Kill la Kill - Episode 20

Now that we now know the full truth about Ryuko, her origin and true nature, there's even more reason to detest Ragyo and everything that she stands for.

Although Nudist Beach, the Elite Four and Ryuko are united in their acknowledgment that Ragyo must be stopped, our protagonist couldn't be much more distant from the others as she finds herself entirely consumed by self-loathing, shunning Senketsu and even ignoring the advice of Mako in her determination to go it alone - after all, as far as she's concerned, she is entirely alone at this point.  While she heads off to Honnouji Academy without a second thought, everyone else takes a more considered approach to how they should tackle Ragyo and her army of clothing, ostensibly with a view towards rescuing Satsuki as their new final hope of victory.

Luckily for Nudist Beach, they just so happen to have a state of the art battleship on-hand, and once it becomes clear from a little spying that Satsuki is up to something the Elite Four are keen to return to the Academy themselves to rescue their mistress and, just maybe, turn the tide in their favour.  Meanwhile, Ryuko's main goal is simply to wreak havoc and kill Ragyo, something that proves easier said than done on two counts - firstly, Nui Harime is again on-hand to make herself a nuisance, while Ragyo herself has designs upon outfitting Ryuko with a new garment... new to her at least, in the form of Junketsu.  Has our heroine now been turned into a villain?

The biggest problem with Kill la Kill is that such is the incredible strength of its recent episodes that anything even slightly lesser feels like a disappointment.  On account of this, the first half of this week's episode feels a little predictable - neatly delivered with its usual flourishes, but not a provider of the kind of breathless wonder we've been spoiled by of late.  Boy does the second half of the episode make up for it though, with a blitz of action with a few twists here and there, that sets up a conceit for the next episode that is again predictable, but in the best possible way by once again leaning on the strongest rivalry in the entire series.  As always, next week can't come fast enough.