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KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

genuinely curious, but did this series get any better about abusing rape imagery? I know the third ep is out now, but I haven't bothered watching it as the first two were such turn offs, so I was curious about if that trend continued or not.

[(Anonymous)]

haven't seen the new one yet either but apparently it got worse

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

If you don't like it now, you won't like it period.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

I was willing to give it a second chance, and was hoping if anyone had any insight as to whether or not that willingness was well placed or not. you can like a series and still hate one or two episodes.

so if this really is going to be a trend, I'd like some honest feedback on that, not just a "THIS ISN'T FOR YOU, GO AWAY SJW"

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

what the anons above said. it's just getting worse so if that bothers you you're better off not wasting your time.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen all three episodes so far and I think it's more or less the same in terms of weird/disturbing/unpleasant imagery as the first episode was. For example, the MC now has a special glove that allows her to slit her wrist whenever she needs to feed her suit blood (which is how it's activated). And the suit looks as skimpy as it does because, as the sailor suit she's wearing explained it in the most recent episode, she has to be "naked" to accept him as part of her skin or...something...she's more of a willing participant now, and they're partners, so it's not pinging me for rape the way it used to (although I could easily be missing something) but it's still generally kind of unpleasant. There was also a scene where Mako's brother and dad "accidentally" open the door to the MC's room while she's changing. And her friend aggressively cupping her breasts while saying they're huge. Just...general anime fanservice stuff.

So yeah if you found the first episode distasteful I doubt you'll like the other episodes. I'm right on the edge of dropping it myself.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

tbh ep3 came off to me as "why aren't you OKAY with being shoved into skimpy battle lingerie against your will?" and ryouko being forced to swallow that in order to form a partnership and be "willing" to be forcibly sexualized... ehhh. the implications didn't do it for me. not sure if her being cornered into consenting is better or worse than her being forced and uncomfortable with everything. she's still lacking agency so ymmv

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

http://skaboyjfk.tumblr.com/post/64402552228/in-the-right-order-this-time-oops

da

[(Anonymous)]

you're kidding, right? they're seriously trying to justify all of that and turn it into an empowerment story?

the male otaku dominated audience doesn't care about ANY of this. nevermind that the rape imagery extends beyond just the suits themselves.

look, you can like this show all you want, but don't sit there and pretend it's some kind of pro-feminist show just because it has women kicking ass and contrived interpretations about "coming of age" in it, or we could make the same argument for fucking Queen's Blade.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

lmao fucking tumblr

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

be careful, you'll hurt your shoulder if you reach much harder

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

what a bunch of complete and utter sexist apologism bullshit

let's just set aside the whole part about the suit being MALE so the power the protagonist has is essentially granted to her by a man

this is just the same old Strong Female Characters garbage that neckbeards try to make us swallow with every single scantily-clad battle girl fanservice series ever

why the fuck is it that in Neckbeardland women ALWAYS must be sexualized or have their power come straight out of their sexuality to be ~empowered~ anyway? You don't see the male protagonists of these kind of action shows shoved in teeny banana hammocks that they're ashamed and uncomfortable of wearing. Male characters get to kick ass because they're cool or strong or skilled or smart. Women can never be just cool or strong or skilled or smart to kick ass, they always have to be objectified sexually on top of that.

neckbeards always keep telling female fans over and over that we're always supposed to ~look past the fanservice~ because OH THE SHOW IS A TRIUMPH OF WRITING/DIRECTING/ANIMATION and if we don't just shut up and endure the barrage of degrading imagery we're joyless manhating bitches who aren't True Anime Fans

yet these are the same dipshits who flip their lids and scream about being grossed out about the very existence of BL or even the (always considerably tamer) fanservice you get in female-targeted shows like Free!

yeah, I mad

http://jbriner.tumblr.com/post/64421416591/skaboyjfk-in-the-right-order-this-time-oops

[(Anonymous)]

gags and dies

[(Anonymous)]

That's a fairly lousy interpretation of the show anyway. The show's about standing up and above the crowd even at the cost of being exposed to judgement and ridicule.

Both Ryuko and Satsuki have ambitions that go above and beyond those around them and, like in real life, doing this puts them out there for attention and judgement that they might not otherwise want. This doesn't necessarily have to be a sexual kind of attention, but just look at anybody who puts their thoughts and opinions out there and see the crap foisted on them as a result for an example. The show uses the Kamui as a metaphor for not being afraid to accept judgement and ridicule for being true to what you believe and want in life, even if it means exposing yourself. That's what it's talking about when it refers to "getting naked." The regular uniforms are plain and covering because the characters wearing them are just following along, and not putting themselves out there to follow their own aspirations.

Now, I know a lot of people still don't like the show because of all the imagery and that's okay. Nobody's wrong for being squicked by it and choosing not to watch it, but the show's aiming for more than just being fetishist and fanservicey.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, it's not Trigger's best work.

That is unquestionably INFERNO COP.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

I keep hearing about this infamous series they did but NO ONE POSTS ANY DEETS!!!!!

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if the imagery got better, but a friend said this after I dropped it last episode and I have to agree:

No matter what kind of rape imagery klk has in it, at least it won't have actual rape and make it a plot point like valvrave did

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, fucking Valvrave.

Way to have the victim write her rape off as an "eh, no big deal" type thing while focusing on the emotional turmoil and suffering of the poor, poor rapist.

Barf.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

god, valvrave

i'm glad the industry continually provides us reasons to lower the bar

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

You sjws are the scourge of the earth

http://formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/what-not-to-wear-undressing-kill-la-kills-wardrobe-

[(Anonymous)]

Addresses both sides of the argument. Thoughts?

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

ugh. even if I were watching this show, I'd never RP from it because I'd just get my name dragged across the anoncomms for playing from a "neckbeard" show.

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

this all makes me curious about whether there's ever a situation when rape imagery is allowed

[(Anonymous)]

does anyone else see the MC as being a genderswapped Simon from TTGL

Re: KILL la KILL

[(Anonymous)]

'Rape imagery' is the dullest fucking feminist shibboleth. Imagery doesn't mean anything in itself. If you're going to use it in an argument it's really not enough to say 'there's rape imagery'. That doesn't say anything. It's the laziest kind of non-analysis. You have to plug that imagery into a reading of the work as a whole and yes; that does mean allowing for the possibility of parody or subversion, especially when it's clearly playing with established tropes of the genre it's situated in.

Of course the scope and success of such parody and subversion comes down in large part to how the show resolves its component tropes. It's early days yet to judge to that one way or another. The best analysis of any serial work comes retrospectively, of course, but that axiom is especially true in the case of series that raise the spectre of subversion. Until it's over you really don't know.

One reason to give the series the benefit of the doubt is the people behind it. Yes, Studio Trigger née Gainax have a long history of masculine juvenalia, true, but their work has almost always played with viewer expectations and genre tropes. Gurren Lagann, the series KlK gets compared to most often, does contain a lot of somewhat tasteless sexualized fanservice (exaggerated but that exaggeration isn't really taken anywhere thematically) and even some rape imagery, but its primary concern is constructions of masculinity and insecurity, so that's not terribly surprising. On the other hand, whatever else you may want to say about the gender politics of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt no honest reading of it can deny that it's a positive treatise on female sexual agency disguised as straightforward grossout comedy. And their most recent previous work, Little Witch Academia, demonstrates that they have a lot of range in terms of writing and depicting female characters. Kill la Kill isn't the way it is inadvertently or through mindless regurgitation, it's clearly an aesthetic choice - and whether it's one that works thematically is too soon to call. The point is, the people making Kill la Kill have a long and storied history of producing complex works, works that require retrospective unpacking to fit into the social environment they were created for and be properly understood. Trying to call it one way or the other three episodes in isn't just ridiculous; it's lazy, essentially abdicating the role of analyst in favor of creating a bumper-sticker slogan.

(Not that the 'KlK is a totally feminist tale of empowerment' stuff is any less premature, but almost all of what I've seen of that at least hedges by acknowledging that everything it says could be invalidated further into the series. Whereas this thread is full of IT VIOLATES THE SHIBBOLETH)

Of course, if the problem is a purely personal one, ie that watching such imagery makes you personally uncomfortable, that is a completely separate matter. None of the above relates to personal enjoyment, whether for that reason or any other aesthetic judgment. The solution to this problem is not to watch it, not to conflate your personal discomfort with social justice issues in order to perform a premature dismissal.