Senketsu

## 鮮血 / せんけつ

“*Don't you touch her. If you do, I'll make you pay!*”

—**Senketsu** to Tsumugu Kinagase, Episode 5.

****Senketsu**** (鮮血 *lit. fresh blood*) is a Kamui created by Isshin Matoi who is later revealed to be Sōichirō Kiryūin, and is the deuteragonist of *Kill la Kill*. Appearing as a sentient sailor uniform, he was found by his creator's daughter, Ryūko Matoi, becoming her primary ally in her battle against Satsuki Kiryūin and, later, Ragyō Kiryūin and COVERS.

## Appearance

**Senketsu** appears to be a navy-blue and red sailor suit with the midriff shown and a lower-cut skirt. When **Senketsu** is on his own, the section between the shirt and skirt resembles a mouth, in that he is attached to his lower jaw at the back. When he is worn, however, the skirt is connected to the upper body by three suspenders. He speaks to Ryūko with a deep male voice and everyone refers to him with male pronouns, even though Kamui are technically agender entities.

## Personality

In most circumstances, **Senketsu** is a composed and analytical individual, calmly observing and assessing situations as they occur. He maintains this level-headedness even in the heat of battle, thinking of attack strategies, giving Ryūko advice and warning her whenever she is about to run out of energy. He initially shows a manic and aggressive craving for Ryūko's blood, as he needs it to remain active, although this is satiated once she starts wearing him regularly.

Despite being an article of clothing, **Senketsu** is shown to have undeniably humanistic qualities, such as genuine and even fatherly love of Ryūko, crying when getting sentimental and feeling lonely whenever Ryūko is not wearing him, which is accentuated by the fact that only she can hear his voice.

**Senketsu** is horrified of being washed by hand, as it is quite painful for him. However, he is fond of being ironed, which he finds soothing.

## Powers and Abilities

As a Kamui, when fed with blood, **Senketsu** has the ability to change into very revealing armor that grants Ryūko immense power. Initially, the extent of power was limited and the blood drain was a constant problem due to Ryūko's embarrassment of her appearance, but after she comes to terms with it, they were able to use Life Fiber Synchronization to achieve the full power of a Kamui while minimizing the blood drain. In addition, although very skimpy in appearance, Kamui are implied to "become the wearer's skin". **Senketsu** is "activated" when Ryūko uses the Seki-Tekko to draw blood. A needle draws out a set amount of blood and allows her to use **Senketsu** in his battle form.

A few times, **Senketsu's** power has been diminished or is limited. It's seen that **Senketsu's** armor changes in these limited forms; in the first few episodes, the armor's skirt had no spikes, the eye crests were smaller and more compressed, and Ryūko's hair wasn't as spiky. While being worn by Maiko Ogure, the crest was upside down, the skirt was stuck facing upwards, and her arms were exposed.

**Senketsu** is the only Life Fiber uniform (COVERS not included) which can move and act independently of a wearer. This is likely due to his partially human genetics. He lacks proper legs and thus can only move by awkwardly hopping when on his own, but displays an impressive strength and stamina, and once dragged an unconscious Ryūko over a long distance. His "mouth" can bite enemies, as displayed in Ryūko's first battle against Ira Gamagōri. In the final battle against Ragyō, he is actually able to transform himself into a bladed drill-like configuration and attack Ragyō on his own, despite not being worn at the time.

His status as a Life Fiber article with human DNA infusion also grants him the ability to, when not worn, resist Shinra-Kōketsu's Absolute Submission, which paralyzes regular Life Fibers. This resistance is shared by humans infused with Life Fibers, such as Ryūko, herself.

**Embarrassment**: Ryūko's unwillingness to fully wear **Senketsu** and become one became a huge issue with the first few episodes. Unable to draw out his power, **Senketsu** was forced to keep drinking her blood to remain active. After understanding how to master **Senketsu**, less blood was needed to stay active and the armor's full power was unleashed.

**Wearer**: **Senketsu** is a Life Fiber sailor uniform with Ryūko's DNA. This is likely due to Isshin believing his daughter's status as a human with Life Fibers would rival his ex-wife and allowed **Senketsu** to stay somewhat safe from others. Only Satsuki has been able to use **Senketsu** successfully, although they weren't in total harmony. This is likely due to Satsuki being Ryūko's sister, therefore sharing similar blood.

Although Maiko Ōgure was once able to activate **Senketsu** (something he himself attributed to her total lack of shame), she was unable to attack Mako while wearing him. This implies **Senketsu** can gain some measure of control over a wearer's body if he wishes to.

**Beserker Mode**: When Ryūko's anger at Nui made her blood boiling hot, **Senketsu** became a bloodthirsty monster. It also caused his armor form to change into a chaotic, blood leaking version of itself, mutating its wearer into a green-skinned, jagged toothed creature.

**Absorption ability**: In addition to the standard abilities of Life Fiber clothing, **Senketsu** has the ability to absorb the Life Fibers of defeated Goku Uniforms and Kamui, increasing his power. In addition, **Senketsu** possesses more than one Banshi, which may be a consequence of his absorption ability. This absorbing power was the downfall of Ragyō, since **Senketsu** absorbed her Absolute Submission power to use for himself.

Later, after witnessing Ira Gamagōri's Goku Uniform and its ability to undergo a secondary transformation, **Senketsu** was able to apply the idea to himself and gained the ability to change his configuration in the middle of battle to gain a better advantage. Known configurations are shown below.

****Senketsu** Senjin** (鮮血閃刃 ***Senketsu** Blade Flash)*

In this form, **Senketsu** protrudes blades from all over its body. Senjin also has retractable claws. These claws can also be used during **Senketsu's** normal-mode and was once upgraded to a blade made of Ryūko's blood.

****Senketsu** Shippu** (鮮血疾風 ***Senketsu** Gale*?)

**Senketsu's** flying form. The bottom part of the uniform becomes a jet propulsion, and the crest (**Senketsu's** "eyes") becomes wings.
****Senketsu** Mubyōshi** (鮮血無拍子 ***Senketsu** Sound Negation*?)

This was used during the fight against Nonon Jakuzure to negate her sound wave attack and use it against her.
**Senjin Shippu** (鮮血刃疾風 ***Senketsu** Blade Gale*?)

It combines the blades of **Senketsu** Senjin and the jet propulsion of **Senketsu** Shippu to create a hybrid form with boosted offensive capabilities.
****Senketsu** Kisaragi** (鮮血更衣 ***Senketsu** Fashion Week*?)

**Senketsu's** ultimate form. It combines the powers of Junketsu and the Goku Uniforms to create the strongest form with boosted stats.
## Relationships

### **Ryūko Matoi**

Ryūko is **Senketsu's** closest friend and partner/wearer in combat. Originally, she considered him to be a simple tool to use and find her father's killer with, although this eventually develops into a strong relationship. In battle, **Senketsu's** tactical thinking usually counteracts Ryūko's recklessness by trying to calm her down when she is overwhelmed, offering attack strategies and warning her whenever she is low on energy.

It is shown that **Senketsu** does have jurisdiction over who wears him and how, such as in Episode 3, when he transformed back into a sailor uniform by himself to keep Ryūko from fainting, and in Episode 4 when he didn't allow Maiko to punch Mako once she forcibly put him on.

Episode 5 shows a big development in Ryūko and **Senketsu's** bond. Knowing that it was he who Tsumugu Kinagase was after when he attacked Ryūko, he tells her not to wear him so that Tsumugu wouldn't hunt her down, but Ryūko is dismissive of his comments and states that he is just her clothing and should let himself be worn. Once **Senketsu** reaches his limit due to Tsumugu's jamming rounds, **Senketsu** gives himself up to protect Ryūko, telling her to run and save herself. Mako interferes and gives a speech about how **Senketsu** is Ryūko's friend, and returns **Senketsu** to Ryūko before leaving. Ryūko protectively clutches **Senketsu** and refuses to give him up again, saying that the only time Tsumugu would be able to get him back was if he killed her. Tsumugu hesitates, and **Senketsu** somehow communicates with him, saying that if he harms her, he'll make him pay. The end of the episode has Ryūko saying that **Senketsu** isn't just her clothing, but her friend, and he responds that he is indeed.

In Episode 18, Ryūko and **Senketsu** achieve total synchronization, with Ryūko being able to move at lightning speed in her battle against Nui.

Although, in Episode 19, Mako is taken by a COVERS suit and Satsuki detonates the stadium where the battle was taking place, **Senketsu** managed to stay awake and tried to protect an unconscious Ryūko against COVERS, but were found by Mikisugi and taken to a Nudist Beach base. Ryūko apparently remained in a coma for the rest of the month while **Senketsu** waited for her to wake up. Once she wakes up and defeats all of the COVERS surrounding the base with a single strike of the Scissor Blade, **Senketsu** becomes overjoyed. But, in a fit of rage, Ryūko says that she now hates the mere sight of him and will never put him on again, much to **Senketsu's** shock.

However, despite this, Ryūko rekindles her bond with **Senketsu** in Episode 22, after she rips Junketsu off in a fit of rage after coming back to her senses.

At the end of Episode 24, **Senketsu** sacrifices himself in order for Ryūko to return home safely, causing Ryūko immense grief before she goes unconscious. A while later, when she, Mako, and Satsuki are on their date, Ryūko spotted a young girl wearing a sailors uniform that had a color scheme similar to **Senketsu's**. She looks up to the sky and feels the section where **Senketsu's** eye was present.

In Episode 25, Ryūko is reminded about **Senketsu** from Mikisugi because she's now wearing "new clothing". Mako soon jumped in, telling that **Senketsu** lives inside her. During Ryūko's fight against the Honnōji Academy Final Defense Apparatus, the spirit of **Senketsu**, represented by a red star, sends the Rending Scissors to Earth during her near defeat. As it caught up to Ryūko during her fall, she grabbed onto it, used it to slow her descent and then proceed to run up a wall to destroy the Final Defense Apparatus. At the very end of the episode, the shining red star appears once more, showing that **Senketsu** will be always in Ryūko's heart.

### **Satsuki Kiryūin**

When Ryūko falls victim to Ragyō's brainwashing and wears Junketsu, Satsuki wears **Senketsu** in an attempt to stop them. She asks for **Senketsu** to lend his power to her, despite any feelings of hatred he may have for her. During the battle, Satsuki is forced to tell **Senketsu** what to become in order to counter Junketsu; he notes that Satsuki's choice of forms are "interesting". After this, **Senketsu** shows some respect for Satsuki for risking her life to save Ryūko by referring to her by her given name. Later, in Episode 24, Satsuki reassures **Senketsu**, saying she shares his worries about Ryūko, but reminds him of the girl's tenacity. By hearing and responding to him, Satsuki helps **Senketsu** realize his evolution into something that, like Ryūko, is "neither human nor clothing".

## Memorable quotes

“*Don't leave! Put me on! Put me on! Wear me and feed me blood! I don't wanna go back to sleep! You're wasting time! Don't be scared! Put me on! Put me on!*”
—**Senketsu** clings to Ryūko after waking up from his slumber, unable to contain himself

“*Am I... feeding off Ryūko?!*”
—**Senketsu** panics as he learns the truth about the Life Fibers and their parasitic behavior