#i have so many feelings for the klk soundtrack

[juncatsu]

kill la kill - OP02 - ambiguous by GARNiDELiA

the second op is my favorite visually for its pairing of lyrics and characters. i wish i could post more caps for every single line but imma just post my favorite caps and analyze the rest through text.

“It all begins when we sever the threads of fate.”

trigger’s finally free to go all out with the hints to the plot since it’s the 2nd half of the season and the drama is ramping up. this is so obvious that it shouldn’t bear pointing out but i still have to, because I adore the links the show makes with life fibers being the red threads of fate, combined with the clothes/godrobes and giant scissors and the show’s main theme of lost and found family with ryuuko and satsuki always meant to meet again.

“I was trying to be someone I’m not, in a cramped world with no breathing room.”

This line describes Satsuki so much, since our girl has been hiding her revenge scheme against her abusive alien mother since the age of 5 and any sign of a slip-up means the world will end. Her sheer force of will is the only thing that lets her keep up with actual aliens. Ryuuko’s also doing the same. She falls back onto a delinquent persona, rebelling against the world in her single-minded goal to take revenge after her father’s murdered. In a sense, she’s freeing herself from the shackles of society and she doesn’t fit in school/Hounnoji Academy, but it’s also a big change from the ‘normal’ middle school girl she was before.

“As I walked down my runway, I thought I’d concealed it behind the smile that masked my face, but it doesn’t work on you. You always see through my facade.”

with Ryuuko and Satsuki literally walking down opposite runways... before fighting. Throughout the show, they’ve been constantly surprising each other and subverting each other’s expectations. Ryuuko appears out of nowhere, continually powering up and surpassing Satsuki’s initial assessment, Satsuki coming out with Junketsu, Satsuki giving and Ryuuko returning Bakuzan. I’d argue that Ryuuko has always understood Satsuki’s sense of honor/fair play despite her disdain for Satsuki’s outward arrogance.

“Nobody’s unravelled me like this before. I don’t know what to do. Nobody else can pull these outfits off. A somewhat ambiguous fever threatens to burn our hearts away.”

By the halfway point, they’re not enemies anymore. They’re fighting on the same side, but they aren’t friends either. They’re the only two who could actually understand each other and are on par with using the godrobes. And by the time of the big reveal, Satsuki’s been so manipulative and Ryuuko is struggling with her own identity, but they’re still trying to figure out how to navigate their relationship. (There’s also a flash of Ragyo/Nui/Rei during the ‘unravelling’ line and Satsuki is the only person shown right before and after that frame...)

“It all begins once we rein in the threads of fate. A new day will dawn for us.”

My heart loves this neat little finish that calls back to the start of the song. By reining in the threads of fate at the end, when it begins with severing the threads, this just describes Ryuuko and Satsuki’s relationship perfectly, doesn’t it? Lost at birth, growing up separately, only to return to each other at the end and to fight together for the common goal of defeating Ragyo and saving earth in order to live their real lives unfettered by clothing. (Also, it literally shows both of them being bound in their respective colors of red and blue. They’re really just beating us over the head with these symbolism at this point.)

“We must be one in spirit.”

It’s also great in that it’s not just about the very last pic already foreshadowing the ryuuko/satsuki relationship reveal for the second half of the season (just think about watching this OP when it hadn’t been revealed yet, they’re not angrily looking at each other, they’re looking angrily towards the screen! dangit trigger), but the animation for this line also showed off all the different groups of the show; the Shitennou, Nudist Beach, Ragyo and Rei, and Mankanshoku family.

I know this entire show was made by Trigger to showcase their animation abilities and this OP animation pulled that off in spades (fighting atop a literal mountain of goons, the blood splattering to form the title card, they’re showing off tbh) but it’s just so good in terms of tying together all their characters/story.

[coredrill]

my ranking of trigger anime at this point is “how close does this come to replicating the feeling i get while watching promare”

[ladytemeraire]

Random question: I know you like Yugioh and Sailor Moon... do you like any other anime? What fandoms would you consider yourself active in now? Have you had any fandoms that you were really into a few years ago, and have slowly drifted out of?

(N.B.: This got way out of hand and I apologize in advance for the length of this reply. Also, holy parenthetical statements, Batman.)

Oh man, do I ever! There’s the entire rest of the Yugioh franchise, for starters, and while the original (DM) still has the strongest hold on my heart and the characters I hold dearest, I’ve yet to really dislike any of the sequel series. (I’m slowly working my way through the franchise; at the moment I’ve watched roughly half of the six existing series - all of GX, most of Zexal when it was airing, and I’m partway through 5Ds.) I also adore Fullmetal Alchemist (both the 2003 series and Brotherhood), Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Escaflowne. And of course literally everything from Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli is a winner from my perspective. I have an ever-growing list of shows that I want to watch at some point; I got through the first season of Haikyuu! and loved it (volleyball feeeeels) but haven’t finished it yet, and I keep meaning to watch Yuri on Ice but just can’t find or make the time to devote to watching it. Also I should probably finish Gundam SEED one of these days.

There’s also some anime that I personally like but I generally don’t recommend to people for one reason or another. (Utena is actually one of these, just because the way the themes are addressed gets fairly intense in places; it’s a deconstruction of fairytales and gender roles and it gets rather heavy and dark at several points.) I personally really enjoyed Kill la Kill even in all its over-the-top absurdity, and I thought Puella Magi Madoka Magica was a fascinating examination and deconstruction of the magical girl genre, but I would absolutely not recommend them to people blindly, albeit for different reasons. And if we’re being perfectly honest, an enormous part of my enjoyment of those two series is due to the absolute killer soundtracks. I will put up with a lot from any given movie or show, anime or otherwise, if it has a good soundtrack, and both KLK and Madoka are top-notch in that regard. Hit me up if you want song examples, I will happily talk about the soundtracks without reservation.

(Unpopular opinion: while I understand how influential Evangelion was to anime in general and shonen/mecha anime in particular, I think it’s incredibly overhyped and not nearly as ~deep~ as some people seem to think, and the series getting rehashed every few years is kind of obnoxious. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Fandom is... kind of a weird bird for me, in terms of how I approach it and feel about it. I get overwhelmed in large groups even online, so even if I’m “active” in a fandom I tend to just stick to a small group of people I’m friends with. (This is not helped by the fact that I tend to lurk on social media rather than put myself out there, so getting into a fandom in the first place can be a struggle for me.) I also had a rather sheltered upbringing in a lot of ways, especially when it came to the internet, so there were a lot of things I absolutely loved but never even knew that fandom was a possibility. Like, I practically grew up on the Star Wars Legends EU books, but it never even occurred to me that there might be other fans out there to talk about it with. And some things like Harry Potter that were a cornerstone of so many people’s childhoods, I was never allowed to read, so I came to those fandoms very late and I still feel like I’m playing catch-up in a lot of ways.

(It... didn’t help that I was bullied heavily for my interests when I was young, so I tend to keep them to myself even now.)

There are also some series that I know there has to be a fandom of, but I’ve never felt the need to seek them out for some reason. The Temeraire series was one of these - I adore the books but I just never felt the drive to seek out fic or fandom for it, for whatever reason, even though I love seeing the occasional artwork that I run across now and again. I’m just mostly content with the source material; I don’t begrudge the fandom at all, but I’ve never felt a pull to find or create material to fill in the gaps in that series.

Also, especially in “younger” fandoms, there’s the fact that some people are dicks about things like spoilers and letting people have their own ideas and headcanons, and the fact that every so often a fandom will latch on en masse to an idea or interpretation of a character that drives me absolutely bonkers. (Meaning either the character or the interpretation of them.) I’m not going to try and play fandom police or tell people what they can and can’t like, I’ll just disengage and lurk and keep to my own circles, but if it’s particularly widespread it can really sour me on talking about the series/material with other people.

And when it’s a fandom for a “live”/ongoing thing like, say, Star Wars Rebels, I’ve found that participating in discussions about upcoming material actually really sets off my anxiety for some reason. Not that I think speculating will get anyone in legal trouble or anything, I just... especially in a series where I get really attached to the characters, I almost want to let it end before I watch it, so I can burn through it at my own pace and don’t have the ongoing pressure of trying to figure out what will happen next, or I don’t get attached to a potential plot idea that doesn’t happen in canon. (The last few episodes leading up to the Rebels season 3 finale were really, really bad for me in this regard. There was at least one character that the writers could quite easily have killed off without it being a poor narrative decision, and being on tenterhooks over the course of about a month and literally up until the last few minutes of the final episode was extremely stressful for me. And if I’m being honest I’m really not looking forward to going through that again with the final season.)

ANYWAY. *casually shoves neuroses under the rug*

Right now I’d say I’m most active in the YGO and Star Wars fandoms. (Funnily enough, they’re both massive and ever-expanding franchises, which makes it easy to find a niche that suits you well.) Even in those it’s still the same kind of thing - I tend to lurk and just appreciate what others put out there until I work up the courage to make a friend or two (hi Skuun, hi Kinta, hi Evie, hi Caz, love y’all really hyped for the Good Omens adaptation that’s coming up, because I'm hoping it’ll lead to more stuff and more people in that fandom.

I was really into the Hetalia fandom back in its heyday on LiveJournal - the fandom was honestly more of a draw for me than the series proper. The source material is... rather silly, and a little cringey at times especially in the early days, but it’s a fertile playground, and the fandom was crammed to the gills with some of the most talented and brilliant people I’ve ever “met”. So it was really fun, in the long stretches of time between strips being uploaded/translated, to poke at the Hetalia ‘verse with other people and discuss interpretations and what-ifs. We had all of history to play with, after all, so there was a lot of untouched material up for grabs. It was also the only fandom I’ve ever put actual fic(s) for online, other than my rambling tag novels. That one I drifted away from for a combination of reasons - college and then my job eating up my time, the slow death of LiveJournal, plus I seem to recall there was some fandom wank that made me stay away from it for a while (unsurprising given the average age and maturity level of the fandom, but I don’t remember specifics at this point). I also fell away from Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan a while ago, but that was more due to the source material pissing me off than anything else.

Wow, this ended up being a really thought-provoking ask! Thank you for dropping it in my inbox, and for letting me ramble for a while. =)

[cockingballs]

okay so i dont want to bother anyone but im gonna vent

also as someone with special interests I know how it feels when someone disses your SI so if Pokemon is one of your SIs blease ignore (and do not go ahead and read just to make yourself mad, its not personal i love you and you’re valid this is just a vent post and it might even go off on tangents to other fandoms we just don’t know i’m sorry i’m sorry do not read if you like pokemon)

edit: i did go off on tangents. if your SI is haikyuu, marvel/mcu, ghibli movies, sailor moon, anime in general

oh

my

GOD i’m so fucking sick of seeing pokemon on my dash i swear the fuck to god i never ever want to see something pokemon related ever again. i’m NEVER going to be interested in it. i did not own a ds as a kid and i never have so i’ve never played pokemon games as like A Thing and it was never that quintessential Childhood Experience that it seems to have been for literally fucking everyone on this goddamn planet

it’s not important to me i’m soooo sick of it every time i see a pokemon post with like 200,000 notes i’m like hooo boy i hate this so much! get this shit off my fucking dash miss me w that!

and i cannot say anything about this bc like... everyone likes it and i can’t really avoid it and it just drives me absolutely crazy whenever i see pokemon shit anywhere ever!!! i’m like HOW are yall not bored to tears of it by now! cause i fucking am! jesus christ

ughhhh this goes for like so many other damn things too. here we go here’s the tangent, i need to vent

-haikyuu. ohkkay it was cute at first and i never see it on tumblr anymore but EVERY DAMN TIME i go to a con theres like 8295829387 haikyuu cosplayers hinata and whatever the fuck his name is with the black hair and black hair is always wearing a goddamn crown and cape like oooh! you’re not original at all this is boring and basic as shit (sorry cosplay whatever you want im just sick to death of it and i need to vent i need to vent)

-marvel. i have never ever ever ever ever ever ever been interested in superheroes and i never ever ever ever ever ever ever fucking will. why are people still even obsessing over a movie that came out like 593960936409 years ago i hate it god and ive only seen like two superhero movies and i fucking hated both of them they are not interesting at all they are not good and they are all the same! literally? even wonder woman i’m like not even interested in at all it’s not the Manly Man-ness or whatever its just the damn genre i don’t like action save for a few very special very good movies

-the ghibli movies that everyone’s seen. ive only seen kiki, ponyo, and arrietty, and i only liked ponyo, tbh. and i last saw that at age 9 and it scared the shit out of me for some reason. so i dont even know if i’d like it 8 years later. im literally not about to sit and watch totoro or whatever i think the plots are boring and while the animation and premises are great the plot is just boring as shit

-sailor fucking moon!! god! damn it i dont have time for this shit. everyones like oh you NEED to watch it you NEED to its the CLASSIC magical girl anime and like? bitch i dont like watching anime its such a damn chore it’s always painful to watch the plots aren’t great and you only get that really good anime once in a generation and just i don’t have time for sailor moon if we’re being honest and i see a WHOLE fucking lot of this shit in the jfashion community and im like No i’m here for clothes not fucking planet sailor scouts or whatever the shit

-i mean honestly most anime is overrated. i’ve only ever been 100% enthralled by two animes in my whole entire life and those were kill la kill and durarara (season 1, i’m not about the rest of durarara). klk was such a good story with amazing animation, a killer soundtrack, a great premise, and interesting characters. drrr!! season 1 was LITERALLY ONE OF THE BEST PLOTS I HAVE EVER SEEN UNFOLD and i was captivated the whole entire time and it was incredible. everything else is either cute but empty, good but bad pacing, too short, too long, or hot garbage! sorry!

[guyinlovewitheremika]

about your Sawano collection, WHOA! 2000?? I mean this is really awesome man so much respect!! I wish I was able to have the same freakish amount of all the sawano goods but I know my 20yr-old grump labtop wouldn't handle it 😭 I fell in love with Sawano soon after watching snk back in 2013 and thereafter i've been tracking down his works and ahhh he is legendary in every since of the word. Besides snk, klk, gc & az I'm planing to expand so do you think you could give me some recommendations?

Ahh thank you  :DD and ahhh hardware limitations are a pain aren’t they

As for recommendations, I definitely have some^^ 

Last year’s Koutetsujou no Kabaneri was scored by Sawano (one OST vol + a rearrange disc), and has a bunch of kickass tracks that get your blood pumping and are very entertaining, especially if you’re into a sort of steam-punk-ish mood^^

Blue Exorcist features many, positive, good spirited tracks, but also some heavy handed, epic scores. (two S1 ost vols, a movie ost disc, a plugless disc, and a season 2 disc)

Owari no Seraph has somewhat limited work by Sawano, but he makes up for it by creating a soundtrack based on two equally beautiful melodies, creating an overall epic, emotional and engaging sound. (one s1 volume, one 2 volume)

Xenoblade X, the nintendo video game, features a huge score of close to 80 tracks (!!). Granted, a lot of it is atmospheric background stuff, but if you eliminate that you’ll be left with a TON of awesome, energetic and grand scores. (1 volume, 4 discs)

Last years Thunderbolt Fantasy also features engaging and emotional tracks, with a more “oriental” feel than usual with Sawano. (one ost vol plus an outtrack disc).

Lastly, 2010′s Gundam Unicorn featured a ton of original score (4 volumes, six discs!!), with a sci-fi feel similar to AZ, but mixed with even an even grander and epic feel to it, and at times feeling downright Hans Zimmer-esque (my two fav composers combined it doesnt get better) 

There are many MANY more amazing works out there, but those are some of my personal favorite overall works.