The real hero of Kill la Kill: an opinion piece

I hope you’ve all been enjoying the quite insanely brilliant Kill la Kill. I certainly have. Especially as the series goes on and the story and character development deepen. To be honest, I’m actually pretty impressed with the level of character depth there is to this series – it could have so easily just been a show about revenge with a lot of boobs, but as it goes on you can see that it really is a lot more than that. Sexy Senseis aside.

Now initially, I was pretty skeptical of the show. But by episode two, I could see how the show was developing and it really did draw me in. Ryuko and Satsuki are two interesting, brave and strong characters and as the episodes progress, we start to get a lot more backstory on them – there is more to each of their characters than at first you think. But many tomes and blog posts have been written about both these characters. I’m not here to talk about them. I want to wax lyrical about another brilliant character – Mako.

Ok, ok I know what you’re thinking but seriously hear me out. When we’re first introduced to Mako, she seems like the archetypical ditzy, booby, airheaded, simple damsel in distress – some serious eye-rolling material. I rolled my eyes so damn hard I could pretty much see the grey mush that I fondly call my brain. But I stuck to the show, because it was pretty rad (the main characters are obviously exceptionally rad). It was exciting, thrilling, hilarious and on top of all that so beautifully done. The action, sequences, story pacing and animation is so quick and changeable it pretty much leaves you breathless (and definitely requiring more than one viewing). In short, it’s beautiful, wonderful and great fun.

It became clear early on that there was so much more to Mako than I had initially thought. She may seem like comic relief (although the whole show seems to have a ton of side characters that offer just that) ditzy damsel in distress, but you begin to see her as actually quite smart, loyal and extremely brave. She rushes to defend and protect Ryuko whenever she’s been knocked down and helps build up her confidence and fight. She’s jumped in front of weapons, seriously angry people and those deemed her ‘superior’ in order to rescue her only friend from certain doom.  She also acts as Ryuko’s pillar of strength – giving her the confidence to go on when she’s taken too much of a literal, emotional or intellectual beating. Mako helps Ryuko keep fighting the student council. Not an easy feat.

So, in summary, I totally dig Mako. I dig all the characters and the show but for me Mako stands out as especially awesome. This is because, while she has no super strength or useful weapons or friends or a fiery sense of vengeance to drive her on, she still stands unhesitantly in the face of danger to fight the bad guys and save her friend. Mako is the strongest and fiercest character in the show. In essence, she’s as bad ass as they come.  And I dig that.