kill la kill - OP02 - ambiguous by GARNiDELiA
the second op is my favorite visually for its pairing of lyrics and characters. i wish i could post more caps for every single line but imma just post my favorite caps and analyze the rest through text.
“It all begins when we sever the threads of fate.”
trigger’s finally free to go all out with the hints to the plot since it’s the 2nd half of the season and the drama is ramping up. this is so obvious that it shouldn’t bear pointing out but i still have to, because I adore the links the show makes with life fibers being the red threads of fate, combined with the clothes/godrobes and giant scissors and the show’s main theme of lost and found family with ryuuko and satsuki always meant to meet again.
“I was trying to be someone I’m not, in a cramped world with no breathing room.”
This line describes Satsuki so much, since our girl has been hiding her revenge scheme against her abusive alien mother since the age of 5 and any sign of a slip-up means the world will end. Her sheer force of will is the only thing that lets her keep up with actual aliens. Ryuuko’s also doing the same. She falls back onto a delinquent persona, rebelling against the world in her single-minded goal to take revenge after her father’s murdered. In a sense, she’s freeing herself from the shackles of society and she doesn’t fit in school/Hounnoji Academy, but it’s also a big change from the ‘normal’ middle school girl she was before.
“As I walked down my runway, I thought I’d concealed it behind the smile that masked my face, but it doesn’t work on you. You always see through my facade.”
with Ryuuko and Satsuki literally walking down opposite runways... before fighting. Throughout the show, they’ve been constantly surprising each other and subverting each other’s expectations. Ryuuko appears out of nowhere, continually powering up and surpassing Satsuki’s initial assessment, Satsuki coming out with Junketsu, Satsuki giving and Ryuuko returning Bakuzan. I’d argue that Ryuuko has always understood Satsuki’s sense of honor/fair play despite her disdain for Satsuki’s outward arrogance.
“Nobody’s unravelled me like this before. I don’t know what to do. Nobody else can pull these outfits off. A somewhat ambiguous fever threatens to burn our hearts away.”
By the halfway point, they’re not enemies anymore. They’re fighting on the same side, but they aren’t friends either. They’re the only two who could actually understand each other and are on par with using the godrobes. And by the time of the big reveal, Satsuki’s been so manipulative and Ryuuko is struggling with her own identity, but they’re still trying to figure out how to navigate their relationship. (There’s also a flash of Ragyo/Nui/Rei during the ‘unravelling’ line and Satsuki is the only person shown right before and after that frame...)
“It all begins once we rein in the threads of fate. A new day will dawn for us.”
My heart loves this neat little finish that calls back to the start of the song. By reining in the threads of fate at the end, when it begins with severing the threads, this just describes Ryuuko and Satsuki’s relationship perfectly, doesn’t it? Lost at birth, growing up separately, only to return to each other at the end and to fight together for the common goal of defeating Ragyo and saving earth in order to live their real lives unfettered by clothing. (Also, it literally shows both of them being bound in their respective colors of red and blue. They’re really just beating us over the head with these symbolism at this point.)
“We must be one in spirit.”
It’s also great in that it’s not just about the very last pic already foreshadowing the ryuuko/satsuki relationship reveal for the second half of the season (just think about watching this OP when it hadn’t been revealed yet, they’re not angrily looking at each other, they’re looking angrily towards the screen! dangit trigger), but the animation for this line also showed off all the different groups of the show; the Shitennou, Nudist Beach, Ragyo and Rei, and Mankanshoku family.
I know this entire show was made by Trigger to showcase their animation abilities and this OP animation pulled that off in spades (fighting atop a literal mountain of goons, the blood splattering to form the title card, they’re showing off tbh) but it’s just so good in terms of tying together all their characters/story.
