#kill la kill analysis

[cyphyree]

Kill La Kill - Fight Club episode is also about conditional love and it kills me, man

The first time i watched it, I thought that Ryuko was being selfish for wanting to step down. She puts Mako in the president position to begin with, and dissolving the club meant that the family goes back to poverty. Like, girl, you're fighting everyone to begin with, why stop now?

Later on tho, I realize that what was actually happening was that the family was exploiting her. Mako works hard as an exec of the club yes, but Ryuko's the one who's actually fighting and taking all the hard hits (literally) for them, so that they can live in overkill Top 1% luxury. She wasn't a family member anymore, but a tool to be used for the gain of others, and discarded when no longer useful. For Ryuko, love is conditional, and she just cannot meet those conditions.

Which is the struggle Ryuko is faced with her entire life, the entire show. Ryuko couldn't figure out why no one wanted her--she was carted off to boarding school by her dad and bullied by peers. She struggles with finding innate value in herself, yearning for family and friends who will accept her as she is. Even in the haha funny filler episode 4, Ryuko's would-be friend Maiko has only been using her to get to Senketsu.

The fact that Ryuko is half-Life Fiber is devastating because Life Fibers are either insentient tools or the enemy to cull. The entire show, she was treated as a tool or an enemy, and now there's indisputable, irreparable reason for her to be treated as such. There's no reason to love someone who's half-monster like her, and Ragyo exploits this by "fully embracing" Ryuko for "all" that she is. But in reality Ragyo seeks to effectively kill off the human side of Ryuko -- again, discarding what's useless.

Thus in the Wedding, Mako tells Ryuko to choose what she wants: to love and be herself, or to kill Ryuko off for good and assimilate into the Life Fibers. It's during the Wedding, that Ryuko realizes that, whatever she is, there is someone who unconditionally loves her -- not as a tool, but as herself.

Kill La Kill is about loving your body, but also loving yourself in your entirety. It's about breaking free of toxic expectations, and living a life of your choice, wearing the clothes (or not) that you want, you being you, and being loved for it all the same.

[nonsensical-stars]

The Brainwashing of Ryuko - A Bloodied Wedding Dress (EP 20)

Trigger Warning // R*pe, sexual assault Nui stitches Junketsu's life fibers together with the life fibers inside of Ryuko's body. From a metaphorical standpoint, we could argue that this is some acute foreshadowing to Ragyo's control (Junketsu's life fibers) mixing up with Ryuko's memories (her own life fibers), with her past, and with everything she stands for... and eventually overwriting them. Ryuko loses grip, and Ragyo, very deliberately, hits her weakest point during her most psychologically vulnerable state. Through Junketsu, Ragyo is now able to pry into Ryuko's deepest subconscious. To reach her biggest wishes and desires, her best and worst memories, the core of what makes Ryuko, Ryuko. Now, Ragyo knows all about the deep loneliness of little Ryuko. About the neglect, the bullying - the desire for a damn parent. And so, Ragyo uses this knowledge to her advantage. Just at a horrifying moment when Ryuko has no idea who she is, what her past truly meant, and what she's really fighting for... Ragyo eagerly barges in to fill those gaps for Ryuko. She creates an illusion of Ryuko's most desired reality, and plants fake memories in her head - overwriting her real, painful ones. We see images of little Ryuko during important events of her life, such as her birthday, or her first day of school. Images of Ryuko playing outside, and going to her first ever prom. Now, what's common about these fake memories? About the memories she wished she could have had? Her mom was with her. In Ryuko's real life, she was abandoned at an orphanage by her father, and never knew her mother. So Ragyo gave her a feigned illusion of what she wanted most of all things; a loving parent to celebrate her birthday with. A parent to cheer her on during her football matches, a parent in the audience to watch her school plays. A parent to hug. I believe that all of that pain was pictured through a bloodied wedding dress. Deep down, it truly hurt Ryuko that whenever she'd get married, nobody would be there to walk her down the aisle. She's so damn strong, but deep down, Ryuko is still an abandoned, scared, lonely child who needed love. So Ragyo corrupts her head with memories of Ragyo giving her exactly that. And poor Ryuko... poor Ryuko caves. She is going to fight for her parent who gave her that love, and all those who dare to stand against her...she's going to fight for the life she's always wanted. All according to plan. As this is established, Ragyo (and Nui joins in too, YIKES) then proceeds to r*pe Ryuko, in the midst of brainwashing her into servitude and dependence using all of these good memories. Why? Why was that necessary, Ragyo? Was the whole overwriting of her memory not enough, did you have to pepper in some lifelong trauma to seal the brainwashing? Well.. unfortunately, other than just being a disgusting individual who gets a kick out of controlling others, there is one more reason. She is r***ing Ryuko while simultaneously corrupting her mind with all of these joyful memories. And so, she is conditioning Ryuko into associating the r*** with good memories. Ragyo wants Ryuko to believe that all these icky things are part of the happiness Ryuko wants so badly. This also very much explains why a brainwashed Ryuko kissed Nui. 

..... (this was written by my cat who walked over my keyboard, so imma just leave it here) It is implied that this aforementioned event too, is a false memory planted into Ryuko’s head. Still, whether it really happened or not, it was the last straw that truly pushed Ryuko over the edge. Because shortly after this, episode 20 ends and Ryuko fully surrenders to Junketsu’s influence. To evil. All according to plan.

[theories-peridot]

ANALYSIS: mindful education and kill la kill

((Sooooo, it’s been a while! but i’m here to point out some stupid stuff. PS- THIS IS RATED LIKE.. PG15 OR WHATEVER. THERE WILL BE ANIMATED BLOOD and under boob i guess))

Mindful education, it was a great episode that centered around fusion, specifically stevonnie. Steven and Connie learn how to stay as a stable fusion with the help of Garnet, this episode was loved for it’s exploration into anxiety and it’s way how showing people that it’s better to face the truth and facts rather than push it aside and ignore it. Not only that, but it was also the first episode on Steven universe to have a guest animator, that animator being  Takafumi Hori!  Takafumi Hori works for trigger studio, specifically i’d like to point out, he worked as an animation director on kill la kill. 

“now, what does this have to do with anything and why am i bringing it up now? so and so already talked about it!”

shh. i’m sure they did, but i am yet to see that. after the little nod to mindful education in the recent episode storm in the room, where Connie makes the same hand position that Steveonnie and Garnet did in that episode, and after me watching kill la kill again, this time appreciating it’s story telling, art style and messages, i realize how many similarities it shares with mindful education and i could see why they had  Takafumi Hori guest animate the song sequence “here comes a thought”.

((if you haven't already watched kill la kill, i recommend it, but do go in with an open mind as people are always quick to judge it for it’s ... well.   fanservice. in truth, it gives a messages about being true to who you are, body positivity, opening yourself up to others and relationships, whether it be friendship, romance or platonic love.

so quick summary of kill la kill for those who haven’t watched it: a young girl named ryuko matoi goes to honnouji seeking answers as to who killed her father, there she makes friends with mako and her family, finds a living sailor suit, that she names senketsu (fresh blood) since they meet over him wanting ryuko’s blood and discovers there is more to her existence than she thought.))

 What i’ll talk about here will probably not contain any major spoilers to the anime, but it would make more sense to someone who has watched and has an appreciation for kill la kill, so, here we go.

First off, i’d like to point out what a major part of kill la kill is, in the first few episodes, ryuko and senketsu have trouble syncing and being one, this is caused by ruko silently pushing senketsu away out of embarrassment. 

very soon after in a fight with satsuki she realizes what she’s doing and accepts senketsu and her body and stops being embarrassed. 

(side note, i just realized how dopey and cute sentektsu looks on ryuko in his unfully activated state X3)

now that you know how their relationship works, ryuko and senketsu having to rely on each other to stay at full power and do their best, doesn’t that remind you of mindful education? having to work together with someone else and sync with them to perform at your best.

another point i would like to make, is what happens when a member of the pair loses it. 

for a fusion, they will break apart, or try to stay together and experience something like a nightmare or hallucination of what is bothering them. This could be guilt or pain of any emotional kind as far as we know.

and guess what happens in kill la kill with ryuko and senketsu!??

one of them loses it,

both of them

f*cking lose it

this scene right here, is ryuko getting so mad over nui coaxing her about the death of her father that her blood is so hot and boiling to the point senketsu loses control too. They become a literal monster. 

but how is this freaking monstrosity the same i don’t hear, but presume you ask- 

in kill la kill, this example would be the most extreme, ryuko and senketsu don’t technically break apart from being unstable, but they will when senketsu is not emotionally close enough to ryuko and can’t hold his actual kamui (godrobe) form in worry that he will kill ryuko or knock her out from blood loss (yes, he drinks a small amount to a moderate amount of her blood to stay in that form), this is because he needs to drink more of her blood in order to be close to her if she is pushing him away out of embarrassment or general emotional resentment of any kind. This causes senketsu to go back to his sailor uniform-form to save ryuko

this in away is like a fusion splitting up. but back to monster ryuketsu (ryuko wearing senketsu i mean) the way they lose each other is the same way Steven and Connie lose each other in their pain in their hallucinations, one of them loses it. both of them lose it. They both get scared and stressed and it just gets everything much worse till they split up. 

few more things i’d like to point out, acceptance and being emotionally synced (in relation to the here comes a thought) . 

acceptance, toward the middle and end of mindful education, Steven tells Connie that he just pushes his feelings aside and ignores them to the best of his abilities. He tries to take the easy route out by ignoring everything to stay happy (ignorance is bliss). Ryuko goes through the same thing while wearing junketsu, for a while, she tries to keep her ignorance, going to kill mako

even though technically, this is a forced feeling, ryuko does have to power to resist it, which is what she ends up doing, though at first she seemed to be more content with killing the ones that deny her fake happiness. Just as ryuko had mako and senketsu, Steven has Connie to help him get over his wanting to ignore his problems and be ignorant to it all. 

They both face the fact that it will be better for them not to live like that and accept reality. Steven couldn’t help those gems and Rose is not as perfect has he thought, Ryuko is not happy and her wedding is not real, her mother is a manipulative b*tch and junketsu is not good.

now for the song and kill la kill. 

just listen to them both and think about the lyrics. now

they both tell about how they must both be calm and not lose themselves in their problems and mind, to level the head and sync, they will have problems but they have each other and they still exist. 

alright, that’s all.

oh wait

dont forget dis

[cyphyree]

Ryuko's Anger

Been watching and reading different KLK analysis stuff, but haven't come across someone talking about Ryuko' anger yet.

It's volatile, it drives her recklessness, it makes her a delinquent. It's a trait that Satsuki and other characters frown on, and something that Ryuko struggles to control. When she fails to control it, it drives her berserk and makes her dangerous. Satsuki, Nui and Ragyo (even to some extent Mikisugi) all take advantage of her anger in order to make use of her in their plans. Anger by all means is one of Ryuko's worst traits and greatest weaknesses.

At the same time, though, I feel like the show makes a point in telling us that her anger is more nuanced than that. Her introduction shows us that she isn't angry about kids trying to mug her. She isn't angry at Mako for turning against her to protect her family's wealth. Her rage stems from being shunned by the only family she ever knew, and then being robbed of the chance of ever bonding with him. Underlying that anger is a lonely, grieving kid that nobody wanted, except as a tool.

Ryuko growing as a character didn't mean condemning her anger, but to put it towards something productive rather than destructive. And it was important that SHE was the one who controls it, otherwise others will use it to manipulate her.

For example, in The Wedding, Ryuko's anger was triggered at first because she wanted to defend the "happiness" Ragyo planted in her. But once she became conscious of

this was a lie

she had something better to protect (Mako, Senketsu, the people she have bonded with--her true family)

she was once again manipulated into becoming a tool for someone who didn't actually care for her

-- Ryuko was able to take back control of her life. And this manifested as RAGE great enough to override the lie's submissive bliss, and flay herself of her false skin. Because dammit she deserves better and how dare ANYONE force her to hurt the people she cares about!

Ryuko's anger was never a monster meant to be killed. It made her vulnerable when she couldn't control it -- but it's also the manifestation of her will, the drive to become better, the means to make her realize her own self-worth and to fight the forces that try to use and objectify her. She learns to OWN her rage, which goes hand-in-hand with learning to love and protect her true self, and those who love her back.

[darlinhanzo]

Ok, so there’s always been this one thing that’s caught my attention during the first episode of Kill la Kill. I’ve mentioned it often, but Senketsu looks very distressed in the first episode when synchronized, and I knew he looked different beyond the wide-eyed look, but I couldn’t pinpoint why.

Now, just for a quick note so we don’t get really confused, i’m going to be labeling his synchronization in episodes 1-3 as synch 1 and his synchronization after episode 3 as synch 2.

If we take a look at his eyes both synchs 1 and 2′s, there is a very visible difference. The eye shape, the colors, and even the placement of his iris.

So, episode 1, feat synch 1:

Versus episode 6, feat synch 2:

However, Senketsu’s eye color looks more similar to his eye color in episodes 1-3 in his synchronization form, as seen here in episode 17:

For the majority of episode 3, synch 1 features the rounded eye, as seen here:

However, the change from this eye to the other happens only after synch 2, as shown here:

So, the question is: why does his eye change from its appearance in synch 1 to its appearance in synch 2 after episode 3?

Now, let’s really quickly compare his eye not in synchronization to both synchs 1 and 2. His eye out of his synchronization is more similar in shape to his eye in synch 2, featuring the more diamond shape instead of being perfectly round, as we can see here very nicely in episode 16:

However, looking at the screenshot above, we can also see that his eye color is the same as it is in synch 1 (albeit missing the pupil).

Why is it that his out of synch eye has features of both synchs 1 and 2? I believe that it is because synch 1 is not complete, and thus why we have synch 2. He’s being stretched between being out of synch and being in synch 2, which explains why both Ryuko and Senketsu are able to tap into some of his power in synch 1, but they haven’t reached their full potential.

And well, because I’m always worried for this precious teenager, I would like to comment on why he probably looks distressed. If my theory that his situation of being pulled between being out-of-synch and synch 2 is correct, then that would most certainly explain why he looks so upset. While I don’t know if it really causes him any pain, it’s pretty likely that’s it causes him discomfort. And thus we have come full circle in my analysis, so thanks for reading.