#letsenketsulive2k19

kuribo4indahouse said: I just realized that the KlK game story mode could result in an ending in which Senketsu lives. ;_; (Could…)

Ever since it was confirmed that the game is gonna differ from the anime, I’ve been desperately hoping for a Senketsu-lives ending. He never should have died!!! #LetSenketsuLive2k19!!!!

And, like, at the Studio Trigger live-drawing panel at Anime Expo last year, someone complained about Nui’s demise being disappointing right to the guests, and the response was basically, “Well, Nakashima would disagree with you, but also, we always try to improve, and we learn from our old works so that we can make better works.”

So, I mean. The game could be a sort of “do over” of the anime and “fix” aspects of the story that Nakashima isn’t so happy about in retrospect.

And oh my goodness, I hope so bad that Nakashima agrees that Senketsu’s death ain’t something to be happy about.

Buuut I’m not holding my breath ‘cause Nakashima doesn’t seem to like happy endings ^^;

Also, when the title for Ryuko’s story mode got revealed the other day, I felt it was… really kind of ominous?

Like, I acknowledge that it’s super probably not the best localization, but. “For the Day I Cannot Return”? That made me fear immediately that Ryuko was gonna die this time around, too!

But @kuribo4indahouse reminded me that titles in Kill la Kill come from classic Japanese pop hits! So, hungry for more info, I went and looked up the title.

And… Ryuko’s song honestly doesn’t sound that ominous. It’s pretty upbeat!

(The song starts at about 50 seconds in.)

And maybe the lyrics really have nothing to do with Ryuko’s story in the game, but, hey. Maybe they do! Me being me, I attempted something that I’m not at all qualified to do and put together a rough, rough translation. My English lyrics are fairly literal, so they’re very much not pretty, but ideally, they should give a better sense of what’s being sung than a Google Translate job:

Why was I born?

Tell me who we are

Even if I ask the faraway clouds

They say nothing

So I will search for you

Under this big blue sky

It is good to use all of this youth

If you have someone you love

If you have something you desire

I’m not afraid of anything

That is youth

Tears are the perspiration of the heart

Let’s wash it all away

For the sake of today, I will never go back again

What is living?

Where are we running towards?

The wind laughs coldly

It hits only my cheeks

So I will remember you

On top of this desolate Earth

I put all this power in my footprints

If you have someone you love

If you have something you desire

I’m not afraid of anything

That is youth

These are life’s burning dreams

Let’s live them all

For the sake of today, I will never go back again

If you have someone you love

If you have something you desire

I’m not afraid of anything

That is youth

Tears are the perspiration of the heart

Let’s wash it all away

For the sake of today, I will never go back again

And… I feel much better about Ryuko’s story, looking at these lyrics. If they’re relevant at all, the vibe seems more, “Live for today and don’t overly dwell on the past” as opposed to, “I’m gonna die, so I’m telling my story before I do!” Which is far more promising for a happy end.

I’m also reminded a lot of “Sirius,” the first OP of Kill la Kill and the seeming theme song of the game. There’s just that same idea of searching for someone. As I wrote in that other post:

[T]he game could go for a Space Patrol Luluco-like ending where Senketsu “dies,” but Ryuko dedicates herself to finding him again. I mean, that’s kind of the sense I get from “Sirius,” the anime’s first opening, which has been used on the game’s start screen. Plus, at the panel at Anime Expo last year, the panelists played from an iTunes playlist titled “キルラキルゲーム” [“Kill la Kill Game”], and “Sirius” was right on the list.

And, c’mon. There is so much to this song that could be about Ryuko and Senketsu. These lines in particular just ooze promise:

The vow I hold tight in my upraised fistWill turn into lightAnd until the instant it reaches you one day, I won’t have any time to cry

Like. It’d be really neat to get an ending where Satsuki helps her sister find her friend? Especially if Satsuki and Senketsu get to have more bonding time in the game than they got in the anime?

So, tl;dr, I’m not gonna be surprised or anything if it doesn’t happen, but. Please, please, please can Senketsu live this time?