June 23rd, 2014

n hindsight there was very little that could have prepared me for the madness, the sheer balls-to-the-wall insanity that is Kill la Kill. I’d heard about it from friends, I’d read about it on the internet, and I was just coming off Gurren Lagann, which was made by the same people. I thought I was ready.
​
Needless to say I was so very wrong.

With a series that seems to be based off of Holy Shit moments why might I choose this moment in particular? Simple, because it had an excellent build-up and a very well executed reveal I’d seen to that point in time.

We had just seen Satsuki escape from the villain. We had just seen Ryuko be captured by the villain. At this point we once again had these two badass characters on opposing sides of the field. We as the audience knew that something crazy was going to happen. We all knew that we were in for something special.

What was the buildup? We watch as Ryuko is brainwashed by the villain Ragyo. We watch as Satsuki interacts with the other characters in a friendly manner for the first time. And then we have Satsuki tell us something that we already knew. This won’t last. We knew that we were overdue for another round of Ryuko vs. Satsuki, but I don’t think anyone expected it to happen like this. We didn’t expect to see Ryuko, clad in the evil Junketsu, come crashing into the midst of the other characters like a bat out of hell, but she did.

And the reveal? When the dust clears we see Ryuko looking all kinds of crazy and evil. We then proceed to watch as Ryuko starts laying waste to her friends and colleges. While this scene was cool and entertaining to watch, what really caught my attention was when Satsuki went to Senketsu. I had an inkling of what was going to happen, but I didn’t dare get my hopes up. I didn’t want to hope for something so outrageously awesome.

What happened next made dreams come true. Ryuko is wrecking everything that was once precious to her when suddenly, from the background, comes that tell-tale light. Slowly, accompanied by a killer soundtrack, Satsuki is revealed rising out of the floor, wearing Senketsu. This scene made my brain shut down with how awesome it was. First we have the role reversal of the two main characters. Satsuki, long thought to be the villain shows up now trying to save people she earlier fought, Ryuko, now trying to destroy what she once held dear. Then we have the fact that Senketsu is being forced to fight against his best friend.
​
The entire scenario was just built to be awesome and create tension. It delivered that in spades. While we didn’t get to see the actual fight this episode this moment left me jumping up and down screaming at the screen because of how hyped this encounter made me. This moment is on this list for me because it promised Armageddon between these two characters. Looking back I can say that I am much fonder of this particular scene than the fight that follows. Not because the fight was bad or underperformed, but because this moment was orchestrated so well. It was a wonderful tease that left me wanting more.