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A-F
- Abandon Shipping:
- The fandom dropped Tsumugu/Kinue like a hot potato, when episode 17 revealed them to have been siblings, instead of just colleagues at Nudist Beach. Word of God revealed it was actually Aikuro/Kinue the whole time.
- There was a mixed reaction for Satsuki/Ryuko: the revelation that they're sisters made the ship stronger for some fans, while others abandoned ship because they thought it was squicky, or because they preferred a sisterly relationship instead of a romantic one.
- Adorkable: Despite being quite bumbling and airheaded, Mako is such a lovable sweetheart nonetheless.
- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- In Episode 7, Mako tearfully apologizes to Ryuko for beating her up so she could get a Three-Star Goku Uniform and elevate her family to an even higher life of luxury, and throws the fight at the last second. Her family also apologizes to Ryuko for cheering on Mako instead of stopping her. Ryuko forgives all of them because she cares about them, but it's also possible that such a decision was also for pragmatic reasons. After all, she lives with the Mankanshokus, and if she doesn't forgive them, her only other option is to be homeless and live on the streets.
- The finale has caused a lot of debates over whether any of the ships were made canon. On one hand, Mako asks Ryuko on a date and straight up kisses her; Gamagoori is shown with a bouquet of flowers during the epilogue, implying that they're about to confess to someone, very likely Mako. However, the episode ends without showing who they gave them to, if they successfully make their intentions known, if that person fully accepts the gesture or not, or even if the flowers were meant to be given romantically.
- Ragyo's death and the motives thereof. Did she kill herself just for the hell of it, out of pride, rather than take the redemption offered, was death her redemption, or was her mind so thoroughly consumed by Life Fibers that, with her plan up in flames, scattering the last of her Life Fibers through space as a last resort was the only action that made sense to her?
- It's easy to interpret Nui's violent and sadistic attitude as a product of her upbringing. Ryuko was raised solely by Soichiro/Isshin and ended up a fundamentally decent person, while Satsuki was influenced by him enough to have good intentions. Nui, however, was created after Soichiro defected from the Kiryuins, and so the only parental figure she had was Ragyo.
- Ragyo's degree of agency vis-a-vis the Life Fibers. Is she bending them to her will in order to exploit them toward her own ends, or are the Life Fibers gaslighting her into serving their purpose?
- Angst? What Angst?:
- Ryuko gets over herself pretty quickly after the Junketsu incident, which involves Junketsu being sewn onto her skin, her being Mind Raped into becoming a loyal servant of Ragyo, being molested by Nui and Ragyo (or at the very least being fed memories of being molested by them, this scene could've been a part of the brainwashing fed into her brain), and coming dangerously close to killing her friends. It's possible she hit her personal fury limit and spent the last episodes in a perpetual state of Tranquil Fury, essentially, but it can be jarring since the last major bombshell that was dropped on her (the fact that she's a Humanoid Abomination and that Ragyo is her mother) caused her to have a serious Heroic BSoD and subsequently had her lash out at everyone. Granted, the fact said Heroic BSoD and lashing out led to the above Junketsu incident thanks to being baited by the villains could be seen as her deciding to bear it was far preferable to sinking even deeper into her spiral.
- The fact that Satsuki's trauma over being abused sexually isn't explored throughout the series. She also does not show any visible signs of being traumatized. The only explanations that come to mind could be that she's either Conditioned to Accept Horror or her Ice Queen demeanor is a protective shell she created for herself due to the trauma of Ragyo sexually abusing her.
- Anti-Climax Boss:
- After being shilled as the next big opponent during the trailer for episode 10, Inumuta forfeits after a couple of minutes. That's when Jakuzure enters the stage.
- The final battle may be bit of a disappointment for some. Nui doesn't go down fighting, but kills herself to fuse with the Primordial Life Fiber and give Ragyo a further power-up. Then we have Ragyo herself, who is not defeated with some awesome final attack, but by absorbing the Life Fibers of Shinra Kotetsu and robbing her of the ability to control the Life Fibers (which in fairness, is literally what Senketsu has been doing throughout the show to Life Fibers so it's a logical conclusion), robbing her of the ability and means to complete the Evil Plan, as with the Primordial Life Fiber and Shinra Kotetsu she was too powerful for even Ryuko and Senketsu's 11th-Hour Superpower to beat in a straight fight — at which point she too decides to kill herself.
- Arc Fatigue: Probably the biggest criticism of the series is the amount of time spent on Filler, despite the apparent plot going on. It's not until episode 16, and the origin behind the Life Fibers being revealed, that the plot really goes anywhere.
- Badass Decay: Tsumugu started off strong, defeating Ryuko and three school clubs all by himself. However, in almost all his subsequent battles, he is either ridiculously outmatched or even relegated to Plucky Comic Relief.
- Base-Breaking Character:
- The three primary villains tend to get this:
- Satsuki and the Elite Four either made an effective Heel–Face Turn, or are a complete Karma Houdini after a reign of terror including many executions. In particular, Satsuki's apology, where she admits that said reign made her no different from Ragyo, could also be interpreted as her being aware she shouldn't be one, as is her willingness to be killed in the OVA. In addition, Satsuki is either a badass anti-heroine or an insufferable Creator's Pet.
- Nui is either really funny and cutely evil plus a badass troll of a fighter, or a loathsome dog kicker with no further motives and whose trolling is just annoying. Even her leitmotif includes the kanji for disagreeable. Ironically, Nui herself would be more than happy with either opinion of her: love and hate are interchangeable in her view.
- Ragyo became this as she got more prominent. Fans either love the fact that she's such an over the top and camp villain, but still manages to be a credible threat and a repulsive person you wanna see die, or hate her for being a shallow, pretentious villain with a generic motive with no justifiable reasoning behind them beyond just being evil, and her molestation tendencies are creepy Fan Disservice.
- To a lesser extent, Mako gets some of this. She either serves as The Heart for the series and her antics prevent things from getting too serious, or said antics detract from otherwise serious scenes and that she should have been pushed to the side when the tone of the plot shifted in the series' second half.
- Senketsu, to a small extent. While people like him for his sweet friendship with Ryuko and for his tearjerking death, others explicitly remember him for his Establishing Character Moment, where he forces himself into Ryuko.
- The three primary villains tend to get this:
- Broken Base:
- The excess fanservice. There is the camp that likes it and think it fits, considering the creators have worked on other shows that had large amounts of fanservice and the context it is given in-story, there is the camp that tolerates it for the other over-the-top and enjoyable aspects of the series and there is the camp that absolutely hates it and thinks it exemplifies the nasty perception that some have of anime being sexist and refuses to watch the series because of this.
- Ragyo's sexual abuse of Satsuki either gave the latter a legitimate Freudian Excuse for her actions and made her a more sympathetic character, or was a hasty and clumsy plot twist that came out of nowhere that was designed to shock the viewers into discounting all her previous actions. Additionally, many a debate has been had over whether it perfectly illustrated how heinous of a villain Ragyo actually is, or if it was a step too far. There is also a faction that feels that the writers used Parental Incest, a very heavy and sensitive topic, purely for shock value. And that they not only didn't portray it realistically, but also handled it with all the subtlety and tact of a sledgehammer.
- Those who feel that the early characterization of Satsuki and the Elite Four as brutal tyrants who oppressed the weak and put down dissenters with uncalled for force got blatantly whitewashed when they switched over to the protagonist side, with Ragyo's overblown sexual abuse and being a one-dimensional Omnicidal Maniac that wants to blow up the earth, being a hasty and clumsy attempt to shock the viewers into discounting Satsuki's earlier faults to that end, while others defend them on the grounds that they did what they had to do. The OVA actually uses this as a plot point, using the student body's memories of Satsuki and the Elite Four to make evil clones of them, and having it acknowledged that they were genuinely bad people in the past and now must continue atoning for their crimes in the present as heroes.
- The fact that both Nui and Ragyo died on their own terms despite their horrible actions also left a sour taste in some fans' mouths. Other fans would just say "So? They're still dead."
- As aforementioned, the discussion of which, if any, ships were made canon in the finale is this. Some argue that due to the explicit mention of the word "date", Ryuko/Mako sailed. Meanwhile, there are those that say that it was only platonic. Then there's the matter of Gamagoori and the flowers he had. Many fans will insist they were meant for Mako, while others will claim they're intended for Satsuki or Ryuko. And going further into that subject is whether Gamagoori was actually successful with his intended target or not.
- There is a general divide over the second half of the anime, largely due to character revelations and a shift in the direction of the story. This includes the revelations that the Life Fibers are alien parasites, Satsuki and the Elite Four were Good All Along, and Ryuko being the daughter of Ragyo and sister to Satsuki. Some welcome the changes for their entertainment value or impact on the story, while others feel the changes were completely at odds with the conflict and themes established in the first half of the anime. This is mainly due to how a story about a lone rebel facing against an authoritarian regime becomes a chosen one story to defeat an alien invasion.
- On a soundtrack-related note, the rap version in "Before My Body is Dry". Plenty of fans think it's narmy and you will find various videos on YouTube where it's completely removed, leaving only the part with the female singer. Another group, however, argues that it's important since the point of the song is to show how lonely Ryuko feels (represented by the female singer), but that's not entirely true, as she has Senketsu (represented by the rapper) who cares for her and he will help her.
- Cargo Ship:
- Ryuko and Senketsu are a very popular ship, mostly since they're both the main characters and their bond is one of the most major components of the series. Though in this case, Senketsu isn't exactly inanimate.
- Inumuta and his laptop.
- Complete Monster:
- Ragyo Kiryuin is the CEO of REVOCS and the monstrous mother of Satsuki Kiryuin and Ryuko Matoi. Aiming to annihilate all human life on Earth with the alien Life Fibers, Ragyo previously married the genius scientist Soichiro/Isshin, having her daughters with him and using them for experiments with the Life Fibers, callously throwing away Ryuko when she thought her work had killed her daughter. Over the years, Ragyo has Soichiro hunted down and murdered when he betrayed her, and frequently subjects Satsuki to sexual abuse. Reunited with Ryuko seventeen years later, Ragyo immediately breaks her mind into subservience and later molests her mind-controlled daughter before sending her off in an attempt to kill her friends resisting Ragyo. While preparing for her apocalyptic endgame, Ragyo has nearly all of humanity converted into enslaved, mindless COVERS to build herself an army and while Satsuki is held in her captivity, continues to subject the helpless young woman to further sexual assault. Even when eventually defeated by Ryuko and offered a chance for reconciliation, Ragyo refuses any kinship and spitefully kills herself, cementing her status as a hollow megalomaniac whose only desire was to dominate everything under her own will.
- Nui Harime is the seemingly-sweet Grand Couturier of REVOCS and Ragyo Kiryuin's most powerful agent. A giggling psychopath who is eager to see the culmination of Life Fibers annihilating all human life on Earth, Nui kicked off Ryuko's quest for revenge when Nui viciously murdered the girl's father, Isshin Matoi. Continuing to bulk up REVOCS' power and the creation of COVERS with her own two hands, Nui later causes all sorts of mischief by turning Ryuko into a rampaging monster before playing a key role in her horrible Mind Rape and brainwashing. After a failed attempt to force Ryuko and her allies to massacre each other, Nui merges her essence with the Original Life Fiber and combines with Ragyo as a last-ditch effort to ensure the annihilation of humanity.
- Crack Pairing:
- Satsuki and Takarada. While the two seem to have been acquainted in the past, there is no romantic tension between them at all — aside from the fact that he thinks she's hot — and they haven't interacted since. Hilariously, most art of the ship has Takarada as a Casanova Wannabe, completely failing to woo a disinterested Satsuki.
- Nui and Iori, which has practically no basis beyond the fact that both are tailors for their respective sides.
- Gamagoori and Tsumugu have barely interacted with other, but have a decent number of fans shipping them together because of their Bara Genre appeal.
- After the ending, Nui and Nonon has started to pop up as a form of Pair the Spares, especially given their similar feminine themes.
- Crazy Is Cool: Nearly everything can qualify due to the show's nature as a World of Ham coupled with World of Badass.
- Creepy Awesome:
- Ragyo due to her being a badass villain (that's the awesome part) who engages in Parental Incest (that's the creepy part).
- Nui is this due her seemingly sweet appearance clashing with her sadistic and unhinged personality.
- Creepy Cute: Nui is quite adorable, even if it doesn't hide the fact she is a remorseless, sadistic sociopath.
- Crosses the Line Twice:
- It's set in a totalitarian fascist dystopia where the powerful murder, torture, and subjugate the weak For the Evulz. The sole revolutionary is a girl in a stripperiffic outfit who is repeatedly subjected to attempted Black Comedy Rape and other fanservice tropes against her will. All of this is so ridiculously exaggerated that you'll either find it hilarious or horribly offensive. Or both.
- Everything that Nui says and does. She admits to killing Isshin Matoi, and then has the gall to proclaim that hate is the same as love.
- Anyone trying to explain Aikurou's "retirement" will inevitably find themselves saying that he exposed himself in front of a young boy. Bear in mind, he's been posing as a teacher. Depending on who you ask, the whole scene is either horribly offensive, or funny enough to keep you laughing for about 5 minutes straight.
- Sanageyama's victory over Takarada involves repeated, violent Ass Shoves with his bamboo sword.
- Cry for the Devil: As hard is it for some to believe, some really do feel some sympathy for Nui, considering some of her backstory, the implications thereof, and how she's apparently wanted someone with whom to relate. Read the fridge page for more information.
- Draco in Leather Pants:
- There are some fans who believe that Satsuki's actions in the beginning of the series were completely justified. Her later revealed Freudian Excuse and Good All Along nature are often used as examples for this belief.
- Nui gets this treatment by some fans, mainly because of her cute appearence and quirky personality, which often tends to be exaggerated in Fanon, completely missing the entire point of her character.
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Omiko Hakodate, the tennis club captain, has a lot of fan art and support compared to the other club presidents.
- Maiko Ogure has a sizeable fandom due to her memorable appearance early in the series.
- In Japan, Kaneo Takarada is a two-off minor villain. Overseas, especially as far as /a/ is concerned, he is the Dosh King
. This reaction was met by Trigger with confusion. After the series ended, and requests for Takarada piggy bank merchandise started rolling in, Trigger stated they were still scratching their heads about why he was so popular in America. The Dosh King's glorious
◊ return in episode 20 was met with quite a fanfare, cementing him as this.
- Evil Is Cool: Satsuki, by a long shot; and to some extent, Ragyo and Nui as well.
- Fanfic Fuel:
- A rather funny example from episode 21: Mako tells Aikurou that she was able to remember Satsuki's plan so well because Satsuki had written every detail on her hands. Cue fan artists making a very intimate scene of Satsuki writing the instructions on Mako's hands.
- There are Japanese fan artists who feature Sanageyama and Ryuko with konjac because of the first drama CD where Sanageyama asked Ryuko test questions on nothing but konjac.
- A darker and more intriguing incident is the rise of the theory that Mako was replaced, or even possessed, by Nui at some point in the final battle, born from the observance of a number of rather sudden visual and behavioral changes. A detailed post on the theory can be found on Tumblr here.
- There's the question of what exactly happened to Rei after Senketsu separates her from Shinra-Koketsu... It gets answered in #25.
- The alternate life the characters would have had if Ragyo didn't use her children to test the Life Fibers and abuse them or, alternatively, if the Life Fibers haven't existed is also the subject of fanfiction.
- The backgrounds of Satsuki and Nui are also explored in fanfiction, especially with Satsuki's with her mother's abuse, along with the effects thereof.
- Fandom-Specific Plot:
- The fandom loves to retell the series with Ryuko and Satsuki swapped, sometimes along with their supporting casts (i.e. Mako is on the Student Council and the Four Devas are rebels against it). The actual show whetted fans' appetites for this when Ryuko was mind-controlled, leading to a fight where the two sisters wore each other's Kamui/ Godrobes.
- A popular fanfic idea is "What if Ragyo wasn't a crazy abusive bitch of a mother to Satsuki and Ryuko?". Just a lovely WAFF/ Slice of Life Fic about Satsuki and Ryuko growing up in a normal family, going to a normal school, all that good stuff.
- Hurt/Comfort fics Satsuki/Ryuko (romantic or platonic) fics where Satsuki is traumatized by her mother's physical, emotional, and sexual abuse instead of seeming apathetic are common.
- For fans that were less than receptive with the anime's second half, it's not uncommon for them to retell the story with Ryuko receiving a different revelation about the life Fibers from Nudist Beach and continuing the crusade against Satsuki and Ragyo's plan to conquer the world. This usually involves having Satsuki and the Elite four retain their villain status, the life fibers being a human-invented superweapon as opposed to being alien invaders, & Ryuko having no familial ties to either Satsuki or Ragyo.
- Fan Nickname:
- "Hype la Hype": The series itself, for the popularity and close following of each episode during the initial airing in Japan.
- "Schoolzinger" for Honnouji Academy.
- Aikuro goes by just about every moniker ("Sexy Sensei", "Coach", "Kamina", "Akio", "Aizen" and "Sycamore") except his real name.
- Ryuko sometimes gets called "Female!Kamina" or "Female!Simon", in addition to "Simon's daughter" or "Shadow the Hedgehog".
- Sanageyama:
- After acquiring his Mask of Power, Sanageyama became known by fans as "Ninja Turtle".
- As of episode 11, Sanageyama is known as "SanageYamcha".
- Chinese fans straight out crowns him as "Monkey King"note due to his Benevolent Boss status to his North Kanto Alliance and Athletic Committee. Trigger seems to have that in mind as well, and gave him some pretty super Saiyan Shounen Hair for the final battle.
- Gamagoori's transformed Goku Uniform has been christened "Bondage Iron Man" by some.
- The "Ambiguously Gay Duo" for Ryuko and Mako.
- Satsuki's mother, Ragyo, rapidly caught the nicknames "Rainbow Mom" (or, in a similar vein, "Ragyo Dash"), "Seven-Star Body", "Disco MILF", "Mama Bad Touch", and " Rainbow McFeelYouUp".
- Nui gets "Nui Pie" for being pink, doing things like reaching across split-screens and leaning on her own Boss Subtitles text, and being incredibly Cute But Psycho.note
- Collectively, Ragyo, Nui, and Hououmaru are known as "Lady Gaga", "Kyary Pamyu Pamyu", and "Nicki Minaj" respectively, such as in this post
.
- "Naked Snake" in reference to Jakuzure, after the events of episode 19.
- Takarada has increasingly been referred to as "Crab Nicholson" and "Mr. Krabs" thanks to his animal themed power armor. And of course, there's his title as the "Dosh King".
- Ever since episode 18, Ryuko and Satsuki have been dubbed the "Scissor Sisters", with fans anticipating both of wielding one half of the Scissor blades. They got their wish in the final episode.
- Mako in her Goku Uniform is occasionally called "Kawaii Sukeban", or "Makotaro" for the outfit's resemblance to Jotaro Kujo's famous longcoat.
- Satsuki is affectionately called the “Eyebrow Queen” for her giant eyebrows.
- Fashion-Victim Villain:
- The outfit Ragyo wears on her visit to the academy screams this, as it makes her look like some kind of pale, demented Monster Clown. Some chalk it up to be a parody of real life high fashion outfits, and/or that being a fitting representation of what Ragyo really is for the most part. She becomes an even more prominent example of this after she dons Shinra-Koketsu. In short, she resembles the Flatwoods Monster or the Walpurgisnacht witch from Puella Magi Madoka Magica upside down.
- Junketsu certainly covers more of Ryuko than Senketsu does, but it looks straight out of Disco Dan's high school wardrobe.
- Fetish Retardant: Even within the camp that normally enjoys fanservice, there is the contingent that finds the kamui's transformed appearances to be so ridiculous-looking that the fanservice becomes unappealing and grotesque.
- Foe Yay Shipping:
- Ryuko and Satsuki. Satsuki's Junketsu is referred by her mother as her "wedding dress", while Ryuko's Senketsu is mostly black, which is the common color of the groom's tuxedo. In their first major fight, they even shove their chests against each other (5:58
). The reveal that Ryuko and Satsuki are actually sisters hasn't stopped some from still shipping them. However, they eventually stop being enemies altogether as the series goes on.
- Sanageyama has a lot of subtext with Ryuko. He's always too eager to get into a fight with her, Ryuko's win forces him to take extreme improvement measures by blinding himself, and he almost obsesses over not being able to beat her on his own because he's forbidden by Satsuki, or they're interrupted by something or someone. Their exchanges during episodes 6 and 11 demonstrate how that relationship developed.
- Nui lives by this paradigm. According to her, the more you hate someone, the more you're able to love that someone. Keep in mind that she seeks to be hated by everyone, which means that she's flirting with everyone.
- Ryuko and Satsuki. Satsuki's Junketsu is referred by her mother as her "wedding dress", while Ryuko's Senketsu is mostly black, which is the common color of the groom's tuxedo. In their first major fight, they even shove their chests against each other (5:58
- Friendly Fandoms:
- Kill la Kill fans have a very friendly relationship with fans of other Studio Gainax works (except with Neon Genesis Evangelion fandom). The best example is with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. No surprise since both have Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima behind it and many feel Kill la Kill is a spiritual successor of Gurren Lagann. Another good example is with Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt fandom, since Ryuko and Satsuki really do seem like Panty and Stocking themselves, if you think about it thoroughly.note (spoilers)
- Some Frozen and Kill la Kill fans are sure to be friends. Particularly, the incest shippers, as those who ship Anna/Elsa tend to also ship Ryuko/Satsuki.
- There's also a significant overlap between the Kill la Kill fandom and the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Devil May Cry fandoms, due the similarities between the over-the-top fight sequences, revenge-seeking protagonists, not-so bad rivals/siblings and a Big Bad powering themselves up, and Awesome Music featuring sudden shouts.
- Because Ryuko has some similarities with Seija Kijin (mainly because of their hairstyles, and ambition for society upheaval), as well as some the other characters resembling the others in the Touhou Project be that vaguely or not, it isn't uncommon to find fans of both or being friends.
- Due to the (likely coincidental) similarities between the anime and Sonic Adventure 2, including Ryuko being similar to Shadow, fans of the anime are on good terms with the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom, especially after Shadow gave a positive shout out to the series as his favorite anime during one of the Sonic Twitter takeover Q&As
.
- Due to the similarities between Ragyo and Lusamine, and some aspects of the plot being rather similar, a lot of fans who like Pokémon Sun and Moon also enjoy this series.
G-M
- Gateway Series: Kill la Kill, along with Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sword Art Online, Attack on Titan (which also aired in 2013), and One-Punch Man helped create a new generation of anime fans in the first half of The New '10s.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
- The series caught on quite well in America and the UK, much to the surprise of Trigger themselves; it helps that it's already had two runs on the U.S. Toonami block.
- Kill la Kill has a good number of fans in Latin America. In Brazil for example, many anime fans praised it. Both anime and manga are licensed in the country (the former by Netflix) and in anime events always have a Ryuko cosplay.
- Gotta Ship 'Em All: The Japanese Elite Four brewed up their own shipping gossips within their Newtype magazine's March 2014 issue interview:
- Mayumi Shintani rooted for all possibilities of Sengetsu/Ryuko, Mikisugi/Ryuko, and Inumuta/Jakuzure. This took Hiroyuki Yoshino by surprise since he never thought about the romance aspect regarding his character when he was acting as Inumuta.
- Then Nobuyuki Hiyama flamed the conversation with the statement that he felt Inumuta prefers Iori more than Jakuzure. Triggering Shinitani into defending her ship. Interestingly, Yoshino didn't followup with this conversation nor Hiyama himself made any comments regarding Sanageyama's shipping possibilities.
- Tetsu Inada indirectly admitted that he shipped Gamagoori/Mako.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- Ryuko being afraid of needles is hilarious, but when episode 18 explains why — that she was a victim of grotesque medical experimentation — it stops being funny.
- After episode 16 and the bath scene, Ryuko's taunt from episode 3 about whether there is anything "pure" about Satsuki seems much less amusing.
- Heartwarming in Hindsight: Satsuki allowing Ryuko to take a break after her fight with Gamagoori. While it serves as an easy-to-forget Pet the Dog moment, it's shown in episode 16 that Satsuki has trouble wearing Junketsu, which shows that she has sympathy for her and that she doesn't want her getting too injured, unaware that Ryuko and Senketsu's mutual relationship isn't the same as her and Junketsu's parasitic one.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- The whole "losing dignity by wearing Junketsu" part Satsuki says is hilarious if you take into account her Japanese voice actress, Ryōka Yuzuki, previously voiced Cattleya, who is notable not only for her Stripperiffic outfit, but also because she's a Shameless Fanservice Girl. Even more hilarious, in a meta way, is the fact that Yuzuki is also a former gravure idol.
- Ryuko is initially very reluctant and embarrassed to wear Shinketsu due to his stripperiffic nature as a Kamui. Ami Koshimizu, Ryuko's Japanese voice actress, also provides the voice of Mai Shiranui, a stripperiffic, Highly-Visible Ninja who normally doesn't mind her outfit at all.
- Regarding those two voice actresses, both Yuzuki and Koshimizu were the previous and current official Japanese dub voice of Barbie respectively. Considering the entire premise of the doll franchise and this series is about fashion...
- Romi Park (Ragyo) voiced Vasquez in the Japanese dub of Aliens, at least in the DVD release. Vasquez kills herself, along with Gorman, with a hand grenade while being cornered by the titular aliens. On the other hand, Ragyo also kills herself at the end, while being controlled by aliens.
- Episode 4 had Limited Animation. Sound familiar?
- The beating Nagita got from the Disciplinary Squad looked pretty funny. It gets better when it is revealed that Nagita was Nui all along, and the Disciplinary Squad guys were actually dolls she controlled. Nui was actually beating herself up in a hilarious way to give credence to her little manipulation stunt.
- The revelation that Gamagoori's father is an American soldier stationed in Japan. His love for yelling, hammy speeches and discipline makes sense, assuming his father holds the rank of Drill Sergeant.
- Comparing Ryuko to Shadow the Hedgehog was a running joke in the Kill la Kill fandom since the beginning. Come episode 24, and her 11th-Hour Superpower final form is basically Super Shadow, colors and all. Hell, the final battle even takes place in space, just like in Sonic Adventure 2! There's even a Heroic Sacrifice in the end. This got an Approval of God during the Sonic Twitter Takeover in 2019 where Shadow states that his favorite anime is indeed Kill la Kill. Then come 2021, DEATH BATTLE! pits Ryuko against Shadow himself. The Sonic Adventure 2 parallels extend to the soundtrack as well as Ryuko's Leitmotif, "Before my Body is Dry", contains the lyrics "Don't lose your way," and SA2's theme song "Live and Learn" contains the lyrics "You may never find your way."
- The aptly named Goku Uniforms are apparently powered by alien lifeforms.
- The Frozen comparisons and Marvel Shout Outs become this, since the following Disney film gives us GoGo, a character who looks and acts a lot like Ryuko.
- Throughout the series, Satsuki is undergoing a threat from Junketsu as it could easily take over her body. Her Japanese voice actress, Ryoka Yuzuki, would provide the Japanese voice of Regan, a character who gets taken over by a demon and changes her body.
- Inumuta's final Goku Uniform has been compared to Char. In the dub, he is voiced by Steve Staley, who later went on to play another Char-like character, McGillis Fareed.
- Mako's 2-Star Goku Uniform makes her resemble Jotaro Kujo. Some years later two of the main cast, Patrick Seitz (Ira Gamagoori) and Matthew Mercer (Aikuro Mikisugi) would go on to voice Dio Brando and Jotaro Kujo.
- A consumerist fashion designing company producing clothes that fatally constrict whoever wears them and has a corrupt, murderous CEO? A horror film called Slaxx took this concept and rolled with it.
- Ho Yay:
- Invoked, by Tsumugu grabbing hold of Aikuro's equipment in episode 17.
- Mako for Ryuko, which sometimes goes beyond fangirling:
- When Ryuko's nipples are nearly exposed during the official fight against Gamagoori, Mako gets a nosebleed.
- Senketsu points out how Ryuko calms down from a fight when she watches Mako being adorable.
- When Aikuro freezes Mako by hitting her "freezing pressure point" with a pin, Ryuko quickly tells him to unfreeze her because "talking to her makes me feel a whole lot better than talking to you".
- Mako's theme song, "Light your heart up", is basically all about how much she enjoys being Ryuko's friend. And the lyrics of the second ED, "Shinsekai Kōkyōgaku" ("New World Symphony"), are also about how much Mako cares for Ryuko.
- Mako has frequently shown herself as the most capable and reliable of motivating Ryuko, and has snapped her out of an earlier Heroic BSoD, saved her from the Ax-Crazy Heroic RRoD that caused her and Senketsu to become something horrifying, and was able to break her out of a lot of her brainwashing in episode 21. Her method for doing this can be described as tearing off her clothes and entering her.
- Hype Backlash: After so many quotes like "Trigger saved anime", it's almost inevitable to expect some fans to find the series disappointing. After the series' overwhelming success, and having time to cool off the momentum, critics found many pacing issues with the beginning, late in the middle, and the finale. It doesn't help that it's compared with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, another series that has a similar reputation. The amount of fanservice probably doesn't help.
- I Knew It!:
- Many fans saw Satsuki's betrayal of her mother coming, based mostly on her characterization, which showed that she cared for her subordinates, and even Ryuko. It also helped that the series has several references to the Sengoku Period, and that Honnouji is the place where Oda Nobunaga was betrayed by Akechi Mitsuhide.
- Many fans had called that Satsuki was training Ryuko.
- At the same time, many people called the twist from episode 18 regarding Ryuko and Satsuki being sisters.
- Some fans managed to figure out that Soichiro Kiryuin and Professor Matoi are the same person, after Ragyo revealed that Ryuko is her daughter.
- The purpose of a Kamui's Stripperiffic-ness was very easy to guess (to avoid overwhelming the wearer). The lack of purpose for the high heels made it hard to be 100% sure, though.
- Virtually everyone, from the beginning, theorized that Honnouji Academy was somehow a giant mech in one form or another, something that was confirmed in the OVA.
- Incest Yay Shipping: Satsuki is commonly shipped with her own mother, Ragyo, and her sister, Ryuko.
- Inferred Holocaust: The casualties of Satsuki's military campaigns and the frequent torture and execution victims of her totalitarian regime. Because of Amusing Injuries and people often bleeding profusely without serious harm, it's impossible to tell how many people actually died throughout the series. Also, the finale shows that everyone's clothes have been destroyed, which could be a problem for people living in arctic regions.
- Iron Woobie:
- Ryuko. Every known member of her family has either died under mysterious conditions or tried to kill her several times. She was faced with abuse for most of her life, was without either of her parents by the time she was a middle schooler and had no family or friends until the events of the show. She's spent her whole life moments away from getting what she wants. This is what has driven her on over seventeen years on earth. She couldn't escape this even in her moment of triumph against Ragyo, since defeating them ended up costing Ryuko one of her first friends.
- Satsuki is a prime, if not better, example. Thirteen years spent of planning and being raped amount to absolutely nothing, and she ends up imprisoned naked, while her mother ramps the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse up, her friends risk their lives trying to salvage her ruined plans, and her sister (at least who she now knows is her) ends up in a coma before snapping into a psychotic rage, all in the span of a month. And yet her resolve doesn't diminish, and she still believes she can succeed ( even revealing she was deliberately staying imprisoned and could actually escape the whole time).
- It Was His Sled:
- What's arguably the biggest reveal in the whole series, the fact that Ryuko and Satsuki are sisters, and that Ragyo is their mother, is practically common knowledge among most circles across the internet at this point.
- Neither do they bother hiding the fact that Satsuki and the Elite Four were Good All Along.
- Jerkass Woobie:
- Satsuki. She may be the head of a fascist dictatorship that has claimed much of Japan and razed what it couldn't, but her mom is — quite frankly — a walking freudian excuse of the highest order.
- Ryuko is a milder example; her prickly attitude comes from dealing with Parental Abandonment, she gets thrown into a World Gone Mad in a quest for revenge for a father she barely knew, and a lot of her worst moments are thanks to the metric tons of crap thrown her way.
- Finally, there's Rei Houomaru, who has such low self-respect that she's willing to serve Ragyo unto an assured death. It may have more to do with the trauma Rei endured as a child during her country's civil war which seems to have pushed her into being a Misanthrope Supreme. Couple that with the fact that Ragyo was the one who saved her from certain death and it's little wonder she'd go so far as to sacrifice her own life to help Ragyo exterminate humanity or seek revenge afterwards.
- Just Here for Godzilla:
- There are two camps: those who go for the shameless fanservice or those who come for over the top, insane and nonsensical reputation of its creators.
- And then there are fans who watch the show for Nui's antics.
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
- Ryuko. Mostly with Mako, Aikuro, Senketsu, and of course, Satsuki.
- Satsuki as well to an extent. In addition to the aforementioned Ryuko, she's been shipped with Sangeyama, Gamagoori, Jakuzure, and Takarada of all characters.
- On the boys' side, Sanageyama gets shipped with just about everyone in the cast: Satsuki, Ryuko, Gamagoori, Mako, Nonon, Iori, Aikuro, Hakodate, Tsumugu, Ragyo, Nui, Takarada... even Junketsu, Satsuki's sentient but feral uniform, gets in on the action. They have their own anthology doujinshi
and everything.
- LGBT Fanbase:
- Gamagoori and Tsumugu are rather popular with gay male fans. Their status as Mr. Fanservice certainly helps.
- Jakuzure for gay female fans. There are quite a few female fans who declare her the most attractive character in the series, for instance.
- Like You Would Really Do It: Subverted once in episode 12, and then played straight in episode 13. Apparently, Senketsu has multiple spots where you'd have to hit him to rip him to shreds, unlike goku uniforms. Thus, in Ryuko's first fight with Nui, her Finger Poke of Doom has no ostensible effect. Not many people really thought Senketsu would fall apart during a fight scene with an Outside-Context Problem, at the climax of the season... except that he gets cut to pieces by Nui in episode 13 anyway. He spends the next few episodes getting patched up by Ryuko, to whom Satsuki left his eye-scarf.
- Love to Hate:
- Some fans just love to hate Nui. She even holds this view in-universe: love and hate are two sides of the same coin.
- Ragyo. She's the most hated character in the series, but only because she's such an utterly depraved bitch that fans are ecstatic to see her finally killed off.
- Magnificent Bastard: Sōichirō Kiryuin is the brilliant father of Ryuko and husband of Ragyo, whose schemes to upend the latter's evil fall into place throughout the series. Originally an ally to Ragyo, Sōichirō betrayed his wife when she callously experimented on their daughters, Sōichirō convincing young Satsuki to rebel against her mother at an older age while he personally spirited infant Ryuko away to safety. Faking his death and expertly disguising himself as "Isshin Matoi", Sōichirō developed the Rending Scissors and the Kamui Senketsu, tricking Nui Harime into overlooking their potential when she assassinated him and leaving both for Ryuko to find and utilize. Long after his death, Sōichirō's intentions for Ryuko, Senketsu and the Scissors come to pass, as Nudist Beach—founded by Sōichirō himself—leads an insurrection against Ragyo alongside Ryuko and Satsuki, taking down Ragyo and the Life Fibers exactly as Sōichirō intended.
- Memetic Badass:
- Satsuki, and Takarada — or rather, THE DOSH KING.
- Nui is an extremely unusual case, where her fans actually started hyping her badassery up a lot more after her first complete defeat. The reason behind the surge was a combination of multiple factors; the personality change she went through immediately afterwards made her less obnoxious and more intimidating, the fact that her grievous injuries did little to hinder her willingness to fight or her ability to keep working on REVOCS' master plan, and her defiance of the mockery she is subjected to by both friend and foe afterwards inspiring her fanbase to raise their voices to counter the vast majority of viewers calling out Take That, Scrappy! That Nui recovers completely in the following episode adds even more fuel to this memetic status. Love her, hate her, or both: either one, you just can't keep her down. Her Breaking the Fourth Wall and hijacking the ED credits in the penultimate episode has practically made her a full-on Memetic Troll.
- Mako, while donning her Fight Club President Uniform. Half of the batshit crazy stuff in episode 23 wouldn't be possible if not for her, and Iori even notes that her power level exceeds 9999. Vegeta would be proud of her.
◊
- Gamagori because of his over-the-top attitude towards discipline and his gigantic size.
- Memetic Molester:
- What more than a few people think of Senketsu, considering the way he takes off Ryuko's clothes and, for lack of a better term, "forces himself" on her afterwards. And this is the first thing he does on-screen. This view has died down episodes after, though, as Senketsu since hasn't really done anything forceful, and is shown time and time again to care deeply for Ryuko's welfare.
- Ragyo Kiryuin, and unlike most examples, she deserves it. Almost all of her scenes have her doing something extremely perverted, mostly to her child Satsuki. If what she does is really meant to "purify" then the method Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.
- After Ryuko and Satsuki were revealed to be sisters, the fandom had a field day, turning the latter into a full on siscon for the former. It led to some hilarious results.
- Memetic Mutation: Has its own page.
- Memetic Troll: Nui. Fans like to ramp her up into an uber troll that messes with the fans as mach as she does the characters, particularly when she did just that in the penultimate episode's ED credits.
- Misaimed Fandom:
- Although her character is meant to be a pure evil psychopath who proves that appearances are deceiving, there is a good amount of people who genuinaly loves Nui Harime, that many fanworks tend to portray her in a more positive light than she is in canon. Some even go so far as to redeem her or make her good from the start, reworking her entire character to the point of being In Name (and appearance) only.
- During the battle between Satsuki and evil Ryuko, it's clear that the viewer must feel sorry for Satsuki being defeated and losing the battle. However, a Vocal Minority doesn't see it this way and instead, see it as a satisfying way of her reiciving Karma for her time as a villain.
- Moe: Mako is just so adorable with her bumbling yet kindhearted nature.
- Moral Event Horizon:
- From a narrative standpoint, Ragyo Kiryuin crosses over it during episodes 17 and 18, where she gleefully offers a stadium of innocent people to the Life Fibers as food, which luckily doesn't succeed; delivers a completely and utterly brutal beatdown to Satsuki. However, the aforementioned events are mere Kick the Dog moments when the exact point where she crosses this line is revealed in a flashback - the moment when she casually disposed of her newborn second daughter (that she didn't even give a name to) when experiments on her failed. Her actions in episodes afterwards simply serve to dig her hole even deeper.
- It seems at first that killing Isshin Matoi was Nui Harime's crossing, but it turns out that she was just following Ragyo's orders (though you could argue that she did cross it then due to the sheer sadism she displayed in gleefully impaling Isshin as slowly as possible while gloating to him about how he's going to die to his own creation). But soon after her introduction, she pretends to be an injured student, forcing Ryuko to let her stay at her place, which results in Mr. Mankanshoku being beaten up, Senketsu being shredded to pieces, and Ryuko left for dead at her hands, and she would've been killed her if it weren't for Satsuki interfering. And the reason behind all of this? None whatsoever!
- Most Wonderful Sound: DON'T LOSE YOUR WAAAAAAAY!
N-Z
- Narm:
- The ridiculous designs of the kamui can be seen as a little too Stripperiffic to be taken remotely seriously, despite their use in fairly awesome fight sequences. For example, Ryuko wearing Junketsu would be a lot easier to take seriously if it weren't for those weird... leg-skirt things. It's possible that the big poofy pant legs are supposed to resemble hakama
, but that doesn't stop them from looking outright silly.
- Ragyo's abusive treatment of Satsuki, while intended to be shocking and make her come across as a bad guy, seems to produce this effect on some viewers; especially in episode 19, where she simply caresses and then spanks Satsuki several times, and not particularly hard, all while cackling maniacally. Perhaps there's some sort of sadomasochism fetish involved.
- Nui gets her arms cut off. Cue the Monty Python and the Holy Grail jokes. Later on, her angry "tailoring" of Shinra-Koketsu looks more like she's chewing on red meat than sewing something with her mouth.
- The final battle between Ragyo and Ryuko becomes increasingly hard to take seriously, when Ryuko and Senketsu start to repeatedly assert that "humans are humans and clothing is clothing", and that the two of them "are neither human nor clothing". It Makes Sense in Context, but the subject of the phrases combined with the overblown conviction with which they say, it makes it impossible to listen to with a straight face the first time, let alone the fifth. When Ragyo gets fed up and just starts yelling "what is this nonsensical garbage you keep babbling about", quite a few viewers found themselves sharing that sentiment.
- "Before My Body Is Dry" features the infamous line, "I gotta find out who killed my dad!" As an "I Want" Song, it is incredibly on-the-nose.
- The ridiculous designs of the kamui can be seen as a little too Stripperiffic to be taken remotely seriously, despite their use in fairly awesome fight sequences. For example, Ryuko wearing Junketsu would be a lot easier to take seriously if it weren't for those weird... leg-skirt things. It's possible that the big poofy pant legs are supposed to resemble hakama
- Narm Charm: The whole series, given the ridiculously hammy setting:
- All the talk about clothing, especially whenever Ragyo goes on a tangent, gets more than a bit ridiculous. But the way it's delivered usually keeps the scene tense. Usually.
- Mako spouting comical amounts of cartoonish tears over Gamagoori's supposed death in episode 24 is an immediate indicator that said spoiler really wouldn't come to pass.
- Nausea Fuel:
- Kamui uniforms derive their power from the blood of their users. Viewers who are Afraid of Needles and have experienced having their blood drawn may feel themselves fainting at the whole concept.
- Sukuyo's mystery croquettes. In the first scene they're shown, the worms in the croquettes seem to move.
- The entirety of episode 12, after Ryuko overwhelms Senketsu with her rage and they morph into a hideously deformed berserk hybrid. There's blood spraying literally everywhere, Ryuko and Senketsu are both screaming in savage agony, and the extent of the damage they take before they finally go down is almost sickening.
- The end of episode 18, where Ragyo rips Ryuko's heart straight out of her chest, still connected and beating! And then episode 19 ups the ante when Ragyo holds an entire conversation with Ryuko while still holding the beating heart; when Ryuko finally gets out of Ragyo's grip, her heart is briefly seen dangling by its arteries before being sucked back in her chest, as Ryuko is looking in pure horror at just how inhuman her body is.
- This is repeated in episode 20, with Nui holding out her own heart, colored a rather unhealthy-looking blue, but it luckily has less focus.
- Episode 24 has Ragyo ripping out her own heart and crushing it in her bare fist, all in glorious, nauseous detail.
- The end of episode 21. Ryuko rips off Junketsu, which had been sewn to her body, and ends up covered in blood from literally head to foot.
- No Yay: The series is heavy on the sexual imagery, and some of it can get seriously disturbing:
- Any ship in which Ragyo is involved, largely because her interests lie exclusively in getting what she wants. All the blatent Parental Incest doesn't help, either; neither does the fact that she's a Humanoid Abomination. In fact, it's hard to think of many ways in which Ragyo's unsubtle advances on the rest of the cast aren't creepy.
- Ditto for Nui, who — bar the mental instability — is pretty much Ragyo's frilly pink marionette.
- And then episode 21 gives us both of them naked with a naked Ryuko and a lot of unfortunate subtext between them.
- One True Threesome: There are a lot of these; mostly revolving around Satsuki, Ryuko, and Mako, which is a popular ship as well with Jakuzure often added, especially since the final episode has the three going on a date together.
- Pandering to the Base: This may as well be the title of episode 22. However, proving that Tropes Are Not Bad, said episode was met with almost universal approval by the fans, especially as it followed a rapid-fire salvo of wham episodes.
- Paranoia Fuel:
- Nagita was Nui all along. And in his brief screentime, he'd quickly managed to become a very developed, sympathetic, and seemingly-trustworthy ally.
- Imagine, you're exhausted and have to be extracted from a war zone by a chopper. Then, the pilot of the chopper turns out to be the last person you want to be carrying you to safety...
- What if your clothes were actually embedded with an alien thread, that would eventually consume you, along with the entire planet?
- Check out some of the real world clothing/fashion line marketing blurbs and such, like UNIQLO's Power of Clothing marketing spiel. What if they really are cover companies for REVOCS to propagate Life Fiber-infused clothing?
- Quirky Work: The show is about a girl wearing a sentient, Stripperific Sailor Fuku who fights the super hammy student council who regularly execute people for even minor violations of the school rules wielding a giant red half of a pair of scissors (where the other half is blue) in a school on top of a city in a post-apocalyptic wasteland to avenge her father's death... And that is all from the first episode! Considering this comes from the minds who created Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, this was to be expected.
- Refrain from Assuming: Ryuko's leitmotif is often referred to by fans as "Don't Lose Your Way", when its actual title is "Before my body is dry".
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Some fans who didn't like Nui softened up to her after the following:
- When she lost her arms in episode 22. It helps that she made a fairly cool comeback in the next episode, which came off as genuinely badass rather than cheap. And then in the grand finale, she defies expectations and offs herself to power up Ragyo, which was such a psychotically ballsy move that it won her even more respect.
- When Stephanie Sheh was cast as her voice actress in the English dub. It won over a good many fans who hated her in the Japanese version.
- Rooting for the Empire:
- There is a sizable contingent of fans who watch the show for Satsuki and the Student Council. Though, in episode 17, they became the good guys...
- There are some fans who root for Ragyo simply because they find her character more bearable and less insufferable than Satsuki. The same goes for Hououmaru during the OVA due to her backstory being sympathetic.
- Sacred Cow: Satsuki and the Elite Four, specifically their status as good guys. Huge portions of the fanbase will angrily write off anyone who tries to argue that some of their actions in the beginning were not performed in good sense, and that they still have a lot of past crimes to answer for. This is touched on in the OVA by Hououmaru, making this Ascended Fanon, with the final word on the matter being that the Elite Four were bad in the past and still must continue answering for their crimes, though on that same token they shouldn't be judged solely by their pasts and instead have the merits of their present selves acknowledged.
- Ship Mates:
- The Cargo Ship pairings of Ryuko/Senketsu and Satsuki/Junketsu have the same fanbase.
- Ryuko/Mako fans often also pair Satsuki/Jakuzure (or, less commonly, Satsuki/Gamagoori or Satsuki/Sanageyama), while Ryuko/Satsuki fans are the natural ally of Mako/Gamagoori shippers. Inumuta/Jakuzure is also common for fans of Satsuki and anyone other than Jakuzure.
- Ships That Pass in the Night:
- Mako and Sanageyama. They only share one scene together in the entire series so far and don't even talk to each other, and yet there's plenty of art of the two together.
- Mako and Satsuki, due to the hand-written plan in episode 21 (see Fanfic Fuel above), and a cute shot
◊ in episode 22 of the two digging into Sukuyo's croquettes cheerfully while blushing.
- Ship-to-Ship Combat:
- Ryuko/Mako versus Ryuko/Satsuki in the earlier part of the series, though Gamagoori/Mako became really strong after the Naturals Election. To put it lightly, the disagreements between the pairing are not pretty.
- Some fans just took the third option and ship Ryuko, Mako, and Satsuki, especially after the epilogue of the final episode. Mako/Gamagoori shippers are a bit ambivalent about the whole thing, considering the ambiguity of their ship. There are also some fans that ship Ryuko and Nui due to some Nui's backstory being revealed and the implications of it.
- Due to their backstory, another popular pairing is Satsuki/Nonon. Some prefer this pairing over the others for this very reason.
- Shocking Moments: Definitely, and it just builds and builds from episode 17 on. However, unlike its spiritual predecessor, when the Cerebus Syndrome begins setting in, it achieves this through entirely different methods.
- Special Effect Failure: The CGI used when Satsuki climbs the school in episode 3 looks… weird, to say the least.
- Spoiled by the Format:
- In episode 6, you just know that that Sanageyama will definitely come back for more, because he's defeated halfway in the episode. And boy, he sure does.
- In episode 23, Ryuko and Nudist Beach manage to destroy the Primordial Life Fiber, seemingly putting an end to Ragyo's Evil Plan. Sure enough, Ragyo has a few tricks to ensure her plan gets back on track until the end of the final episode.
- Squick:
- In practically all their scenes together, Ragyo touches her progeny in a way a parent should never touch their children.
- The scene where Ryuko undoes Ragyo's mind-control threads wrapped around her brain, by reaching into her skull to yank them out.
- Having Junketsu grafted onto Ryuko's body, or her tearing it off with her bare hands, an act which covers absolutely everything in a fine spray of blood.
- Superlative Dubbing: The English dub is both well-cast and has just as much energy as the Japanese version. In particular, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Erica Mendez as Ryuko Matoi.
- Take That, Scrappy!:
- Satsuki receiving a beatdown from both Ragyo and Ryuko is seen as this for her detractors.
- Nui losing both of her arms, screaming in shock upon realizing that she cannot recover them, and having a complete breakdown as a result, made most of the fandom happy. Hilariously, both of these are undone in the very next episode, leaving the fandom feeling trolled. Then again, it's Nui, so that feeling is to be expected.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- A disproportionate number of examples for such a short and neatly tied up story, the fault is largely because of the relatively large and diverse pool of secondary and tertiary characters whom all have colorful personas and (at least initially) imposing presence, but who are largely reduced to background or even one-shot roles. The members of the Kiryuin family are the only ones who actually move the plot along, and only the backstories of Ryuko, Senketsu, Satsuki, and the Elite Four are given any sort of information.
- Tsugumu Kinagase establishes himself as a certified badass when he gives Ryuko not one, but two curb-stomp battles in his debut. A lot of fans were interested in his backstory and hoped he would contribute a lot to the series. Unfortunately, he's relegated to being a jobber who Can't Catch Up, while the younger heroes continuously get stronger with their upgrades.
- Rei Hououmaru. She seemed to play The Dragon to Ragyo along with Nui, but literally nothing about her is explored and she accomplishes next to nothing as well. She gets absorbed into Shinra-Koketsu with little to no fanfare, and even when she's freed, it's treated like an afterthought. Her fate at the end of the series is also not disclosed, either. However, she returns as the Big Bad of Episode 25, trying to avenge Ragyo and, to a lesser extent, Nui. This episode also gives us a part of her previously unknown background.
- Brainwashed Ryuko could count towards some. A lot of people were hoping that Trigger would use them in an interesting way, but ultimately the character's situation is resolved in the very next episode, in almost the exact same way berserk Ryuko from episode 12 was, leaving fans wondering what was the point of establishing such a character in the first place.
- Ragyo Kiryuin is very underdevelopped. Many feel her character to be the weakest part of the series, due to her lack of motivation beyond her evil plan, which itself barely amounts to more than end humanity via the Life Fibers. Ragyo is notably the only villain in the series to not have a backstory. All we know about her is that she's rich, somehow discovered the Primoridal Life Fiber, had the idea to fuse Life Fibers to her body to become a hybrid and at some point, traveled to Africa for some reason.
- Junketsu is presented as an antagonistic counterpart to Senketsu, but doesn't speak, very little of its background is explored, and is absorbed to power up Senketsu without a word. It is ultimately treated no differently than a Goku Uniform, though this was likely meant to serve as a contrast to Senketsu's more human personality and the reveal that he's not exactly a pure Life Fiber piece of clothing.
- Kaneo Takarada is the Student Council President of his own highly effectively militarized high school, scion of a shipping business that rivals the Kiryuin Conglomerate's economic power in at least Japan, is the main finance and weaponry supplier for Nudist Beach, knew Satsuki as a kid, and is one of the only people ballsy enough to defy and challenge Satsuki and the Elite Four, even after being beaten down and humiliated by Sanageyama. Also the American viewership idolizes him. With all these credentials, you'd imagine he'd be an incredibly effective and charismatic commanding presence in the later battles. Nope, he's captured in his second episode, rescued off-screen, and just gets a half-minute cameo during the build-up for the penultimate confrontation.
- Iori also gets no character focus or backstory, and never enters the battlefield either as an opponent or an ally, despite being the creator of the Goku Uniforms, being part of Satsuki's inner circle, and the nephew of her Parental Substitute butler. However, some bits of his characterization and backstory is explored in the Drama CDs .
- Aikurou is the apparent leader of Nudist Beach after the death of Isshin, but we never get to hear a word of his backstory or motivations.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- A sizable contingent of fans are disappointed by Mako's decision to have Ryuko simply destroy her two-star uniform, which is monstrously powerful, and not to mention incredibly awesome, instead of keeping it and helping Ryuko in the fight against the Kiryuins. She gets it back at the end of episode 22, much to the delight of said fans.
- The reaction towards Nudist Beach was bad. People had come to expect a small band of badasses in the style of Tsugumu, instead they got a bunch of faceless red shirts in silly looking mechs.
- When Senketsu is cut up and put into a bunch of upgraded goku uniforms, it was the perfect chance to bring back some of the club presidents, at least one of whom is a pretty big Ensemble Dark Horse, especially considering that the student council regained their ranks right after the Naturals Election. Like Mako above, however, they did end up making a minor comeback in episode 23; while minor, it was enough to appease their fans.
- Some fans, especially those of Satsuki, felt that Ryuko's forced Face–Heel Turn in episode 20, which was negated the next episode, was a perfect chance to make Satsuki The Hero, and better show her and Ryuko's Character Development since Satsuki is much more involved against Ragyo than Ryuko is at this point.
- In episode 21, Satsuki brings up an interesting plot thread in how Nui will not give her scissor blade to the Junketsu-wearing Ryuko because she's nervous of losing it, a point they could easily exploit to defeat her. This thread opens an interesting opportunity for Satsuki to steal the blade and use it against Ryuko, which also ties into the above example of the two going against each other as opposites... but then Ryuko's Face–Heel Turn is negated at the end of the episode, with Nui continuing to hold onto her scissor blade into the next episode until Ryuko steals it back, and the plot thread goes absolutely nowhere as a result.
- Ugly Cute:
- While not exactly "ugly" per se, this is how some fans see Aikuro's teacher disguise. There's even a rubber strap of him in it, and some of his fans actually find him sexier while in this disguise, preferring it to his regular Bishōnen looks.
- Senketsu is rather adorable, especially with his devotion to Ryuko, despite being just an animate seifuku.
- Takarada is fairly gonkish but he has his fangirls.
- Guts, being a pug, counts as well.
- Vanilla Protagonist: Ryuko is plenty colorful herself, but she enters a world filled with a large and bright cast of secondary characters and can sometimes feel overshadowed by them. The rest of the cast is basically so crazy that Hot-Blooded Ryuko is made to be the Straight Man to them.
- Viewer Gender Confusion:
- When the Sewing Club President Iori first appeared in episode 2, viewers became enticed by this attractive new blonde-haired figure... and then "she" spoke.
- Some viewers thought Mataro was a girl at first and were lead to think so initially until about a certain point when we see his painted over private parts.
- The Woobie: Senketsu, as of episode 19. The poor guy's closest friend now hates him (and herself) and views him (and herself) as a monster, then left him lying in the rain devastated. And this is after he risked his life dragging her to safety, after Ragyo injured her, and sat by her side the entire month she was in a coma. Episode 21 takes a step further with him being trash talked by a brainwashed Ryuko. Finally, in episode 24, he sacrifices himself to save Ryuko, whilst telling her that she is free to wear clothes that are cuter than he is. This is the last thing he ever says to her, but she immediately cries out his name in sadness.
- Woolseyism:
- In the Aniplex English sub, the name of an event in which the Student Council were booted from their seats and expected to fight their way back to the top went from a pun on 解散総選挙 kaisan sousenkyo ("snap election"
) note to one on natural selection,note which went along with the implication that only the fittest would survive to form a new council. In addition, when Mako cheers "Ganbatte ne!"note in episode 17, the subtitles translate this to "Have fun storming the stadium!" These changes made their way into the English dub.
- Rather than try and translate the pun on kiru ("to wear", though as it's written, could be read as "Kill"), Trigger gave the show's Chinese simulcast the title The Girl Who Cuts Cloth. The character used for "Cloth" could also translate as "Dual-Wielding."
- Sanageyama's "The enemy awaits at Honnouji!" refers to the famous line Akechi Mitsuhide supposedly said when he betrayed Oda Nobunaga. However, instead of translating it as is (Jakuzure and Inumuta groaning overusing it at all), the dub makes it a Punny Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "It's laundry day at Honnouji!" and have Jakuzure and Inumuta ticked off that he hogged it for himself (Jakuzure mentions that it was a line they'd worked out earlier and planned to all use together).
- In the Aniplex English sub, the name of an event in which the Student Council were booted from their seats and expected to fight their way back to the top went from a pun on 解散総選挙 kaisan sousenkyo ("snap election"