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This outfit is a keepsake from my father. And this Scissor Blade was left behind by the person who killed him. Now you're going to tell me who this Scissor Blade belongs to...Satsuki Kiryūin.
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~ Ryūko Matoi finds out the weapon's owner.
“
Humans have a will to live!
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~ Ryūko.
Ryūko Matoi is the main protagonist in the Kill la Kill anime and manga. She is a nomadic transfer student who transfers to Honnōji Academy in search of the other half of a red Scissor Blade she carries, and the one who murdered her father, "Isshin Matoi" (real name: Sōichirō Kiryūin).
She learned that she is a Life Fiber and Human hybrid as her mother is revealed to be the Honnōji Academy's director, Ragyō Kiryūin (the main villain who ripped her heart out of seeing her Life Fiber was a success) as well as the younger sister of Satsuki Kiryūin whom they thought she died after a failed experiment. However, her father faked his death and changed his appearance and disguised himself as "Isshin Matoi" and raised her and kept a secret from her in order for her experiment Life Fiber to be a success.
Ryūko is a teenage girl of medium height. She has mid-length, black, feathery hair and a single red streak on her bangs. Her blue eyes have peculiar gear-shaped pupils with eight grooves around the edges. Her outfit at the beginning of the series is a simple white shirt with a red ribbon tie, a black miniskirt, white sneakers, and a black jacket with white and black-striped, rolled up sleeves.
Her clothes are later replaced by Senketsu, a living, navy blue sailor uniform. Her shirt (Senketsu's upper jaw) is a crop top that bares her midriff. Her sleeves are rolled up and have two red stripes near the rims. She wears a sailor-style collar with red lines tied by a red ribbon. The ribbon also serves as Senketsu's "eye", folding into a triangular shape striped with red and yellow just above her left breast; her right breast is covered by a black "eyepatch" with an X-shaped scratch on it. Her skirt (Senketsu's lower jaw) is held up by three belts attached to her shirt. Aikurō Mikisugi later provides her with a Seki Tekkō (lit. "Red Gauntlet"), a red, fingerless, left-handed glove with a built-in syringe designed for Ryuko to conveniently draw blood and feed it to Senketsu.
Ryūko's appearance changes when using Senketsu's powers. Her hair becomes more feathery and is accented with red undertones. Ryūko's outfit also transforms into a black, scanty suit of armor with red stripes: her top covers her neck, arms, and upper chest, and is connected to her skirt by three red bands, leaving everything between her breasts and waist exposed. Her legs are covered with thigh-high boots. Senketsu's "eyes" extend into a wing-shaped crest on her chest; his left eye becomes yellow with an orange and red iris, while his right eye appears closed with a red stripe. On Ryūko's upper back is a red, triangular ventilation grill.
Personality[]
Ryūko displays herself to be a fierce and stubborn girl. She is seemingly not afraid of anything, which is demonstrated by how easily she stands up to Satsuki Kiryuin and demands her questions to be answered. She also shows no fear when she fights with the Boxing Club president who clearly overpowers her.
Later on, she is shown to be quite embarrassed when she is forced to fight in her very revealing outfit, though she overcomes her embarrassment in Episode 3, showing that while she is not afraid of fighting to her death, she is quite conscious of her body. She also shows fierce determination in finding her father's killer. Her stubbornness was taken up to ridiculous levels when she managed to free herself from Ragyō's mind control by punching herself on the cheek. This same episode, however, has one of few demonstrations of shock on her part, when Ragyo defeats Satsuki, rips out Ryūko's Life Fiber-infused heart and reveals to be her mother.
After realizing she is not fully human, Ryuko became an ignorant and deluded maniac when believing she can kill her mother and Nui by herself, even refusing to wear Senketsu, which allowed Ragyo to torment and brainwash Ryuko as her pawn by forcing her daughter to wear Junketsu. At least until when regaining her senses. She is careless when she removed Junketsu off her, even if it meant losing too much blood, which she declared that she deserved it for being a complete and uttered idiot.
After coming into terms about her nature as Life Fiber-enhanced human and freed from Ragyō's Life Fiber-induced brainwash, Ryūko becomes much calmer and mature than she used to be. While her resentments towards Nui and Ragyo for what they have done still remains, Ryūko now much more merciful in their confrontations, as she chose not to kill the former when finally get the chance to do so (though it doesn't stop her from cut Nui's arms off to "shut her up") and attempted to reason with Ragyo after her plan to have Life-Fibers assimilating entire Earth.
She also makes peace with her sister, Satsuki and is able to fight with her as a comrade after learning that they have a common goal, but is still having trouble recognizing her as her sister. Although, after Satsuki catches her when she is falling back to earth and welcomes her home warmly, Ryūko replies by calling her "sis."
Powers and Abilities[]
Kamui Senketsu
Life Fiber Synchronize
Fiber Forfeit: After Ryūko defeats her opponent, she destroys their Goku Uniform, allowing Senketsu to absorb the uniform's Life Fibers, adding them to his own power. The Banshi is always the last one to go.
True Life Fiber Synchronize: After Ryūko invades the Great Culture and Sports Festival and fights Nui once more, her original Life Fiber Synchronize evolves thanks to her own self-improvement and she becomes completely one with Senketsu. In this state, Senketsu glows with intense power and they reach levels of strength and speed that easily overpower Nui Harime.
Scissor Blade Proficiency: Ryūko's signature weapon is one half of a giant pair of scissors, which she wields as a one-handed, single-edged longsword. The blade is capable of cutting Life Fibers, which are otherwise indestructible. Ryūko alternatively uses it as a makeshift tennis racket during her match against Omiko Hakodate. She regained another half of her father's scissors blade from Nui.
Decapitation Mode: While using Life Fiber Synchronize, Ryūko can mechanically extend her Scissor Blade into a two-handed sword. Not only is the blade's length doubled in this form, but its strength increases exponentially and is able to slice far beyond its normal range. This ability is frequently used in preparation for a Fiber Forfeit.
Natural Abilities
Superhuman Strength: Ryūko is able to take on multiple One-Star students by herself, without the need to wear Senketsu, as seen on episode 1. Also, it appears that she is becoming stronger as explained by Senketsu. Even while only having the scarf, she is still able to defeat numerous students with new goku uniforms and ones with pieces of Senketsu.
Life Fiber Infusion: Ryūko is revealed as Ragyo Kiryuin's second child whose body had been infused with Life Fibers, despite it being perceived as a failure by Ragyo then. It is likely that her incredible potential and her natural ability to synchronize with Life Fibers was a result of this.
Trivia[]
Ryūko's unique gear-like eyes and (and possibly her single red highlight) are very likely side effects of her infusion with Life Fibers.
They're also possibly a reference to a character from the creator's previous work, Gurren-Lagann, in which Nia Teppelin had flower-shaped irises, which are further a reference to Nono from Diebuster.
The back of Ryūko's casual jacket, only seen at the beginning and end of the series, also resembles the look of the Team Dai-Gurren logo.
She had a black shirt with the same skull design as her jacket when she was younger.
Amanda and Ryūko with similar eating expressions.
Amanda and Ryūko with the same tiny angry badass expressions.
Amanda and Ryūko's similar irritated expressions.
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Ryūko's character would later be alluded in Amanda O'Neill, one of the supporting characters in Little Witch Academia which was also produced by Studio Trigger. Among their similarities are their dual-colored hairstyle (which is only apparent when Ryūko is fully synchronized with Senketsu apart from different color scheme) and reputation as juvenile delinquents. Even astute watches couldn't help but notice instances where Amanda's facial expressions occasionally drawn to resemble Ryūko's own.
Ryūko's cameo in Encouragement of Climb
Studio Trigger outsourced the 12th episode of Encouragement of Climb and added a cameo of Ryūko as a student. There were some slight differences in her physical appearance like her red streak being noticeably blacker compared to her hair and her eye design to look more like other students.
Ryūko's cameo in Major Lazer alongside Mako and the Elite Four
Ryūko also made a background cameo appearance alongside Mako and the Elite Four in the Major Lazer episode "Escape from Rave Island".
Ryuko and Senketsu also made an appearance on the popular Internet series DEATH BATTLE where they fought Shadow the Hedgehog and lost.
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