Toonami has been home to countless legendary anime for Western viewers, but one mega-popular series secretly says a lot about magical girl anime. Although Kill la kill is often considered an action, comedy and magical girl series, Its exact relationship to the magical girl genre is underexplored. By playing with the tropes and expectations of magical girl shows, Kill la kill Provides a very interesting commentary that, more than subverting magical girls, celebrates them.
Kill la kill was The first series produced independently by Studio TriggerAiring in 2013. It would also be Studio Trigger’s initial statement, showcasing its commitment to producing high-quality, provocative anime. Kill la kill Centers on Ryuko Matoi, a homeless student armed with one half of a pair of scissors. She moves to Honnou City in search of her father’s killer who stole the other half of the scissors. There she enters Honnouji Academy, which is ruled with an iron fist by student council president Satsuki Kiruin.
Kill la kill Starts by deconstructing Magical Girls
Studio Trigger’s first solo effort takes the famous genre to its limits
The series begins with the heads of Ryuko and Satsuki’s squads. Ryuko believes that Satsuki was behind her father’s murder, and much of the earlier conflict is rooted in her suspicions. The magical girl elements are Rounded off by outfit transformation and powerful weaponsWhile the school provides a classic setting for a delinquent story.
There’s a catch, though. These outfits are made of special fibers called life fibers. Their magical abilities are drawn from the fact that the outfits siphon the life force of the characters. To make matters worse, they are formed by a powerful group, Of which Satsuki’s mother is the leader. These suits are part and parcel of a plan similar to the Human Instrumentality Project EvangelionThrough which Satsuki’s mother aims to control the world.
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Because these suits provide power and are intentionally produced, they act to support social hierarchies of authority and institutional power. The suits of Satsuki Gang are specially designed. It is almost impossible to beat someone with a higher-ranking suit. Far from strange, spontaneous transformations for uplifting main characters, The suits are given a narrative purpose In the world of Kill la kill. They make the characters vulnerable and literally suck their life away; They are given a serious price, both in and out of combat. At the same time, they reinforce the world’s sociopolitical order.
Elements like these Show Kill la kills intentions of deconstructing magical girl work. With the premise of getting to the root of her father’s murder, the tomboyish Ryuko is thrust into a world where she takes on the role of a magical girl. With that, she doesn’t immediately find a weapon she can use against evil, and she doesn’t immediately find friendships either, but a world where everything is deeper and harder than it seems on the surface. Surface.
Kill la kill It then puts the magical girl genre back together
Kill la kill Embracing magical girls while challenging genres and demographics writ large
In media analysis, Deconstruction Typically refers to “taking apart” a genre, work, or trope to look at its biases, assumptions, and unquestioned elements. the brother term, ReconstructionRefers to knowingly putting these elements back into play, embracing the genre, work or trope while knowing their limitations.
Many anime are defined as deconstructions of the genre. The difference is not that “deconstructive” works are dark while “reconstructive” works are optimistic. for example, One punch man Both subverts and deconstructs the prototypical Shaun hero, but in a certain way it would be difficult to call it “dark”. Kill la kill Reconstructs the magical girl genre by choosing to embrace its core themes and tropes.
Although it openly shows the deception and trickery that underlies any human connection, It also shows the power of love, unity, and friendship: Common themes for magical girl franchises. There are multiple examples of this eventual triumph: the implied relationship between Ryuko and Maki, the embraced sorority of Ryuko and Satsuki, and the eventual unification of Ryuko and Satsuki’s groups in order to fight against the overarching evils of Satsuki’s mother and the life fibers.
It delicately weaves together story elements to simultaneously deconstruct and reconstruct magical girls, in a way that is very optimistic. Even at the same time as it is a sharp criticism of authority and institutions. Ryuko’s trauma and outsider upbringing lead her to avenge her father’s death; It turns out that her father (and in turn, her traumatic experiences) provided her with the very tools she needed to fight back against a society that would make her an outcast.
Furthermore, just as these transformations make the characters vulnerable and are symbolic of the exploitation of girls and women, Kill la kill Gives a silver difference. Too lame Kill la kill For his fan service is, in fact, To tell girls and women that they should be ashamed of their own bodies. Sure, there are plenty of anime where people are just as naked, but it’s never been accused of being uniessential to the plot or being just eye candy.
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Kill la kill Presciently notes this. Satsuki scolds Ryuko for her early embarrassment during her transformation, calling her nakedness minor and unimportant. Kill la kill Reclaims its deconstruction of magical girl transformation by turning exploitation into an opportunity for empowerment. This reversal is essential to the plot of the showAnd demonstrates a knowledgeable embrace of an aspect of the magical girl franchise that has caused eyebrows to be raised when people express interest in the genre.
Similarly, just like Kill la kill Blurring the lines of magical girl anime (traditionally shoujo) by using themes typically reserved for “cinene”, Ryuko’s tomboyish nature and difficult upbringing make her universally relatable: she is a young girl, the target demographic of shoujo, but endures the Harb. Reality of “dark”, “serious” topics. Where magical girls are typically intended for girls, Kill la kill Boldly declares this delineation absurd. As it celebrates magical girls, It subtly prompts viewers from All Types to consider their relationship to the genre.
Put more elegantly: magical girls as a genre provided half of the share; Kill la kill Give the other, then arms yourself, cutting through magical girls, shoujo, sein, and the demographics and norms underlying anime itself. Without a doubt, this is one part of that ToonamiNot known for embracing shoujo, offered Kill la kill Together, they are very typical. It doesn’t subvert magical girls by providing themes that appeal to boys and men, but actually shows that the ideas underlying magical girls apply to everyone.