The Fall Anime Season is Here (Part 3)!

Title: Kill la Kill
Release Date: Oct 3, 2013
Studio: Trigger
Genre: Action/Adventure, School Life
Premise: Wandering transfer student Ryuko Matoi has just arrived at Honnoji Academy in search of clues to the identity of her father's killer. Immediately clashing with domineering Student Council President Satsuki Kiryuin and her four elite underlings, Ryuko unwittingly kicks off a civil war for control of the school.

Verdict: The only acceptable reason not to be watching this show is because you are reading this blog entry about why you absofuckinglutely must watch this show. For those of you who don't know, I like director Hiroyuki Imaishi, like, A LOT. His previous effort as series director, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, is still on a lot of people's Top 10 lists, and all of those people (myself included) jumped for joy when it was announced that he was starting his own animation studio. And boy, Trigger's debut project sure doesn't disappoint.

The tone is set from the opening sequence, as Head of the Discipline Committee Gamagori exposes, confronts and lays the smackdown on an unruly student.

Pictured: The Mother of All Smackdowns

The poor chap ends up ass-naked and embedded in the outer wall surrounding the courtyard, and everything about Honnoji Academy, from the overbearing oppressive atmosphere to the clearly defined villainous role of Sastuki Kiryuin, is made abundantly clear. Honnoji Academy is made up of a strict caste system, and Satsuki, whose father runs the school's board of directors, is alone at the top; even the school's principal recognizes her authority. Social status is determined by the school's special Goku uniforms, which grant special powers to the wearer. The higher a person is ranked, the more stars their Goku uniform has, with general students designated as no-stars, exceptional students as one stars, and Satsuki's chosen elite getting uniforms with two or more stars.

All white? It must be a bitch keeping stains out.

Into this delicate balance comes Ryuko, wielding half of a pair of gigantic scissor blades. She is searching for the owner of the other half, claiming that this person is responsible for murdering her father. Her blatant disregard for school customs quickly sets her at odds with the school's elite, prompting the captain of the boxing club to put Ryuko in her place with his Goku uniform's ridiculously over-sized boxing gloves. A defeated Ryuko returns to what remains of her house and finds, of all things, a living, talking school outfit which imbues her with powers of her own...WHEW! Still with me? Good.

In the hands of nearly any other creator this would be gobbledy-gook, but with Imaishi's trademark over-the-top action-oriented style it feels fluid and, more importantly, fun. There may be some well-warranted gripes about the skimpiness of Ryuko's outfit, but I'm still glad to see a show with not one but two solid female leads playing off of one another. The 24-minute episode blazed past, and seasoned Imaishi veterans know it's only likely to get more crazy from here on out. If you pick one series to watch this season, this is the one show worth "trying on."

Names You Should Know: Hiroyuki Imaishi

This is part of a new series I've wanted to do about some of the less-well known names in anime. I'm not sure how it is in other countries, but there isn't much familiarity with the anime industry in America. Sure, any self-respecting convention-goer may be able to rattle off a whole string of names, but the average American would be hard-pressed to name one...and that one name would probably be Hayao Miyazaki (thanks, Disney). Fortunately, just as there is more than one great director running around Hollywood, there are plenty more great anime directors in the Land of the Rising Sun. Here's one:

Hiroyuki Imaishi. This name probably means nothing to you now, but you've definitely heard of him. He got his start doing key animation on projects like Diebuster, Kare Kano, and FLCL (he directed the manga scenes), but his big break came when he made his debut as series director for one of the greatest mecha of all time: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The show went on to win the Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival (think Anime Oscars) and developed a devoted fan base.

Perhaps too devoted.

But before he was the man behind TTGL, Imaishi directed a short feature-length film about a man with a TV for a head and a woman with a panda-esque mark on her eye who are sent to a maximum-security prison on the moon (seriously. I'm not making this up). The film only gets weirder from there and it's absolutely wonderful, a bizarre, action-packed fever dream of drill penises, cyborg wardens, Uzi-touting babies, and copious amounts of explosions. It may lack the polish of TTGL, but Dead Leaves is a perfect display of Imaishi's vintage style. The heady blend of energetic, exaggerated animation, over-the-top action and unbridled, almost recklessly creative art design have since come to define his unique work.

The influences behind Imaishi's rise to prominence are as colorful and varied as the work itself. Imaishi started off at Gainax, working on the projects I mentioned above under the great Hideaki Anno, who is himself a protege of Miyazki. He also cites his main influence as the late Yoshinori Kanada, a frequent Miyazaki collaborator whose animation style has inspired an entire generation of animators.

You will never be as cool as this picture.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, his star-studded past, things don't appear to be slowing down for Imaishi any time soon. Following his success with the epic TTGL and the epically silly Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, he has left Gainax to form his own studio, Trigger. They've hit the ground running, premiering a ridiculously, hilariously low-budget ONA called Inferno Cop (think Japanese Newgrounds cartoon in terms of quality), and following it up with the more traditionally animated Little Witch Academia. The former tickled reviewers' funny bones and the latter spawned a follow-up Kickstarter which reached its goal in just three hours. And it seems Imaishi-san and co. aren't stopping there, as work on his newest series, Kill La Kill, has already gotten underway.

With so many links to the past, it should be no surprise that Hiroyuki Imaishi is anime's future.