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Sōichirō Kiryūin, also known as Isshin Matoi, is the overarching protagonist of the 2013 anime Kill La Kill. He is the husband of Ragyō Kiryūin and father of Satsuki Kiryūin and Ryūko Matoi. Growing a conscious as Ragyō's conspirator and disgusted by her cruelty and general lack of attachment to any human life, Sōichirō betrays her and turned both their daughters against her, before founding the secret high-tech revolutionary organization, Nudist Beach, to revolt against Ragyō's tyranny. It is his ultimate murder under the hands of Nui Harime that placed the events of the series in motion, having placed his pieces to initiate a final gambit against Ragyō post-mortem.
He was voiced by Kinryū Arimoto in Japanese and Doug Stone in English.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- While working under Ragyō and involved with her crimes to know deep enough to know the Secret of the Life Fibers, he then grew a conscious out of disgust that she is placing their own daughters in dangerous experiments, making him easily rootable against a disgustingly vile villain like her, in which his first action is faking the death of his unnamed second-born to raise her seperately as Ryūko Matoi.
- Knowing his betrayal of Ragyō will be getting him in trouble, he pits his first-born, Satsuki, against Ragyō by telling her the truth of the Life Fibers and what the Life Fibers will do to all of humanity, as the first step of his master gambit to thwart Ragyō's plan to annihilate the entire planet.
- Fakes his death when Ragyō orders a hit on him and then proceeds to make a thoroughly convincing disguise of a hunched old man under the new alias of Isshin Matoi and keeping that disguise for 17 years.
- Funds and organizes the revolutionary group, the Nudist Beach, rallying up huge amounts of followers against Ragyō.
- He creates 2 powerful weapons to be used against Ragyō, the sentient kamui he reserved for Ryūko, and the Rending Scissor, one of the few tools to ever permanently destroy a Life Fiber.
- During his final day confronted by Nui Harime, upon having hidden Senketsu, he uses the Rending Scissors to distract Nui and keep her away from the kamui.
- He manages to slash off Nui's left eye when she was distracted for a split-second, being one of the few characters to ever manage to make a blow against the nigh-invincible Nui.
- When knowing his own days are numbered, he sends a letter to Aikuro Mikisugi to lure Ryūko to Senketsu, while using his final moments to send Ryūko on a path to find his killer in order for his plan to work and has the Nudist beach orchestrate events to make her the hero he intended her to be.
- Ultimately, he makes a huge impact for a minor flashback character with a presence felt all throughout the series, with it being mostly Sōichirō's Thanatos gambit with the pieces of it, from pitting Satsuki against her mother to the Nudist Beach and luring Ryuko to meeting Senketsu, ultimately culminating in Ryūko and Senketsu's bond to achieve immense feats of powers that ends Ragyō's threat against Earth once and for all that only he expected.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- Had some involvement with Ragyō's crimes like the experimentations of their daughters, and was so deep an associate of Ragyo he knew the deep secret of the Life Fibers.
- Places his assistant, Kinue Kinagase, in dangerous experiments that lead to her unfortunate death. Even though she was a willing test subject, none of his loyal followers ever forgave him for this and treat this incident as a black spot in their memory of him.
- Ultimately sends both of his daughters, directly and partially indirectly, to very dark paths which he is aware of. By informing Satsuki about the truth and pitting her against her mother, Sōichirō is responsible for leaving her with a very flawed outlook on life for his grand plan that turned her into a ruthless tyrant with multiple executions to her name. Through Mikisugi, he orchestrates the events to hand over his youngest daughter, Ryūko, a very dangerous kamui that nearly kills her throughout the series when she is pushed too hard.
External Links[]
- Sōichirō Kiryūin at the Kill la Kill wiki
- Sōichirō Kiryūin at the Heroes wiki