Don’t lose your way, my sweetheart.
I did this for Satsuki so I’ll do one for Ryuko, too. After all, Ryuko is best girl.
Warning: This will be a LONG post about how Ryuko grieved her father and what she went through to find peace, so if that’s not your thing then just scroll along and I hope you have a nice day :)
Ryuko, like Satsuki, was born to be used as a test subject for life fibers. In the first minute of her life she was experimented on. When she “dies” in the process, she’s just thrown away like garbage by her own mother. Her father, however, finds a way to hide her from Ragyo for a little while. He knows Ragyo would try to kill him, so he plants the seed of rebellion in Satsuki beofre his “death”. He takes on the identity of Isshin Matoi and raises Ryuko in secret and never tells a soul about who she really is. His main purpose in life now was to stop the life fibers and to keep Ryuko safe and hidden from Ragyo.
Once Ryuko was old enough, he sent her off to boarding school. Kids can be buttholes, so I’m sure she was picked on a lot until she finally put her foot down and started defending herself. She didn’t understand why her father sent her away, so she grew into a lonely and angry street punk who was good with her fists. When she got a letter from her father, she probably thought it was a chance to mend their relationship. She shows up to only find her father on the floor bleeding out with a strange weapon sticking out of him. She chases the assailant outside and that’s when the mansion explodes. To her knowledge, that was the only family she had, and he was gone. She had nothing but questions and half of a giant scissor, She took her father’s last words seriously, and she would stop at nothing to find the one responsible for his death.
Ryuko’s search takes her to Honnouji Academy where she meets BFF Mako and her big sis, Satsuki. Ryuko’s rebellious nature and Satsuki’s stern authority clash and the two quickly become enemies. While Ryuko was licking her wounds at the burned ruins of her old home, she meets Senketsu. She teams up with him to fight Satsuki’s club captains. She does a great job until Satsuki shows up with Junketsu. They duke it out one on one and come to an arrangement. If Ryuko defeats all of the club captains Satsuki would tell her the truth about her father’s murder.
Ryuko defeats all the club captains and three members of the elite four. Right as she was about to kick Sanageyama’s butt, Nui literally drops in and reveals herself to be her father’s assassin. Ryuko is finally face to face with the one responsible for her suffering, and she was just smiling and taunting her pain. To Nui, it was all fun and games and Ryuko’s emotional misery and agony was just the cherry on top of her psycho sundae. Ryuko can’t control her raw anger and she is consumed by it to the point where she literally becomes a monster. She goes berzerk trying to kill Nui and loses a lot of blood in the process. Satsuki takes it upon herself to put Ryuko down. Satsuki didn’t want to, but she knew she had to because Ryuko was past the point of no return, or so she thought. Right before Satsuki could make her deadly blow, Mako swoops in and brings Ryuko back to her senses.
Ryuko was frightened of what her rage caused her to become and how it affected Senketsu, so she falls into the pit of depression. When she is tricked into putting Senketsu back on, Nui rips Senketsu apart. Satsuki stops Nui from killing her, but takes Senketsu. Ryuko is pissed, so she tracks down every last shred of Senketsu and puts him back together. While dueling with Satsuki, she explains that she wasn’t going to let her anger get the best of her. She was done wallowing over her father’s death and had moved on from that raw sadness and was going to and protect the people in her life that mattered to her. She did a really great job with controlling herself, until the Cultural and Sports Grand Festival.
Ryuko learns the true nature of life fibers and sides with Nudest Beach and Satsuki in the fight against Ragyo. Her and Senketsu achive true life fiber synchronization and she proceeds to toy with Nui. She does an awesome job at messing with her until the covers show up and Ragyo steals Junketsu. Ryuko is caught off gaurd and Ragyo rips her heart out. It’s revealed that Ragyo is her mother and she is merged with the life fibers. Ryuko is in denial and tries to fight her. As a last resort, Satsuki blows up the stadium resulting in her capture and Ryuko falling into a coma.
Ryuko realizes that her entire life has been a lie. The girl she had been fighting against was her sister, the sailor suit she had been wearing was the same as her, and the most despicable woman on the planet was her mother. That unavoidable fact is too much for Ryuko to handle. She loses her way and reverts back to that angry and confused girl she once was, only this time, she knows who to blame. She pushes all of her loved ones away and tries to take Ragyo down on her own, but only results in her being brainwashed.
Life fibers show a persons most desperate desire, and Ryuko’s was to be loved. All she wanted as a child was to have a mother who would be there for her to take her to her first day of school, to play with her, to care for her, to love her. Junketsu fills her head with false memories, and Ryuko surrenders herself to him.
When she goes to fight Nudest Beach, Satsuki puts Seknetsu on and tries to break Ryuko free of Junketsu’s influence. Mako, again, brings Ryuko to her senses, and Ryuko rips Junketsu from her body, even though it could’eve killed her. She let go of her fantasy world so she could put Senketsu on again. She beyond pissed, but is in control of her anger. She feels Satsuki and Mako’s blood in Senketsu, and it reminds her of how much she’s loved, and she swears to not let them down. Then she chops Nui’s arms off as revenge and it’s awesome!!
Ryuko was still upset about all the crap Satsuki put her through, but Satsuki apologizes in the most elegant and loving way, and Ryuko lets it go. She almost calls her sis later on, but she gets embarrassed. It was an embarrassing moment for her, but for Satsuki, it was the happiest moment of her life.
They take off together to stop Ragyo, but she has a bunch of tricks up her sleeve. Ryuko has no choice but to follow her into space and stop her for good. During the fight, she seems to come to terms with being a weapon, like Senketsu, who’s purpose is to fight life fibers. Ryuko and Senketsu absorb Shinra Koketsu and reverses the Cocoon Sphere Genesis leaving Ragyo defeated. Ryuko does something really mature and tells Ragyo to go back to Earth with her. Unfortunately, Ragyo had no humanity left in her and kills herself rather than go back in defeat. Shinra Koketsu’s power was too great for Senketsu, so he sacrifices himself by taking Ryuko back to Earth, resulting in him burning up. Senketsu was like Ryuko’s twin brother (not dissing anyone who ships them). He was both human and clothing, and he was with Ryuko helping her through out her journey to avenging her father.
She fell back to Earth in tears, but Satsuki, who started out as a cold and emotionless dictator who would never risk her own well being for anyone, risks her neck and frantically sprints with all her strength to catch Ryuko from the air. She lost her once, and she was never going to lose her again. Satsuki wasn’t the only one to catch her, the Mankanshoku family, the Elite Four, and other students of Honouji Academy all jump in to catch her. Satskui welcomes her back, and Ryuko says, “Great to be back, sis”.
Ryuko started out alone and mad at the world, but she now had big sister and adoptive family who loved and cherished her. She lets go of her tragic past and was finally able to move on with her life. Yes, the fact that her and Satsuki were orphans was sad, but she had learned to count her blessings and to value the people she did have. She had truly found peace.
