This #WaifuWednesday, I happened to stumble across a site called Honey’s Anime, the proprietor of which has a post on “Top 10 Magical Girl Characters.” These top 10 lists are maybe a little stupid because they’re wholly arbitrary, but I did notice that, in the midst of his list, he had Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill.
Although it’s an unusual title, I consider Kill la Kill a genuine magical girl show, being as it is an allegorical story about growing up, with monster fights and transformation sequences. It was an early production of Studio Trigger, which had been founded by the creators of the manic shounen classic Gurren Lagann. Kill la Kill has the same crazy pacing, the same bizarre humor, the same surreal imagery, and the same Looney Tunes-inspired animation as its predecessor, but can’t rise to the gravitas that Gurren Lagann ultimately develops, simply because Kill la Kill’s plot is too damn silly. Still, it’s easily one of the best magical girl titles ever made, and it might be the only one that attempts to give an explanation, ridiculous though that explanation is, of why magical girls tend to get naked in public.
Anyway, Ryuko, the heroine of Kill la Kill, is a rough and tough tomboy who’s travelling the world like Antonio Banderas in Desperado, searching for her father’s killer. She’s armed with half of a giant pair of scissors and wears a talking sailor suit. She’s remarkably lovable in her perpetual pissed-offedness.
Although decidedly less friendly than your average magical girl, Ryuko hangs out with an obsessive best friend, wears skanky clothing, transforms, battles hordes of monsters, and saves the world just like the best of them.
