Monthly Archives: October 2013

KILL la KILL (episodes 1 to 3) – Should you be watching?

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With all the recent uproar over the fanservice (in the form of near nudity) in KILL la KILL, I just want to try to put things in perspective. My personal stance, so far, is that I’m not particularly bothered by it. Mind you, this is coming from someone who is usually sensitive to fanservice and is often the first to complain when it rears its ugly head. This is really a rare case in which it seems so many people are up in arms about the fanservice in a show and I’m not!

The way I see it, KILL la KILL is an equal opportunity offender. By that, I don’t even mean that there’s male nudity as well as female nudity (although there is). What I mean is that there is a veritable slew of significantly objectionable material on display here, and the nudity is only one part of it. And for some reason, that’s the thing that everyone’s latched onto as what makes them uncomfortable about KILL la KILL. Well, I suppose that’s the one thing that’s most in-your-face.

But how about the Nazi-like student council? Is that funny? Did you think the execution of the thieving student was funny? Did you laugh when those poor kids fell into the boiling oil? A schoolteacher making sexual advances toward a student – is that a laughing matter?

By rights, none of that should be funny. At all. But did you laugh?

If your answer is “no”, I can totally understand. Some things just shouldn’t be joked about. But if that’s the case, you really shouldn’t be watching KILL la KILL. Similarly, if you feel that fanservice is always disgusting, regardless of the context, this kind of show isn’t for you.

I don’t know what it says about me, but my answer is “yes.” KILL la KILL is not intended to be taken seriously. It’s a fun, bombastic thrill ride full of lolwtf moments and it’s crazy enough to make light of, well, just about anything. And yes, a sentient uniform literally forces itself on a teenage girl. I have no problem with that.

(Streaming at Crunchyroll)

DEF LEPPARD: VIVA! Hysteria

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3 stars (out of 4)

Released 2013

VIVA! Hysteria is the concert video of Def Leppard’s eleven-show residency at the Joint in Las Vegas this past spring. The special feature was the performance of their multi-million-selling album “Hysteria” in its entirety for the first time.

I actually saw this in the theatre during the very limited run at the beginning of the month. It’s about to be released on DVD and Blu-ray, so I guess if I’m going to write about it, now is a good time!

As far as concert videos go, it was really quite good. Good sound, sharp visuals. I liked that the camera lingered on the band members long enough that we could see their faces and their playing clearly, which is a rare thing, surprisingly. What I didn’t particularly like was the occasional filming through the personal cameras of random audience members; that’s not a technique I enjoy and it was overused, I thought.

There was also footage from a special acoustic session that included “Two Steps Behind”, “Now”, “When Love and Hate Collide”, and more.

Naturally, the band sounded polished and tight. What can I say? “Hysteria” is chock-full of amazing songs, and they sounded great live: “Animal”, “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, “Love Bites”, the list goes on and on. Personally, I always love their live rendition of album track “Gods of War”. And another highlight was “Love and Affection”, which was a rare treat to see performed live.