10 Second Anime - Kill la Kill - Episode 23

Kill la Kill - Episode 23

Final battle, part 1. Big Ball of Yarn versus Naked Sun. Ragyo suits up.

The plot threw me a curveball. I thought taking out the original life fiber would be the last thing our heroes have to do, because if even the plot to start up all the Covers failed, at least the Big Ball of Yarn can make more from a tactical retreat. But I guess that's the problem with relying on a crazy lady who can't stop touching herself in public.

Ragyo, uh, might have a slight problem of a sexual nature...

For a battle episode, this was quite a lot of fun. We had ebbs and flows, tension, light-hearted moments, call-backs to past characters, a moment of surprising despair leading to triumph through a calculated misdirection. Fun. Oh, and squee!

Nice, Gamagoori! In Mako's despair over the seeming death of Ryuko, Gamagoori has time for a small gesture of comfort as he races off to a sure defeat. But Ryuko took advantage of Iori's information on how the scissors stop life fiber regeneration by cutting the thread from both sides, and fooled Ragyo long enough, with Satsuki's help, to go after the Original Life Fiber. Of course, she needed help from a blade the size of an aircraft carrier. It's no Galactic Giga Drill, but I'll take a Naked Sun stabbing a Big Ball of Yarn.

We even had time for a Mako Moment, this time for herself, after getting beat up a little.

It was enough to psych herself up, but Mako's work was done. She had delayed the battle Covers long enough for the A-Team to get back on offense. The Inner Council's new uniforms, complete with Nudist Beach style, are ready to go at this point.

With the Inner Council helping Satsuki contain Ragyo up top, and the Naked Sun, with the help of all the returning club presidents powering up Ryuko down below, Ryuko slashes through the Original Life Fiber, deflating the Big Ball of Yarn. All those thread copies won't be making it to space after all.

But the overall plan isn't stopped yet. Humanity still has to stop the ignition signal, or else the entire earth will turn into a big ball of yarn. That will be harder now, because Harime is back fighting after Ragyo weaves some replacement arms for her. This also means the final battle suit, Shinra Kouketsu is ready for Ragyo. I had guessed what the Kanji were going to be for this suit, but I was half right. Instead of 神羅膏血, which had the blood themed Kanji in kouketsu, Ragyo and Harime declared it was 神羅纐纈, where this kouketsu is the tie-dying technique from the Nara period that I had mentioned in that earlier post. This is a signal, that even with the invocation of Life Fiber Domination, Ragyo's intent for the suit is not for spoils of blood and war, but dyeing the whole planet in colors of her choosing. Kind of hard to come up with a fancy translation for a suit named after a silk-dyeing technique. The Divine Silk's Tie-Dye doesn't have the same cultural ring to it here in America. I'll go fancy by touching on our Judeo-Christian heritage, then: The Divine Technicolor Dream Coat. It's amazing! Heh.

This ride is almost over. The finish line is in sight. But how many of our characters are going to make it over the line? Some sacrifices will be made. And are they going to tell us how Ragyo got those scars on her back? Or why Aikuro's genitalia glow, but nobody else's does? I'll be happy with the final confrontation being as exciting as this episode's was.