#sorry if it's sloppy it's hot and i gotta make chili and i tried ^^;

[marshmallowgoop]

Ryuko Story Mode Thoughts

So, that update to the Kill la Kill the Game: IF site today revealing that there’ll be a Ryuko story mode available after beating Satsuki’s definitely took me by surprise!

Seeing Ryuko and Senketsu together in Senketsu-Kisaragi is especially heartening. While Senketsu-Kisaragi’s appearance in the game has arguably been evident since the release of the first poster (which features Senketsu’s eyes in their Kisaragi form), the in-game model looks absolutely beautiful. 

It’s also so sweet to see Ryuko smiling with Senketsu-Kisaragi, since that didn’t happen much in the anime. But the fact that Ryuko smiles in her promotional image of Senketsu-Kisaragi while Satsuki does not in her promotional images of Junketsu-Shinzui perhaps hints at the different natures of these final forms. Junketsu-Shinzui is stated to be an “opposite” of Senketsu-Kisaragi, so while Senketsu-Kisaragi may be an enjoyable experience for both Senketsu and Ryuko, Junketsu-Shinzui may be a painful experience for both Junketsu and Satsuki.

The few details given about Ryuko’s story mode also beg a lot of questions about the plot of the game. Ryuko’s in-game scenario is confirmed to be canon to Satsuki’s, with both being part of an alternate retelling of the anime. The branching-off point of the game from the anime is when Ragyo interrupts the Naturals Election rather than Nui. As a result, Ryuko is able to fight all of the Elite Four, and she also fights—and loses to—Satsuki. The small blurb about Ryuko’s storyline adds:

After Ryuko is defeated by Satsuki, Nui appears before her. Now determined to become stronger, is Ryuko really going to ask Nui to train her!? And what about the secret of the Original Life Fiber that was not revealed in the original series?

Of course, the possibility of Nui training Ryuko would be a drastic departure from the anime, and this new information (maybe) helps answer some of my earlier questions about Nui’s role in the game, which were as follows:

Actually, what the heck is Ryuko talking about in her character introduction with Nui when she says, “I won’t be fooled by your words anymore! I only fight for the truth now!”? Will Nui and Ryuko interact more in the game? Will Nui not immediately reveal to Ryuko that she killed her father?

As it turns out, it’s likely that the answer to my last two questions is “yes.” And, if Ryuko does indeed seek Nui’s help to become stronger as the website’s story page suggests, then Ryuko’s claim that she “won’t be fooled by [Nui’s] words anymore!” makes a lot of sense. Much like the situation with Maiko in episode 4 of the anime, it seems that Ryuko will be tricked and taken advantage of by Nui, who will hide the truth of Isshin’s murder. 

In fact, in an accompanying screenshot on the site, Nui fights with a needle instead of the other half of the Scissor Blade. This image could possibly come from one of Ryuko and Nui’s training sessions.

Yet, such a scenario definitely creates as many questions as it answers. For instance, why would Ryuko be willing to trust Nui? She would have to know—or at least be able to easily find out—that Nui is the Grand Couturier of REVOCS. Will Nui disguise herself as she does in the anime? Is the possible training image simply an actual fight between Ryuko and Nui? Or is there some more severe trickery at foot?

While I don’t have any concrete answers, Ryuko’s battle dialogue with Nui (as seen in the Sakura Fight Festa footage) does confirm that this alternate retelling doesn’t change the origin story: Ryuko still tells Nui, “You killed my dad, Nui! And for that, I’m gonna kill YOU!”

Interestingly, Ryuko also assures Senketsu, “Don’t worry, I won’t spazz out anymore.” In the anime, Ryuko goes berserk upon learning that Nui killed her father, and she later assures Senketsu that she will never lose control and hurt him like that again. To see a similar assurance in the game implies that Ryuko will also go berserk in the game—and, if she has a closer relationship with Nui (possibly even considering her a friend!), then this berserk state might be a lot worse than it ever was in the TV series.

As a final note about the battle dialogue between Nui and Ryuko, I did find Nui’s, “You really think you can keep up that act of yours, Ryuko?” to be quite curious when I first saw it in Griffin Station’s Nui Breakdown video from Game Developers Conference. The line implies that Nui has a far better understanding of Ryuko than she did in the anime.

Now, on another note, it seems the Raid Trip will still happen in the game based off of this screenshot of Satsuki’s scenario from the site:

But a screenshot from Ryuko’s scenario points to Satsuki doing the cutting of Senketsu rather than Nui:

Does Satsuki tear Senketsu apart at the end of her fight with Ryuko during the Naturals Election? Is Senketsu’s loss what prompts Ryuko to ask Nui for help? Does Ryuko want to grow stronger to rescue him? Or does the Senketsu cutting happen some time later?

Further, another curious screenshot from Ryuko’s scenario is an image of her fighting a COVERS enemy in Honnou Town... 

...which isn’t something that happens in the anime. Dual-wielding Ryuko’s (and Senketsu’s!) battle dialogue against Ragyo (as seen in a PS360HD2 video from GDC) suggests that Ryuko does not learn the truth of her birth until much later than she does in the anime (as she already is well aware of the fact that Ragyo is biologically her mother by the time she has both halves of the Scissor Blade there). Seeing Ryuko fight a COVERS—which torment the town after the Cultural and Grand Sports Festival—combined with the seeming fact that Ryuko doesn’t get her heart horribly pulled out of her chest at said Festival, definitely implies that Ryuko doesn’t fall into a coma and (possibly) doesn’t don Junketsu in the game.

Or, if that sequence of events does occur, it likely occurs at a much different time than it does in the anime.

Finally, I wondered last week if IGN’s footage of the first story mission left out some content, as a Noisy Pixel video from GDC included more footage of Ryuko and Mako. 

Now, I wonder if that Noisy Pixel footage was simply footage from Ryuko’s side of the story.

In the end, it’s very exciting to learn that Ryuko will also star in an alternate retelling of Kill la Kill! While I’m sure her story won’t be as long as Satsuki’s, the fact that this scenario exists at all really says a lot about the work and effort put into this game.

#kill la kill #kill la kill the game #ryuko matoi #senketsu #satsuki kiryuin #spoilers #klk spoilers #long post #ramblings #shut up goop #of course i fell asleep for 12 hours yesterday and didn't see it until i woke up this morning >.> #i thought my reactions would be pretty short and i could put something up during my work break but lolll this took like 3.5 hours #i didn't even say everything but y'know this is long enough so i'll just. shuddup. #sorry if it's sloppy it's hot and i gotta make chili and i tried ^^;