Kill la Kill: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Kill la Kill: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 16, 2014

The second volume of Kill la Kill from Aniplex picks up with the fifth episode, in the label’s gambit of doling out this odd but often entertaining series as a sort of “boutique” release. The show has already laid out its basic premise, which involves new transfer student Ryuko Matoi matriculating to the patently odd Honnouji Academy, a school that is very status conscious and which is run by an almost fascistic student council which in turn is run by a martinet named Satsuki Kiryuin. Ryuko isn’t just a new student—she’s also on the hunt for her father’s killer, whom she is certain has something to do with Hinnouji Academy. The first four episodes spent quite a bit of time detailing various expository elements, including the fact that many of the Hinnouji students and faculty wear mecha-esque outfits called Goku uniforms which give them special powers. Ryuko finds her own version of a Goku uniform, which is called a Kamui outfit. Both Goku and Kamui wearables are built out of an element called Life Fibers. One of the supporting characters who is introduced in the first quartet of episodes has a somewhat larger role as the fifth episode gets underway. That’s Ryuko’s new homeroom teacher Aikuro Mikisugi, who is seen in an early episode supposedly “innocently” leading Ryuko to her Kamui outfit, which she ultimately named Senketsu. It’s not especially concealed that Aikuro may actually know exactly what he’s doing, and while his interest in Aikuro is perhaps a bit on the smarmy side, there are hints that there’s something else going on in the background than what is portrayed on the surface. When Ryuko is threatened at the head of the fifth episode, it’s Aikuro who comes to her rescue, much as he did in the first episode.

The above description may lead some to believe that Kill la Kill is some kind of action-shōnen hybrid, and while that’s probably a more or less apt description, it completely misses the off the wall humor and wacky storytelling style that is part and parcel of this series’ admittedly odd allure. While there are the day to day school activities that tend to fill up any given shōnen outing, in Kill la Kill they’re filtered through an almost surreal prism, to the point that, for example, a threatened killing can be postponed because of activities of the school’s gardening club.

Kill la Kill starts to get into a kind of “battle of the week” rut in this second set of episodes, with Ryuko facing a series of nemeses, all while the series’ overarching mythology is developed slowly but surely in the background. Part of this includes more information about Honnouji Academy’s so-called Elite Four, the forceful leading powers of the school’s all important student council. One of these four, Nonon Jakuzure, runs the school’s gardening club and so becomes involved (albeit somewhat tangentially) in the conflict that opens this set of episodes. Another of the Elite Four, Ira Gamagoori, a kind of daunting character who has a certain BDSM element, and who ends up battling Ryuko.

There are some interesting developments with regard to Ryuko’s ally Mako, a second year girl who befriends Ryuko and helps acquaint Ryuko with the odd tether between school performance and socioeconomic status that Kill la Kill’s plot mechanics exploit. In fact, Mako’s own advancement in school, including an exciting development with a Goku uniform, allows Mako’s somewhat destitute living conditions to be improved. It’s notable, though, that a lot of these plot points play out in the context of a frankly crazy overall ambience where slapstick and comedy tend to be at least as important as any putative dramatic aspect.

While Kill la Kill's second set of episodes continues to mine the series' completely exhausting blend of over the top action and bizarre character bits, the series does show signs of becoming at least a bit repetitive. The best parts of the show actually have to do with the mythology of this version of Japan and the Hannouji Academy, but too often the show seems content to simply pit Ryuko against "this week"'s nemesis. The show is still relentlessly breathless, full of noise and fury which may indeed signify nothing but which is often fascinating to watch.

Kill la Kill: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

My comments in Blu-ray.com's Kill la Kill: Vol. 1 Blu-ray review video assessment are equally true for this volume. Kill la Kill Volume 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Aniplex with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Kill la Kill was the first original anime by the production house Trigger, co-founded by Hiroyuki Imaishi after he left Gainax. To say that Kill la Kill's freewheeling animation style is a visual analog to the series' cartwheeling storytelling sense is perhaps even an understatement. This is a show where fairly traditional anime aesthetics can suddenly be supplanted by dreamlike scenes with a vague mist running through them, or even quasi-graphic elements that almost resemble abstract art (this second set of episodes is perhaps a bit less outlandish than the first volume, but a cursory review of the screenshots included with this review will show how dynamic much of the animation is). The overall look of this transfer is a bit on the soft side, which I'm assuming is an intentional aesthetic decision on the part of the creative staff. Colors are incredibly bright, bold and often beautiful. Line detail is sharp and well defined as well. There's not a lot of depth to the image, giving a kind of flat ambience to much of the hyperbolic goings-on, but that perhaps only helps to make the action sequences play out like a comic book on speed.

Kill la Kill: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

KIll la Kill Volume 2 features uncompressed LPCM 2.0 tracks in both the original Japanese as well as an English dub. This is a very noisy show a lot of the time, with everything from shouts, yelps, dialogue, sound effects and battle audio assaulting the listener in a ubiquitous fashion. Even relatively "quieter" dialogue sequences can often erupt into free for alls at the drop of a veritable hat. A surround track no doubt could have provided more breathing space for the audio, as well as more impressive separation, but despite the "busy-ness" of the sound mix, things are surprisingly well prioritized, with little if anything of importance getting lost in the shuffle. Fidelity is first rate and dynamic range is extremely wide.

Kill la Kill: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Textless Opening (1080p; 1:32)


• #7 Textless Ending (Japanese Only) (1080p; 1:33)


• Web Version Previews:

  Episode 6 (1080p; 00:32)

  Episode 7 (1080p; 00:32)

  Episode 8 (1080p; 00:32)

  Episode 9 (1080p; 00:32)

  Episode 10 (1080p; 00:32)

Bonus DVD:

• The Making of Kill la Kill: 500 Days of Total Coverage (480i; 50:31). This is a surprisingly interesting documentary which traces both the pre-production and ultimate production of the anime, while giving some background on the creative staff as well. There are a number of good interviews interspersed with scenes of the animation process. The only major drawback here is the video presentation, which does not make the "climb" from 480i to high definition very smoothly. This is perhaps most apparent in the jagged subtitles (the documentary is in Japanese with English subtitles), which look like they're in some weird "stair stepping" font.

Non Disc Supplements:

• Double sided poster


• Postcards

Kill la Kill: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As I mentioned in Blu-ray.com's Kill la Kill: Vol. 1 Blu-ray review, as enjoyable as Kill la Kill may be, some fans may balk at forking over $40 (more or less) for each volume, when only a handful of episodes is included. This volume does have a really excellent documentary on its bonus DVD which may make the price more palatable (and as detailed above, there's a similar amount of swag included as was part of the first volume). There's just a minor diminution of enjoyment in this second volume, which admittedly may be due to binge watching what is a very "busy" and manic enterprise. Recommended.