10 Second Anime - Kill la Kill - Episode 6

Kill la Kill - Episode 6

Ryuko meets one of the school elites for the first time, and we see experience and talent can overcome brute force. Funny how it was the bad guy doing the overcoming.

Ryuko confronts Mr. Aikuro about his association with Kinigase, whom she calls Mohawk Man, but quickly loses interest as Aikuro starts stripping while talking about Nudist Beach. Well, it stopped her from asking all those back story questions about her father's work.

The story of this episode concerns Sanageyama, one of the elites under Satsuki, who asks permission to duel Ryuko. Satsuki collected these powerful members of the student council by conquering their schools by defeating the Big Bad Boss of each one, and transferring them over to her school. Beating a kendo enthusiast with one strike convinced Sanageyama to follow her. His suit only has three life fibers, but his innate strength, talent, and experience prove him to be more than a match for Ryuko. Unfortunately, he relied too much on his eyes to track and react to Ryuko's movements, and that pride led to his utter defeat. Satsuki knew this was his weakness and pronounced the duel "not worth watching." She was correct.

However, Sanageyama does something next that we usually see good guys do. He sacrificed his eyes and his pride to become better at his art, and the affinity with his suit's sensing abilities allowed him to track and predict Ryuko's moves in round 2. If not for the suit overheating because it could not keep up with the wearer's abilities, Ryuko would not have had a chance to escape.

There were some little things thrown in to add some foreshadowing, such as Satsuki showing fatigue by practicing wearing her own suit. Ryuko doesn't seem to have this problem, as she has become a true partner with Senketsu, as Aikuro tried to explain would not have happened if Kinigase hadn't tried to kill her. Yeah, I didn't buy that either, but the partnership and friendship becoming stronger did happen regardless. Just as Ryuko could only last a few minutes wearing the suit earlier in the season because of her embarrassment, perhaps Satsuki is facing a similar drain because she isn't forming a bond with her suit.

One other thing is how Aikuro is keeping some things about her father's past secret from Ryuko because he doesn't trust her yet. I wonder what these conditions of trust are. Obviously getting better at wielding the suit is one, because she can't even defeat a 3 fiber suit while she has many hundreds. But does she need to have her beliefs align with the goals of Nudist Beach? Even Kinigase had trouble with the concept of bonding with the sentient suits after seeing one devour their colleague.

And again, this magical girl outfit anime throws convention on its head by having the bad guy do the noble sacrifice while the hero runs away because her reliance on brute force was not enough for victory. The heroes are supposed to have these noble transformations, with their hard work and talent being rewarded, not the bad guy. The defeat was so quick, we didn't even have a chance for a Mako Moment.