10 Second Anime - Kill la Kill - Episode 19

Kill la Kill - Episode 19

The quick battle turns into the Resistance against Occupied Territories. Ragyo still has plans for Satsuki. Ryuko wakes up after a month and rejects Senketsu.

When the Covers assemble above the stadium, things quickly get out of hand. They start sucking people into themselves and turn into large formidable soldiers. Mako gets taken, much to the horror of Gamagoori. Ryuko, as usual, has trouble processing all the revelations about her family, and becomes ineffective. Satsuki hits the reset button by blowing up the entire stadium, allowing our heroes to escape.

Before we continue, I want to take a moment to explain what these names of Senketsu and Junketsu mean. 鮮血 (senketsu) means fresh blood, named by Ryuko herself. There are many homonyms in Japanese for this word, some mean "acting on one's own," "stink of blood or meat," "meat-eating barbarian," and "first priority." All of these apply in some way to Ryuko when she synchronizes with Senketsu. 純血 (junketsu) means pure blood, or pure-bred or thoroughbred. The primary meaning certainly applied to the implications of Satsuki's notions of class, nobless oblige, and hinted at an ethnocentric fascism with her uniforms and iconography. There are also homonyms for junketsu meaning purity or chastity, which also points toward Satsuki's inability to completely override Junketsu, because she has not explored her sexuality. Even when Satsuki is captured, Ragyo still insists on this training.

The reason I bring up these names now, and their evocative homonyms, is that even though the show is focused on what the Resistance has been trying to build for the past month since the attack at the stadium, Revocs has also been busy. Ragyo and Harime have been building their next life fiber masterpiece, Shinra Koketsu (神羅膏血). We haven't been given the kanji yet of this new suit, but I'm guessing it's these characters, which mean The Divine Silk's Spoils of Sweat and Blood. Koketsu also has many homonyms, including purity, nobility, jaws of death, tiger's den, sclerosis, hardening, even a type of tie-dyeing from the Nara period. Again, all evocative, but the one that matters is the one with the blood character. Since this suit will be made from original life fibers, instead of the artificial ones like Senketsu, if Satsuki is to be made to wear it, she must become a sexual being. This is the subversive message that Kill la Kill added to their take on magical girls wearing sailor suits: their sexuality adds to their power. Of course, dirty old men aren't supposed to think like that about teenage girls, so... Let's have over the top explosions and comedy to distract you!

Speaking of comedy, Aikuro seems to be a special case among Nudist Beach, because he's the only one with glowing genitalia. Mrs. Mankanshouku has noticed this too!

Maybe we'll get a big reveal (heh) on what it means, or if it's just some affectation for the show. The other big reveal, is that Soichiro Kiryuin faked his death, and altered his appearance to become Isshin Matoi. Another welcome addition is that everyone accepts Senketsu as a sentient being. After the explosion, he literally dragged Ryuko out of the rubble. While she has been in a coma for the past month, the Mankanshoukus have treated Senketsu as one of their own family, even if they can't hear his thoughts.

The big relief of the episode was the rescue of Mako. Satsuki's inner council have taken up positions in Nudist Beach, and they have developed a device to suck people out of the Covers by severing the primary thread that connects them to the suit. The first suit they test the machine on just happens to have Mako in it.

We also see a bit of extra bashful concern from Gamagoori on Mako's nakedness. Oh hoh, I'm detecting a big helping of "leaning" there.

While the device is successful, it is nothing compared to what an awakened Ryuko can do. Some Covers use a dissonant music to suppress the Resistance, very similar to Nonon's musical attack, and it wakes up Ryuko, and she is pissed. She slices them all down, and pops out the captured people in one stroke. Gamagoori notices the difference in power between his huge device and a naked Ryuko. Senketsu has followed Ryuko to the battlefield and implores her to put him on. She rejects him, declaring that she doesn't even want to look at him, because she's a Life Fiber Monster just like he is. Aw, poor Senketsu. And our anti-hero needs to take some time to come to terms with what she's discovered about herself, just like when she went berserk, and almost lost Senketsu to Harime's blade. All that trouble to get him back together, and here we go again. Ryuko no baka!