Review: Kill La Kill Volume 1


Title	Kill La Kill
Author	Kazuki Nakashima, TRIGGER
Artist	Ryo Akizuki
Publisher	UDON
Release Date	October 27, 2015
Pages	180

Udon has graced us with the manga edition of the popular 2013 anime Kill La Kill. For those of you that have seen the anime, you know how insane that series is. I won’t spoil too much just yet, but let’s just say by the end of the series everybody gets naked. While I personally think the anime has a certain style to it that the manga isn’t able to fully match, it is still an amusing read for fans of the series. There is also a limited edition hardcover version that was included as part of an omakase box. I have it, and it’s quite lovely!

This volume contains episodes 1 through 3 of the manga. We are introduced to Ryuko Matoi, a young hot-blooded transfer student who enters Honnou city looking for clues on her father’s death. She enrolls into Honnouji Academy which is a rather odd school in that students are given special outfits that grant them superpowers based on their ranking. Ryuko enters the academy and challenges some of the students there armed with her scissor blade. Unfortunately this does not end well and she is defeated. She is also given a glimpse of the student council president Satsuki Kiryuin. She appears to know more about Ryuko’s father but won’t tell her anything. Ryuko now makes it her mission to get to Satsuki by all means possible. She is befriended by Mako, who is ultra-hyper and annoying yet very lovable. She also finds a sentient sailor uniform known as Senketsu which was apparently made by her father. When she wears it the outfit transforms, giving her increased strength and speed and of course, shows a LOT of her skin if you know what I mean! If you don’t then the manga will make sure you do, since many of the characters poke fun at her for it. In any case Ryuko, with Senketsu equipped, hopes to rise among the ranks of the students and make it to Satsuki.

As I mentioned before the anime is insane. It is filled with over exaggerated attacks, expressions, and music. The manga does a decent job capturing it, but unfortunately it is not the same as seeing it all animated. The art style is all over the place. Some panels draw the characters in a very cutesy manner only for the next one to portray them with a far more serious and realistic look. Some pages look like three completely different manga thrown into one. However given the over-the -top nature of the series, this works surprisingly well and definitely gives some more life to the characters and the situations they find themselves in. Of course this is just the beginning of the story so the more ridiculous stuff has yet to happen. This volume’s purpose is to just introduce the main characters and set the plot in motion. It’s been a while since I’ve visited Kill la Kill so it was great seeing these characters again. Volume 1 is worth picking up, but we all know the real good stuff in this series is yet to come. That’s what Volume 2 and 3 are for!