Fridge / Kill la Kill

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

• The obstacle course in episode 4 comes across as weird; not because of the humor or the animation, but because it paints the student council in a much more negative light than their later characterization. Why would they subject their students to this kind of torture? Except it isn't all the students- it's only the No-Stars. Goku Uniforms physically enhance their wearers, to the point that even a One-Star should be able to clear the obstacle course with ease. And it isn't hard to achieve One-Star status. Just keep your grades up, join a club, and complete club duties. They're practically giving them away.
  The thing is, the purpose of the uniforms is to make the students combat-capable in the fight against Ragyo. So any student not wearing a Goku Uniform has a major disadvantage. The obstacle course is a test: if the No-Star students aren't strong enough or fast enough to hold their own in a life-or-death situation, if they can't compete with the students who wear Goku Uniforms, they don't have a place at Honnouji Accademy. They're not fit for Satsuki's army. Those students who get expelled are being spared potential death later on.
• How could Matoi Isshin hope to fight against an alien abomination and a woman who could outfight armies? He fought back by forging weapons out of his adversaries themselves! Paired blades made of hardened Life Fibers... and a SECOND set of paired blades in Ragyou's daughters. In the battle in episode 22, both pairs of blades are reunited, finally ready to work together. This is even reflected in the design of the Rending Scissors; Ryuuko's red paired with Satsuki's blue.
• Why are Goku Uniforms marked with stars? It's not to denote rank, it's to denote the percentage of extraterrestrial material in the uniform. That makes a subtle implication that Ragyou is 70% Life Fibers.
• At first, it doesn't seem to make sense that Ryuko is nowhere near powerful enough to take care of Ragyo when she's not wearing a Kamui in Episode 23, and then make Ragyo in the ultimate Kamui bleed. However, in the last episode, Ryuko destroyed a lot of the Primordial Life Fiber and therefore absorbed the Primordial Life Fiber's power into her, which had granted a huge amount of power to Ragyo in her second form. The Primordial Life Fiber is just that powerful.
• How did Maiko get a cast on her arm if she only was injured shortly before? She wasn't injured in the first place and had the cast the entire time, waiting for an opportunity to garner sympathy and join Ryuko and Mako. This is foreshadowed by her using her "injured" arm to drive the bus.
• Senketsu and non-Ryuko blood:
  • Senketsu finding Maiko's blood to "taste disgusting" becomes a lot more interesting after we find out he was made to be worn specifically by Ryuko. It could be that any blood that isn't hers tastes disgusting to him.
  • Alternatively, it's like trying to give someone a blood transfusion with a blood type that doesn't match their own.
  • Also, the fact that Satsuki is able to wear Senketsu with relatively little trouble (though she can't hear him talk, at least initially anyway) probably has something to do with them being sisters, and presumably having extremely similar blood types.
• Ira Gamagoori's power-up is in a BDSM getup that gets more power as it gets attacked. It might psych people out at first, but it has to be remembered what his role in the academy is, which is the Disciplinary Committee Chair. What is one of the main focuses in BDSM culture? In addition, his counterattack-based style also plays into this; you can't enforce the rules unless they're broken, Ira refuses to use his power on obedient students, but attacking another student is breaking the rules. Accordingly, anyone attacking him is breaking the rules of Honnouji Academy and allows him to justify attacking back, with the scale of his "punishment" determined by the strength of the attacker's blows.
• Lots of it with Mako's 2-Star Uniform. It's an homage to Banchou outfits (worn by "tough guy thugs") and plays into her status as the underdog. That's not to mention the irony that a "uniform" takes the form of a Banchou outfit, which highlights her disdain for authority — the exact same thing she's trying to appeal to while she wears it.
• Coming of Age Story:
  • The anime is about a teenage girl who goes through changes that requires bleeding to activate, and is initially having trouble coping with these changes because she is self conscious about people looking at her body. Just like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann could be seen as a boy's anime about reaching adulthood, Kill la Kill is a story about a girl climbing through adolescence.
  • Going further with that, in the ending she is shown to be somewhat in conflict about the fact that she can no longer wear her sailor uniform, something that signifies her inability to come back to what was before as she climbs through it and no doubt something she isn't the only person to feel.
• Sanageyama is possibly one of the worst offenders of the Calling Your Attacks trope. One part of the Kill la Kill drinking game is to take a drink for every individual MEN, DO, and KOTE he screams in his fights. But fridge brilliance comes in when you remember that in Kendo sparring matches or tournaments, points are only given for attacks that are properly called and executed properly. He's screaming in battle because he wants to win on points. Once he stops treating combat like a game/competition, he drops this habit.
• Satsuki's "Pigs Wearing Human Clothing" comment becomes a lot more poignant after what we see in Episode 7, seeing Mako and her family being swiftly seduced and corrupted by the power and prestige of their new position. Chances are, the exact same thing happened with all the other club captains. It's implied that Satsuki considers conviction and strength of character to be the highest of virtues, so why wouldn't she look down with contempt on those who abandoned any ideals or principles they held just to hold on to a life of power and wealth, let alone one entirely dependent on her continued favor? It also explains why she smiles when Mako gives up her position (aside from the completion of a Xanatos Gambit). Mako abandons her wealth and position in favor of loyalty to her friend (probably the first time that's ever happened in Satsuki's reign), meaning that she's likely earns Satsuki's respect for doing so.
• The concept of Life Fibers might have originated from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, a previous show from the same director and staff. Both shows have transformation sequences where pieces of clothing are changed into weapons.
• Naturals Election and the Elite Four:
  • At first, it seems strange that the order of battle for the Elite Four fighting Ryuko goes from the one who defeated the least amount of students to the Elite who beat the most, until you realise that Satsuki was enforcing the Sorting Algorithm of Evil to train Ryuko. Aside from that, there's the more obvious fact that if you want to maximize your chances to win, you put the strongest to battle last. That way they can learn from the mistakes of the weakest, remain fresh for their shot at the opponent, and make the most of their strength when their turn comes. That said, the classification of the Elite Four's strength by number of students defeated is flawed anyways, as Gamagoori (4th) is a lot more powerful than Inumuta (3rd), and only ranked so low because he only fought in self-defense.
    • However, the order of the amount of students they defeated does make a lot of sense. Gamagoori only fought in self-defense, and he's arguably the most intimidating member of the Elite Four so not a lot of students would even dare try to fight him. So he defeated the least students. Inumuta and Jakuzure are both less imposing-looking than the gigantic Gamagoori, so they would have been challenged more often. However, Inumuta is more likely to be withdrawn somewhere hidden with his computer, while Jakuzure is bombastic and more in the open. He'd be hard to find for most students and wouldn't go out of his way to fight; Nonon, however, would be constantly underestimated by desperate students due to how small she is, and make a point of putting upstarts in their place. And finally, Sanageyama's love for battle meant he'd spend most of his free time challenging students anyway.
  • Sanageyama leaves the arena as soon as Nonon is called to battle. Sanageyama previously complained to Satsuki in episode 6 that he's developed hypersensitivity of his remaining senses after giving up his eyes. Nonon's fighting style and Uniform abilities are based on incredibly bombastic and indiscriminate musical attacks, and she even enters the arena with a loud marching fanfare. Sanageyama was trying to spare his ears from over-stimulation.
  • Part of above, but when Ryuko challenges all of the Elite Four at once, they decline in favor of one-on-one battles. While powerful alone, all of their abilities would have stepped on each other's toes and done more harm than good in the small arena they're presented with. Along with the Jakuzure/Sanageyama example above, Inumuta has been shown to have a weakness to wide area-of-effect skills and couldn't calculate Ryuko's actions during their fight, let alone dodge the crazy flaying of Gamagoori's whips or Nonon's sound-based attacks at the same time. Jakuzure would probably kill everyone with her missiles as well. They fight in unison during the battle of Kansai with no issues, thanks to having a lot more room to maneuver.
  • Also a part of the example above, if you pay attention, you might notice that Sanageyama came back during the Jakuzure fight, but only after her first form got defeated. He came back because he knew that the sound coming from Jakuzure's Da Capo form would be focused only on Ryuko.
  • For a while, it seems sort of hypocritical for Satsuki to reinstate the Elite Four even though they lost to Ryuko in the Naturals Election. Then you realize that she has four positions that need to be filled and, despite their loss to Ryuko, they're still the most eligible students, especially considering that Ryuko is refusing to go to school at the time (let alone accept a position). Even more plausible because Satsuki was never evil in the first place. The Naturals Election is, in the most basic terms, pitting the Elite Four in a Hopeless Boss Fight against Ryuko and Senketsu. Satsuki expects the Four to lose, since this would make Ryuko even stronger (and teach the Elite Four a little something too; if you always win at everything, you'd never learn anything). Also, it's shown that the Elite Four aren't just Satsuki's subordinates, they're her best friends (as shown in flashbacks and completely confirmed in Episode 22). She would never toss her friends out because they lost; if she did, she'd be just like her monster of a mother.
  • Holding the fights in order from (theoretically) weakest to strongest also makes sense when you realize that Satsuki's main goal is to test the limits of all four of the Elite Four's uniforms so they could be improved on, not to beat Ryuko. If the first person to fight her had won, where would that leave the other 3?
• Sanageyama jobbing to Nui actually makes perfect sense in retrospect. She defeated him by waiting until he was overcommitted to an all-out attack, hitting a weak spot of his that he didn't know about, and Nui was apparently unarmed. Even "The Eyes of the World" cannot protect against something that is not of this world.
• In her flashbacks, Ryuko's memory of her father's killer slowly changes to resemble someone who looks like Satsuki (before being revealed as Nui Harime). In other words, Ryuko becomes obsessed with Satsuki to the point where she's practically convinced that Satsuki was the one who killed her father. It becomes even more brilliant when you go back to her first flashback in episode 1 and realize that, originally, the silhouette of the killer has large twin pigtails just like Harime.
• The other half of the scissors blade that Harime possesses at first doesn't seem to match up to Ryuko's half. That is, until you realize that both halves combine to form a pair of sewing scissors◊.
• The things that Ryuko and Satsuki say after their Transformation Sequence differ greatly as a reflection of their relationship with their Kamui. To elaborate, Ryuko says "Life Fiber Synchronize", indicating that she and Senketsu move as one, while Satsuki says "Life Fiber Override", explicitly stating that she is Junketsu's master. This also speaks of their mastery of their Kamui, as Ryuko and Senketsu have a chance of going berserk if one of them is out of sync, while Satsuki is always confident that she is in control of Junketsu's power. Satsuki also needs to be always in control of Junketsu; otherwise, she would've been devoured if she lost control.
• "Before My Body Is Dry", either lyrical or instrumental, normally plays when Ryuko and Senketsu are in sync with each other, which makes it seem like a normal insert song. Not really, though, as it's revealed in the OST that there are two singers in that song, one female and one male. And the lyrics pretty much describe the relationship between the two. Seems like they are not fully in sync yet, as we have yet to go past the part where the woman is done singing and the next verse begins, sorta like how Ryuko does not always heed what Senketsu tries to tell her. Like when her rage takes over and corrupts, him causing the transformation to become monstrous.
• Ragyo Kiryuin emits a rainbow-colored aura everywhere she goes. More than likely, this is a reference a Japanese proverb: the parent's light of seven colors, referring to the offspring of a powerful family who receives immense privileges. It can also mean that the parent's legacy has doomed rather than blessed their child.
• Why would Nagita, the News Club President, be hiding in a cubicle and waiting for Mako in the girls' toilet of all places, even if he was really desperate? Well, he wasn't ever really a he, was he?
• Throughout the series, Satsuki has called people "pigs in human clothing". Come Episode 16, we see that the Life Fiber aliens view humans as livestock.
• Ragyo's speech about how "clothing is original sin" and relating it to man becoming aware of his nakedness by eating from the Tree of Knowledge gains a much deeper meaning after Episode 16, where it's revealed that it was the Life Fibers themselves that made mankind wear clothing and allowed them to evolve as the dominant species on the planet. It's also a huge spoof of the mystical origins of humanity and Angels in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Tsumugu sometimes mentions not minding being a naked nudist if it will let him continue his quest of destroying all Life Fibers. The statement itself seems odd coming from a member of a nudist organization, until you realize that he's the only Nudist Beach operative who actually wears clothes while working (Aikuro doesn't count since he's undercover). Those clothes apparently let him store and carry all his gear, from his needle guns to his bombs. Also, as shown in episode 15, low ranking members of Nudist Beach (again, with the exception of Aikuro, who is implied to be the acting commander) wear almost nothing but utility belts, so to Tsumugu, being a "naked" nudist essentially means being stripped of all his specialized gear, and possibly being demoted to a lower rank. Later on, we find out that Tsumugu is only a nudist out of practicality/the need to defeat the Life Fibers. In the end, he asks if they can finally put clothes on now, while Aikuro actually enjoys being a nudist.
• In Episode 18, when Ragyo takes Satsuki's Junketsu from her, she touches her daughter's crotch to rob her of her "purity".
• It had been implied earlier that Satsuki had some special reason for leaving the Kansai region last in her plan to conquer all the schools in the country, but Episodes 14 and 15 didn't really dwell into this reason very much. After Episode 17 it makes perfect sense, as she knew that Nudist Beach had their base of operations somewhere in the region and wanted to give them ample time to prepare and dig in, so that when she would be required to confront them, they could anticipate her actions and preserve a portion of their forces for the future, thus allowing them to remain potential allies when she executed her Heel–Face Turn. A masterful Xanatos Gambit if there ever was one.
• Ragyo is in perpetual Super Mode. Up until Episode 18, her hair seemed more of an aesthetic kind of thing or a way to show just how inhuman she is. But then we see Ryuko activating her own Super Mode and her hair shines the same way as Ragyo's. The power-up which allowed Ryuko to completely outperform Nui, Ragyo was using from her very first appearance.
• Tsumugu's hostile attitude towards Ryuko makes more sense if he knows that Ragyo is actually Ryuko's mother, since he has more than ample reason to distrust the former, and he already knows that the other two daughters were basically enemies to his organization and humanity.
• The streak in Ryuko's hair is a side effect of being infused with Life Fibers, which are also red. Remember, when she broke free from Ragyo's mind control, it was her hair streak that cut the bonds on her brain.
  • She has a rebellious streak.
• The One-Stars of Honnouji Academy lack any individuality and are basically clones of each other. It can be seen as biting commentary on the mundane middle class. Or de-individuation that gets drilled into soldiers at boot camp, with Honnouji Academy being the camp.
  • Or they might be victims of Gamagoori's technique of literally molding troublemakers into model students. The impression in the mold he tries to crush Ryuko with during their fight looks exactly like a One-Star student.
• When Ryuko went berserk, she transformed with Senketsu, becoming a powerful and bloody monstrosity instead of clothing like victims of Kamuis should. One might say this is because she's wearing Senketsu, a sentient Kamui, but it's actually because Ryuko is a human-Life Fiber hybrid and because of that, her body is capable of transforming or combining with other Life Fibers like Senketsu. She's also the only one who can hear Senketsu's voice, which at first, seemed only because according to Aikuro, her DNA has been spliced with Senketsu. After the reveal of her being a human-life fiber hybrid, it makes more sense why only she can hear and likewise communicate with Senketsu, a fully sentient Life Fiber being.
• Ragyo and Junketsu:
  • It's curious that Ragyo also uses Life Fiber Override while wearing Junketsu, considering that she's a loyal servant of the Life Fibers and shouldn't need to force them to cooperate with their mutual goal. A hint that Junketsu might be more like Senketsu than we realise, perhaps?
  • Or perhaps it is just the opposite. We haven't seen any other Kamui to compare them to, but we have to assume that Junketsu is a typical Kamui and thus has to be forced to cooperate (hence the override). Meanwhile, Ryuko has some Life Fiber inside of herself and Senketsu was spliced with her genetic material when it was being created, which pretty much means that Senketsu is half-Ryuko (hence the synchronization).
  • In addition, it should be noted that, while Ragyo is a servant to the Life Fiber species in general, she still tends to order them around. See: Shinra-Koketsu's Absolute Domination. She does not have a bond of trust with Junketsu. Even though it can't consume her, she's still giving it commands like a general would to a soldier.
• Every time a character has had their uniform destroyed, they've been 'stripped' completely naked, with three notable exceptions: Mako, Ryuko, and Satsuki. Instead of being stripped naked, all three kept their underwear on, meaning that while they may have lost their clothes, none were 'stripped' of the will to fight.
• Takarada's Giant Enemy Crab robot requires its pilot to be in the same position as the DTR. It's not a coincidence — Takarada Conglomerates gets confirmed as a monetary supporter of Nudist Beach. They're probably using some of the same specs. In fact, Takarada actually refers to his mech as a "Dotonbori Robo". It's clearly just an Ace Custom version of the same robots Nudist Beach uses.
• For a while, due to his red hair and general attitude being similar to the protagonist, we thought that Tsumugu was related to Ryuko. He was a red hairing the whole time.
• Mind Rape:
  • Assuming that the show really is trying to address the gender roles applied to girls, Ryuko's Mind Rape in Episode 20 takes on a whole new meaning. She has never had a Love Interest, or claimed to want/need one, being more or less completely independent and focused on revenge and world-saving. However, the Fake Memories Ragyo shows her include a scene of Ryuko getting married, a traditionally "acceptable" dream for a girl to aspire to — in other words Ragyo is trying to force Ryuko to adhere to female stereotypes, first as a dutiful daughter and then as a blushing bride.
  • On the other hand, we cannot say for sure that it is something Ryuko does not want. Yes, she is a not-so-feminine delinquent, but she only became like that due to living away from her parents and trying to protect herself from being picked on. It might be that she wanted to live a life of that sort, but couldn't due to her circumstances and convinced herself she doesn't care in order to not feel pain.
  • It didn't seem so much that Ragyo was forcing Ryuko into that stereotype as she was brainwashing her with it, which gives an entirely different message. Ryuko has been denied nearly all forms of happiness her whole life, and only knows what it looks like from the outside. Ragyo was convincing her that being independent and strong had brought her nothing but pain and betrayal, and she'd be much happier submitting to traditional values. And it worked.
  • While it worked, it's not Unfortunate Implications if you recall what Satsuki has said from the beginning. The opinions and values of the masses hold one back and caring about then is just chaining yourself down. This is probably because Ragyo tried this on Satsuki as well, but Satsuki only played along. It isn't saying that submitting to those traditions is a good thing, but it has always portrayed it as the easy thing in Satsuki's speeches. Evil Is Easy after all. It could be taken as a moment of weakness of Ryuko's part, but Ragyo is clearly doing this because she doesn't want a strong and independent Ryuko, she wants a loyal minion. The right thing was to cast aside those traditional gender roles to be strong and independent to save the world. Satsuki also shows us the flip-side where being too careless about the values of the masses leads one to lose sight and stop seeing people as other humans. Essentially, Ryuko's problem was that she was too bound by the common values and Satsuki was too distant, both needing to find that sweet spot to reach a sort of Übermensch state where they could save the world. Though it also seems to carry the message that there is nothing wrong with those traditional values if you choose it for yourself, seen with how they both were acting like normal girls in the epilogue.
  • Then again, considering that Ryuko could not "submit to traditional values" in the past and she suffered because of that, who is to say that she doesn't want to submit to them, or rather, that she would naturally be that way even without submitting to them had she been allowed to live her life the way she wanted to? Maybe ... just maybe. We don't really know. It could be that the Fake Memories were of a world where she submitted to "traditional female values", but it could also be that they simply were of a world where she lived with a parent and didn't have to fight and this made those Fake Memories into what we saw.
  • Considering the nature of Mind Stitching, perhaps the Memory!Ryuko we saw literally was the Fake Memories, rather than the real Ryuko under mind control; it took the latter's place by force and took control of her body, in essence. As a result, "Ryuko" was unimpressed with Mako/Senketsu's pleas and tried to kill them... but then Senkutsu's stored blood not only stains her, it overtakes her entire self and the Life Fiber background encircling her, which are then expelled in that "star stuff" flood, allowing the real Ryuko's personality to reawaken.
• There might be a reason why Ryuko can survive so much blood loss other than just stylism or symbolism. Other Life Fiber hybrids are able to shrug off both damage and blood loss pretty well. For example, when impaled, Nui lets out a huge jet of blood and has the requisite Blood from the Mouth for a few seconds, then instantly flashes to perfectly fine as soon as she stops pretending to be mortally wounded. Blood loss would eventually incapacitate or kill Ryuko, but she has a much higher tolerance than normal people.
• As much as it might seem like a retroactive justification, the reason why Kamui tend to be skimpy because less surface area makes for less mind control makes a lot of sense. Life Fibers feed off human neuroelectric signals, so they interact with nerves. The less skin the Kamui touches, the less nerve endings the Life Fibers (which Kamui are 100%, after all) come in contact with. And when you consider that these areas are erogenous zones, and are much more sensitive, it makes sense that they needed to be exposed. Think about how people can be controlled with sex easily in our everyday life, and then consider how much worse it would be if sentient clothing could tap right into your nervous system the same way.
  • On that note, Junketsu covers the least amount of Skin when worn by Satsuki and the most when worn by Ryuko. The former is the one who's imposing her will in Junketsu while the latter is the one who gets controlled.
• While Satsuki and Ryuko fight, they say that Ryuko isn't wearing Junketsu, instead Junketsu is wearing her. What if it was really Junketsu insulting Satsuki, saying she's not worthy of wearing him, by using Ryuko as a mouthpiece?
• At first, it looks like Ryuko exterminating the Club Presidents is detrimental to Satsuki's plans. After all, she is destroying her most effective fighters with custom uniforms. Following the revelation from Episode 17, however, it all starts to make sense. One-Star students are drilled and molded into being obedient to Satsuki to the point where they have little individuality left. They are essentially foot soldiers with loyalty and discipline crammed into them. Two-Star students, however, are far more individualistic and it's very likely that they follow Satsuki only for personal gain. If Satsuki went to war with Ragyo with Two-Star students as her officers, they might just as well get scared of losing their status and possessions and would rebel against Satsuki and side with Ragyo, the one who's providing Life Fibers to Honnouji Academy and holding Satsuki's purse strings in the first place. They're only useful for maintaining order before the war breaks out, while Ryuko taking their Life Fibers creates a progressively stronger enemy of Ragyo.
• At first, we get the impression that Matoi Isshin was not a very good father. He spent most of his time absorbed with his work and sent his daughter Ryuko to boarding schools. Then we find out that he was not only the founder of Nudist Beach, but also Ragyo's husband. The Kiryuins probably wanted him dead and assassination was always a possibility. Furthermore, it would not take Ragyo a lot of effort to figure out that Ryuko is her daughter and heaven alone knows what manner of horrors Ryuko would be subjected to then. There was no way he could guarantee Ryuko's safety except by sending her far away.
• The beginning of Episode 21 may seem like just another way to show just how depraved Ragyo and Nui are, but there is actually more to that. The scene looks like rape for a very good reason — Ragyo and Nui are doing something even worse to Ryuko. They violate both Ryuko's body by grafting Junketsu on her, turning her into nothing more than their toy. But they also violate her mind and soul, rewrite her memories, and change her personality. The truth behind the scene is even more horrible than if it would be if it was merely rape.
• The way the Scissor Blades work has caused confusion — Isshin manages to take out one of Nui's eyes, but Nui and Ragyo can regenerate themselves from wounds inflicted by Ryuko's red blade. Episode 22 confirmed something that had been long suspected by fans, and rather obvious in hindsight: Because the blades are two halves of a giant scissor, they kill Life Fibers only when used as a pair, just like scissors do. You ever try to cut thread with just one blade of a pair of scissors?
• Iori's uniform:
  • Of course Iori's uniform was a Three-Star Goku Uniform. Most did not notice because he was a club president (all the other ones were Two-Star students), he never used his uniform, and he used Inumuta's help when sewing that experimental Five-Star uniform way before all the weird things happened, but one need only compare the style of his uniform to that of the other students. The uniform of every other club president just screamed "custom", whereas Iori's own looked similar to the ones the Elite Four wore, suggesting that he's considered just as important to Satsuki.
  • His whole position at Honnoji Academy justifies it too. As the president of the Sewing Club in a world where clothing is the main source of power, he's the de facto Head of Research and Development and Head of Logistics for the Academy and its Goku Uniforms. Of course someone that important will have a Three-Star Goku Uniform, and of course he never got into combat like the Elite Four did. They get their Three-Star Goku Uniforms damaged or destroyed, and Iori can fix them or make better versions. If Iori himself got into a fight and was injured too badly or even killed, there goes any hope of fighting against the Academy's true foe.
  • Also, keep in mind the location of the third star. It's on the lapel of his uniform, which until he transformed was hidden from view. It was always there, just no one could see it.
  • Another one about Iori's outfit. Notice how he's always wearing what appears to be a breathing mask with filters? It's likely a safety precaution since we know that Life Fibers are parasitic, it would make sense he doesn't want to inhale/ingest a stray, floating Life Fiber, which he is likely to be around due to his club — the Sewing Club. Note that the rest of the Sewing Club wear similar breathing masks.
    • Not even necessarily just that danger. One of the most common types of long-term health effects of working in places where clothing is mass produced is lung damage because of all of the particulates floating in the air. And that's with normal plant fiber strands. And in almost every shot of the Sewing Club room where they mass produce Goku uniforms, stray bits of red thread and strands of presumably Life Fibers are seen floating around in the air. With all of the Looney Tunes-type physics going on in the show, obviously Satsuki is going to be fine with the students getting beaten to hell and back since they usually bounce back pretty well. But in such an enclosed environment that has to be kept closed off in order to keep anyone from sneaking in and stealing a Goku Uniform, obviously Satsuki is going to want Iori, and all of the Sewing Club members, to wear masks that filter out those types of particles to prevent them from suffering any long term health effects. The fact that a good majority of those threads are probably Life Fibers is just icing on the cake as to why she would want them protecting their lungs.
• Nui's only parental figure was Ragyo, but think about it this way. Ragyo was the only other Life Fiber/human hybrid like herself until she found out Ryuko was one too. Nui's words to Ryuko, about how only she can understand her and her anger towards her after episode 22, takes on a sadder meaning. Despite her insanity, Nui might have just wanted somebody, other than Ragyo, who can understand her pain of being fundamentally different than everybody else.
• So why exactly did Ira have to jump out the window and fall to the ground in episode 1, he could just chase the student down right? Wrong! He couldn't because running in the corridors is against school regulations. So he jumped out the window because that isn't against school regulations. Also strict adherence to the Rules of Cool/Funny.
• The Kamuis needs a blood sacrifice to activate. The ultimate Kamui Shinra-Kōketsu that makes Ragyo look like a goddess needs a human sacrifice.
• New uniforms:
  • Why do the new Goku uniforms let the Elite Four go face to face with Ragyo without getting curbstomped like before? It's because they're based on the design of Senketsu rather than the normal Kamui, and that explains the black colour and the much less "skin contact".
  • The Goku uniforms most likely had their Life Fiber percentage greatly increased, to the point of requiring the reduced skin contact to avoid getting manipulated by the Life Fibers.
  • The gradual change in their uniforms also serves to show their alliance. At first, they wore white clothing that completely covered them and that were very bulky, bar Inumuta's, which showed that they worked for Ragyo. As they got closer to their rebellion against Ragyo, the uniforms slimmed down until we reached their final form, which is very revealing, thus showing their status as true nudists, working against Ragyo.
  • That's not the first time they observed Senketsu before upgrading the Goku uniforms. It also happened before the school trip, adding to the notion that they wanted to get as far away from the original kamui so they won't get absorbed.
• In Episode 24, Ryuko says that she will become more powerful the closer she comes to death. This seems odd and people have been joking about it for awhile now. However, it all makes sense when you remember that she and Senketsu just absorbed all the Goku Uniforms, which would naturally include Gamagoori's uniform, the one that becomes more powerful when attacked.
• Why was Ryuko able to call Satsuki "sister" after her fall from space so easily even though they weren't able to form a sisterly bond before and agreed not to try at the time? Because of how frantic Satsuki was to catch her and with how she kept Ryuko in her arms after catching her, just like an elder sibling would hold younger ones. For probably the first time since Isshin sent her to a boarding school, Ryuko felt safe, and family aren't just those who share your blood, family are those who make you feel safe.
  • And then there's the fact that Ryuko wants a family more then anything. After finding out that they're sisters, she can't bring herself to attack Satsuki full out after she is no longer Brainwashed and Crazy despite her anger. And after hearing Satsuki's story and sincere apology, she immediately forgives her and makes an honest effort to reach out to The Stoic Satsuki by attempting to call her Big Sis, but it was too embarrassing. But after a few Back-to-Back Badass moments and waking up in her arms Ryuko is finally able to say it.
• It always bugged this troper how Iori essentially disappeared during the finale considering how important he was. However in the end, it makes sense; he's a club president. And after a president loses their uniform — which he did by letting Ryuko absorb it to power up Senketsu for the final battle against Ragyo — they essentially disappear since they're not needed anymore. Even the other presidents pretty much disappeared in the final scene.
• In Japanese culture, cutting/shortening your hair is considered symbolic of casting aside your old life and beginning a new one. Satsuki's new bobcut in the epilogue makes a lot more sense with this knowledge; she has ended her former life of pretending to be a fascist despot and has begun the happy life with her sister that Ragyo had long denied her.
• Episode 3's whole theme is a massive case of meta Fridge Brilliance. The fight against Satsuki has Ryuko realizing that she must accept how skimpy Senketsu is to use his whole power and what not. The Fridge Brilliance? Its a subtle Take That! to the audience! Think about it. Most people will be put off by the show's skimpy and fanservicy designs, as many critics were. Basically, what episode 3 is saying, is that you need to accept that the show has fanservice and let that sink in so you can enjoy the real meat of the story: the characters. By having Ryuko state that Senketsu becomes her skin, it's meant to say that instead of focusing on the fanservice, you focus on the character itself or else the show is not enjoyable, the same way Ryuko can't use Senketsu's full power unless she accepts his skimpiness!
• Why did the Rending Scissors, the obvious MacGuffin of the show, fail in the end to even scratch Ragyo's Shinra-Kouketsu? Because the Scissors are a Red Herring both in-universe and out-of-universe. When Nui came for him, Dr. Matoi confronted her with the Scissors and proudly announced them as his life's work to distract her from his real life's work: Ryuko and Senketsu. And we, the viewers, fell into the exact same trap Nui did, assuming the Scissors are way more important than they actually were.
• This show is often compared to Gurren Lagann, but it's actually more of an accurate portrayal of war than that show. Being Hot-Blooded won't save the day — and in this show is actually a liability — you have to use intelligence, in both the regular and military senses, to win. Along with deception and misdirection, of course.
• Inumuta is the Head of Surveillance at Honnouji Academy, and is often nicknamed "the dog" by Jakuzure (most likely for having the Japanese word for "dog" in his name). Would that make him Satsuki's watchdog?
• Kiryuin Theme Naming and other symbolism:
  • Have you ever wonder why in the Student Council, Satsuki is the only one without any Animal Motifs? Actually, she does have animal kanji in her surname: the ryu in Kiryuin means dragon. And albeit written with different kanji, ryu in Ryuko's name is a homophone with the ones in Satsuki's surname, plus it turns out they are sisters anyway, so Ryuko also counts as a Kiryuin. Also in Japan, dragons are believed to be divine animals that serve the gods or are gods themselves. Kamui literally means God's robe or divine robe. Which is why Ryuko, Satsuki, and Ragyo are the only ones able to properly equip a Kamui. Because dragons are the ultimate divine animal that is stronger and more noble than any other animal. Also Japanese dragons are usually drawn with thick eyebrows. What's Ragyo and Satsuki's distinctive trait? That's right, thick eyebrows.
  • Furthermore, this image shows several themes of mythological and historical symbolism in the show. Of note is the upper left corner connecting the Kiryuin Conglomerate and The Four Gods, with Ragyo being the Yellow Dragon as role as leader and by the "Ryu" in her name. Nui as the White Tiger by name as a Nues are a type of Chimera that is part tiger, an Nui herself is a Chimera as a Half-Human Hybrid, as well as her resilience referencing the White Tigers affinity to metal. Rei is the Vermillion Sparrow by name as her surname has the kanji for "Phoenix" another mythical beast that is conflated with the Sparrow in this motif. Takiji is the Black Tortoise by name as the kanji for "black" is in the surname as well as the kanji for "waterfall" and "well". But there is no one there representing the Azure Dragon... Except there is. Ryuko, who fits by name (sharing the Ryu with her mother, though with different kanji) and her vendetta with Nui, the killer of her father and was also Brainwashed into a Face–Heel Turn and aided Ragyo for a while, and Satsuki, her sister, who also has the "ryu" particle as well as technically being part of the conglomerate as Ragyo's scion, are both the Azure Dragon.
• Why is Guts's behavior so human-like? Because he wears clothes. Clothes are made by REVOCS and contain Life Fibers, accelerating evolution, which translates into Guts being more intelligent than a regular dog.
• Gamagoori sleeps naked. Given that REVOCS makes most, and eventually all the clothes in the world, it's the only way to minimize contact with Life Fibers and give his body a break from them — he wears his uniform all day, and sleeping is likely the only time he isn't in it.
• Sanageyama's Goku Uniform is the last of the Elite Four's to survive the Time Skip. His was both the most upgraded of the four and the last to be deployed when the uniforms were upgraded during the raid trip.
• Satsuki has Junketsu, a one-piece Kamui. Ryuko has Senketsu, a two-piece variant. This also alludes to the fact that Satsuki is the first child of Ragyo and Souichiro/Isshin while Ryuko is their second daughter.
• Since we were on the subject of wedding dresses, anyone ever kinda notice that Shinra-Kotetsu looks somewhat like some traditional Japanese wedding garb from the pre-Edo period?
• OP:
  • The second opening theme talks about someone who'd been biting off more than they could chew, who knows one other person that can see through their tendencies and who is "one" with them in a sense, who has to bear a unique heat all on their own, and who's wondering what will happen in a new dawn when they break the thread of fate they've been stuck in. There's two people that match this description: Ryuko and Satsuki. The song is coming from both girls' perspective about where their paths have taken them, what the future might bring after defeating Ragyo, and one another as sisters (though from Ryuko's perspective it could also be about Senketsu). Bonus points for the OVA/episode 25 happening, as it deals with the question of their future, thus adding a dose of foreshadowing to this.
  • Likewise, the lyrics of Ragyo's theme "Blumenkranz" also allude to the plot and what she has to do with it in some way:
    • The "remove withered flowers" and the singer asking why that is upsetting, Ragyou throwing a then-thought-to-be-dead infant Ryuuko away and Soichiro and Satsuki's feelings toward the matter.
    • The "I want to be much stronger because our world is cruel": that was Ryuuko expressing that she wanted to become stronger in one of the first episodes (I think Episode II).
    • "I might want or not, I must pursue the enemy": Ryuuko looking for her father's killer and/or the one who called for his death which is actually her, as she sent Nui.
    • "Is the flower garden real or fake": Something to do with Ragyou brainwashing Ryuuko.
    • "Yes, I am much stronger than I ever thought" / "Forget not the truth": The above-mentioned and how she got better.
  • Speaking of which, the first time that we hear "Blumenkranz" is in the very first episode, when Ryuko is revealed wearing Senketsu. Since part of the reason Ryuko can wear Senketsu is because Ragyo made Ryuko into a human-Life Fiber hybrid, this may be a subtle foreshadowing of Ryuko's eventual involvement with the Life Fibers.
  • "Blumenkranz" sounds a bit too optimistic (in a Might Makes Right way) and uplifting to be Ragyo's theme. Then you realize that it's basically the Life Fibers' sales pitch.
• There are three characters for whom the camera focuses on their "foot slams": Ryuko, Satsuki and Ragyo. And each one says a lot about the character's personality and background. Ryuko slams her entire foot down at once, showing her rambunctious and rebellious nature. Satsuki slams her foot down heel first, showing her determination, ambition and military background. Ragyo slams her foot down toe first, showing her sophistication and upper class standard.
• Satsuki vs. Ragyo at the Cultural Festival, with the latter winning despite Satsuki wearing Junketsu. Consider however that 1) Satsuki just full-out declared her intention to oppose the Life Fibers, and therefore stop them from feeding on humans, which is Junketsu's own food source, and 2) Ragyo herself is clearly willing to let them do just that, even helping them speed the process up, regardless of her bossing them around. With these points in mind, it's possible that much like Senketsu resisted Maiko Ogure when she wore him against Ryuko, Junketsu deliberately slowed down Satsuki's movements and therefore made her vulnerable against Ragyo's blows.
• Whenever Ryuuko transforms, her shoes unravel in the same Life Fibre CGI. Is that just for show, or an extremely subtle hint that her regular clothes are also made from Life Fibres?
• Ragyo states that any creature that goes against its instincts is doomed to die soon in relation of humans refusing to wear clothes, but it also forshadows her fate considering she is prime example as she goes against two of most important ones i.e. her survival instinct, her maternal instinct.

Fridge Horror

• There was an alternate way for Senketsu to stop Maiko after she wears Senketsu to fight against Ryuko. That alternative as revealed in Episode 5 involves consuming the wearer of the Kamui. Considering that Junketsu tried to immediately consume Satsuki when she wore it and Senketsu might have thought about consuming Maiko during the above situation but spared her for Ryuko's sake, Maiko has no idea how lucky she is to be alive even though she gets expelled.
• In the past, Nonon was shown to have a pet monkey that sat on her head. Fast forward to her high school days, the monkey is gone and there's a small skull attached to her hat. And when Jakuzure's uniform is destroyed by Ryuko, everything but the skull and a few bones disappears.
• With the reveal that Nagita, the News Club President, was really Nui in disguise all along, it makes the moments where he suddenly pops out of nowhere in front of Mako really, really creepy. If she had felt like it, no-one would have been able to stop her from killing Mako. Somewhat less horrific and more humorous / impressive when considering the stuff Nui actually did do in her disguise - it seems that she'll go through any personal indignity in order to achieve whatever twisted goal she wants.
• Satsuki goes through some fridge horror after learning that Ryuko is her little sister. Think about it. Her entire motivation is to stop her Mother and avenge her Father and her "baby sister who was never given a name". She justifies all her actions including belittling, manipulating, using and occasionally beating the crap out of her in fights. Satsuki put Ryuko through Training from Hell. And then she finds out this person is her little sister. Then think about her past and how her Mother, who she hates, treats her and her realizing how she's been doing the same thing to her little sister. Worse when you think about the fact that she probably always wanted a little sister and probable idolized what it would have been like to grow up with a little sister had her Mother not killed her. Her grim look when they finally talk says it all. She probably wonders if Ryuko would want anything to do with her at first. She is even willing to do a Redemption Equals Death to atone.
• Molestation:
  • Episode 16 shows us how far Ragyo can go in her molestation of Satsuki. The question is, when did it start? For how long has Satsuki had to endure that? In Nonon's flashback to their kindergarten days, Satsuki was already a very serious and ambitious girl. What if her speech about building a skyscraper in your mind was actually about building a wall inside your mind to protect you? What if she had to protect herself from Ragyo's abuse even back then?
  • Episode 17 seems to further back this up, when Satsuki talks about how she "must've been a kind girl" when she was much younger when Soroi finds out she lied about liking the tea he served her at age 5 to protect his feelings. Also compare the little Satsuki who first sees her "wedding dress" to the one who appears in kindergarten, clear difference.
  • This also puts her speech in episode 3 in a different light. She's already putting up with much worse, so what's a Stripperific outfit to her, especially if it directly benefits her for once?
• When Senketsu was first introduced, he admits that he's amnesiac and doesn't remember much of who he is. Given the true nature of Life Fibers and their view of humanity as food, had he retained his memories, would Senketsu have tried to completely consume Ryuko on their first meeting like the other Kamui?
• Considering that all Life Fiber are living, sentient aliens, Senketsu is actually a heroic cannibal. He's been absorbing his kind every time Ryuko destroyed a uniform. Even more so after he absorbs Nui's severed arms.
• In episode 3, Satsuki says she is worthy to wear Junketsu because she is "pure". Come episode 16, and we see the purification ceremony her mother performs on her. It involves her being naked and having her personal space be invaded in the worst way possible. Suffice to say, Satsuki probably grew up with a warped concept of purity.
• Throughout the series, Satsuki was always very serious during her battles with Ryuko. Considering what was her ultimate goal, she could not hold back or show mercy to anyone in her path. It is very possible that she'd go as far as killing Ryuko if the girl wouldn't be able to defend herself and grow strong fast enough. Here is where the horror settles in, what would be Satsuki's reaction if she would kill Ryuko and then found out that she was really her long lost sister?
  • Though, had she killed Ryuko, Ragyo wouldn't have ripped Ryuko's heart out and found out there were Life Fibers, and therefore Satsuki wouldn't have found out Ryuko was her sister, at least, not in that way.
• Ryuko, Senketsu, and fighting Life Fibers:
  • When Ryuko found out the truth about Senketsu, she got really pissed off at the fact that he was born only to kill his own brethren. Ryuko herself had no friends and pretty much no family her entire life. It's something she craves and desires. When she befriended Mako and lived with the Mankanshokus, she was obviously really happy. Now she just found out that she actually has a family. She has a sister and a mother, the same mother whom almost killed her sister and whom she will probably have to kill to defeat the Life Fiber for good. Ragyo is a horrible person but she is still Ryuko's mother, her family. Something she craved for her entire life, and she's forced to end it herself.
  • It's used horrifically and depressingly in episode 20. Ragyo implants fake memories of a normal, happy life with her.
  • To add to this, the reason for her feeling like this is because her father never told her anything and was in fact estranged from her. Had he simply been straightforward with her or at least tried to raise her properly instead of putting her in boarding schools, it's possible that Ragyo wouldn't have had that edge on her.
• Mind Rape:
  • In episode 20, Ragyo puts fake memories in Ryuko's head of Ryuko living with Ragyo instead of being abandoned by her father. The actual things seen are happy until you notice two key details; Soichiro and Satsuki aren't there at all. Satsuki was deliberately kept out to ensure that Ryuko wouldn't hesitate in fighting her. It really shows how little Ragyo cares about even her own kin.
  • In addition, the fake memories Ragyo implanted had her marrying a lifeless mannequin with a COVERS uniform on it. Now consider the fact that in the first ED, it has a confused Ryuko walking around a lifeless world filled with mannequins shaped to look like real people wearing clothes. The implications of Ragyo's mind rape is staggering.
• Nui Harime:
  • The only parental figure that Nui Harime had for all her life was Ragyo. Think about that for a moment.
  • Nui's character in general is really a mother-lode of Fridge Depressant if you're willing to look back at her scant background details and allow some empathy: She wasn't just infused with Life Fibers as a newborn, she was incubated in an artificial womb of them that made her merge with them as a fetus. Soichiro was nowhere to be seen when she was being gestated and showed no recognition toward her when they fought, so he likely wasn't involved with her life in any fashion, and certainly he had been driven off long before Nui could have developed enough to recognize or remember him later in life, and she grew up completely under Ragyo's sole care, with all the horror that implies. She has no truly good relationship with any other character whatsoever, with Rei and Ragyo being aloof taskmasters that only step in to help her when danger to her could result in danger to their cause, and all other characters being either enemies or mindless slaves. She is the only character to actually suffer permanent scarring and loss of limb throughout all the action in the series. She was brought up to believe that she was completely different and separate from humanity, that the Life Fibers and the facilitation of their reproduction cycle is her raison d'etre, and that her only value as an individual was in her abilities as a tailor, and when she both loses her arms and finishes the "Ultimate Kamui", her usefulness has culminated in her and her master's eyes, and there is nothing left and nowhere to go for her. When Nui muses on how she could be killed in the final battle between humans and Life Fibers, she not only looks ready for the prospect, but relieved by it. She has the worst of both Satsuki and Ryuko's entwined Dark and Troubled Past combined into one whole, turned up a notch, and stripped of all the counterbalancing positive experiences and influences that gave them the initial perspective and strength to challenge their mother. Her entire character arc is reminiscent of Princess Azula's descent into madness from abandonment in her series' finale, except Nui has always been mad since she never even had the illusion of anyone actually loving her, resorting to deliberately driving people, especially those she expresses genuine interest or desire to connect with like Satsuki and Ryuko, to hate her because that's the only kind of care she's ever understood, and there's no one in-universe who would actually feel, let alone show, her any pity.
  • And in the end, she doesn't even get killed in battle. She kills herself by merging with Ragyo, her mother, the only person who has ever been there for her even if there wasn't any true love shared between them. So twisted....
  • To make things worse; consider how every major character has their own reasons and drives for their actions, good and bad. Nui lacks even that. Even if Ragyo's plan goes off perfectly, Nui will never benefit from any of it. The Life Fibers rejected her so she can't truly merge with them, and her upbringing has left her completely detached from her humanity. Makes her obsession with Ryuko look a lot more tragic; she really doesn't have anything else.
  • Also, this casts a somewhat different light on her sadism. As twisted as her taking joy in hurting people is, the fact remains that she does take joy in it, treating it like a game that she plays with childish glee. Since she has known from the start that she was never meant to survive and would die once her usefulness with Ragyo was served, it only makes sense that she would try to spend her short life doing what makes her happy. Her determination to "do whatever she wants, with no-one to stop her" is completely sensible and even sympathetic...if only the stuff she wants to do wasn't so horrific and hurtful to innocent people.
• Fascism/Nazism
  • Ragyo's Leitmotif Blumenkranz is full of it.
    • Lyrics such as "Ich möchte stärker werden" (EN: I want to become stronger), "Ich entferne welke blumen. Wie so siehst du so traurig aus" (EN: I remove withered flowers. Why do you look so sad), "Es ist ratsam, welke blumen zu entfernen" (EN: It is advisable to remove withered flowers), "Ja, ich bin viel stärker, als ich je gedacht hab" (EN: Yes, I am much stronger than I ever thought), "Du bist sehr stark" (EN: You are very strong) point to ideas such as Social Darwinism, the Übermensch, and the Final Solution, all of which are associated with the Nazis.
    • Parts of the song sound like a locomotive chugging along a railroad track, an obvious allusion to The Holocaust and the trains that were used to transport the Jews and the inferiors to the concentration camps.
    • The song is sung in German.
  • Nui Harime, Ragyo's dragon, is blonde and blue-eyed.
  • Nonon's Goku Uniforms incorporate skull and bone designs, not to dissimilar to the SS-Totenkopfverbände, which was the SS branch tasked with handling the Nazi concentration camps.
  • Honnoji Academy
    • Students are taught about subjects such as World War II, Fascism, and eugenics.
    • The school is structured in such as way as to promote Social Darwinism.
  • Ragyo's experiments on her children by infusing them with Life Fibers is an obvious parallel with the Nazi experiments done on Holocaust prisoners and the numerous other experiments done by the regime to create the Übermensch.
• Ragyo very nearly won in episode 15 without even doing anything. If Ryuko didn't back off then and killed Satsuki, the whole plan to rebel against Ragyo would fall apart. What is even worse is that Ryuko would probably survive being stabbed by Junketsu thanks to the life fibers in her body. Nui would almost certainly realize that Ryuko is a hybrid like herself and then Ragyo would learn it from her. As a final straw, Ryuko would then learn that she murdered her own sister, who was Good All Along, and doomed humanity to subjugation by Life Fibers.
• Ryuko might think that Nudist Beach wants her dead. Let's be fair here, Tsumugu attacked her once already and seemed fully willing to kill her to get rid of Senketsu. Then in episode 16 he was also fully willing to go over her dead body to destroy Senketsu. Now that she has learnt that she is a Life Fiber hybrid, she has even less reason to trust Nudist Beach. Tsumugu was willing to kill her for siding with Senketsu, what would he do after finding out that she herself is life fiber? At least that's what she probably thinks.
• It might not have worked the time she used it but... Harime Nui is capable of using Mind Stitching. Which brings us to…
  • The not-completely-unsupported theory that Nui killed/possessed Mako and is the one acting as her in the ending. See [1]
  • Alternatively and more realistically, it could be that Mako is still Mako, but somehow the outfit she is wearing is Nui, somehow formed from her life fiber remnants. In which case, all it would take is a drop of blood on it for Nui to awaken, just like with Senketsu.

Fridge Logic

On the headscratchers page.

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