Kill la Kill #01 — Giant Red Text
October 3rd, 2013
Boy, is that obtrusive and does it look awful.
Impressions:
Can’t accuse this episode of dragging. I can’t say that I’m on board with the overall style though, and certainly not the gigantic red block text that they love to cover the screen with. It does have a lot of that childishness and spasticness that I’m a bit wary of. The damsel in distress/exposition machine is probably the biggest abuse that stands out. She’s just kind of… there… to be a very obvious vehicle for gags… and exposition since they couldn’t think of any way to actually weave it in without simply info dumping. That does keep it from being overly serious despite the actual content of the episode, but little of it was genuinely funny either. Thankfully, it doesn’t dwell, blasts right along, and a fair amount is background or incidental, so just kind of serves to fill space.
The fight scenes are also a little lacking, which is sort of weird considering how animated it is for practically everything else. I’ve noted my dislike for the long charge-up and screaming the description of your attack and how you’re going to attack for 10 straight seconds of speedlines or CG thingies bouncing around over actual choregraphy many times though and this is firmly in the former category even though it clearly has the budget and directing talent to fall into the latter. It just makes it all the weirder when it comes time to actually punch something that it usually falls into either all kinds of dramatic windups, shouting, and posing just to cut to a still or maybe worse, one of the two members of the fight standing motionlessly as DBZ-esque spastic attacks bounce off them harmlessly.
It wasn’t a bad episode by any means though. It moved right along, usually didn’t treat the audience like a moron that needed everything spelled out, and is certainly full of style even if that style is noise, noise, and more noise. I’m not really on board with the slapstick’s execution, but it does at least mesh well with all the yelling into one consistent package instead of only screaming punchlines. And as I said, there’s certainly a lot of talent on display for most of the episode, and I’m sure people who grew up with a love for DBZ or Jump 20 minute grunting power ups will be a lot more able to stomach the long shouting attacks with minimal actual attacking than I. There’s just a lot that makes me wary, especially the superficiality of it all. It seems much better suited as an OVA or movie and I’m not entirely certain how they’re going to stretch it out for three more months.
Next Episode:
More shouting.
Posted in Kill la Kill | 15 Comments »
3 more months? I believe you meant 6.