Poor, gullible Naofumi.

For full disclosure, I hate her as a character. Malty is a chicken shit villain who knows how to make you hate her. How bad is it? I have friends that refuse to watch the show because of the shenanigans she and her father are playing with Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero. But, my hatred of her is why she is so good at being the antagonist to Naofumi and his party.

Don’t let her good looks fool you.

Malty is/was the First Princess of Melromarc, and the Next Queen of Melromac. After her mother Queen Mirelia Q. Melromarc and her father King Aultcry Melromarc XXXII. She also has a sister, Melty Q. Melromarc, who will be important later. Malty is such a manipulative bitch, so much so that she has Ren Amaki, the Sword Hero and her father doing her bidding. It was Malty who executed the plot to claim she was raped by Naofumi when they arrived, had the King stripped him of his starting items and banished him with nothing to be able to start preparing for the waves. She would then snipe at him from a distance at every opportunity she has.

Malty vs. Raphtalia

Malty has gone as far as to interfere in a duel between the Naofumi and Motoyasu Kitamura, the Spear Hero, over a contrived and blatantly lie about how Raphtalia, who is Naofumi’s party member and slave (that’s a different topic for another day), was being mistreated. Mind you, the rape accusations still have not been cleared up as of this time. It is yet another dagger that is thrust into Naofumi, and another coal that burns his desire and hatred of his situation. The duel which was held during a banquet Naofumi was forced to attend, was the Motoyasu’s attempt to free Raphtalia if he won. Naofumi would have won, had Malty not interfered. A point brought up by Naofumi after the fact but fell on deaf ears. The King dismissed it and Malty stuck to her story. The only people to make a comment about it and call it out were the Lance, and the Sword heroes. Neither going out of their way to push the point.

Malty and the Keystone Kops

Malty’s next attempt to fuck with Naofumi was to levy toll of fifty silvers for entrance and fifty silvers for exit to the village. This was couched as an attempt to help with the rebuilding efforts. Oh, and Motoyasu was made lord of the region, in light of his exploits in the last wave. The tax as Naofumi pointed out was more than a month’s wages for some people. And it spurns a second duel. Naofumi eventually won, even with the interference of the Malty’s knights at her request. Malty attempted to claim that Naofumi cheated, but the Shadows made their presence known to her, and very quickly Malty made her exit. Knowing she did not have a prayer of standing against the Shadows. This will be the first time we run into the Shadows, who are the Queens personal Aides.

The co-conspirators

In each instance, Malty has manipulated the situation to have either her Father, and his power as King, or Motoyasu and his gullibility to do the dirty work for her. She even gloats about it directly to Naofumi, who is seemingly powerless to do anything about it. This is not the worst of it. The absolute unforgivable being involved in the plot against Melty Melromarc, you know, her sister and the important person that I mentioned earlier. The plot itself is not actually of her plotting, by the cult. We find out later that they were using her for their ends. Her group made many obvious attempts on Melty’s life but were defeated each and every time by Naofumi. Her hatred of the Naofumi is becoming more and more prevalent and less and less veiled.

Malty deserves more than a swift death to be honest.

She’s written to be this callous and cruel. This manipulative. This much of a bitch. She comes off as having grown up with the silver spoon and not knowing or caring about what’s behind it or how it got there. Her hatred of Naofumi is that of a prejudice, of a class of people she hates on spec. If Naofumi hadn’t been the Shield Hero, she probably wouldn’t have paid him any mind. But since he, as the Shield Hero, the one who represents the demi-humans, and she is a member of the Church of the Three Heroes. Let the hatred begin. A well written villain will draw out your rage and your frustrations of how they are getting away with everything. They will make you root for the good guy and feel that sense of satisfaction when their comeuppance happens. Malty does this. And she does this in a way that makes it seem easy. She plays the part well. I still hate her. I still want to see her die. I want to see her die in a way, as Solution Epsilon put it, “in a way that is indescribably painful”. Naofumi should have let the Axe fall on her. But that would have been the end of a great antagonist. Let’s see where Yusagi takes us.

-All screenshots used in this post were procured without permission in accordance with 17 U.S. Code § 107 from the US distributor, Crunchyroll.

New transfer student Ryuko already getting into trouble.

Let me begin by saying that Kill la Kill is aggressively obnoxious, incredibly garish, and unbelievably self-indulgent to the point that it can easily turn anyone off. But for the few people who can hear past the shrill, look past the visual noise and embrace the incoherence, to try to understand the logic behind the motivations of the characters and the goal that Studio Trigger tries to achieve, they may be rewarded with a great time with Kill la Kill. I’m certainly part of the latter camp.

Ryuko found a new toy, though she’s feeling bashful

Before I continue to wax poetic on this series, as much as I adore this series overall, believe it or not I do have major criticisms. I mentioned earlier, Kill la Kill is obnoxious, garish and very self-indulgent. It consistently breaks the old adage of “less is more.” The series doesn’t know the when to quit. The anime assaults your eyes and ears with a cacophony of visual and auditory noise. If you’re not ready from the get-go, you’ll immediately get a headache.

Student council/kinda fascistic leader, Satsuki Kiryuuin

And even if you are ready, Studio Trigger continues to ramp up the volume knob past 11 that you won’t even have time to steel your resolve for the next episode. Ryuuko Matoi doesn’t know the meaning of the word chill, actually no one knows how to remain calm. This anime is the antithesis of Japanese respectful manners and controlled emotions.

This was unexpected…

That said though, it wouldn’t be a Studio Trigger anime if it’s not in your face all the friggin’ time. The more episodes I watched, the more I become engrossed by the the studio’s animation prowess. It’s to the credit of animation director and co-founder, Hiroyuki Imaishi that his studio has achieved such high quality animation for the entire duration. Even though the animation and character designs oftentimes look distorted, disfigured and even grotesque, it’s not by accident; it’s “controlled uncontrolled chaos.” It shouldn’t be a surprise if you’re familiar with Imaishi’s work, which includes FLCL, Re: Cutie Honey and Dead Leaves.

Let our powers combine!

And if that’s not enough, the animation is paired with the impressively bombastic soundtrack produced by Hiroyuki Sawano, who is among one of the top musical composers in cinema and television in Japan today. This combination of obsessive attention to detail complemented by the cacophony of noise is what makes this anime stand out among its contemporaries.

Of course if the story is not remotely palatable, then all of this talent would be wasted. Fortunately, Kill la Kill‘s story hold its end of the bargain. What started out as a typical revenge story of a girl who is desperate to avenge her father’s death, it became so much more as it progressed. In my first viewing when it was originally released, I was convinced that this series is just another typical shounen-style story, where every week Ryuko must fight through the gauntlet of Honnouji Academy’s deadliest students.

Senketsu’s final form…

Admittedly at that time, I gave up after 6 or 8 episodes (I lost count, my apologies). Several years later, I jumped over the hump as we finally reviewed this series, I was rewarded by a story that smashes my previously low expectations. Every episode after the initial “bad guy of the week” introduction, I was constantly blown away by how deep the rabbit hole of how the relationship between Ryuko, Senketsu (her living scantily clad sailor uniform, which I’ll get to in a minute), her father, Satsuki Kiryuuin (the main “antagonist”), and practically the entire cast are intertwined with each other. I give a huge amount of praise to  screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima for giving life and purpose to all of the characters.

A cathartic moment.

If I must give another criticism to Kill la Kill, then I must say that its portrayal of women is in direct conflict to its overall message. In my opinion, this series’ message is about personal growth (or sotsugyou or graduation in the Japanese sense). As Ryuko understands more about herself and her weaknesses, she slowly learns acceptance. She uses Senketsu not just as a weapon but as a shield to her own foibles. And when she finally and truly accepted Senketsu as a part of her is when she gained a serenity for which she hasn’t experienced before. With all that said, I felt that this beautiful message was lost in its audience because of the way the animators designed Ryuko when she wears the questionably erotic Senketsu sailor uniform. I understand that it’s all intentional, and maybe the studio was trying to use this trope as satire. I don’t know what an alternative to how to portray Ryuko’s battle armor without feeling exploitative, but I hope that the industry will take its own advice on its message of personal growth.

Ryuko’s graduation.

I’m glad we covered Kill la Kill in the Unwound Show, otherwise it would’ve remained in my large backlog of anime I’ll never watch. This series can be very difficult to get into, especially if you’re new to anime. But if you’re in need of something unique or at least, a not your typical talking-heads or conventional shounen-style anime, give this anime a try, come back here and let us know your thoughts in the comments section. I truly believe that Kill la Kill will be remembered for years to come and it should be in your anime library.

Whether you’ve been listening to Unwound for the past three season or you just started listening recently, I think I’ve made my excitement over isekai anime pretty clear. My love affair with the isekai genre began in my childhood because I fell in love with books like the Oz series by L. Frank Baum*, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, and the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. As I got older, I got into stories like Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” and Disney’s Tron.

Isekai stories have been around for over 100 years in terms of literature and anime. Historically, the first isekai anime was the 1918 adaptation of Urashima Tarou, the tale of the fisherman who is taken to an undersea kingdom on the back of a turtle. It was directed by Seitaro Kitayama, who is considered by historians and researchers to be one of the founding fathers of anime.

Shinpi no Sekai El-Hazard (1995)

In my own personal history as a fan of anime, however, my first isekai experiences came with my first viewings of the fansubbed versions of Fushigi Yuugi (1992) and Shinpi no Sekai El-Hazard (1995). While neither the story nor characters of Fushigi Yuugi resonated with me, I certainly found a better and stronger footing with El-Hazard, and have since re-watched it multiple times as the official OVA release became available via Pioneer. Even Studio Ghibli has embraced the genre with Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (2001), arguably one of their best films to date; the premise is pretty well-grounded in most all of the isekai tropes.

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (2019)

Although I’ve heard from many of my fellow anime fans that the isekai genre has become tired and overworn, I strongly disagree with all of them. Although there does tend to be a “been-there-done-that” mentality with some of the less successful titles, even now, with the more recent releases of Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (2019) and Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (2019), along with the crossover super-deformed comedy Isekai Quartet (2019), I feel that the genre keeps showing us that there are more stories to be had from talented authors and creators.

As with other genres of anime (mahou shoujo, sentai, etc), isekai tropes have become acknowledged and even lantern-ed within entries, from the use of “truck-kun” (and variations thereof) in speeding the protagonist to their new world through fatal impact (Knight’s & Magic, Youjo Senki), being trapped in a virtual environment or equivalent (dot hack, Overlord, Sword Art Online, Log Horizon), or the development of an overpowered persona (Slime, Tate no Yuusha), it’s refreshing to see the genre flex a little bit to show off some interesting stories to tell and absorb.

Kumo desu ga, nani ka? (2021)

At the time of this writing, my favorite isekai anime is the uber-popular light novel-sourced Overlord, which I hope receives a fourth season very soon. As far as confirmed series as concerned, I’m avidly awaiting the Kumo desu ga, nani ka? anime adaptation coming out in January 2021. I’ve read through the fifth light novel in that series, and I’m enjoying the character development and the political intrigue.

But for every adaptation we get from the more popular light novels or manga circulating in Japan (and beyond) right now, there’s always a few future gems of the genre waiting in the wings. In particular, there are a few isekai stories for which I’m quite eager to have picked up for anime productions.

• The light novel series from Ren Eguchi, “Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi,” (Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill) is a great example of this, where the protagonist is accidentally summoned along with three others, but instead of being a high school student summoned to take on the evils of the world, he is a poor salaryman with nothing except a special skill called Online Supermarket, and his hobby of cooking. His (mis)adventures are pure comedy, as he bumbles his way through this fantasy realm with access to what is essentially an Amazon-dot-com superstore, that’s paid through the use of the world’s currency (a little slot shows up at the bottom of the screen. The English-translated light novel series is available through J-Novel Club right now, on the real life Amazon site, but there’s also a manga version in publication right now.
• “Risou no Himo Seikatsu,” (The Ideal Sponger Life) by Tsunehiko Watanabe, where the protagonist is another salaryman, who absolutely hates his job, or the idea of working at all. On his day off, he is unceremoniously summoned (along with his bicycle) to another world to find out that he’s the long-lost son of the royal bloodline. His dream of doing nothing for a living comes true when he’s offered the opportunity to further their proud bloodline through procreation… and nothing more than that! Of course, that would make for a boring story, so his knowledge of our world’s technology gives him a huge advantage in the fantasy realm where he’s adjusting to life of a high noble, and his skills as a professional salaryman are put to the test in helping his new wife, the queen, through diplomatic negotiations, both internal and external to the queendom. The series is available from Seven Seas Entertainment, and is also available for sale on Amazon. There’s also a manga version available of this story. Full disclosure: Yes, the hot red head on the cover drew my attention to it, not gonna lie.
• Lastly, I also would love to see Haru Yayari’s “Zombie Darake no Kusatta Sekai wo Seijo no Chikara de Jouka Shimasu!” (Another World’s Zombie Apocalypse is Not My Problem!) get an anime adaptation like yesterday! In this novel series, a bored high school girl fed up with her everyday life wakes up to find herself in the middle of the zombie apocalypse… on another world. She has been transported there via unknown means, and through circumstance comes to find out that she has the power to reverse zombification via touch. While others might find that to be amazing, she’s even more annoyed and bored with the idea, and though her new knighted friend wishes for her to use her gift, she cannot be bothered by the notion of being that world’s savior. Great read, and highly satirical… to me the best stories come from satire, no matter the medium. It is also available on Amazon, from Cross Infinite World. I was unable to find a manga of this, yet, but it’s pretty new (May 2019).

So, listeners, what are some of your favorite isekai anime? And conversely, which isekai anime do you think fell flat?

* A bit of personal history: I actually went to middle school with Baum’s great-grandnephew; he’s who I blame thank for getting me into Doctor Who fandom. If you’re reading this, I’ll always be grateful to you for that, Steve!

OH SHI- Spoilar alart!

Basically, you have yourself a kind of love story the likes of which you’ve seen many times before. A guy moves from the country to the city and upon his arrival becomes very interested in a girl he sees doing the high jump on his future school’s grounds. It’s love at first sight and so far I was buying into the premise. Until they started talking and interacting, and then it was like I was watching someone rip off three great romantic comedies all at once. Within the first episode alone, I groaned at how the writer seemed to rip whole plot elements from Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, and Love Hina right before my very eyes… and not even with any sense of flair. Most romantic comedies nowadays find it difficult to be original, but the fact is that most of the best series out there take an unoriginal idea and make it their own. Suzuka managed to simply adopt those concepts and executed them with all the finesse of open-heart surgery with a rusty chainsaw. I didn’t think the series could get any worse, but then the main “male” character, Yamato, apparently uses his audacious tenacity to pursue a girl, the eponymous Suzuka, in spite of the fact that she thinks he’s a complete moron and doesn’t want anything to do with him. By the way, this all takes place in a bathhouse attached to a dormitory for girls. It’s like Love Hina and Maison Ikkoku, except both of those series were actually good. Kimagure Orange Road’s comparison lies in the fact that Suzuka is like Super Madoka, only I actually liked Madoka… oh, and KOR was actually a good anime.

Seriously, don’t watch this anime, unless you want your balls to shrivel up.

Twenty-five damned episodes of this bullshit! Don’t get me wrong, I like a good strong-willed female character just as much as the next guy, but this one kind of took it to an extreme and after then fourth episodes, I was like… c’mon Yamato, there are other girls out there for you to fall for. No need to waste your life trying to get this bitch to fall in love with you. I mean, for shit’s sake, man… grow some balls. By the twenty-fifth episode, I was convinced I was watching two women and not a guy and a girl… or quite possibly, Suzuka was carrying enough balls for the both of them, because Yamato had to be standing behind the door when they were passing out balls and spines. Possibly brains. And guts. I find it very difficult to like a character or even bother caring about what happens to him when in the end, I have no respect for him. It’s called piss-poor writing, or quite possibly, how to screw up a story in a hurry.

Use Suzuka if you need to forcibly extract information from someone. Do not look directly into the screen or else your soul will ache.