In Kill La Kill, schoolgirl Ryuko Matoi comes home one day to find her father dying. With half of a Scissor Blade, and a cryptic message from dad, she enrolls at Honnouji Academy, determined to find his killer.
That’s just the beginning of the wildly popular anime. With its distinctive animation style, clothes that confer superpowers, and a crazy cast of characters, including Satsuki Kiryuin, the formidable student council president Ryuko butts heads against, it quickly became a fan favorite. The 24-episode anime is a bingeable length, but with all the action, it’s easy to miss out on the details and end up with questions.
Warning! Spoilers ahead!
10 Is There A Kill La Kill Manga? Yes, But It’s Much Shorter.
There is a Kill La Kill manga that was developed at the same time as the anime, illustrated by Ryō Akizuki, and first released in October 2013. The manga is essentially the same as the anime with some minor changes to pacing and story details. Special moves have a diminished role. The No-Late-Day chapter is the only one to differ significantly from the anime, where the episode is called “Dawn of a Miserable Morning.” The manga was also canceled before the story could properly end.
9 Who Created Kill La Kill? The Same People Who Worked On Gurren Lagann.
Kill La Kill was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by Kazuki Nakashima for Studio Trigger. It was the Studio’s first original anime series. Imaishi and Nakashima, however, had worked together before on Gurren Lagann in 2007, and teamed up again in 2019 to work on Promare. The series was first broadcast in Japan on MBS’ Animeism block between October 2013 and March 2014. An original video animation (OVA) was released as the 25th episode in September 2014. There is also a video game adaptation that was released in 2019.
8 Will There Be More Kill La Kill? Most Likely Not As The Story Has Concluded.
While there has been no official word on a sequel per se, the storyline does conclude with the 24th episode. There have been a handful of references to the series in other Studio Trigger properties, including cameo appearances by Kill La Kill characters in Space Patrol Luluco in 2016, written and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. In Major Lazer, an FXX animated series, Ryūko, Mako, Satsuki, and the Elite Four appear in a cameo crowd scene.
7 What Is With All The Nudity? It’s A Message About Taking Pride In Oneself.
Clearly, one of the first things a new fan will notice about the anime is its skimpy outfits and frequent nudity. Is it all just gratuitous fan service? It’s important to look to the story for clues to a deeper message.
Ryuko is a strong female character, no matter what she is or isn’t wearing. She was embarrassed by Senketsu and how she looked in the revealing outfit, but what she learns is that she has to be proud of what she looks like, regardless of her appearance, in order to unlock her true powers.
6 What Does The Name Mean? It’s A Pun In Japanese.
In essence, the name Kill La Kill is a play on words. In Japanese, it reads “kiru ra kiru”. Kiru is how the English word “kill” is pronounced in Japanese – hence, Kill la Kill. However, kiru is also how the Japanese word “着る” is pronounced, which means “to wear”. The name Ryuko means “flow, style or manner,” and her last name Matoi means “wear, wrap, tie”. The title for each episode was taken from an iTunes playlist of Japanese pop songs created by Kazuki Nakashima as he was writing the script.
5 What Exactly Are Life Fibers And Where Do They Come From? Space, No Kidding.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the Original Life Fiber crashed on Earth from somewhere in outer space. From it, all the other Life Fibers developed. They’re sentient parasitic beings, and they spawned all clothing on Earth, as well as helping direct the evolution of humankind itself. At first, the Life Fibers entered the bodies of their hosts, but they soon found their human hosts couldn’t stand the experience. That’s when they decided to cover their hosts instead, and became the magical clothing worn by students at the Academy.
4 Why Are Life Fibers Concentrated At Honnouji Academy? They Were Found By The Principal Of The Academy.
About two decades before Ryuko finds her father dying on the floor, Ragyō found the Original Life Fiber. Over the thousands of years since they hit Earth, Life Fibers largely went dormant, leaving their human hosts only the desire to cover themselves with clothing.
Once the Original Life Fiber is found, though, it awakens all the Life Fibers. As they become the clothing that gives students heightened powers, they also feeding off their blood.
3 What Is The Banshi? The Thread That Holds All Other Life Fibers Together.
The bodies of Life Fibers grow in long, thin strands, and they radiate energy that appears bright red. The Banshi is the Nexus Thread. It is a vital piece of Life Fiber that is present in every piece of clothing made with them. It essentially acts to hold the clothing together, and it actually contains the “will to cover”. Covered by Life Fibers, the Banshi is hard to find and even harder to damage or remove, although Nui Harime manages to sever the Banshi inside Uzu Sanageyama’s uniform.
2 What’s So Special About Senketsu? He’s Made Entirely Out Of Life Fibers.
Senketsu is Ryuko’s blue sailor uniform. Senketsu is special because he’s made entirely out of Life Fibers and his Banshi are ultra protected by multiple threads. He has the ability to absorb the Life Fibers of the Goku Uniforms that he destroys with Ryuko – including their Banshi. That makes him super tough and hard to beat. Ryuko’s shirt is made up of his upper jaw. The multicolored scarf is Senketsu’s left eye, and the skirt is Senketsu’s lower jaw. Eventually, Ryuko gets a Red Gauntlet, a fingerless glove with a built-in syringe that lets her easily feed him her blood.
1 Why Does Ryuko Seem To Have Special Powers Even Before She Meets Senketsu? She’s a Human-Life Fiber Hybrid.
From the outset, Ryuko could take on more than one One-Star student at a time, and seemed to have super strength, speed, and other fighting abilities. Once she’s teamed up with and fully accepts Senketsu, her abilities only increase. But, where do they come from? As the story eventually reveals, she isn’t who she thinks she is at all. In reality, she is a human-Life Fiber hybrid, an experiment that was thought to be a failure. Her father saved her and concealed her identity to protect her.
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