Ragyō Kiryūin



"Behold the fate of all who defy me - no, who defy the Life Fibers!"

- Ragyō gloats after defeating Satsuki and taking Junketsu for herself

Ragyo Kiryuin is the true main antagonist of the 2013 anime Kill La Kill, and the CEO of the Revocs Corporation, a facade textile company whose true goal was to assist the COVERS in the circulation of Life Fibers worldwide.

Appearance
Ragyō's most prominent feature is her resplendent multi-colored hair, with a silver color on top. She has a very attractive and authoritarian appearance, and is at all times flaunting glamorous dresses. She seems to be quite tall as well. Much like her daughter, Ragyō is often accompanied by a blinding light that shines from behind her.

She also has seven scars on her back that greatly resemble the stars emblazoned in Goku Uniforms. The origin of these scars is unknown, but they are likely a result of her fusion with Life Fibers.

Personality
Ragyō is a character bathed in luxury, and it shows in her overall presentation and attitude. She is vain and proud, and boasts her power and status abundantly. According to Rei Hōōmaru, her character and morals are at the very least questionable.

Ragyō, like Satsuki, is strangely willing to indulge the whims of her inferiors, and is quite personable with those loyal to her, and is similarly ruthless towards her enemies. However, she is individualistically cruel and sadistic, brutalizing and maniacally taunting Satsuki and tearing Ryūko's heart out simply to make a point. She enjoys domination and control, lusting for power over the world in order to give it to the Life Fibers.

Her cruelty has shown to be even more sinister, as she has been shown fondling (and even sexually assaulting) Satsuki and Ryūko, as well as herself in episode 23. All of this may be done because she merely enjoys dominating someone or something.

She was shown to have an unbreakable will (a trait she apparently passed on to Satsuki and Ryūko) and a strong devotion to the Life Fibers, having actively given her human soul to them. As a result, she had absolutely no regard for human life, including her own, going as far as using her infant daughters as test subjects for potentially fatal experiments, and eventually committing suicide rather than accepting defeat after Ryūko kills all the earthly Life Fibers.

In her final moments, despite having failed, she believes that the Life Fibers will eventually return to Earth, and despite Ryūko's counterpoint that humans will remain human (and therefore remain capable of defeating them), Ragyō remains undeterred and even smirks before pulling out and crushing her own heart, dissipating into nothingness.

Role in Kill La Kill
She is the CEO of Revocs Corporations, and is also the head of Honnouji Academy's board of directions. Having little empathy for human life, she is extremely devoted to the Life Fibers, a parasitic extraterrestrial organism, and tries to use them to take over the world. She is the mother of Satsuki Kiryuin, who ruled the school with an iron fist, and, in a shocking twist, she was revealed to be the mother of Ryuko Matoi, the protagonist of the series. When they were both children, Ragyo experimented on them, and put Life Fibers in each of them. She thought one died, and she disposed of it. That child that was assumed to be dead turned out to be Ryuko herself. Ragyo later attempted to brainwash her into thinking that she loved her, and caused her to temporarily fall.

The last episode saw Ryuko fighting with her mother in space. Ryuko offers Ragyo a truce, but Ragyo spitefully tears out her own heart and crushes it. Before she disappeared completely, she tells her daughter that the Life Fibers will return to destroy everything that she held dear.

Powers & Abilities

 * Life Fibers Manipulation
 * Superhuman Physical Prowess - Ragyō's physiology has been enhanced with Life Fibers. Because of this, she has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes and durability, enough to physically overpower two Kamui-wearing opponents, Ryūko and Satsuki with relative ease, even though both had substantially developed their Kamui and Life Fiber-based powers. She was also able to break Satsuki's blade, Bakuzan, a blade develop to sever Life Fibers with her bare fist.
 * Regeneration - Due to the power of Life Fibers dwelling inside of her body, Ragyō can regenerate any wound inflicted on her almost instantly, even being decapitated at the hands of her daughter Satsuki. The exception to this is if she is cut by either the Bakuzan or the Scissor Blades from two different directions.
 * Mental Refitting - By sewing Life Fibers known as Marionette Threads into the brains of her victims, Ragyō can bend anyone to do her bidding. An exception to this power is Ryūko's. She has been able to break free of Ragyō's control, possibly because of the Life Fibers implanted into her body.
 * Life Fiber Restoration - Ragyō was also capable of recreating Nui's arms by sewing new Life Fibers into them. Although she noted they were not as good as her original ones.
 * Flight - Much like her daughters, Ragyō is capable of flying at high speeds, although she does not require the use of a Kamui to do so.
 * Life Fiber Swords - During the battle against her daughters, Ragyō wielded a pair of giant, sewing needle-like swords, which according to her were made from ultra-hardened Life Fibers produced by the Original Life Fiber, that can sever Life Fibers and which served as the basis for the development of the Bakuzan and Scissor Blades. She also demonstrated the ability to alter their form, shaping them into a pair of spiked, tree branch-like blades.

Former Powers and Abilities

 * Kamui Junketsu
 * Life Fiber Override - After donning Junketsu, Ragyō is able to activate Life Fiber Override, transforming the Kamui into a variation of Satsuki's Life Fiber Override form and increasing Ragyō's strength exponentially. Unlike her daughter Satsuki, Ragyō is able to draw out the Kamui's full power, due to being a Life Fiber hybrid. With the full power of Junketsu, Ragyō was able to easily move behind Ryūko, stab her through her chest with her bare hand and pull out her heart (despite Ryūko using True Life Fiber Synchronize at the time).
 * Shinra-Kōketsu
 * Life Fibers Domination - The ultimate Life Fiber uniform, designed specifically for Ragyo's use by Nui Harime. Its full power can only be activated by absorbing a second person to use as a host (in this case, Rei Hououmaru). In terms of power, the Koketsu is the most powerful Life-Fiber based clothing, far surpassing the power of other Kamui and Goku Uniform. Even when absorbed by an empowered Senketsu, its power was so massive that it caused the Kamui to start deteriorating from the stress of it.
 * Absolute Domination - Shinra-Koketsu's main ability, it allows Ragyō to dominate other Life Fiber based clothing such as Goku Uniforms and Kamuis, neutralizing their powers and transformations and leaving their users physically paralyzed. However both Ryūko and Senketsu are individually immune to this power due to their status as human/Life Fiber hybrids. This ability also acts as a trigger for the creation of the Celestial Cocoon Seed Planet by working as an activation signal to all the dormant Life Fibers present in the REVOCS clothing. When active, this ability makes Ragyō immune to being harmed by Life Fiber-based weapons such as the combined Scissor Blades. However this ability appears to require a sacrifice, preferably a human one, to be used to its full potential - Ragyō was able to immobilize everyone except Ryuko and Senketsu with Rei absorbed, but was unable to affect any of the Goku Uniform users after absorbing Nui.
 * Enhanced Physical Prowess - Using Shinra-Koketsu, Ragyō's various powers are even stronger than before. Her endurance is nigh-endless, even without Absolute Domination active; she was unfazed by having a hole drilled through her chest by Senketsu and then being cut into pieces by both her daughters wielding the Scissor Blades, an act that should be fatal for Life Fiber-based lifeforms. Her massive physical strength is also increased enough to shatter both of Satsuki's Bakuzan blades with just the grip of her hands.
 * Shapeshifting - Like other Kamuis and high-level Goku Uniforms, Shinra-Koketsu can alter its form for combat and support. It has a set of fragmented pieces on its back that resemble butterfly wings with the same eye pattern present on other Kamui, that Ragyō can alter into drill-like malleable blades. She could also alter the sleeves of Koketsu into the same kind of blades. After absorbing Nui, Ragyo was able to alter the bottom part of her outfit into a set of detachable booster rockets in order to travel to the REVOCS satellite.
 * Second Form - By casting away the last remnants of her humanity, Ragyō draws even more power from Shinra-Koketsu, undergoing a transformation. In this form, the chest part of the outfit becomes more form-fitting like a corset, the hood of the dress disappears, and Ragyō's hair is styled as a pair of horns, giving her a much more demonic appearance. In this form her power is even greater than before, enough to overwhelm Ryūko and Senketsu in their Senketsu Kisaragi form.