief as Ryuko and her allies manage to overcome her through sheer grit and craziness that really sums up Kill la Kill as a show. It’s full of these crazy characters each with their own quirks and talents, but despite it all, they’re all still distinct and memorable in their own unique way. And no matter what terrible things the bad guys throw at them, they never give up and they never stop staying true to who they are. It’s that brand of spontaneity that makes them human and able to overcome the Life Fibers. It’s that same quality that has made the show such a joy to watch. Even when Ryuko isn’t on the screen, there is no end of great characters to watch and cheer for.

Still, this is the penultimate episode, not the finale. It wouldn’t be fun if the bad guys didn’t have one last trick up their sleeve. Ragyo and Nui happen to have it in the form of asdfasdfasdf, the final Kamui. While it looks utterly ridiculous, I share Senketsu’s apprehension about it. No way is Ragyo gonna go down easy, and we can only wait until next week to see what her new clothes bring to the table. At this point, if it doesn’t do something utterly insane, I will be a bit disappointed. Kill la Kill has been a crazy ride, and it seems things are only going to get crazier in the final episode. It’s soared and twisted through the air as one of the most notable anime in years. Let’s see if Trigger can stick the landing next week.

Zigg’s Thoughts

This is a penultimate episode that does everything right and yet can’t help but feel a little bit underwhelming to me. I think that’s because, to a large extent, things play out exactly as you’d expect them to. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – there’s nothing worse than twists for the sake of twists – but it does mean that there’s not much emotional gristle to be had here, even if the setup is suitably epic.

Let’s go with the good first though, and there’s lots of it. I’m less certain about the Ryuko/Satsuki stuff, but Mako and the crew back on the ship shone bright here. Granted, Mako’s speech is drawn from the deepest wells of cliche, but she deserves this big moment and seeing her running the treadmill with all the returning characters behind her was an undoubted highpoint. The Elite Four also really come through strong here, and their ultimate powered up forms are a great payoff for the plot arc they’ve had through this last part of the show. I particularly enjoyed their confrontation with Ragyo, in which each of them gets a second to shine as they aid Satsuki. It really reinforces the idea of the five of them as a team and it’s cool to see them all on the front foot once more. More clothing on Nonon though please.

On the flip-side, I wasn’t really feeling that showdown between the sisters and Ragyo. There’s clearly intent for an epic confrontation, but the fight is so ‘busy’ with distractions and other concerns it’s a little hard to buy it as the ultimate one-on-one battle we were hyped for. Which of course, it turns out not to be, so maybe that criticism isn’t valid, but still, it’s not an amazing fight. Particularly bad is the decision to have Ryuko ‘killed’ right at the beginning, as it’s not believable for a single second and they have to waste time on the convoluted setup and explanation. Maybe I’m just dumb, but the show does a bad job of justifying it and I’m sure they could have come up with a more plausible distraction.

There’s also the issue of the action here being rather by-the-numbers. Ryuko triumphs because of course THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP enables her to, and while the action is well shot, well animated (although not without noticeable budget constraints as usual) and suitably ludicrous, I simply wasn’t captured in the way an episode this close to the end should capture me. The stakes feel a little lacking, oddly enough. For example, what exactly does the destruction of the original life fibre actually *do* here? It doesn’t seem to upset Ragyo’s plans too much and it certainly doesn’t do much to conk out the various COVERS floating about. Was it just a glorified mook? Because if so that’s a little disappointing. As I said earlier as well, the dialogue in this episode is not the best and while there are no doubt some killer lines, we’ve heard a lot of this stuff before, which takes the edge off.

Nevertheless, there were some excellent individual moments, one of which was Nui’s ‘hijack’ of the ending credits, splendidly setting up the final conflict between the good guys and Lady Gaga Ragyo. Although this episode didn’t quite meet my expectations it was still a strong setup for the final lunge to the finish. I do feel that we need something drastically unexpected to happen to push the story over the edge into ‘classic’ territory, but who knows? It’s been a thrill to see Kill la Kill come so far. Now they just need to bring it home.