[Anime] Kill la Kill

[UrsusArctos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGxk2aUBFQ

HELL YEAH!

[NemZ]

looks pretty good, but no idea how that swinging extension would be at all useful unless it can somehow lock into place. Still, pretty cool.

[ElMariachi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGxk2aUBFQ
Today is a good day.

Beautiful.

[Fireball]

Pretty manly. Should have cut some actual clothing there at the end.

[AR-99]

That's really cool. Can't take it to a con though since it's live steel and most definitely has an edge.

I gotta check this series out, they even made 3 FF swords.

[UrsusArctos]

I was marathoning it last night. The series is fantastic, and the amount of effort and craftsmanship that goes into some of these blades is incredible. It helps that they're hardcore geeks themselves, and during one of their blade tests, Grant Imahara of the Mythbusters was around too.

Of course, that means they need to make Satsuki's Bakuzan as well as Nui's purple scissor blade (pre-transformation). Just imagine what it'd be like to have Ami Koshimizu and Ryouka Yuzuki carrying the real things onto stage!

[kuribo-04]

I love how they made it out of scissors.

Yeah the other swords are awesome too. The Buster Sword is great, but I liked the Masamune even more. The Buster Sword was too big maybe? I know that sounds silly, but they couldn't even swing it.

Edit: I recommend reading through this. Some info given by Sushio and others. Where the idea for "Before my body is dry" comes from!
http://h0saki.tumblr.com/post/109042080430/connichi-kill-la-kill-panel

And have a nice Ryuko drawing by Kengo Saito:

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[UrsusArctos]

That Ryuko drawing is an eyesore. It does no justice at all to someone so wild and so entirely at odds with traditional femininity!

Making that sword out of scissors was quite a feat. I had no idea that scissors were the right composition - especially since stainless steel is a very brittle alloy and makes for easy-to-fracture swords. Maybe they added in steels of better composition and I didn't pay attention to it...?

And the Buster Sword was truly ridiculous. They made that out of aluminum, which is far lighter than steel. If it had been made of steel, you'd need a professional weightlifter to carry it.

[NemZ]

Clearly she's Mako's maid of honor, and wearing a frilly dress for a day to support her friend isn't going to change who she is. You know she's probably got some clunky old sneakers on under that, right?

[kuribo-04]

That Ryuko drawing is an eyesore. It does no justice at all to someone so wild and so entirely at odds with traditional femininity!

It being so uncharacteristic was probably the point. :P

Here's a pic with a previous version of Ryuko (by Sushio):

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This is done by Sushio too, I think:

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NB Satsuki and Nonon by Imaishi:

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Hypothetical NB Ryuko (that's totally how the characters would act in that situation xD) by Imaishi:

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Drawing by Sushio for the birthday of Mako's VA, featuring characters she has voiced it seems:

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Another pic by Sushio (no idea what it says):

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Fight Club Mako concepts:

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And this drawing by Saito has a more ryukoish Ryuko ;)

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[Dataprime]

I guess I should try to watch it again when it airs on Toonami.
Maybe I'll like it this time.

[UrsusArctos]

It being so uncharacteristic was probably the point. :P

Here's a pic with a previous version of Ryuko (by Sushio):

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This is done by Sushio too, I think:

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These are much better and the second one has them all looking as badass as ever...but what's Sushio done to Guts in the first image? He doesn't look like a pug at all (and I know, I've seen/petted enough pugs to know that's not what they look like). I guess Mako must be holding another dog or a dog soft toy...

[Fireball]

Um, she may be a rebel but still a girl at heart. Ryuuko is the person that wishes to marry in white, the driving theme of the show was Ryuuko learning about herself through Senketsu. Her temper was forged by her parental issues that are resolved at the end. There is really nothing from stopping her putting on a sweet dress for a festive occasion now.

Let's not forget this show is about fashion - the girls can wear anything.

[kuribo-04]

These are much better and the second one has them all looking as badass as ever...but what's Sushio done to Guts in the first image? He doesn't look like a pug at all (and I know, I've seen/petted enough pugs to know that's not what they look like). I guess Mako must be holding another dog or a dog soft toy...

That pic is from the production. There are weirder versions of Guts :P. I'll try posting them later.

[UrsusArctos]

Let's not forget this show is about fashion - the girls can wear anything.

True enough, but remember that Ryuko's own desire to marry in white and have a normal life were a result of her not accepting herself for whom she was, as a "false consciousness" if I might use that term. She does discover more of herself through Senketsu and she accepts herself as who she is - a very tough young lady who doesn't conform to traditional notions of femininity and who can find her own happiness, without a man and as herself. Wearing that sort of overly glamorized crap is not Ryuko-like at all.

[Fireball]

Ryuuko's wish to marry and have a family itself is honest. That's what makes Junketsu manipulation so fucked up. Because we finally got to see the Ryuuko behind the all angry facade and her mother turned her daughter's inner desires into a false dream. That had nothing to do with her not accepting herself but understanding what she wanted the most. When she kissed Nui the person she hated the most, she was completely unfazed, but when she stabbed the person she loved the most, it broke the illusion. The arranged marriage symbolist with a life fiber husband was trumped by her pure motivation to wear and be with Senketsu. She was ready to kill herself for him. The show is very pro individuality and choosing your own way.

There is also little traditional in that outfit from a Japanese perspective. It's not a kimono or a miko costume.

[UrsusArctos]

Ryuuko's wish to marry and have a family itself is honest.

The second half is honest, and it's the truth: the poor, lonesome kid really does want a family, and that's what she gets in the end with Mako and Satsuki. The first gives her an adoptive family that she loves (even if they're nuts), and the second is the one member of her real family who she cares about, and who cares for her in turn.

I still find the first half dubious - she wanted to marry to have a family, but now that she has a family, does she really want to be married any longer? I doubt it. In any case, her future is up to her, and whatever path she takes, married or unmarried, the choice will be hers.

[Dream]

She does discover more of herself through Senketsu and she accepts herself as who she is - a very tough young lady who doesn't conform to traditional notions of femininity and who can find her own happiness, without a man and as herself.

She saved humanity from fabric-based anhilination. She can conform to whatever traditional notions she pleases.

[UrsusArctos]

Of course she can conform to whatever she wants to, traditional or not (this is Ryuko Matoi we're talking about, after all). But it's weird that you guys want Ryuko to conform to traditional notions of marriage - look at what Ragyo married herself to and what that very nearly caused!

Heck, if I had the time, I'd write a paper on Gramscian hegemony and the creation of a false consciousness in women: examples and counterexamples from Japanese animation. Ryuko Matoi is the Modern Prince, the female who after recognizing the perversity of her hegemonic position strategizes counterhegemonic resistance to the patriarchy and the dominant discourse of marital subservience.

[Fireball]

Look mate, Senketsu was her groom already anyway. They were basically married by her own choice. It's not about what I want but who Ryuuko is. Ryuuko isn't anti-traditional even if she is the rebel and her adversaries are represented as such. What she is is stop-deciding-my-life-for-me-mom! aka pro-individuality. (the shouting match at the end of them is essentially a huge kitchen argument between mother and daughter) And when they killed Senketsu it was because he was the last "red thread of fate" tying Ryuuko down and because she would look ridiculous jumping around in a seifuku with 40. "You're free to wear whatever clothes you'd like now. Clothes that are far more cuter than I could ever be."

If you look back, the Kamui are heavily loaded with marriage metaphors.

- Satsuki cuts her pinkie to awaken Junketsu (the red thread of fate is tied to the pinkies of destined lovers)
- "This red blood is the eternal vow between you and I. The red thread of our covenant!"
- "What's this I hear about you putting on your wedding dress?"
- The wedding dress in the first ending/epilogue symbolizing Ryuuko missing Senketsu
- Ryuuko + Junketsu looking like a kataginu, which is considered traditional clothing for the groom in a Japanese wedding
- Shinra Kouketsu looking like the traditional clothing for the bride in a Japanese wedding
- "So the two of you have... joined hands, have you?" Ryuuko seeing Satsuki wearing Senketsu
- Blumenkranz is German for "floral wreath"
- Junketsu = Purity/Chastity, Senketsu = Fresh blood (loss of virginity on wedding night)
- The wedding in Ryuko's dream world when she's controlled by Ragyou and Junketsu

So wearing a Kamui is a metaphor for an arranged marriage. Ryuuko however despite constantly fighting against her chosen fate, ends up deeply caring for Senketsu and Senketsu is bro and totally awesome moe husband after all. There's a lot of symbolism in the anime on conformity vs individuality. Ryuuko represents total individuality, everything around her is conformity. Ragyo's ultimate goal, to unite the world under one tapestry, is to block out everyone else, it's to make everyone in the world into who she is, to give everyone the bliss of enslavement to clothing, a fashionable HIP version.

In the end, what tells us this is that sometimes you need to conform to fulfill a duty, even if you don't like it but you may gain something from the experience as well. Yet you shouldn't give up who you are in the process. Being yourself is nothing to fear, making your own decicisions, pathing your own way and not losing it is good and that's the message being sent to the Japanese public.

No seriously, this is just a sketch of Ryuuko in a rose dress and I'm on EGF.