10 Second Anime - Kill la Kill - Episode 22

Kill la Kill - Episode 22

Ryuko and Senketsu reunited. Ryuko and Satsuki reconciled. Two deep breaths, and then sprint towards the finale!

So satisfying. This episode was so satisfying! All the relationship angst and worry gets resolved here before we make our final push to the end of the story. I call this episode the two deep breaths before this show blows past 11 and goes straight to a broken knob.

First inhale: Ryuko's back! She and Senketsu are reunited! And Senketsu is soooo happy!

Ryuko even has time to thank him and Mako for being her way-too-crazy friends. Even friends is too shallow a word for what they are to her. And while we have that deep breath in our lungs, it's time to kick some ass!

With Ryuko using her own life fiber power, together with Senketsu, she can now block the scissor blades. Ryuko reclaims her father's blades, and shows us the proof of what they can do when they cut together. Ryuko cuts off Harime's arms, and they poof out of shape and Senketsu eats their life fibers. They're not coming back, just like her missing eye, where the elder Matoi stabbed Harime. And apparently, a pure life fiber being just can't stop bleeding. Harime immediately loses her shit, not to put too fine a point on it, and has to be rescued, ending that dramatic chapter.

First exhale: Satsuki apologizes to Ryuko. To get all of her rough feelings for Satsuki out of her system, Ryuko proposes to smack Satstuki just once, full power. But the Inner Council won't let her, taking her blows instead, and realizing they weren't full power anyway. Ryuko suddenly has her eyes opened that they are also way-too-crazy friends for Satsuki just like Mako and Senketsu are to her. Satsuki admits to everything: trying to hone Ryuko into a weapon to use on her mother, manipulating her by dangling information about her father's death, but realizing her methods were wrong. The world, and the people in it, are too varied, too wonderful, for one way of thinking, and it is beautiful to behold. Then she offers her formal apology, and Ryuko says she doesn't want to hit her anymore. I'm not sure she was really going to hit her all that hard, if at all, but Satsuki's friends did.

With that first deep breath done, we've resolved all of the first season, its hard feelings, its mysteries, and moved past authoritarian methods. We've also put to rest the shocking revelations and betrayals of the second season. The two factions of Satsuki's Inner Council and Nudist Beach with the Ryuko and the Mankanshoukus are now one. That pause means it's time to eat!

Second inhale: family dinner. In Japan, nothing reinforces family bonds as much as having dinner together, and this new extended family is no different. Amid the scenes of mealtime, we still have Gamagoori having eyes for Mako. That relationship has set sail, although I don't think Mako is even aware of it. Ryuko finally has some quiet time to share with Senketsu, who is now downright chatty.

Aw, he missed her! Remember, she was asleep for a month, woke up, renounced him, ran away, and came back wanting to kill him. To Ryuko, it hasn't been that long, but to Senketsu, that was a long desperate month. With food and relaxation taken in, it's time to exhale and prepare for the sprint.

Second exhale: Satsuki lays it all out there. She explains what the endgame is for the Life Fibers. They're basically a space retrovirus, infecting a host, using its resources to replicate, and then blowing it up to propagate into space again. Very evocative of HIV or Ebola as they both deal with blood. Their plan is to stop the large antenna at Honnouji Academy from transmitting the ignition signal to all the life fibers spread around the world. And then life fiber missiles come raining down.

Our two deep breaths are over. The starter's pistol has gone off. Now we run! With shocking familiarity, Satsuki asks Aikuro (calling him by his first name with the -san honorific, and addressing him with the familiar/romantic "you" (あなた - anata is also used by wives to address their husbands, like "darling" or "sweetheart"), to take over command of the ship while she and Ryuko fly off to handle Ragyo and her Big Ball of Yarn. Aikuro knows how to address the troops.

Satsuki dons a new version of Junketsu, one repaired with Senketsu's threads and Ryuko's blood. Ryuko tries to address Satsuki as "sister," but it's still to embarrassing to say it. Satsuki says there'll be time for that later. They transform, and there's no need for extra blood or overt sexuality for Junketsu now. The Override might be more like the partnership between rider and horse, and Satsuki is able to transform Junketsu into similar forms as Senketsu because of his borrowed threads. As they fly off, the ship is attacked by a huge Cover, looking like Godzilla manhandling a warship. Out of the sky drops an upside down wardrobe, and a huge red-threaded fist bursts from the door to knock back the battle Cover. Didn't I say our two deep breaths are over, and it's time to run? We are going full throttle Kill la Kill now.

The Fight Club President is back, wearing a 2-star uniform! With their own tailor on superfast mode to complete the battle suits for our Inner Council, Mako will have to stall their opponents. Earlier, they had rescued some of the other club presidents. Will they be sporting their 2-star uniforms too? It's time to run, run hard to the finale!