KILL LA KILL ep14: make money, not war!

I gotta say, KILL LA KILL makes war look GOOD! As exciting as this episodes was, it was just as funny to see all these puns, sight gags and stereotypes put to use. And all this is going on right in the middle of cities. Truly there’s no such thing as a strong federal government in the world of this show. The only thing more unstoppable than this chaos is Ryuuko’s desire to piece Senketsu back together. And the only thing more unstoppable than that is Mako’s desire to shove giant octopus balls in her face!

I’m kinda at a loss for what to say about this episode, because if I get into too much detail I’ll get lost in it.  There’s just so much going on on-screen this entire episode that it stifles my mind when I try to digest it.  In three separate regions, we have the Four Devas putting their skills and leadership to use and to the test as they try to subjugate the last three major schools in Japan.  In each and every scene, we’re treated to an avalanche of cultural references and stereotypes for the different regions that will make those familiar with Japanese culture and history squeal with glee.  Hell, I’m just looking at my screenshots and thinking to myself, “how do I even talk about this?  It’s a g@damn mess!”

I’m gonna choose to focus on the elements of the show I could handle and talk about.  Ryuuko starts this episode, but hardly stars in it.  We see that she’s able to hang onto one mere piece of cloth in her defeat (likely left there on purpose by Lady Satsuki).  And with guidance from Senketsu as he speaks through that cloth, and Aikuro who once again saves her naked body from the street, she’s set on the path to chase down the members of the Honnouj Academy army that have her strips of Senketsu.  Once she’s gone, Aikuro says that he’ll permanently drop his guise of being a homeroom teacher, and strips (with f*cking glowing nipples) to his bare essentials and rides off.  I take this as a clear sign that we’re done fooling around even remotely with the school setting from this point forward.

Meanwhile, Mako is busy doing manual labor with the other loser when she spies some authentic Osakan cuisine, octopus balls.  This one desire sends her into a Looney Tunes-like fit of excitement and exaggerated animation.  I laughed so much at her lamenting about being broke and then finding a guy who was actually shooting money at people, then begging that man to shoot her with the money before running off with it.  Every time Mako goes into these fits I’m transported to a wackier more spastic time for animation, low animation frame count and all!

While Mako is doing this, Ryuuko is traveling to the three different war fronts and grabbing her pieces of cloth quickly and violently.  She’s looks totally badass with her one strip of Senketsu being used as a scarf around her neck as she rides her bike through the carnage.

Everything comes to a head in Osaka though, where Uzu is running into some particularly stiff resistance as their school’s leader has used his unlimited supply of money to boost his forces to the entire greedy civilian population of Osaka!  It is here where Lady Satsuki arrives to help the Ultima Uniform-less Uzu.  It is here where Ryuuko arrives to pick up the last piece of her uniform, which is around Lady Satsuki’s wrist.  It is here where everything will be decided!  OSAKA!

End of episode.

This episode is equal parts funny and badass.  I just loved the gags!  Ira sporting guidebooks that were tougher than iron, and heavy enough to take out the American football style armor of the Kami-Kobe school, I loved the use of American and Japanese imagery and language in that scene.  The crazy old style of the Kyoto forces that ended up using crazy mystical bullsh*t arts to fight Nonon made me smile.  And all the crazy love of money and culture that the Osakan forces sport just had me shake my head at how over-the-top this series can still be in a completely comedic sense.  Hell, I think the Osakan boss is a very fun villain all on his own.

But again I have to make the case for Mako being the best part about this show.  Even with how badass Ryuuko looked, riding her bike on the faces of her opponents, while still not even making time to engage them in conversation, Mako was still the best.  I’m just sad that I have to wait another week to see more of her insanity.

And I’ll end things with that.  I know this post was rather quick for how I usually do this series, but there really isn’t any room for speculation here.  Next week it seems that Ryuuko will have to directly engage Lady Satsuki in combat again.  Nothing else matters until that happens again.

Further Reading:

• KILL LA KILL ep13: the romance and murder of cloth