Fanfic / The Crimson Garment

The Crimson Garment is a Darker and Edgier Alternate Universe fanfic of Kill la Kill by someoneintheshadow456.

20 Minutes into the Future, a group of scientists in Africa discover an asteroid. This asteroid is found to contain the Life Fibers, extra terrestrial beings responsible for mankind becoming the dominant species on Earth. Due to a series of events taking place during the 21st century, they have become ubiquitous and are regularly interwoven with normal clothing to enhance the intellectual and physical capabilities of humans... but there's a catch, Life Fibers feed off and control the wearer in exchange for these new found abilities, and being exposed to Life Fibers for too long can cause the wearer to cease to exist.

War ensues between the possessed humans, or COVERS and Life Fiber supporters and those who refuse to side with them and as a result, most of the world's major cities are destroyed and most of the world's population is killed. After much bloodshed, the remaining nations base their entire governing system and society around Life Fiber culture. The education system is used to indoctrinate children, Schools are a means of weeding out individuals deemed unintelligent, physically weak, or non compliant, one's academic performance and accomplishments have a direct bearing on their social status, social status is directly related to connection with Life Fibers, and big corporations now hold most of the economic and political power.

In the year 2255, twin girls are born to Soichirou and Ragyo Kiryuin, the CEO of REVOCS Corporation and the head of the Kiryuin Conglomerate in Japan. Ragyo, believing that the ordeal will result in perfect children, has them go through a grotesque experiment to transform them into Half-Human Hybrids. Ragyo's husband reluctantly performs this operation on his kids, only to find that the older daughter turned out to be a botched product while the younger one died. Upon realizing that the woman he married has completely given in to the Life Fibers inside her, he abandons her, taking the corpse of his child with him.

Seventeen years later, Ryuko Matoi, a Half-Human Hybrid attending a boarding school in a Wretched Hive, decides to return home and visit her neglectful father, Ishin Matoi, only to find him stabbed to death by an unknown attacker. Just before his death, her father manages to give her part of his invention, the Rending Scissors, a weapon designed to cut through Life Fibers, and a Kamui, an outfit made entirely of Life Fibers that can only be worn by Half-Human Hybrids, and tells her to find his old colleague, Aikurou Mikisugi in the city of Honnouji and obtain more answers from him. And so Ryuko has to study in Honnouji Academy while gathering information regarding her father's work and seeking out his murderer.

In the most recent update on Archive of Our Own, the author announced that they were going to resume the fic and that some parts are going to go through a rewrite.

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Tropes:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Ragyo, even though it's implied that she wasn't always like this, is just as bad if not worse than her canon counterpart. The Parental Incest, even though it only takes place off-screen, is very much present. However the emotional abuse is much MUCH worse, as she's a very nasty combination of Education Mama, My Beloved Smother, and Fantasy-Forbidding Mother.
  • Houka Inumuta's father is a Fantasy-Forbidding Father who treats his older son like trash and encourages his younger son to bully him. Not to mention he gave his son's Canine Companion to REVOCS knowing that he would most likely die a test subject for Life Fibers.
• A Boy and His X: Inumuta had a pet dog named Tesla when he was a child, which was given away to REVOCS to be used as a test subject by his father who felt his son was getting too old for that sort of thing. Suffice to say, he was not happy to know this.
• The Ace: Ragyo and Satsuki appear to be this. But the former is a Villain with Good Publicity who has manipulated the public into believing that whatever horrible acts she commits are for the good of humanity, and the latter is a Stoic Woobie and Broken Ace.
• A Child Shall Lead Them:
  • Subverted, Satsuki has been the de facto ruler of Honnouji Academy since she was nine... and only Honnouji Academy. Her mother controls everything else, and Satsuki is receiving training in order to succeed her.
  • Played straight in the case of The Anti-Uniform Guerrilla, which is grooming Ryuko to be their leader.
• Accidental Truth: A tabloid had once run a story accusing Ragyo of child molestation, little do they know...
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Shiro now has red hair as opposed to blonde, Maiko has purple hair instead of black.
• Adaptation Expansion: The setting is explained in much more detail than in the anime, and averts the Creator Provincialism of the anime by explicitly stating that the entire world, not just Honnouji, is ruled by Life Fibers. The backstories and personalities of the main cast are also further explained.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Nudist Beach is now The Anti Uniform Guerrilla, perhaps to avoid the Narm the original name had.
  • In Kill La Kill Satsuki said that her younger sister was never given a name. Here, Ryuko's name was going to be Haruka Kiryuin and was supposedly changed by Ishin/Soichirou to cover up her existence.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Most of the main cast and even the supporting characters have issues, a sad backstory, or are adversely affected by their dystopian setting.
  • Ryuko's troubled home and Friendless Background are now major parts of her character development.
  • Mako went from Plucky Comic Relief to a much more downplayed Stepford Smiler, and her family very clearly has a Mysterious Past involving Mako's older brother.
  • Maiko Ogure was promoted to parent after her mom died in a Freak Lab Accident
  • Uzu Sanageyama is a Lonely Rich Kid with a Big Brother Bully who chose to hang out with poor kids, only to have one of his friends murdered before his eyes by Nui Harime because of a crime his father did.
  • Shiro Iori had to witness his cousin and Only Friend grow apart from him due to his aunt's abuse, and was nearly killed by said cousin as a child. It's also implied that he stays with his extended family because his immediate family abuses him.
  • Ira Gamagoori was very nearly Driven to Suicide by the death of his girlfriend at the hands of Shinjiro Nagita.
  • Nonon Jakuzure's older brother was disowned at the age of ten for failing his evaluation test.
  • Houka Inumuta's Fantasy-Forbidding Father gave his pet dog away when he felt that his son was getting too old for "such childish trivialities" and lied to him that it would be getting a good home. Houka hacked into REVOCS' security cameras and ended up watching Kiryuin scientists try to turn it into a Hybrid and the bloody and gruesome death of the poor creature as a result.
  • All this however pales in comparison to Satsuki, whose family background is given in depth exploration and has enough psychological issues to put Shinji Ikari to shame. And unlike in Kill la Kill, it is painfully clear that Ragyo's upbringing and prelidictions have taken a serious toll on her.
• Adaptational Badass: Many of the characters get this treatment. Ryuko loses her way much less often than she does in canon and Mako appears to be more competent than she lets on. Even characters like Maiko Ogure and Shiro Iori have their moments.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Satsuki appears to be given this treatment, and to a lesser extent, Ragyo as well, as Soroi has stated that she used to be a good person who loved Soichirou dearly and is heavily implied to have a Start of Darkness.
  • This also applies to Maiko Ogure, who went from a one-star wanting to steal the Kamui to overthrow Satsuki to being a three-star and one of Satsuki's close associates, with a tragic backstory to boot.
  • And Kaneo Takarada, who was Promoted to Love Interest and had a Childhood Friend Romance with Satsuki.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Ryuko and Mako make smarter decisions than their canon counterparts, perhaps the existence of Life Fibers being common knowledge has something to do with it.
• Adaptational Modesty: The fanservice is heavily toned down and the Kamui, while still skimpy (they're described as resembling two piece bathing suits), are much less garish and offer more coverage.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Ragyo zigzags between this and Adaptational Heroism. She's more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist and knows better than to go overboard with her villainy in public, but her abuse of Satsuki is MUCH more vile and has greater ramifications.
  • Aikurou Mikisugi is slightly slimier and more duplicitous than his original counterpart. He blatantly says he doesn't care how many people die if it means overthrowing Ragyo and knows very well about Ryuko's lineage and is deliberately hiding it from her.
• Adaptational Wimp: Satsuki is a particularly egregious case of this. She's far more conflicted and vulnerable than her canon counterpart and the effects her upbringing has on her psyche are given a lot more weight.
• Adapted Out:
  • The uniform thief from the very first episode of Kill la Kill, the Gardening Club president, and many of the other school clubs and their lackeys are absent.
  • The former does get mentioned in passing as a Mythology Gag.
• Afraid of Blood: Satsuki as a child, due to being Forced to Watch her little brother die after attempts to turn him into a Hybrid went horribly wrong. She seems to have outgrown this fear however.
• All of the Other Reindeer:
  • A substantial portion of Ryuko's childhood consists of being mocked by her peers for being a Hybrid.
  • Satsuki, believe it or not, was also mocked in childhood for her fear of water. In one of Ryuko's Flashback Nightmare (which are Satsuki's memories) sequences, three kids grab her, push her into a swimming pool and taunt her, saying that she is going to drown.
• Ambition is Evil: Demonstrated by the Kiryuin family, and invoked by Mako, who somewhat resents Ryuko for becoming a One-Star.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read\Dirty Mind-Reading: In Chapter 13, Senketsu catches a glimpse of Ryuko fantasizing about Aikurou, but since sex has a very different meaning in Life Fiber culture Senketsu is unnerved and concerned.
• Age Lift: A minor one in the case of Satsuki. She's a year younger, but skipped a grade. Shiro however went from being 18 to 14.
• Aggressive Categorism: Done on both sides. The rich think the poor are too stupid to deserve the facilities they enjoy and believe them to be no more than Puny Earthlings without Life Fibers, while the poor think that Hybrids and pretty much anyone who shows signs of ambition should be beaten down.
• Alien Invasion: Played with, as the Life Fibers came to Earth at around the dawn of mankind, but their takeover of humanity only started in the late 21st century.
• Alternate Universe:
• Amulet of Dependency: Clothing that is imbued with Life Fibers augments the user's intelligence and strength, and are a necessity in this Social Darwinist future.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Ragyo has been involved in the deaths of majority Satsuki's council members' loved ones. Maiko's mother, Ira's girlfriend, Nonon's brother being disowned, and quite literally with Houka's pet dog.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: Satsuki believes herself to be this, but it's subverted when she finds out her sister is actually alive.
• Anti-Villain: Satsuki, more so than the original. Her villainous acts are much more downplayed and her background and sympathetic qualities show up more often.
• Arranged Marriage: A requirement among the Seven and the Kiryuins to carry the family line. Ragyo and Soichirou were exceptions.
• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: The Rending Scissors and Bakuzan. Even though relatively modern weapons are common, Ryuko and Satsuki still use swords.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Played straight with the upper-class adults, averted with the kids.
• Artifact of Doom: Life Fiber induced clothing is this, just look at what it did to Ragyo...
• Artifact Domination: Life Fibers went from making the wearer into clothing and eating them to doing essentially this, and the consumption process is very slow to the point where most people are not aware of it until it's too late.
• Ascended Extra: Maiko Ogure is now a member of the Elite Four (well, Elite Six in this case) with her own origin story.
  • Kaneo Takarada, who went from a one episode minor villain to Satsuki's childhood love interest.
  • Shiro Iori is much more involved in the plot, and is even Satsuki's cousin in this version. By extension, this also applies to Soroi, who is also related to Satsuki now and even more of a Parental Substitute than before. He's even the one to show Satsuki Junketsu instead of her father.
• Asshole Victim: A group of Japanese Delinquents from Ira Gamagoori's flashback try to gang rape Satsuki, she and Ira kill them before they can try anything.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Life Fiber clothes can't be damaged unless you manage to cut their Nexus Threads using Anti-Life Fiber weaponry
  • Hybrids also have Nexus Threads concentrated in a certain part of their body, and can only be killed by attacking it. Ryuko's is in her bellybutton.
• Attempted Rape: A gang of Japanese Delinquents tries to rape Satsuki in a flashback, they pay for their stupidity with their lives.
• Bad Future: And how!
• Beneath the Mask: When the story is in Ryuko's POV, Satsuki comes off as a stoic, no-nonsense leader who always has a plan and isn't above using questionable means to keep her students in line. Once we see things from Satsuki's perspective however...
• Benevolent Alien Invasion: At least, that's what the Life Fibers believe...
• Berserk Button:
  • Satsuki has several of these, some of which also double as Trauma Buttons. Any sort of physical contact (she gave an unfortunate Mook a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for accidentally grabbing her arm), sympathy and/or concern, and making assumptions about or asking her about her personal life, especially if it's about her mother or her... inclinations.
    • "What's the matter? Mommy didn't hug you enough?", cue Unstoppable Rage.
  • Soichirou Kiryuin's catchphrase, "don't lose your way" especially coming from Satsuki's mouth, is a sure fire way to piss Ragyo off.
• Best Friends-in-Law: Satsuki hoped that she and Nonon would become this, before Ryuta was disowned.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: In addition to Satsuki, Ryuko also has them.
• Big Brother Bully: Ataru Sanageyama, who gets most of the attention from his parents while his younger brother is sidelined.
  • Shiro Iori's siblings are implied to be this to such an extent that it's why he lives with his extended family (though his situation with his aunt is not much better...)
  • Houka Inumuta has a Little Brother Bully, although to be fair this is more encouraged by his father.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ragyo's public persona: A cultured, intelligent, and benevolent innovator who uses her absurd wealth to benefit humanity who is a Doting Parent to her perfect in every way daughter. The truth: A Wicked Cultured Evilutionary Biologist whose idea of "benefiting humanity" is keeping the people in line with a strict meritocracy and deliberately and knowingly endorsing Puppeteer Parasite clothing. And an Evil Matriarch who terrorizes her Broken Ace daughter with absurdly high expectations that must be met, extreme verbal abuse lest she fails to do so, AND repeated sexual abuse from childhood!
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Life Fibers can't understand romance or sex because they reproduce asexually, by splitting in half.
• Bizarre Alien Sexes: Senketsu says in Chapter 7 that Life Fibers' concept of gender and sex is very different from humans.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Life Fibers in spades.
• Blue Blood: The Seven Prominent Families, they are absurdly rich, powerful, and almost always Three Stars, but still have to answer to the Kiryuins.
• Boarding School of Horrors: Ryuko has been attending one since she was six, where she was whipped by her teachers, unjustly given failing grades, and was bullied and ostracized by everyone around her.
• Born as an Adult: The Life Fibres, and cannot understand the concept of children because of this.
• Broken Ace: Satsuki more or less says she is this in the prologue.
  "I came from the richest family in the country. My mother was a CEO, my father was a scientist. I always wore designer clothes; I had impeccable manners and etiquette. I was elegant, graceful, and poised. I was always clean and well groomed; there would never be a hair out of place. I attended a private school for affluent children, and was valedictorian since I was five. In fact, I was so clever that I was able to skip a grade. I was in the music club, and won first prize every year for piano, violin, and singing. I was on the volleyball team, and I always made the winning serve. I was on the track team, and always came first. I was the student council president, I always got elected, and I conducted every event to the best of my ability. I was a model student, a model daughter, and a model successor. I knew I could be no less. I had to strive for perfection; perfection was in my blood, there was no room for error, no room for fallibility, no room for humanity… And to all outward appearance, perfect was what I was. But every day when I came home, when I was bombarded with the chatter of Mother's colleagues, when I forced myself to attend lessons, when I felt crippling loneliness in spite of all those around me, I remembered. I remembered her innocent blue eyes and wide smile, I remembered longing for her day in and day out, I remembered the story of how she died. And every night, when I was reminded of just how weak I was. When I allowed myself to be manipulated into submission, when I was reminded of all my defects, of just how small I was, I would remember... I was nothing more than a pawn in the hands of others. I was far from perfect."
• Broken Bird: Satsuki's new characterization paints her as this. Also Ryuko to a lesser extent.
• Broken Pedestal: Inumuta believed that REVOCs and the Kiryuin family were good people before he witnessed them callously kill his dog.
• But Not Too Foreign: Ragyo is half French on her mother's side (which explains her catchphrase), and both her and her daughters have slightly European features such as blue eyes and "high noses."
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Senketsu refers to humans as "flesh beings."
• Cain and Abel: What Satsuki wants to do to Ryuko. And as an eight year old she attempts to straight up murder her cousin because in his innocence he gave away her location when she was trying to hide from her mother's abuse.
• Cain and Abel and Seth: One sided. Satsuki sees Ryuko as a threat to her position and wants to have her killed. Making her the Cain and Ryuko the Abel, while Shiro Iori, who is Satsuki (and by extension Ryuko's) cousin, fills the role of the Seth.
• Catapult Nightmare: Ryuko wakes up screaming after having a nightmare about drowning in Chapter 10. And again in Chapter 16 where Ryuko has a nightmare about being sexually assaulted in water. Both are actually Satsuki's memories.
  • Satsuki herself wakes up crying after experiencing one of Ryuko's memories, presumably of being abandoned by their father, in Chapter 15.
• The Chains of Commanding: Because she's... well, the heir apparent to a MegaCorp and this world's equivalent of royalty, she has to put on a facade of a tyrannical Social Darwinist if she wants to live up to her family name. This also means she has to keep her myriad of psychological issues cleverly hidden and aggressively reject any sympathy from characters who know about them or are suspicious.
• Children Are Innocent: Played straight with five year old Shiro Iori, who wanted nothing more than to help Satsuki despite having no idea what was happening to her. Not to mention Takaji takes advantage of his naivete to search for Satsuki, who was using a game of hide and seek as a ruse to get away from her mother.
  • Subverted with Mataro, while he is a Mouthy Kid he also has moments where he acts like his age, especially apparent during his 9th birthday party when he blabs about his older brother when everyone in Mako's family clearly doesn't want to talk about him.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Satsuki and Kaneo Takarada, which Satsuki ended after he had confessed to her. Most probably because Ragyo's abuse made her believe that touching is a display of dominance, and thus Satsuki can't tell manipulation from genuine love.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The seven prominent families of Japan. All of them wear monochrome outfits and dye their hair as an indication of status. The Kiryuins are also this, as they wear and are mostly associated with white.
• Contrived Coincidence: The pseudonym Ryuko chose in Chapter 6 to avoid getting caught by the Kiryuins just happened to be her original name. This causes Satsuki to take interest in her.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Ragyo is this combined with Well-Intentioned Extremist, as the Conglomerate's objective is not just to turn a profit, but to spread the usage of Life Fibers in order to make humankind smarter and stronger. Good thing the public doesn't know about the grotesque medical experiments and little to no regard for the economically disadvantaged.
• Cosmopolitan Council: The Spectrum Alliance, this world's equivalent of the U.N.
• Covert Group: The Anti Uniform Guerrilla.
• Crapsack World: Even more so than the original. Academic performance is treated as Serious Business in this world and could literally mean the difference between life and death. Children as young as nine and ten could be rendered impoverished for life if they fail their evaluation test (whose cut off is eighty percent), and if they pass this test, they have to spend the rest of their formative years slogging to maintain their families' positions. And if you choose not to live in the city, you'll have to live in a human colony, which is practically barren wasteland. The Kiryuin Conglomerate carries out experiments on innocent people and Hybrids regularly, and then there's the fact that they manufacture and endorse alien parasite laden clothing that essentially eats at your sense of self...
• The Cracker: Houka Inumuta, natch. Who at the age of twelve hacked into the most secure website in the country to see if Tesla was okay. He's no slouch in the present either, as he infects Ryuko's tablet with a virus in order to goad her into coming to an empty computer lab so she can be ambushed by him.
• Creepy Child: According to Inumuta, Satsuki had undertones of this as she displayed a disturbing Lack of Empathy towards him after his dog had died. He has also made no secret of his contempt towards her cold and calculating demeanor. Of course, we know that it's all a facade.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Just like in Kill la Kill, Uzu's over-reliance on his eyesight leads to him losing to Ryuko. Subverted however, as Uzu wasn't intending to kill her in that fight and had four other Life Fiber induced clothes as contingencies.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Mako in spades. She saved Ryuko from COVERS (who are implied to be stronger than normal humans or even hybrids) when they were nine years old.
• Cute and Psycho: Nui Harime, just like her original counterpart... except she has even more atrocities under her belt aside from killing Isshin Matoi.
• Darker and Edgier: See Crapsack World above.
• Decomposite Character: Shinjiro Nagita, who is now a separate character from Nui Harime.
• Denser and Wackier: Inverted. Much of the craziness from the original show is removed, most of the character's antics and personalities are Played for Drama, and a lot of changes are made to the plot and dialogue for realism.
  • Ryuko's first fight with Fukuroda even has a brief Take That! at the original's Large Ham tendencies.
  "(Fukuroda) 'How are you able to evade my Iron Fist Barrage?!'
  (Ryuko) 'Really…? You actually name your attacks? You think you're some kind of supervillain or what?'"
• Designer Babies: All Kiryuins and The Seven are born from a surrogate mother and genetically modified to have the strengths of both their parents.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Really Satsuki? You're gonna murder Shiro just because he was manipulated into opening his mouth? Granted, she was eight years old at the time, but still.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Satsuki, as demonstrated by Chapter 20, doesn't take sympathy well. Showing concern for her or asking questions about her background (or worse her mother's Parental Incest) is a very bad idea.
• Dramatic Irony: The author loves this trope to bits, expect it to pop up a lot with regards to Ryuko's lineage and Satsuki's backstory.
• Education Mama: Seems to be a common occurrence in this world, justified however given the absurd requirements of the education system (three year olds have to be tested to get into preschool) and the consequences of failure.
  • Ragyo Kiryuin is a prime example of one of these. She regularly keeps tabs of Satsuki's academic performance, has expected her to be constantly at work and have a rigid routine since age six, and subjects her to verbal abuse for anything less than a perfect score. And in the prologue, Satsuki all but states that she has received immense pressure to be a model student from a young age.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: A very small percentage of hybrids' internal life fibers remain dormant until they go through a near-death experience. Satsuki is of this type.
• Embarrassing but Empowering Outfit: Like canon, Ryuko considers Senketsu this, thanks to how revealing he is.
• Even Evil Has Standards\Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: It's mentioned that some of Ragyo's Mooks left The Conglomerate because they suspected (or possibly, might have found out) that the allegations of child molestation were true.
• Everyone Has Standards: Shiro finds the idea of sororicide abhorrent.
• Evilutionary Biologist: The Life Fibers.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Hybrids and COVERS have abnormally shaped pupils.
• Expositing the Masquerade: Most of the worlds' corporations are very much aware of the true nature of Life Fibers, and hide this information from the general populace. The only characters who know about this are Ryuko, whose father studied Life Fibers in secret, and Satsuki, who's the heir apparent of REVOCS.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Mother: Ragyo has shades of this as well. She frowns on Satsuki's childhood dream of being a scientist like her father and wants her to major in business administration and political science instead. She seems to have a problem with any aspiration or activity that is connected to Soichirou, or reminds her of how much Satsuki is like him, and is also hell bent on Satsuki following in her footsteps whether she likes it or not.
  • Inumuta's father is also this. Believing that spending time with his dog was making him soft, he gave him away to be used as a test subject for REVOCS and told him that his son was too old for having a pet.
• Fangirl: A Chemistry Club Mook pretends to be one of Ryuko as a part of a Frame-Up orchestrated by Satsuki.
• Feudal Future: The social structure (The Kiryuins > The Seven > other Three Stars > Two Stars > One Stars > No Stars > colony residents) seems to invoke this.
• Fictional United Nations: The Spectrum Alliance.
• Fighting from the Inside: Ragyo tries to do this after Ryuko seemingly dies, but fails, and it's implied she's tried to do this before.
• Flashback Nightmare: The dream sequences that Ryuko and Satsuki have while wearing their respective Kamui. Ryuko relives Satsuki's bad memories and vice versa.
• Flechette Storm: Maiko defeats a Kamui-less Ryuko after filling her body with knives.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Ragyo's obsession with her family legacy means that Satsuki is expected to do this. The Seven also expect their children to do this to a lesser degree.
• Frame-Up: Satsuki comes up one of these to give Ira Gamagoori an excuse to kill Ryuko. She has a Chemistry Club Mook surreptitiously place a block of sodium in Ryuko's pocket and sets up a trap to make her activate the sprinklers, causing an explosion.
• Freak Lab Accident: Maiko's mother, who was working for REVOCS died in one of these.
• Freudian Slip: Shiro accidentally calls Ryuko "Haruka," he backtracks quickly, but Ryuko is still suspicious.
• Future Slang: "Going under the knife" is a euphemism for becoming a Hybrid.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Maiko is both this and the Trap Master.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke:
• Generation Xerox: Ryuko is a carbon copy of pre-Life Fibers Ragyo, while Satsuki is one of Soichirou/Ishin. Note that this is only in terms of personality. In terms of appearance, both strongly resemble their mother.
• Genius Breeding Act: What the Life Fibers want to achieve.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Mako slaps Ryuko to snap her out of her nightmare in Chapter 16.
• Get Out!: Satsuki more or less tells Shiro to leave the room after he senses something is wrong with her and asks her if she is okay. Keep in mind that Satsuki had one of her "meetings" with her mother the night before and she mentioned her eyes were swollen and red the next day.
  • She does this again in Chapter 20 after Shiro Iori gives her a What the Hell, Hero? speech and confronts her about pushing him away since Ragyo's abuse had started.
• Good Parents: Mako's parents, Barazo and Sukuyo are genuinely concerned about their kids and see them as people rather than a means to an end. Maiko's parents as well.
• Grade Skipper: Satsuki, who skipped first grade.
• Hates Baths: Satsuki dreads bathing and has a habit of covering herself and listening for footsteps before getting into the shower. Justified, considering what bathing has come to mean for her over the years.
• Hates Being Touched: Satsuki, it's not hard to see why.
• Half-Human Hybrid: More common than they were in the anime. In addition to Ryuko, Ira Gamagoori's dead girlfriend Hitomi was one, and Satsuki is a dormant Hybrid.
• Hazardous Water: Ryuko's nightmare sequences while wearing Senketsu have so far been about drowning or being trapped in a sauna/hot spring where being in contact with the water gives you nausea and makes your skin crawl and body temperature drop, and moments later being sexually assaulted by an unknown attacker. Ryuko lampshades that she isn't afraid of water at all and doesn't understand why she has these dreams. While Ryuko isn't scared of water however, there is someone else who is...
• He Knows Too Much: One of Uzu's No-Star friends, Goro, went from Riches to Rags after his father's death, who was killed because he pulled a Mook–Face Turn and started giving information to The Anti-Uniform Guerrilla.
• Humans Need Aliens: What the Life Fibers believe, and they were responsible for mankind's advancement in the past.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Ryuko and Satsuki would look exactly alike if not for the former's uneven and messy haircut and Half-Human Hybrid eyes.
• Insistent Terminology: Life Fibers are parasitic in nature, but prefer to think of themselves as symbiotic life forms instead. Their benefits to humankind are... unconventional to say the least.
• Interrupted Suicide\Happily Failed Suicide: Ira Gamagoori almost kills himself because of the loss of his girlfriend, Satsuki stops him.
• Im Dying Please Take My Macguffin: Ishin Matoi/Soichirou Kiryuin gives Ryuko Senketsu and the Rending Scissors just before he dies.
• The Insomniac: Satsuki has had trauma-induced insomnia since she was eight years old.
• I Owe You My Life: Ryuko towards Mako, who saved the former from being mauled by COVERS when they were children.
  • Satsuki and Ira Gamagoori towards each other. Satsuki stopped him from killing himself, and she gave him a seat in her council immediately after he helped her to fend off a gang of rapists.
• It's All My Fault: Satsuki blames herself for the sexual abuse she receives from her mother, and feels that winning her approval and becoming a Hybrid like she would have wanted will put an end to it.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Ryuko expresses concern over whether she'll be able to lead The Anti-Uniform Guerrilla's revolution and wonders if she'll ever have the potential to be a leader.
• Jeanne Darchetype: The Anti-Uniform Guerrilla is trying to shape Ryuko into one: the leader and face of their upcoming revolution. And she does fit the bill as she's Lost Orphaned Royalty who grew up in poor and wants to get revenge on the current regime.
• Kid Has a Point: Mataro senses Ryuko's infatuation with Mr. Mikisugi long before anyone other than Senketsu does.
  • 14 year old Shiro Iori frequently questions how pulling a Cain and Abel on Ryuko is going to help gain Ragyo's approval. He also knows very well about Ragyo's predilections and calls Satsuki out for rejecting sympathy from those who care about her.
• La Résistance: The Anti Uniform Guerrilla is specifically called a resistance faction.
• Light Is Not Good: The Kiryuins' family color is white.
• Like Father, Like Son: Ryuko as a child was very similar to Ragyo before her Split-Personality Takeover. Ambitious, driven, cheerful, and loves to look good in front of authority figures. Satsuki takes more to Soichirou. Inventive, thoughtful, docile, and has a strong moral compass. Both Ragyo and Ishin Matoi try to drive these personality traits out of them with mixed results.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Satsuki knows that Ryuko is her twin (and has DNA testing results to back this up). However she isn't telling her this. She also appears to be keeping Ryuko's existence secret from her mother and the Conglomerate. The only person she did tell is Shiro Iori, and that's only because he is her (and Ryuko's) cousin.
  • It's not just Satsuki. Aikurou and Tsugumu appear to be aware of Ryuko's lineage as well and are keeping it from her for whatever reason (presumably until the right time). How do they know this? Tsugumu's flashbacks imply that Kinue was Ryuko and Satsuki's surrogate mother.
  • The Mankanshoku family, particularly Mako and her mother, are implied to have a Mysterious Past involving the fate of Masaomi and are keeping this hidden from Ryuko.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Satsuki has shades of this, with the exception of her cousin Shiro Iori, her brief Childhood Friend Romance with Kaneo Takarada, and her uncle Soroi, she doesn't appear to be close to anyone, not even Nonon. This is deliberate on Satsuki's part, as she's been rejecting everyone around her because of her mother's abuse.
  • Uzu Sanageyama and Shiro Iori this as well. The former became friends with No-Stars because of his Big Brother Bully, and ended up losing those friends thanks to Nui Harime, and the latter's immediate family was so abusive that he had to live with his extended family... to become a mute spectator to his cousin's abusive situation.
• The Lost Lenore: Ira Gamagoori's girlfriend was turned into a COVER and mercy killed by Shinjiro Nagita.
• Lost Orphaned Royalty: Ryuko, though she doesn't know it yet.
• Love Is a Weakness: Satsuki believes in this. Again, no prizes for guessing why.
• Love Martyr: Familial example. Shiro Iori sides with his cousin Satsuki and supports her in spite of all the verbal lashings and physical abuse she throws at him simply for trying to help.
• Makeup Is Evil: Ragyo believes that makeup and fashionable clothing are a means of covering up imperfections, and appears to have indoctrinated her daughter into thinking this way as well.
• Marry for Love: Ragyo and Soichirou were very much in love in the past. And the latter was a Three-Star who wouldn't have even been considered as one of Ragyo's suitors if he hadn't invented the Kamui.
  • Satsuki wanted to marry Nonon's brother, Ryuta when she was young, and wanted to be Happily Married, but Ryuta was disowned.
• Malicious Slander: A rare example where the slander is actually true. Ragyo was accused of child molestation ten years before the story's events by a tabloid newspaper. After proving the story to be false, Ragyo had gone out of her way to erase all memory of it from the public mind.
• Meaningful Name: Satsuki and Haruka (Ryuko) were born on May 1st.
• Metaphorically True: Soichirou/Ishin's statement that Ryuko's mother was killed by The Life Fibers.
• Moment Killer: Senketsu in Chapter 17 "screams" at Ryuko to get her to stop kissing Mr. Mikisugi and focus on the task at hand.
• Morality Pet: Shiro Iori is this to Satsuki.
• My Beloved Smother: Ragyo appears to be a conventional example of this. In public, she's a typical doting but slightly overbearing mother. In private...
• Mythology Gag: A brief one in Chapter 23, Mr. Mikisugi mentions the uniform thief from the very first episode of Kill La Kill, although instead of being killed by Satsuki, he was sent to REVOCS to be used as a Guinea pig for one of Ragyo's experiments.
• Narrator All Along: Satsuki in the third (technically first) chapter.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Soichirou Kiryuin's invention, the Kamui made him go from a common three-star to REVOCS' head tailor and earned him the right to marry his girlfriend, Ragyo. Too bad he had no idea what his new invention would do to his wife...
  • Soichirou thought that making an outfit entirely out of Life Fibers was impossible, it was Ragyo who convinced him otherwise and talked him into inventing the thing in the first place. So basically, Ragyo unknowingly played a part in her own "demise..."
• Nobility Marries Money: Satsuki says she will have to marry a man from The Seven, who, while still very very rich, are lower on the social ladder than she is.
• No Such Thing as Alien Pop Culture: According to Mako in Chapter 8, Life Fibers believe that entertainment is useless and have mostly eliminated it.
• Not So Stoic: Satsuki freaks out when the delinquents from Ira Gamagoori's flashback suggest that they are going to rape her.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Mako is hinted at to be a lot smarter than she appears, and is also implied to have Hidden Depths and a history with Ira Gamagoori. In Chapter 19, it's hinted that she figured out that Ryuko and Mr. Mikisugi are in a relationship, and Senketsu lampshades that Mako's whole family is clearly hiding something.
  • Satsuki's cousin, Shiro Iori, has been pretending to be in the dark with regards to Ragyo's Parental Incest. He tells Satsuki this in Chapter 20.
  • Aikurou Mikisugi is pretending to still be in the dark with regards to Ryuko's lineage.
• Old Money: The Kiryuins and the Seven are implied to have been wealthy for over a century thanks to Life Fibers.
• Older Than They Look: Life Fibers slow down the aging process, and it's mentioned that Nui Harime is supposed to be the same age as Ryuko but looks about four years younger.
• Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Spectrum Alliance, which replaced the United Nations a hundred years before the story's events.
• One Nation Under Copyright: The Kiryuin Conglomerate is rife with nepotism and controls almost everything from law enforcement, to the media, to the actions of the other family conglomerates it's allied with. Not to mention they're basically royalty in all but name.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mako actually hits Ryuko and gives her a verbal beatdown after Ryuko becomes a One-Star, which leads Ryuko to wonder if all really is right with her friend...
• Original Character: Several.
  • Mako's older brother, Masaomi, who was introduced in one of Ryuko's flashbacks in Chapter 8 and is never mentioned again. It's implied that he's either missing or dead. But it seems like Mako and her family know what happened to him and want to hide this from Ryuko.
  • While they're minor characters, Maiko's younger sisters, Uzu's older brother, Houka's younger brother, Shiro's siblings, and Nonon's older brother also count. As well as Posthumous Character Fuyuki Kiryuin.
  • Ragyo is also stated to have her own Kamui.
• Parasite Zombie: What the COVERS are re-imagined as, and the fate of those who wear life fiber clothing for too long.
• Patchwork Kids: Ryuko and Satsuki, looks and personality wise. They have Ragyo's eyes, facial structure, and hair and Soichirou's Big Ol' Eyebrows. Ryuko has the personality of pre-Life Fibers Ragyo while Satsuki has the personality of Soichirou. Justified, seeing as they're Designer Babies.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Ryuko, Satsuki, and Ragyo, who are quarter and half European respectively have Icy Blue Eyes and sharp, high noses.
• Pedo Hunt: Ragyo's detractors hoped to stir up some controversy and/or put her image at stake by accusing her of paedophilia. Unbeknownst to them, their Malicious Slander turned out to be actually true.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Satsuki hoped to have one with Ryuta and later was romantically interested in Kaneo, one of her prospective suitors. Now however she has given up on the idea of love.
• Power Corrupts: How people become COVERS in the first place, and Mako warns Ryuko that this could happen to her the more she advances in rank.
• Power at a Price: Wearing Life Fiber clothing will enhance your intelligence and strength... and slowly chip at your sense of identity and self until you essentially become a Parasite Zombie.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Unlike her Omnicidal Maniac original counterpart, Ragyo's goal is to maintain her authority over Japan and further the spread of Life Fiber clothing. She's also clearly gone out of her way to maintain a public persona and for the most part, keeps her villainy hidden. The only people who've seen it first hand are Soichirou Kiryuin/Ishin Matoi, and Satsuki. However some of the people working for Ragyo know about her true character and keep silent to save themselves.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Aikurou. Senketsu suspects that Ryuko might have a crush on him and he is very touchy-feely with her. She even admits that she feels safe around him in Chapter 16. This also applies to Ira Gamagoori and Kaneo Takarada.
• Propaganda Machine: The Kiryuin Conglomerate frequently churns out textbooks, pamphlets, and the like which give the impression that they're here for the good of everyone and perfect in every way.
• Puny Earthlings: A majority of Ragyo's dialogue consists of her snubbing humanity and belittling her daughter for not being a Half-Human Hybrid.
  • Even Senketsu has made the occasional jab towards humans and how "weak and emotional" they are in comparison to Life Fibers.
  "Flesh Beings... so easily distracted by emotions. No wonder we have to discipline you constantly."
• Puppeteer Parasite: The life fibers enhance the cognitive power and physical strength of the wearer in exchange for control over their own body.
• Purple Is Powerful: Maiko's Three-Star uniform has plenty of purple and some indigo in it.
• Race Lift: Ragyo is stated to be half French on her mother's side, making Ryuko and Satsuki quarter European.
• Rape Discretion Shot: In Chapter 16, Ragyo escorts Satsuki to the Kiryuin Baths and the chapter ends before anything is shown.
• Retractable Weapon: Ryuko's scissor blade can be expanded and shrunk from the get-go, rather than having to be stored in a guitar case.
• Rich Bitch: Ataru Sanageyama is a male example according to Uzu as he speaks of people lower in status with outright contempt. Same applies to Houka's younger brother.
  • Ragyo and her cohorts also have shades of this combined with Fantastic Racism and Puny Earthlings.
• Royal Blood: The Kiryuins behave and are treated in a manner similar to royalty, and believe themselves to be superior because of their connection to the Life Fibers.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Played with. COVERS and Half-Human Hybrids are basically just humans with bizarre hair and eye colors, have higher levels of intelligence and strength than normal people, and come off as Smug Snake versions of what their hosts used to be like. However, this is because Life Fibers are parasitic by nature and cannot survive unless bonded with human beings in some way.
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Life Fibers definitely give off this vibe. They're Social Darwinist Evilutionary Biologists who believe that only the strong and smart have the right to exist, scorn human emotion and compassion, and feel that any activity that has nothing to do with climbing up the social ladder is useless. They also have quite a bit of Nazi parallels.
• Sentient Phlebotinum: The Life Fibers, however they don't show that they are truly alive unless worn by a hybrid, and most of the human characters are unaware that Senketsu and Junketsu are these.
• Sexless Marriage: Most Kiryuins see their spouses as glorified colleagues, and Satsuki says that she'll never need to have sex with her future husband because all Kiryuins are Designer Babies.
• Shared Family Quirks: Ryuko mimics Ragyo's voice and mannerisms to mock the evil overlord speeches she gives in the media. Her impersonation is so accurate that it makes Aikurou do a Double Take. In fact, Ryuko is basically a Generation Xerox of pre-Life Fibers Ragyo while Satsuki resembles Soichirou/Ishin.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Ryuko and Satsuki.
• Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: Satsuki, understandably is a strong believer of this, and feels that all displays of love or sexual contact are nothing but shows of dominance.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Uzu's No-Star friend Goro was murdered by Nui Harime because of his father's Mook–Face Turn.
• The Social Darwinist: The Kiryuin family and the Life Fibers in general.
• Slumming It: Uzu used to do this when he was in middle school because of his poor social life and Jerkass older brother.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside:
  • When the story is in Ryuko's or one of the Elite 6's POV's, Satsuki appears to be a cold and heartless ruler. When the story is in Satsuki's POV, it becomes clear that it's all just a front to mask her psychological issues and save face for her family.
  • Ryuko acts mean because of her impoverished upbringing and as a coping mechanism for loneliness.
• Spare to the Throne: Satsuki fears becoming this, which is why she wants to kill Ryuko.
  • Uzu Sanageyama and Houka Inumuta are this to their families, as their older and younger brothers respectively were chosen as the heir.
• Split-Personality Takeover: How people become COVERS in the first place, and apparently what happened to Ragyo.
• Start of Darkness: Ragyo used to be a good and compassionate person, and then she became a Hybrid at age 14, which is likely to have led to her Face–Heel Turn and Split-Personality Takeover.
• Stepford Smiler: Mako, who acts energetic and happy to hide negative feelings among other things.
  "No. No, I can't afford to let myself be carried away by negative energy. No matter how the world may be, no matter how little we have, no matter how bleak or hopeless a situation may be, I have to keep smiling. It's the only way I can stay sane, the only way I can survive. I have to look at the positives in my life, even though there aren't many."
• Straw Vulcan: The Life Fibers, who firmly believe that Might Makes Right, are incapable of understanding love and use sex as a dominance ritual.
• Succession Crisis: Satsuki believes that if Ryuko is discovered, her position as heir apparent will be at risk, which is why she wants to kill her.
• Super Breeding Program: The reason why rich families have Designer Babies, and what The Kiryuin Conglomerate appears to be doing according to Ishin Matoi/Soichirou Kiryuin.
• Switching P.O.V.: The story will sometimes switch from Ryuko's perspective to Satsuki's, sometimes in the same chapter. sometimes we also get to see the perspectives of supporting characters like Maiko, Mako, and Tsugumu.
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: Funny enough, this is also present in this world, but is restricted to colonies and No-Star districts. Ryuko herself experienced this in boarding school, as her teachers would purposefully fail her to protect the sentiments of her human classmates.
  • The existence of this trope is basically why Ryuko is the way she is. On her very first day at school, she was beaten up and shut down for showing more intelligence than her classmates.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Ryuko and Aikurou Mikisugi.
• Teen Genius: Pretty much every one in Satsuki's inner circle, as well as Satsuki herself, is this. Although to be fair, this level of intelligence is expected and even considered normal in this environment.
• Telepathy: Ryuko and Senketsu are able to communicate with each other this way.
• Tell Me About My Father: Satsuki in flashbacks has asked Soroi about what her father was like before he died. His statements about how her father was an aspiring tailor who made a groundbreaking invention thanks to her mother's encouragement conflict with what Ragyo says about him in the present.
  • Ryuko used to ask her father about her mother when she was a little girl, and he would refuse to say anything other than that she died because of the Life Fibers shortly after she was born.
• That Man Is Dead: Soroi says point blank to a ten year old Satsuki that because of her mother's Split-Personality Takeover, she's metaphorically dead. And Soichirou/Ishin says to Ryuko that her mother died due to the Life Fibers.
  • Invoked by Shiro when he notes that Ragyo's abuse made Satsuki more aggressive and cruel, and is disheartened by the change.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Mako has her mother's croquettes, Satsuki has Soroi's tea.
• Tragic Keepsake: Satsuki's conch shell, which was Kaneo Takarada's last gift to her before he was barred from seeing her or her family again.
• Trap Master: Maiko, just like her original counterpart.
• Temporal Theme Naming: The Kiryuin twins, Satsuki and Haruka. And Posthumous Character Fuyuki (winter tree).
• Terms of Endangerment: Ragyo towards Satsuki. If she ever calls her daughter "my dear," she's either subtly coming on to her, mocking her, or manipulating her.
• Theme Twin Naming: Satsuki (the month of May) and Haruka (spring flower). Doubles with Meaningful Name and Temporal Theme Naming.
• They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason: One of the myriad of reasons why Satsuki tries to shut down anyone who asks her about her family, fearing that someone could possibly find out about her mother's abuse.
• Trouble Entendre: Ragyo and Satsuki's "meetings."
• Turn Out Like His Father: Ishin Matoi feared this would happen to Ryuko, which played a part in why he packed her off to boarding school. On the flip side, Ragyo is clearly disgusted with Satsuki for taking more to Soichirou than her and tries to stamp out any traits she shares with him.
• Twin Telepathy: Played with. Ryuko and Satsuki seem to be able to look into each other's thoughts/memories if both of them are wearing their Kamui while asleep. Neither of them however, are aware of this at this point.
  • Junketsu can also communicate with Ryuko, albeit briefly.
• The Confidant: Shiro Iori is the only one of Satsuki's associates who knows that Ryuko is her twin and by extension his cousin.
  • Soroi counts as well, he's the only one who knows about what kind of a person Ragyo really is, and about what she does to her daughter on a nightly basis.
• The Rich Have White Stuff: The Kiryuins in spades. Satsuki's room is all white.
• Used to Be More Social\Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to Nonon, Satsuki used to be a Cheerful Child before Ragyo's abuse started, when she started progressively cutting herself off from her friends. When she was eleven, she banned Kaneo Takarada from ever seeing her again because he had confessed his love to her. By the time she was thirteen she had become as steely as she is in the present.
  • Applies to Ryuko as well, who used to be an idealistic and ambitious kid before being sent to boarding school, where she was taught to see herself as a "goat in a herd" and not get ahead of everyone around her.
• The Virus: Becoming a COVER makes you completely loyal to the Life Fibers.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Ragyo is well loved or feared by the general populace and is believed to have humanity's best interests at heart. Ryuko knows better.
• Virtue Is Weakness: According to The Life Fibers and Ragyo. Satsuki seems to be forcing herself to believe this.
• Visionary Villain: The Life Fibers' goal went from using humanity as a means to destroy the Earth to latching themselves on to human beings and controlling them to become the most dominant species in the universe and create what they believe to be a "perfect" society.
• Was Once a Man: The COVERS.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Unlike her original counterpart, Satsuki's motive is gaining parental approval. She (wrongly) believes that becoming the kind of daughter her mother wants her to be will put a stop to all the abuse she receives, and believes if her twin is discovered, then there's a possibility that she might become the heir instead of her.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Kiryuin Conglomerate believes that whatever they do is for a good cause.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Satsuki's fear of water.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Rich kids are trained to succeed their parents from infancy, and already have an understanding of the corporate world by age eight or nine. By the time they enter high school, they can get involved in company decisions.
• What Does She See in Him?: Senketsu doesn't approve of Ryuko and Mr. Mikisugi being romantically involved because he doesn't trust him. It's also because he doesn't understand romance and believes that it hinders ambition. He even tells Ryuko to lie to him about where her Nexus thread is located.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: To the Life Fibers, touching and sex are assertions of control over weaker beings, therefore the concepts of love and lust are foreign to them. They don't seem to understand familial love either, as they are born as adults.
  • Senketsu doesn't approve of and is baffled by Ryuko's relationship with Mr. Mikisugi.
  "...your species' desire for emotional and physical proximity. Such a thing is unnecessary for progress, in fact it hinders it. It's also quite baffling that you would consider assertion of control to be a pleasurable experience."
• What the Hell, Hero?: Shiro is vehemently opposed to Satsuki using fratricide to gain her mother's approval, and has expressed his distaste for it on many occasions.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Satsuki has had a fear of water since childhood. While she can train herself to bear water while bathing, she can't stay wet for long periods of time.
  • Fridge Brilliance: While this seems out of nowhere at first, it makes sense when you remember that Ragyo's molestation sessions always took place in the Grand Baths. It makes even more sense if you are familiar with Pavlovian Conditioning.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Ragyo, who's always shown wearing full white suits and extravagant makeup and jewelry.
• Wolf Whistle: Several men (and some women) do this after seeing Ryuko in a Kamui for the first time.
• Worthy Opponent: Uzu sees Ryuko as this and wants to keep her alive because of it.
• Wretched Hive:
  • Human colonies, which are basically slipshod settlements on the outskirts of cities. No-Star districts are also like this to a lesser degree.
  • Ryuko's school. The kids there are unhygenic, boorish, and violent and the teachers are Sadist Teachers who believe in Tall Poppy Syndrome.
• You Have Failed Me: Nonon's older brother, Ryuta, was disowned for failing his evaluation test. Meaning that he was exiled from his family and presumably left to fend for himself at age ten!
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Ragyo has managed to convince the public that the Anti-Uniform Guerrilla is a terrorist organization. Though to be fair, Mr. Mikisugi mentions in Chapter 16 that he doesn't care about the loss of civilian life if it furthers his cause.

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