#soichiro kiryuin

CW: KLK spoilers, mention of: compulsory heterosexuality, physical & emotional violence, s-xual trauma, CSA, SA, r-pe (for the sake of better background and context about this anime & about Satsuki story)

About her character and why she is stone femme headcanon for me.

SATSUKI

This character does not have this cold, strong but sharp and fierce appearance as a random addition of traits just for the sake of fanservice. Her physical appearance and her personality traits are polished and calculated, yet she is pretty vulnerable on the inside and has a huge and rich inner world. She is acutely smart, a powerful strategist, a good and strong leader with the kindest heart I've ever seen in a character apparently so cold, stubborn or even despotic. But we have to keep in mind her upbringing and that she did what she had to do in order to survive because her main goal was to save the world and protect her closest friends. She wanted to free them as well as she wanted to free herself. But... from what?

Proxima

She was struck by car.

I don't remember the details but she has been comatose ever since. The doctors were unsure as to when she'd awake or if she'd awake at all. In my mind, memories were replaying. They say, in the final throes of life, one's life flashes before them but, in my case, this happened by proxy. For me, it was the memories of the what came before the accident and her coma.

Before this, we were talking about stars. It was pretty late at night and she was pointing them out, before pointing out one in particular. She directed her telescope towards it. I told her simply that the star's name is "Proxima" . It was new knowledge to her that the stars in the cosmos have names and she'd contemplate the names if only for a moment. It was a small moment, seemingly insignificant, but it was something that made the accident worse.

That was four months and two nights ago. The hospital seemed to have become a second home, more or less. The others thought I was in the denial stage of grief because her recovery prospects looked so grim. I knew many things and, while I'm not well-versed in medicine, I do know that doctors aren't always correct. From my observations, she seemed to be aware of what was around her but they think I'm insane. I refused to leave the hospital because I refused to leave her alone.

Where am I?

The first thing I knew is that I got hit by a car going at about 50mph and then the next thing I know is that I'm little again but I'm in a world of stars. I don't know how little again I became but I was little enough as to where I had my sleeves almost cover my hands and I was with Dad again in this star world. I asked him where we were but he told me "We're in the Inbetween, Ryuuko." I asked him how long I was in the Inbetween, he told me about four months.

He told me he was looking after me here and said that, the longer I stay, I couldn't go back. In that moment, I told him I missed him and Senketsu and how I was doing before all of this. I was getting weepy at it all. I was stuck, to be honest. I could stay here and go with Dad but I felt like I couldn't and I didn't know why.

He would tell me why and that he had something to show me. She showed me what was going on while I was in the hospital. Sats had a bed right next to mine and she was looking really rough. Her hair was messy, she had them dark circles, and she seemed to be shaking. She was talking to me.....

The doctor emphasized that it had been about four months and that, if she shows no signs of recovery, then life support will have be discontinued. I told them that I refuse to stop her life support. That night I was begging her to wake up.

She was crying now. I tried to talk to her but Dad told me that she couldn't hear me. It was quiet aside from Sats in the background. He told me that I could go back and that I couldn't do both. "If you don't wake up, then you leave the Inbetween but you come with me. If you wake up, then you leave the Inbetween to go back to Earth." he told me.

I didn't really understand and he told me more. "This place is called the 'Inbetween' because your between life and death." I wasn't dead, yet, but I wasn't really alive. I could choose to not go back to Earth or I could choose to go be with Dad and Senketsu, either way, I'm saying "Goodbye, for now." to someone.

"Choose wisely, Ryuuko."

They've given me two and a half weeks for her to start showing signs of becoming conscious, otherwise, I'd have to let her go. Was I really going to lose her? No, I refused to believe that. She couldn't leave me like this. No, if she had to die, she'd go kicking and screaming, fighting until the very end. I was begging harder, telling her we needed her, and sharing the night about the stars, about the Proxima star. As hard as it was to believe, I was in tears. I begged her to wake up and stay with me.

"Sats shouldn't be crying, Dad." I told him, my tears turning into stars. He told me I could go back and stay with Sats. He reminded me that he couldn't come with me but he's been looking after me these last four months. I told him he left me and Sats many years ago and he told me he was sorry for how things turned out. 

 "Either choice you make will have you leaving the Inbetween, but where you go and who you go home to, is a matter of how. People don't stay in the Inbetween for too long." he told me.

I wasn't so sure of what to do but I couldn't just leave Sats, so I just asked Dad to play with me again, just one more time.

The next day, I noticed tears coming down her face. I didn't bother telling the doctors this, as every little twitch she made, but I did keep talking to her. I told her I missed her. I told her that I was sorry for any wrongdoings, meaningful or petty. I told her that I just wanted my sister back. I found myself seizing her hand, telling her that I loved her.

I was playing with Dad for a li'l while before he started to disappear into stardust and I started to grow back up. He asked me if I chose what I wanted to do. By now, I was sure and he told me, "Then it's time for you to go." I told him that I didn't want to leave him but he told me that I'll be alright and that he'll see me again some other time.

He took my hand and, while I was still little, started walking me to the light, like he did when he dropped me off at boarding those years ago.

The doctors were bewildered, wondering as to how she could be showing signs of improvement after so long. Of course, I didn't tell anyone that part of her wasn't human but that was irrelevant, she was starting to wakeup and return to us.

We got to the light at the end of the Inbetween, and Dad was almost gone, just his hand holding mine. I was almost bigger but I was still little. He told me, "This is as far as I go with you."  I told him I'll miss him and he told me he'll miss me, too, but we'll see each other again when it's time. As I was going into the light, he told me to send his love to Sats.

One morning, in a week before the deadline, I heard her voice. Her eyes were open and she was blinking, looking around until her eyes found me. I wondered if my mind was playing tricks on me but I was wrong when I felt her hand tighten around mine. She was like a newborn, practically, except she could talk. She sputtered just a bit before looking at me, tears in her eyes, saying, "Dad says 'Hi'. He loves you."

That night, as she sat in her wheelchair, while looking through the telescope, she pointed out (as she could) the stars, saying, "I saw that one on my first time in the Inbetween before I saw Dad."

I was floored, almost blubbering. We had so much to catch up on again but I found myself in bittersweet tears. For now, I've had my sister back.

For this month, I have some Shipping Art to share and my reasons for them. You can even find them on my Animo pages and Twitter

The man, the myth, the legend.

Soichiro Kiryuin/Isshin Matoi was a very complicated man. While he loved his daughters, he wasn’t the best father. He was against life fibers, but used them to his advantage. He had his reasons, but his choices have a huge effect on Satsuki and Ryuko both negatively and positively.

Soichiro was a brilliant scientist, and Ragyo somehow got him to marry her. Maybe she charmed him with the idea of him being able to push the boundaries of science and having the freedom to do so. He never anticipated using his own children as test subjects, but let it happen anyways. Satsuki wasn’t affected, but Ryuko was “killed”. Losing his child and having his wife throw her away made him snap. From that day on, he would be an opposed to Ragyo and Life Fibers.

Soichiro most likely found out a bit later that Ryuko survived. He couldn’t tell Ragyo that the experiment had been a success. He knew she would groom Ryuko to be just like her, so he hid her and began to raise her in secret. A few years later, he finishes Junketsu for Satsuki. He made Junketsu a 100% Life Fiber Kamui, so he knew it had a desire to destroy. He also knew that Ragyo was going to have him killed soon, so he turned to his eldest daughter. He gives her Bakuzan and introduces her to Junketsu. He tells her the truth about Ragyo’s intentions and why she needed to be stopped, and lies by telling her that her baby sister was killed in the experiment. He knows that the thought of her “dead” baby sister would change Satsuki forever. She would never be corrupted by her mother or Life Fibers, even without him in the picture. When the time comes, he fakes his death and leaves Satsuki to be raised by Ragyo, but under the watchful eye of Soroi. He has to watch Satsuki grow up from the outside. With the kiryuin’s wealth, Satsuki was most likely in the public eye a lot. He probably worried about her from time to time, but knew she’d be alright.

Soichiro changes his identity to Isshin Matoi, an elderly scientist. His true goal was to stop Life Fibers and Ragyo by using Ryuko. He knew that Ryuko herself wouldn’t be enough to stop her, so he begins to plan. He starts off by making money off of his inventions. He, then, spreads the word about Life Fibers and the Kiryuin clan. As a result, he gains a following and Nudest Beach is founded. As Ryuko gets older, he no doubt feels regret for what he did to her and what she’s going to have to go through in the future. He sends her away to boarding school and focuses on his work. When she asks about her mother, he tells her that she’s dead. Ryuko becomes a troublemaker. She’s alone and confused, but Isshin remains distant from her, and Satsuki. He knows that he must figure out how to make a Kamui that would obey a human’s commands. Otherwise, Ryuko would be doomed to be consumed by the Life Fiber’s influences. Kinue Kinagase is a casualty of his research, but he presses on until he figures it out. He creates the Rending Scissors and Senketsu, a Kamui with human DNA (Ryuko’s DNA to be exact). Senketsu would be different from Junketsu. He would have human emotions and protect Ryuko, not consume her.

He knows that Ragyo would soon figure out what he was up to, so he sends Ryuko a letter saying he wanted to talk, but Nui kills him before he gets the chance. All he could do was give her the scissor blade and the motivation to seek the truth. He knew that Ryuko’s stubborn nature would cause her to search the ends of the Earth to find his killer, and that Aikuro would insure Senketu and Ryuko would be brought together.

Satsuki never forgot that last conversation with her father. She thought that if she didn’t bring Ragyo down, nobody would. Not only that, but she had to avenge her father and sister. For thirteen years, she planned how she would take her out. Pleasing Ragyo but also plotting her assassination. She no doubt grew up fantasizing about what things would be like if her sister and father were still alive, and that gave her even more motivation to have her revenge. As the time came closer, her began to perfect her plans. However, Ryuko shows up and turns everything upside down. Little did they know, they were after the same thing.

After it is revealed that Ryuko are Satsuki sisters, both are understandably shocked. Both of their lives had been a lie and had no idea how to react. Satsuki is left to meditate about everything by hanging in a cage. She surely thought a lot about her father and how he lied to her. She probably felt betrayed, but she also might have felt guilty for toying with Ryuko by dangling the truth in front of her. It wasn’t just Ryuko’s father, it was her father, too. However, this doesn't stop Satsuki from wanting to take Ragyo down. It only strengthens her resolve.

Ryuko loses it and goes on a rampage. It backfires and she is forced to wear Junketsu. Just as Soichiro feared, it controls her. She becomes Junketsu’s puppet because he fills her head with false, but pleasant memories. Isshin was never a showed his affection for Ryuko, so the fantasy of her and Ragyo is more than enough to fill her with happiness. With the help of those who care about her, she breaks free. Satsuki and Ryuko make up and their bond grows stronger.

As Ryuko battles Ragyo in space, she tells her mother, “It ain’t like I was raised by you”!! Ragyo responds, “Ah yes that was a mistake”. Who knows how things would've been if Ryuko was raised by Ragyo. She’d probably be like Nui, a heartless weapon. Ryuko was a weapon, but one who would fight for everything she held dear. Isshin knew what she was capable of, and knew if she were to be discovered by Ragyo at an impressionable age, the Earth would be doomed. So as cold as it was, sending her away was the best way to protect her. If she hated him, then so be it. All that mattered was that she was safe. She grew stronger from it and was able to defeat her mother.

Hi! Thank you!

I’ll try to answer the best I can!

1. Kill la Kill advertises itself as having a “lightning pace,” so little details are inevitably gonna fall by the wayside.

I did write a super embarrassing old post speculating about Ryuko’s financial situation a few years ago, though. You might find a few bits of it interesting (though, again, please note that it is super old and embarrassing):

On the one hand, I personally doubt that Ryuko ever really had money issues that would stop her from at least finding some rundown place after her father died. After all, she seemed to grow up fairly well off; though she makes it clear in episode 8 that she was never rich, she also makes it clear that she wasn’t poor, either. And I mean, her dad was living in a swanky mansion and she’s shown paying for coffee in the first ending sequence, so money didn’t seem to be a problem for her when her father was alive.

But on the other hand, we might assume that Ryuko lost everything when her house burned down. While she doesn’t seem to be totally broke with how she pays for the lemon in episode 1, she also doesn’t offer any monetary compensation for the first night she stays with Mako’s family—instead, she says she’ll help Mako from her assault by the tennis club to make up for it. Later, when the family takes Ryuko in, she’s clearly not paying any rent for it and is described as a “freeloader.” You could argue that it’s just hospitality for saving Mako over and over again or because they all are fond of Ryuko and wouldn’t accept any money from her, but it’s just as easy to argue that Ryuko simply doesn’t have the means to pay them.

I guess I go with the interpretation that it’s just the Mankanshoku’s kindness, so [. . .] I wouldn’t say myself that Ryuko’s minimal wardrobe has anything to do with not being able to afford clothes—it’s just because she has other things on her mind that she values more. Who has time to worry about fashion when you’re looking for your father’s murderer? Something like pajamas are far from a necessity. I mean, I don’t have any! Neither does Gamagoori.

I also think it’s worth noting that it’s hard to say what kinda stuff Ryuko does have. Sure, Mako describes Senketsu as Ryuko’s only outfit… but that might be because he’s the only outfit she ever sees Ryuko wearing. (Aside from the pajamas, which are Mako’s old ones.) After all, Ryuko’s back in her episode 1 outfit by the OVA, and I find it a little hard to believe that she just found something totally identical. Official (?) art also shows her wearing the jacket with Senketsu, and an addition of a pink scarf and black socks, and a yellow bikini. There’s also the tracksuit from episodes 14/15 to think about—where did she get that?

Ryuko’s carrying around a pretty big guitar case at first, so I think it’s perfectly plausible that she’s keeping all sorts of supplies in there along with the scissor so that she can take care of herself [. . .] I’ve also always assumed that the soaps and shampoos you see flying up in episode 7 are purely hers.

. . . I am curious how Ryuko got by all on her own for so long. There’s this thing she says in the second Drama CD about forgetting that she’s a high school girl sometimes, and I think that’s because she had to grow up and become self-sufficient so quickly….

2. Isshin is incredibly secretive. It can be assumed that absolutely nobody knew of his true identity as Soichiro Kiryuin—and he broke his back to disguise himself! Writing a letter or leaving behind a message explaining everything to Ryuko is something that Isshin might have perceived as being too risky. Even in his letter to Aikuro that he sent before he died, he’s incredibly vague and doesn’t name anything specifically (and I honestly wonder how the heck Aikuro ever found Senketsu):

Aikuro reading Isshin’s letter: “When I die, give you-know-what to my daughter. It’s just like dead leaves in the forest,” huh?

That said, Isshin did expect to die and did at least send instructions to Aikuro so that his plan could fall into place. Things definitely didn’t go the way he would have wanted (as you can especially tell in his regretful character song “I want to know”), but he made sure that Ryuko and Senketsu would get together no matter what happened.

Also, it’s really very speculative, but I think Isshin waited until it was too late to tell Ryuko everything because he was ashamed of his actions. That also might be why he couldn’t bring himself to write a message—no good father would want to admit to what he’d done.

3. It’s never stated in the show itself, but as I wrote in my “Things About: Ryuko Matoi” post, “At Anime Expo 2014′s Kill la Kill panel (6th post from the top), it’s revealed that from what Ryuko saw of her father’s killer, she deduced that the killer had to be a high schooled student of around 17. As such, Ryuko spent six months going from high school to high school before finally getting to Honnouji Academy.” 

4. I can’t say for sure why Isshin never tried to rescue Satsuki from Ragyo, but I’ve speculated about it in a couple of posts, probably most succinctly here:

. . . my main argument about Isshin is that he feels he has to distance himself from his kids in order to accomplish his goals. As I put it before, “he can’t win and be a good dad,” and, afraid of having second thoughts, he isolates himself from his daughters in order to ensure that the world gets saved. The less attached he is, the less he sees his kids’ faces, the less he lets himself love them, the “easier” it is to use them for his plot… even if so much of the information that exists about Isshin/Soichiro rather points to the idea that he wants to be a good father . . . 

. . . One more thing: Isshin/Soichiro does abandon Satsuki in an environment far more terrible than the environment he abandons Ryuko in—and I’ve even argued before that Soichiro essentially considers Satsuki a “lost cause” whom can’t be saved—but actually, with further reflection, maybe what Isshin/Soichiro inflicts on Satsuki isn’t out of a lack of love or trying.

Because Satsuki? She’s not left alone. Soichiro explicitly tells Soroi to look after Satsuki when he’s gone, and Soroi then introduces Satsuki to Shiro so that she could have someone her age to play with. Satsuki’s situation is horrific, but Soichiro tries to assure she has someone looking out for her—someone who could make it so she doesn’t have to handle everything on her own.

5. Can’t say I really know anything about Berserk, except that there’s a guy named Guts and the recent series has some... less-than-stellar animation....

This song is the chilling but beautiful theme song for Ragyo Kiryuin. Everything about it suits her. The lyrics describe her cold view of others around her, specifically her daughters. They must be strong, or else she will discard them. She has no room for “withered flowers”. 

When baby Ryuko “died” after the experiments, she felt no sadness for her “dead” baby, only disappointment that her offspring was “weak”. When her husband became weak after losing Ryuko, she had him killed. Satsuki had no choice to become strong. Even without being infused with life fibers, she became very powerful. Ragyo was happy with her, for a little while. She created Nui in a life fiber womb to compensate. After she discovered Ryuko, her life fiber infused daughter, was still alive, she was done with Satsuki. She only kept her around to be used as food for Shinra Koketsu.

Ragyo became fixated on Ryuko and wanted her at her side. When she’s in cloth form visiting Ryuko, she says “Magnificent. Now that’s determination. Looking at you my hearts sings. More than it EVER did for that failure of a sister of yours”. Ryuko’s power was the only thing Ragyo loved about her. To her, Satsuki was a “withered flower” she had no use for, and Ryuko was the one that could “soar higher and run faster”. She forces her to wear Junketsu, a pure life fiber outfit. it brainwashes her and takes control. However, Ryuko is stronger, and more stubborn, than Ragyo anticipated, and she frees herself.

Ragyo feels annoyed that her daughters keep her from “perusing her enemy”, so she decides to get rid of them. She leaves Sastuki on Earth to be eaten by life fibers and tries numerous times to kill Ryuko, but the life fibers in her body are just as stubborn as she is, and she won’t stay down.

-my reading of Satsuki’s situation is one of equal isolation, if of a different kind. Soichiro introduced her to a world where she can’t even trust her own mother, usually one of the, if not the most, strongest bonds a child could have at that age. Coupled with the fact that she was likely taught early on that being a child of a family with the wealth and power meant that people would try and use her for a piece of that, and you have a recipe for a grieving child incapable of trust without major investments of time and effort and frankly, some testing. 

Soroi is in the employ of the family, paid by the family to serve Satsuki. In the beginning, while she accepted his attempts to comfort her via tea and an introduction of one of her closest friends, its very likely that she didn’t trust him right away even if she desperately wanted to bc of how closely money could play a part in that kind of trust. Yes Soichiro asked Soroi to look after her, but is that something he could have easily conveyed to her at that junction and have her believe it? I think the trust they attained by the time Satsuki went to middle school was very hard earned on Soroi’s part. 

When it comes to Nonon, the light novel confirms that she didn’t find Satsuki interesting until she was very deeply troubled, a change that Satsuki very likely noticed the difference in her interest beyond that of two children of powerful families associating together. They may have been friends since preschool, but arguably Satsuki did not trust her until Nonon followed her away from a school that suited Nonon’s tastes and into a rougher one. Iori likely suffered from being placed in a similar boat as Soroi, not to be trusted for the sake of his uncle’s employment until proof otherwise (obviously earned as well, considering just how central Iori was to her plans and inner circle). 

While Ryuko was utterly alone because of a broken ability to bond from separation anxiety turned to abandonment issues, Satsuki found herself alone among others who might very well sell her out for power or money, regardless of their true intentions. Both are very isolating situations. And I’d argue that trusting people with plans and secrets and perhaps your life are markedly different than fully entrusting your heart to them, which has been played up by the anime as a large difference between Ryuko and Satsuki. Where Ryuko opens her heart to Mako and Senketsu, Satsuki’s heart remains closed still until far later.

In fact, because of this, Ragyo saying ‘give your heart over to me’ (Netflix subs, I think I’ve seen it translated as ‘entrust your heart to me’ as well) has always stood out to me as understanding Satsuki doesn’t trust like that, which is what separates her from Nui and Rei. 

Apologies for the length of this, and that I keep doing this your inbox, but this interpretation has been sitting inside of me since 2014. 

Oh my goodness, Anon!

I hope this doesn’t come off wrong, but I think you really ought to be posting these analyses under your own name. You deserve credit for your excellent work! As much as I’m thrilled that someone would want to discuss these topics at such length with me—seriously, you do not have to apologize at all for engaging with my content so much because that is literally my goal—I feel that you should also be getting recognition for what you do. I know how much time and effort goes into writing stuff like this.

Of course, I do understand that there are valid reasons to wish to be anonymous. I just want to say that these are good, detailed posts that could stand very well on their own, without any input from me.

Regarding my input here, these asks remind me of a line from “KILL la KILL Digest -Naked Memories by Aikuro Mikisugi-,” a quick recap “episode” that was included as a DVD/Blu-ray extra. Narrated by Aikuro, the short briefly explains the entire plot of Kill la Kill and then sets up the OVA with its final lines: “As for Satsuki Kiryuin, who led such an intense life ever since she could remember, totally alone… What kind of clothes will she choose to wear from now on? That’s the one thing that intrigues me.”