Today's On My Shelves...

[seawasp]

... the fashion-parody combat anime Kill La Kill, one of the most peculiar anime I've seen!

Comments

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

My friends tend to look at me oddly when I say I like Kill la Kill, given how much I dislike the rampant fanservice and sexism in anime.

But then again, the show is a commentary the sexism and and anti-feminism inherent in fashion. And the characters don't behave in the standard fanservice-y manner, even when wearing ludicrous outfits.

Plus, well, it also had the classic "high school girl gang" references, right out of Sukeban Dekka". I can't help but love it.

[seawasp]

Exactly my and Kathleen's point. She noticed that even in the transformation sequences the poses were POWER poses, not sexy/stylish poses. And both my son Chris and I found the sequences *wincingly* painful because of the *WHAP! SNAP*" on very delicate portions of anatomy; there was nothing sexy about it.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

The problem I had with Kill la Kill is that it sets up to be homage/parody/pastiche of Go Nagai's works and then takes a left turn at Albuquerque. Knowing what it is means I'll need to give it another go but no promises. :)

[seawasp]

In rough order of importance (though not obviousness) I'd judge Kill La Kill to be a parody of/Commentary on:

--The world of high fashion and the superficial world of clothing and appearance
--The exploitation/sexualization of everything in media
--The Shonen Fight genre, specifically things like Saint Seiya, and the related Sentai shows
--High School Shoujo romance/adventure anime (which was also targeted by Revolutionary Girl Utena), including of course the Mahou Shoujo subgenre like Sailor Moon.

Go Nagai's influence is clear in some of the drawing style, but his actual WORK isn't targeted all that much.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

Go Nagai's influence is clear in some of the drawing style, but his actual WORK isn't targeted all that much.

I know. I was expecting one thing and got something else. That left me less than partial to it.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

I've started giving Kill la Kill another try without the Go Nagai-esque expectations. I'm four episodes in and I'm not feeling the same rejection I did the first time around.

[seawasp]

Cool. Let me know how it goes.