“What is clothing?”
“SIN! MAN’S ORIGINAL SIN!”
“Indeed… clothing is sin. When man ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge he became ashamed of his nakedness and covered his nethers. From the time humanity first gained free will as human beings it has been his fate to cover his body in the clothing called sin. Because we alone know man’s sin and create clothing for clothing’s sake!”
As Kill la Kill advances the plot at break-neck speed, the lore of its world comes out at an equally break-neck pace! While the early episodes delve into historic imagery of clothes (such as fascism), later episodes delve into the religious side of things:
Orginal Sin
Kill la Kill gives us the world-shattering revelation that it was not humanity which created clothes, it was clothing that chose the ancestor of humanity and spurred their evolution into a being that relies on clothing! This point is driven home with well known biblical imagery (Trigger is ex-Gainax after all!) but is there more to it?
There’s a sect of Christianity called Christian naturalism that believes man’s natural state is to be naked and wearing clothes is the result of sin. To them, Adam & Eve were created pure in their nakedness until the serpent caused them to sin, so they covered themselves in leaves to hide their shame from God. God gave Adam & Eve animal skins, not for them to hide, but to show them that sin requires a blood sacrifice. Christian naturalists cite this event as the first time that bloodshed is known (an animal has to die for one to wear its skin) and all subsequent blood sacrifices, from common lambs to the Lamb of God (aka Jesus) is the price paid for this original sin.
While most Christian sects regarded the nudity the naturalists embraced as vulgar, the naturalists counter that nudity was an original state of human purity, it was when the body was covered by clothing that society began to regard nudity as lewd. Only by becoming comfortable with one’s own natural body could society’s shame be overcome.
Ryuko’s self consciousness holds her back
Only by embracing the kamui can its full power be unlocked
Nudist Beach’s naked struggle against the cosmic evil that is Life Fibers takes on biblical porportions, but can humanity really stand up to its own creator? What role will the blood fueled kamui play in the end? I can only find out by following Kill la Kill to its conclusion!
Nudists, Sin, Evolution, Sacrifice, Purity, Kill la Kill!
BONUS:
Here’s a random historic event I found while researching this article that’s very loosely related to the themes of Christianity and nudity (I highly doubt it has anything to do with Kill la Kill but it’s too interesting not to share):
“THE NAKED WALKERS”- On 10-11 February 1535 a number of Anabaptists had a meeting in the Zoutsteeg at Amsterdam, Netherlands. Suddenly their leader Henrick Henricxz Snyder threw his clothing into a fire and ordered his followers to also strip naked and do the same. They obeyed and together they walked out naked into the streets declaring their ‘naked truth’: “Woe, the wrath of God is coming over this city!” …they were later apprehended and executed for public indecency.
Completely unrelated image of Nudist Beach in power-walkers
