Ryūko Matoi

### Likes

Adventure, blades, the colors black and red, Katy Perry, girl power, sports, freedom, planning last minute ("Winging it"), strategy games, racing

### Dislikes

Dresses/skirts, perverts, disrespect, discrimination, sexism, narcissism, Ragyō, chores, wearing tight clothes and accessories, homophobia

## Professional Status

### Affiliation

Honnōji Academy
Nudist Beach

## Relationships

### Parents

Sōichirō Kiryūin (Father) †
Ragyō Kiryūin (Mother)
Vincent Brooks (Adoptive father)
Rin (Adoptive mother)

### Siblings

Satsuki Kiryūin (Older sister)
Ken Ichijouji (Adoptive younger brother)
Emma (Adoptive younger sister)
Kyoka Jiro (Younger adoptive half sister)
Ren Amamiya (Older half-brother)
Futaba Sakura (Younger adoptive sister)

### Other relatives

Kyo Sohma (Adoptive brother-in-law)
Rody Soul (Aadoptive brother-in-law)
Mochi Sohma (Niece)
Sakuya Sohma (Niece)
Asuka Soul (Niece)
Katashi Soul (Nephew)
Ryuji Sakamoto (Brother-in-law)
Emica Sakamoto (niece)
Cameron Sakamoto (Nephew)
Karin Amamiya (niece)
Mitsuki Amamiya (Niece)

## Voice Actors

### English

Erica Mendez

**Ryūko Matoi** (纏 (まとい)  流 (りゅう) 子 (こ) , *Matoi Ryūko*) is the daughter of Sōichirō and Ragyō Kiryūin and the younger sister of Satsuki. It was also revealed that Ryūko had supposedly died after she was born after Ragyō had attempted to fuse her body with Life Fibers, which was declared a failed experiment by Ragyō herself; however, Ragyō's experiment would later be revealed to be a success. Ryūko was later saved by her father, with her father faking her death and raising her under the alias of Isshin Matoi until his death at the hands of Nui Harime. Six months after Isshin's death, Ryūko transferred to Honnōji Academy.

## Description

### Appearance

Ryūko is a 17 year old girl of medium height and has blue-black hair of medium length with a single left-swept red highlight on her bangs as well as blue eyes, which have peculiar gear-like pupils with eight grooves around the edges. Her outfit at the start of the series is a white collared shirt with a red bow tie which is worn under a black & white varsity jacket with rolled-up sleeves, as well as a black skirt and white sneakers. During her childhood, she wore a red collared shirt with a white skirt and white shoes.

Baring her shoes, her clothing is later replaced by Senketsu, a living navy blue sailor uniform. Her shirt (Senketsu's upper jaw) is a dark navy sailor uniform with mid-length sleeves that bares her midriff with the collar having red stripes and is tied by a multicolored scarf that also serves as Senketsu's left "eye however his "right" eye is covered by a black "eyepatch" with an X-shaped mark over it (perhaps emulating her father's right eyepatch). Her skirt (Senketsu's lower jaw) is held up by suspenders attached to a belt. Aikurō Mikisugi later provides her with a Seki Tekkō (赤手甲, ***Seki Tekkō*** lit. "Red Gauntlet"), a red, fingerless, left-handed glove with a built-in syringe designed for Ryūko to conveniently draw blood and feed it to Senketsu.

Ryūko's appearance changes further when using Life Fiber Synchronize with Senketsu. Her hair becomes even more feathery and is accented with vibrant red undertones and horn-like clips. Senketsu himself also undergoes a significant change in appearance after Synchronization; his "eyes" extend into wing-shaped crests jutting out from Ryūko's shoulders and his upper and lower parts transform into a black, skimpy suit of armor with red stripes. The top section of the armor covers Ryūko's neck, lower-jaw, arms, and upper breasts, and possesses a red, triangular ventilation grill centered on Ryūko's upper back. The top armor piece is connected to her skirt by three red garter belt/suspenders (two in front, one in back), leaving everything between the underside of her breasts and her waist exposed. Her legs are also covered with thigh-high boots with heels.

When Ryūko wears Senketsu Kisaragi, Senketsu's eyepatch is broken, revealing his hidden eye, his color scheme changes to reddish-orange and yellow, the headpiece becomes more elaborate like a rabbit's ears, yellow energy bands form a skirt that looks like jaws around Ryūko's waist, and her hair becomes blonde.

### Personality

Ryūko has a relatively simple personality: fierce and stubborn. She fears little, which is demonstrated when she directly and disrespectfully addresses Satsuki Kiryūin, demanding that her questions be answered, and when she fights Takaharu Fukuroda even though she is clearly overpowered. Later on, she is shown to be quite embarrassed when she is forced to fight in Senketsu's very revealing alternate form, though she overcomes her embarrassment in Episode 3 showing that while she is not afraid of fighting to her death, she is somewhat self-conscious.

Even though most of the time she is seen stubborn and fierce, sometimes she can be shown calm, polite, content and warmly flattered. This is mostly seen when eating with the Mankanshoku family and Episode 7. She admires the way Mako's mother makes food and has kind manners. She later is seen telling Senketsu how fun dinner was with them because of how her mother died when she was young and her dad sent her to a boarding school, never knowing how a family dinner was like. Her flattery is highlighted in Episode 1 when Mataro tried to steal Ryuko's wallet and mug her. She was cool with the intention of fighting, criticizing how street punking doesn't work for him and how goofy his gang was. After defeating them, she lets it slide by not fighting people who can't fight back. This is also seen with most opponents she faces when she often states the obvious.

She shows fierce determination in finding her father's killer. Her stubbornness was taken up to ridiculous levels when she managed to free herself from Ragyō's mind control by merely punching herself. This same episode, however, has one of few demonstrations of shock on her part, when Ragyō defeats Satsuki, rips out Ryūko's heart and reveals to be her mother.

When Ryūko is brainwashed after being forced to put on Junketsu by Ragyō, her personality changes to be wild and sadistic, destroying everything around her without reason. After she is freed, she goes back to her usual personality but is somewhat calmer and more mature. She also makes peace with Satsuki and is able to fight with her as a comrade but is still having trouble recognizing her as her sister. Although, after Satsuki catches her when she is falling back to earth and welcomes her home warmly, Ryūko replies by calling her "sis."

## Powers and Abilities

* **Natural Abilities:**
	+ **Superhuman Power**: Ryūko's strength, speed, and abilities far surpass that of an ordinary human. From the start, Ryūko was able to take on multiple One-Star students by herself, without the need to wear Senketsu, as seen in Episode 1. She became much stronger throughout the series, both on her own and in her synchronization with Senketsu. Even while wearing a scarf with only Senketsu's eye sewn to, it, she was still able to defeat numerous students with new Goku uniforms enhanced by fragments of Senketsu with ease while riding on a motorbike. Her power has increased further when she comes to terms with her true nature as a life fiber hybrid and thus stops thinking of herself within the bounds of human limitations. In her own rage at finding out she is not human she was able to destroy multiple COVERS and free the humans therein with one swing of her scissor blade in Episode 20, and also sliced several buildings apart from afar with one blow, all without Senketsu.

* + **Life Fibers infusion:** Ryūko is revealed as Ragyō Kiryūin's second youngest child whose body had been infused with the Life Fibers, despite it being perceived as a failure by Ragyō back then. It is likely that her incredible potential and her natural ability to synchronize with Life Fibers was a result of this. Ryūko has also demonstrated resilience and superhuman healing on par with Ragyō herself. An example of this is shown when her heart is pulled out her chest by Ragyō; as her heart is simply drawn back into Ryūko's body automatically as the wound would seals by itself.

* **Scissor Blade** (片 (かた) 太 (た) 刀 (たち) 鋏 (ばさみ) , *Katatachi Basami*) – Ryūko's signature weapon is one half of a giant pair of scissors, which she wields as a one-handed, single-edged longsword. The blade is capable of cutting Life Fibers, which are otherwise indestructible. Ryūko alternatively uses it as a makeshift tennis racket during her match against Omiko Hakodate. She obtains the second half of the Scissor Blade after snatching it from Nui Harime in Episode 22.
	+ **Decapitation Mode** (武 (ぶっ) 滾 (たぎ) 流 (る) 猛怒 (もーど) , *Buttagiru Mōdo*) – While using Life Fibers Synchronize, Ryūko can mechanically extend her Scissor Blade into a two-handed sword. Not only is the blade's length doubled in this form, but its strength increases exponentially and is able to slice far beyond its normal range. This ability is frequently used in preparation for a Fiber Lost.

* **Kamui Senketsu** (神 (かむ) 衣 (い) 鮮血 (せんけつ) , *****Kamui Senketsu*****)
	+ **Life Fibers Synchronize** (人 (じん) 衣 (い) 一体 (いったい) , *Jin'i Ittai*)
	+ **Fiber Lost** (戦 (せん) 維 (い) 喪失 (そうしつ) , *Sen'i Sōshitsu*) – After Ryūko defeats her opponent, she destroys their Goku Uniform, allowing Senketsu to absorb the uniform's Life Fibers, adding them to his own power. The Banshi is always the last one to go. "戦維"(*Sen'i*) is a compound word of 戦意 (fighting spirit, *Sen'i*) and 繊維 (fiber, *Sen'i*).
	+ **True Life Fibers Synchronize** – After Ryūko invades the Great Culture and Sports Festival and fights Nui once more, her original Life Fiber Synchronize evolves thanks to her own self-improvement and she becomes completely one with Senketsu. In this state, Senketsu glows with intense power and they reach levels of strength and speed that easily overpower Nui Harime. After the final battle against Ragyō and Shinra-Kōketsu, Senketsu manages to send Ryūko back to Earth before he disintegrates completely.

* **Kamui Junketsu** (神 (かむ) 衣 (い) 純 (じゅん) 潔 (けつ) , *****Kamui Junketsu*****)
	+ **Life Fiber Override** (人 (じん) 衣 (い) 圧倒 (あっとう) , *Jin'i Attō*) - Ryūko is forced to put on Junketsu by Ragyō, which alters her memories, making Ryūko believe that she had been raised lovingly by Ragyō her whole life. As Ryūko is a human fused with Life Fibers, Ragyō believes that Ryūko, unlike Satsuki Kiryūin, is able to draw out its maximum power. Its appearance varies from Satsuki's version in that Ryūko's chest is covered, while she wears a hakama on her lower body. The back parts of her hair are now colored blue, although she retains the red highlight on her fringe. After Mako and Senketsu's final efforts to free her, Ryūko returns to her former self and rips apart Junketsu.

## Etymology

* The name **Ryūko** means "flow, style, manner, method" (流) (**Ryū**) and "child" (子) (**ko**). Incidentally, it can also be derived from "fashion, trend" (流行) (**Ryūkō**).
* Ryūko's surname **Matoi** means "wear, wrap, tie, follow around, collect" (纏).

## Trivia

* Ryūko's unique gear-like pupils (and likely her single red highlight) are very likely side effects of her infusion with Life Fibers.