We all like to have a laugh at ‘edgy’ characters. Whether they be overly moody or dark, humorless to the point of seeming boring, or just plain being written badly, the edgy character stereotype can easily be done poorly. But when it’s done well, it’s done really well.
Imagine if you will, your entire life is a mystery to you. You have no idea where you came from, who you are or where you belong. By all accounts, you’re alone in this world. Then you find out your ‘parent’ intended for you to be nothing more than a weapon, a tool. And when you didn’t live up to their expectations, they abandoned you. Tossed you to the side like trash. Worse still, you’re not even human. You’re the product of an alien hellbent on conquering Earth. You are a mistake.
So what to do in this situation? Our next two combatants faced this exact dilemma and chose to fight back. Damn your ‘parent’ and damn the path they set for you. You are your own person, no matter who tells you otherwise, and you will forge your own path, with or without the people around you.
Their pasts behind them, these two seek to fight for their future, no matter the cost, even if it means sacrificing themselves in the process, they will not go down as just another puppet.
Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform. Ryuko Matoi, the Human-Life Fiber hybrid. For the longest time, people have compared and contrasted these two characters, and they’ve become somewhat associated with each other. When you think ‘edgy character’ you usually think of either one of the two. So why not have them finally meet in the ring of Death Battle? Time to see which one of these redeemed ultimate weapons have what it takes to triumph over the other.
In Case You’re Wondering...
Warning, Kill la Kill has lots of explicit nudity throughout the entire show and there are several images and gifs that will be shown here in the blog. So if you aren’t comfortable with that sort of adult imagery, be warned that it will be featured quite prominently here.
Note as well that the main sources we will be focused on are the video games for Shadow and the anime for Ryuko. The manga and IDW comics will be used as secondary for supporting evidence, but we are excluding Archie comics and Kill la Kill: IF since those do not follow with the original materials. IF is a dream, anyway.
Without further ado, let’s see a highschool waifu (not legal™) fight a hedgehog.
Background
Shadow the Hedgehog
“If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have.”
Years ago, the brilliant Gerald Robotnik, grandfather to a mad scientist you may know as Dr. Eggman, was in a bind. As the head scientist of Project Shadow, operating from the orbital station coined the Space Colony ARK, he’d do anything to save his precious granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, from her fatal Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This ambitious operation to create “The Ultimate Lifeform” promised a benefit to all of humanity. But as it would turn out, it caused nothing but misery and disaster.
Gerald tried and tried, yet he couldn’t find a way to cure his sickly relative. In a move of pure desperation, he made a deal with Black Doom, the leader of a hive-mind alien race known as the Black Arms. The ominously named alien would hand over his DNA to complete the experiment, and in return requested the seven legendary Chaos Emeralds at a later date. With the puzzle pieces all put together, Shadow the Hedgehog was finally born.
Growing up on the ARK, he and Maria shared an incredibly close bond, and though it seemed her disease wouldn’t be cured, the future looked bright. That is, until Gerald’s illegal collaboration with Black Doom was exposed. G.U.N. (Guardian Units of Nations) quickly put an end to the project. They stormed the research facility, apprehended who they could, and in her rush to get Shadow into an escape pod, Maria was gunned down by an agent. As he watched his best friend perish before his very eyes, Shadow was instructed one last time by her to better the world.
Unfortunately, shortly before being executed for his crimes, Gerald had brainwashed Shadow to seek revenge. The hedgehog took on a burning hatred for humanity and a desire to see it destroyed. However, after being freed by Eggman and manipulated to help in his schemes, he met his ultimate rival: Sonic the Hedgehog. After a perilous adventure, he suddenly remembered Maria's dying wish. In a brief act of heroism, he sacrificed everything to ensure the world was safe. Fortunately, he survived this event and has since been a reoccurring foil to the Blue Blur. While he and Sonic are usually at odds, he's rarely benefited the villain and is usually the first to take action, with mixed results. Despite this, he's viewed as one of Sonic's most valued allies. His tragic past may have left him with a jaded heart, but he won’t back down when duty calls, and he has put the past behind him to serve the world as its guardian. By all accounts, Gerald Robotnik succeeded. (Except for the keeping Maria alive part)
Ryuko Matoi
“To hell with your opinion. I’ll take my own path no matter what anyone else says.”
Long ago, a scientist known as Ragyo Kiryuin decided to use her own newborn children as experiments by fusing them with alien lifeforms known as life fibers, parasitic lifeforms who gain sustenance by covering other beings and subsequently evolving them. Her firstborn daughter was deemed a failure, but was kept nonetheless. When testing them on her second daughter, the child had seemingly died and was thrown out like trash. However, unbeknownst to her, this girl had survived and was taken away in secret by her now ex-husband, who changed his face and identity to protect and prepare his daughter to defeat her. This girl was Ryuko Matoi.
While Ryuko’s father did love her, his need to focus on ways to stop Ragyo meant he had little time for her, sending her to a boarding school with little guidance. Having faced constant bullying throughout her school days, Ryuko became a delinquent with an attitude and edge, constantly getting into fights and growing tougher to the point of even joining her own gang.
Eventually, Ryuko received a letter from her father to come home, where she found him dead, impaled on a giant scissor blade, and a glimpse of his killer with the other half of the scissors in hand. With no clues of the murderer other than this weapon, she set out on a quest leading her to Honnouji Academy. There she met the leader of Honnouji, the cold and tyrannical Satsuki Kiryuin, who offered the secrets of her father’s death. After being overpowered by a student with a Goku uniform, she returned to the place where her father died. In the basement of the lab, a sentient sailor uniform forced itself onto Ryuko's body. This uniform was called Senketsu, and knew nothing of his past. With her new friend, Ryuko decided she would fight to defeat Satsuki, end her tyranny, and take revenge against the one who killed her dad.
Except that’s not how everything turned out. While Ryuko was busy butting heads with Satsuki’s elite quartet of high schoolers, the head of the school was plotting how to get rid of her mother. Ryuko would spend the next few weeks defeating every school club that challenged her, unknowingly getting more Life Fibers in the process. While battling the Elite Four, a mysterious woman named Nui claimed to be responsible for the murder of Ryuko's father. Blinded by rage, Ryuko almost lost her life, but was saved by her close friend and classmate Mako Mankanshoku. With a new purpose in mind, Ryuko set out alongside friends, old rivals, and even a dog, to take down Nui. However, she wasn't expecting Satsuki's mother, Ragyo, to reveal the truth about her past: that Ryuko is not only Satsuki's sister, but that she isn't even human. This realization crushed Ryuko mentally, so much so that she was brainwashed onto Ragyo's side for a while. Her hatred of who she was led her to blame humanity itself, only to again be rescued by her friends. Now more determined than ever to set things right, Ryuko only had one goal in mind: stop Ragyo Kiryuin from taking over the world. With everyone on Earth on her side, Ryuko was able to do just that, but sadly lost her closest companion in the process: Senketsu. With the world saved from hostile alien clothing, Ryuko went on to live a normal life with her newfound sister and possible closet girlfriend Mako. Her days as a badass scissor woman were over, but never forgotten.
Equipment
Shadow
Air Shoes
Shadow’s footwear provides him with not just a stylish pair of treads, but a surprisingly versatile armament in combat. The air shoes have multiple points of propulsion, allowing Shadow to hover in mid-air at will. Shadow can even increase the jet fire to a dangerous degree, complimenting his kicks in combat. It's also responsible for his blinding speeds.
Inhibitor Rings
More than a simple fashion statement, the Inhibitor Rings serve to limit Shadow’s use of Chaos energy. Despite this, Shadow can seemingly remove the inhibitors at any given time, allowing him full access to Chaos energy in a pinch.
While the amp he receives from losing the inhibitors is great, Shadow also seems to run out of power much faster than he otherwise would.
Guns
Throughout his own game, Shadow brandishes plenty of guns. Most of the weapons are made by GUN, Black Arms, or the Eggman Empire.
Cannons
Like guns, but with explosions:
Laser Weapons
Like guns, but with bullets made of extremely hot beams of light (and apparently Chao?):
Lock-On Weapons
Like guns, but the bullets chase you:
Vacuums
Like a gun, but your enemies become the bullets:
Close Combat Weapons
Fun fact about the samurai sword Shadow uses before we get to his close combat weapons; this sword is about 112 inches long after comparing it to Shadow’s height, making it longer than Sephiroth’s masamune, even with some of its more generous comparisons to Sephiroth’s height.
Anyway, much like his various guns, Shadow also uses a variety of close combat weapons made by GUN, Black Arms, and the Eggman Empire, as listed below:
Just about anything he can get his damn hands on (traffic signs, shovels, torches, etc…)
Elemental/Non Elemental Power-Ups
Fire: A power-up that either let’s Shadow shoot out a fireball that follows his enemies or a fiery shield that protects him, though the shield lasts for a limited time.
Ice: A power-up that either shoots an icy projectile that homes in on his foes or leaves a ice cube behind him, both of which freezes his enemies.
Lightning: A power-up that can be used to shock enemies in an instant, shoot a homing electric ball or leave a decoy ring behind him to paralysis his enemies. Can also perform similar techniques with the Storm Cloud ability.
Wind: A power-up that shoots or leaves a tornado behind Shadow in which shoots the enemy in the air.
Mine: Either drops an explosive mine or shoots a mine that tracks down the enemy.
Illusion: Leaves an illusory orb or shoots one out which follows his enemies and messes up the foe’s vision.
Chao
Shadow is capable of equipping himself with one chao in battle, consisting of:
Belgog: Makes Shadow harder to hit in combat.
Blayze: Increases the damage Shadow deals.
Churdle/Oldarg: Shadow has a better chance to hit opponents in battle.
Dusty: Makes it easier for Shadow to catch opponents who are running away.
Ferox: Shadow’s stronger POW moves are automatically guaranteed to be successful in regards to Shadow’s input.
Gibber: Shadow’s damage intake is greatly reduced.
Hayda/Joy: Increase Shadow’s health and stamina the longer the fight continues.
Ovus: Shadow is revived once when he dies in combat.
Radu/Luunan: Shadow’s health and stamina are increased beyond their usual limits.
Rugle: Increases Shadow’s luck in combat.
Spartoi: Shadow’s attacks have the potential to instantly KO an opponent.
Elemental Chao: Imbue Shadow’s attacks with the power of earth, ice, electricity, fire, wind, and water, or give him a shield composed of said elements
Buddies
Special partners Shadow can equip himself with in Sonic Runners and Sonic Runners Adventure, which allow Shadow a variety of benefits, including restoring his rings after taking damage, increasing the length of time he can use Color Powers, giving Shadow a magnetic effect for his rings and items, giving Shadow items or an omnidirectional nuke effect as he attacks foes continuously, speeding up Shadow’s perception of time, granting a one-time revival, redirecting damage after taking a hit, and damaging enemies outside of Shadow’s attack radius.
Wisps
In Team Sonic Racing, Shadow is capable of using the Wisps to combat opponents. These wisps, while mainly working alongside Sonic, have shown to be used by any Sonic character in combat. These wisps include:
Ivory Lightning: Allows Shadow to attack foes with lightning and temporarily stun them.
Orange Rocket: Allows Shadow to fire rocket projectiles at foes or turn into one himself.
Crimson Eagle: Allows Shadow to turn into a red flying creature that homes in on, and rams into targets.
White Wisps: Increases the amount of time that Shadow can boost.
Yellow Drill: Makes Shadow invincible as he boosts into enemies. It's powerful enough to drill through most surfaces.
Gray Quake: Makes stone blocks appear to obstruct the opponent.
Cyan Laser: Turns Shadow into a living beam of light that slams into enemies.
Red Burst: Leaves a flaming trail behind Shadow that causes opponents to spin out upon touching it.
Black Bomb: Allows Shadow to toss a bomb at foes which explodes, dealing heavy damage.
Blue Cube: Acts like a mine that stuns opponents when they hit it.
Jade Ghost: Makes Shadow invisible to everyone.
Magenta Rhythm: Temporarily blinds opponents, leaving them open to attack.
Dark Rider
Shadow’s iconic motorcycle from his own game. While it did start off as an average cycle in his game, Dark Rider would later be armed with two reloadable machine guns, and Shadow can boost its speed with Boost Dash.
Black Shot
The Black Shot is Shadow’s signature Extreme Gear in Sonic Riders Zero Gravity and Sonic Free Riders. The Extreme Gear are hoverboards made by the Robotnik Corporation and its co-producer company, the Accevive Corporation. These hoverboards are capable of not only semi-flight, but also speeds exceeding that of Sonic himself. Since it is fueled entirely by air somehow, it can use drafts and winds to further increase its own speeds, and dispel some fuel to create mini-tornadoes.
Gravity Band
Modeled after the Arks of the Cosmos, Shadow can use these bands to manipulate gravity, allowing him to maneuver himself in midair, pick up objects, throw them, and dive forward at hyper speed. Through massive manipulation of gravity, they can also appear to slow time down through gravitational time dilation. They’re also fueled by a black hole because yes.
Misc Items
Shadow has various items that he can use to give himself a leg up whilst in combat:
Shield: The shield is a common power-up throughout the Sonic series, that creates a semi-permanent energy shield around the user to protect them from a variety of attacks. However, whenever this shield is hit with any kind of attack, it completely dissipates, leaving the user vulnerable again.
Flame Ring: Equipping it allows Shadow to perform a fiery somersault that can break through metal.
Economizer/Refresher: Gives Shadow more stamina to use his stronger attacks for longer.
Angel Amulet: Allows Shadow to revive himself from death with a sliver of vitality.
Replenisher: Allows Shadow to slowly recover his health.
Immunity Idol: Makes Shadow immune to status conditions like weakening, sluggishness, drowsiness, poisoning, etc.
Kron Hammer: Greatly increases Shadow’s attack power.
Nocturne Blade: Channels the power of the Nocturnus Leech Blades, allowing Shadow to drain health from foes.
Spooky Charm: Induces fear in opponents, causing them to run away on occasion.
Voxai Teleporter: Drastically boosts Shadow’s defensive capabilities.
Antidote/Cure All Spray: Removes all of Shadow’s status ailments.
Clover Juice: Temporarily provides an enormous boost to Shadow’s luck.
Health Seed/Leaf/Root/Med Emitter: Planet products Shadow can smoke or vape in order to restore his health, and maybe get a bit of lung cancer on the side.
Pow Candy/Gum/Drink/Refresher Wave: Provide stamina restoration and diabetes to Shadow.
Psychic Water: Provides a temporary burst of intense premonition, making it easier for Shadow to dodge attacks.
Prune Juice: Provides a temporary massive attack boost to Shadow.
Speed Bar: Temporarily provides a massive boost to Shadow’s speed.
Ryuko
Scissor Blades
Ryuko’s main bread and butter weapon is her Scissor Blade sword. Originally created by Isshin Matoi, this blade is made from hardened life fibers, meaning it can cut through nearly any material, including other life fibers. It can also change in size and shape through life fiber manipulation by either Ryuko or Senketsu, shrinking to that of a normal pair of scissors for portability, or extending so large that it dwarfs even the massive Honnouji Academy in size. This makes it perfect for playing tennis.
Originally, Ryuko only possessed a single scissor blade, as the other blade was taken by Isshin’s killer, Nui Harime. But after defeating her in battle, Ryuko took back the other Scissor Blade for her own use. Not only does this allow her to dual wield in battle, but it also enables her to combine them into the Rending Scissors for cutting into anything from both sides. This is essential for her, as the only way to permanently destroy life fibers is to sever them in a manner that ensures the other side can’t heal as the other is cut.
Because of the Scissor Blades’ own ability to change its size and shapeshift, it has a wide variety of transformations:
Sword Scissor Decapitation Mode
This form for a single Scissor Blade increases the length of both the handle and the blade two-fold. Ryuko particularly uses this form quite often when performing sen-i-sosh-itsu.
Scissor Blade Final Address and Decommission Mode
The right blade undergoes its “Final Address Transformation” while the left blade goes into “Decommission Mode”. Despite the separate names, both transformations serve the exact same purpose of growing so damn big that they could probably be used to cut the entirety of Honnouji Academy in half on a whim. These can likely still be used as separate dual wield blades, but why do that when you can break the Guiness World Record for the largest pair of scissors?
Shrunken Scissor Blades
Much like how Ryuko and Senketsu can manipulate the life fibers in the Scissor Blades to make them grow, they can also make them shrink down to the size of regular scissors. This makes them less combat practical, but makes them easier to hold onto.
Senketsu
Created from a combination of Ryuko’s DNA and life fibers, Senketsu is a Kamui, a piece of clothing made entirely of life fibers that can enhance those who wear them. Because of his unique creation, Senketsu is a sentient being who can communicate with Ryuko, to formulate plans or simply argue that she’s starting to put on weight, along with being more in sync with her than other Goku Uniforms or Kamuis. While this doesn’t mean that others cannot use Senketsu should he allow them, they won’t be quite as powerful or synchronized as Ryuko. And should someone other than Ryuko try to wear it against his will, he can stiffen up to prevent them from moving altogether.
Abilities
Shadow
Spin Attack
Shadow is able to curl up into a ball to go through high speeds. With this, he’s able to bust through enemies like nothing and break through objects with ease.
Spin Dash
Shadow gets himself in a crouching position, then he curls up in a tight concessive ball and spins in place to build up momentum, after which, he launches himself forward at high speeds, destroying anything in his paths including Eggman’s Badniks, The Black Arms, and all sorts of physical obstacles.
Homing Attack
Shadow locks onto a nearby target and then instinctually rushes towards it in a way that allows him to home in on something even if it’s moving. This deals damage and allows him to navigate across dangerous terrain.
Shadow Boost
Shadow’s equivalent of Sonic’s iconic boost technique, allowing him to surge forward at blinding speeds and smash through any obstacles in his path.
Light Speed Dash
Allows Shadow to dash along a trail of rings at lightspeed to go to new areas.
Light Speed Attack
By possessing the Ancient Light, Shadow charges the spin dash while light is drawn to him and begins to envelop him. With this, he is able to attack at, you guessed it, the speed of light, destroying any enemies that he barrels towards in a heartbeat.
Black Tornado
Shadow spins around a target at high speed, forming a tornado that takes on his color as a result of spinning around so fast that he only leaves a black colored blur in his wake. This generates a wind that stuns opponents or knocks them on their back to make them easy targets.
Fire Somersault
With the Flame Ring on, Shadow somersaults forward coated in a fire, allowing him to destroy most common grunt enemies and metal objects with ease.
Chaos Control
Chaos Control is Shadow’s signature technique. Using the immense powers of Chaos, Shadow can warp space and time itself. Originally, he required at least one of the emeralds to do this, but soon enough, he acquired the latent ability to perform it. Chaos Control encompasses a variety of its own techniques.
First off, Chaos Control can warp space, allowing for instantaneous teleportation over varying distances. The more Chaos energy one is channeling, the larger the object they can teleport, and the further they can teleport it. With enough energy, one can even cross into alternate dimensions, seal opponents in other dimensions, or practically change reality itself.
Chaos Control also toys with time, allowing users to slow it down, or stop it completely. The user is not affected by this, so it leaves opponents wide open for attacks or a swift killing blow. Time travel is also possible when two users and two Chaos Emeralds are involved. It is even possible that Chaos Control bypasses time stop resistances, as characters normally resistant to the ability could still be stopped by Metal Overlord.
Shadow’s favorite uses of the technique are to outmaneuver foes with warps and freeze them in their tracks with time distortion. With this absurd power at his disposal, Shadow can remain untouched for an entire battle.
Chaos Spear
Chaos Spear channels Chaos energy into a spear-shaped projectile. Shadow can fire these arrows of destruction as single bolts or a stormy barrage. The more Chaos energy one channels, the more powerful the attack.
Chaos Lance
The upgraded version of Chaos Spear. Less commonly seen, as Shadow needs a specific item and Chaos Boost to use it, but it does pack more power and can paralyze victims.
Chaos Blast
Shadow’s most destructive Chaos power. This is a large shockwave of negative Chaos energy expelled from Shadow’s body, laying waste to any unfortunate soul caught in the blast. The explosion only becomes more devastating the more Chaos energy he channels. But, it can only go with to 20 yards at max.
Chaos Boost
Amplifies all of Shadow’s statistics. It also seemingly has the power to expel the darkness from Shadow’s body, given Mephiles is forced to remove itself from Shadow’s….well, shadow upon activation. It does have a time limit until it dries out and he will have to build up energy again.
Chaos Burst
With Chaos Control’s spatial manipulation, Shadow can distort the area around him to become untouchable to anybody in normal space, and spring a sudden attack.
Chaos Magic
Upon snapping his fingers, Shadow creates a harmful space-rift that launches opponents.
Roaming Chaos
Shadow shoots a small electric chaos ball that travels around, homing in on targets until it hits them.
Chaos Nightmare
Shadow clenches both fists at his side and channels Chaos energy into them, creating violet spheres around himself that knock his opponent back
Shadow Heal
Shadow can heal any damage he’s taken, presumably with positive Chaos energy. Though it does seem to require some level of focus, so performing this technique in a heated battle may be ill-advised.
Chaos Upper
Shadow knocks a foe into the air, allowing him to perform an air-combo on them while they’re helpless.
Shadow Guard
Allows Shadow to protect himself by forming a spherical barrier made of Chaos energy from any attacks.
Ichikoro
Upon storing enough energy, Shadow’s next attack can be fueled by the power of Ichikoro, acting as a one-hit kill against comparable foes.
Chaos Rift
Using Chaos energy, Shadow creates a rift in space and time before launching it at his opponent. Against most foes, this spatial rift is essentially an instant-win technique to banish his foes, though some particularly powerful entities can resist the Chaos Rift.
Chaos Arrow
Exclusive to his super form, Shadow fires a weaker rapid-fire version of the Chaos Spear. Though Shadow can charge up for a more powerful shot.
Spear of Light
An upgraded version of the Chaos Spear, where Shadow in his super form can shoot many smaller spears that stack up the damage arguably greater than the default version and home onto his enemies.
Chaos Dab
style on em shadow style on em
Ryuko
Senketsu Shapeshifting/Thread Manipulation
By manipulating the threads in Senketsu, Ryuko can essentially shapeshift him into a variety of forms and change his functionalities. This includes attaching his threads to her scissor blade to form a grapple, stitching them around the handguard of the blade to form a tennis racket, and sticking the spines of her skirt into the ground as an anchor.
Regeneration
Due to Ryuko’s unique nature as a fusion of Life Fibers and human DNA, she is capable of surviving wounds that an ordinary fighter would surely die from, and stitching herself back together. This has even allowed her to survive being cut almost completely in half by Ragyo, due to a single thread connecting Ryuko’s upper and lower halves. Ragyo herself, who has regen comparable to Ryuko’s, could survive decapitation and reattach her head for a similar reason. However, the regeneration can be negated by cutting the Life Fibers at the point of injury from both sides, or burning the fibers completely.
Senketsu Mubyoshi
When faced with the overwhelming power of Nonon Jakuzure’s sonic attacks, Ryuko learned to mentally put her mind at ease and put all her focus into harmonizing with the outside world’s noise, essentially turning herself into a tuning fork. With this connection established, Ryuko can project a counterattack noise blast by redirecting opposing energy back at the target.
Sen-i-sosh-itsu
Ryuko’s finishing move against most opponents, where she slices their garments into scraps, and absorbs the Life Fibers from them to increase her strength.
Sen-i-sosh-itsu: Graduation Final
An upgraded form of sen-i-sosh-itsu done while the Scissor Blades are in their Final Address and Decommission Mode respectfully. This makes use of its ridiculous size to bisect whatever is caught in its “snip”, even if it were far too big to realistically cut normally.
Transformations
Shadow
Hero Shadow
Activated upon Shadow performing enough actions considered “heroic”, or possessing emotions related to justice or heroism predominantly. While in this state, Shadow is totally invincible, has infinite ammunition with his guns, and can use Chaos Control to either travel massive distances in a flash, or slow down time. However, it does have a time limit, and upon reaching it Shadow will revert to his base form.
Dark Shadow
Provides much of the same benefits as Hero Shadow, with the exception of swapping Chaos Control with Chaos Blast to produce an omnidirectional explosion when evil acts are committed. Feeling greater degrees of vengeful thought or performing more malicious actions will extend the time Shadow remains in this form.
Super Shadow
Like so many characters in the Sonic franchise, Shadow can unlock a super form once he collects all 7 of the rainbow-colored MacGuffins known as the Chaos Emeralds. Once Shadow becomes Super Shadow, he temporarily becomes even faster and stronger than he already was and is protected by a golden aura that makes him completely invincible. It does have a time limit to where he goes back to his form once his rings are all used up, but Shadow can collect more rings to extend the timer. Even in this form, Shadow is still capable of transforming into his Hero and Dark forms.
Ryuko
Senketsu Base Form
When Senketsu is fed a steady supply of Ryuko’s blood, he can transform into a powerful armor that enhances her speed, strength, and defense. The armor’s composition of life fibers makes it deceptively durable and can absorb the life fibers of any defeated wearers of Goku Uniforms in order to enhance Senketsu’s own power. However, due to Ryuko’s initial embarrassment at having to wear the scantily clad armor, it meant that Senketsu could initially only last for a few minutes at most. Ryuko herself is also capable of evolving in power and speed in the face of extreme danger and great pain, a power that only grows in effectiveness the more Senketsu adapts.
Senketsu Fully Synchronized
After some words from her rival Satsuki to accept her pride and encouragement from her friend Mako to get naked, Ryuko was able to move past the initial humiliation of her outfit and properly synchronize with Senketsu. In this form, her speed, strength, and longevity are dramatically increased, able to keep pace with tougher foes for far longer. It also allows her to access more of Senketsu’s capabilities through his natural ability to shapeshift, from using a jet thruster in the back for increased speed and venting excess heat, grappling hooks formed from the threads of Senketsu and his teeth, and recreating more of Senketsu’s cloth for throwing out scraps of hardened fabric or simply creating a mass large enough to trap and cover an opponent. And using this ability to shapeshift, Senketsu can adapt to a variety of situations and transform into alternate forms. Later, this became Senketsu True Life Fiber Synchronized, making it even more powerful.
Senketsu: Senjin
Created in Ryuko’s battle with Ira Gamagoori, this form covers Ryuko entirely in blades for offensive purposes, allowing her to surprise any unfortunate enemies who have her in their grip and shred through any defensive options, while applying some more defense to herself. The blades covering her body can also constantly move in a motion similar to a chainsaw, to act as a constantly active offense to anyone up close.
Senketsu: Shippu
Created in Ryuko’s battle with Nonon Jakuzure, Senketsu Shippu turns Ryuko’s skirt into a pair of jet engines and Senketsu’s eyes into wings for flight. This greatly boosts Ryuko’s mobility, allowing her to close in for faster attacks and enough power to redirect missiles with her bare hands.
Senketsu: Senjin Shippu
A combination of Senketsu: Senjin and Senketsu: Shippu, turning Ryuko into a flying buzzsaw of destruction.
Berserk Mode
Upon seeing the face of her father’s killer, Nui Harime, for the first time, and discovering her sinister secret, Ryuko was overcome with so much blind fury that Senketsu began feeding on exorbitant amounts of her blood, reshaping Ryuko into a monstrous new form. In this state, Ryuko loses almost all sense of reason, merely thrashing around and destroying all who approach her with reckless abandon, as ceaseless tides of blood appear all around. However, Ryuko can be pacified with the power of friendship.
Senketsu: Kisaragi
Ryuko’s ultimate form, gained by absorbing the life fibers of everyone in her vicinity. In this form, Ryuko’s power, speed, durability, and regenerative capabilities are greatly enhanced, and her reactive power level becomes more potent, allowing her to evolve to greater peaks in power to match Ragyo’s capabilities.
It also looks suspiciously like Shadow’s super form, which looks suspiciously like a Super Saiyan. Suspicious.
Feats
Shadow
Overall
Fought through a legion of G.U.N soldiers
Held his own in combat against Silver the Hedgehog
While recovering from a weakened state, gave a good fight to Emerl with 6 Chaos Emeralds & the fighting patterns of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and Cream; later fought on par with Emerl alongside Sonic when Emerl had 7 Emeralds
Helped Sonic defeat Imperator Ix and the Nocturnus Clan
Defeated Mephiles the Dark and even fought against his clones
Defeated Iblis, who was capable of burning the world’s surface to ash, and the Ifrit, who could perform a similar feat
Harmed Metal Madness, a far superior version of Metal Sonic, alongside Team Dark
Defeated the Biolizard, the first prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform
In his super form and with Super Sonic’s help, defeated the Final Hazard and sacrificed himself to save Earth.
In his super form, defeated Black Doom’s form, Devil Doom
In his super form and with Super Sonic and Silver’s help, defeated Solaris
Stomped Infinite back when the latter didn’t wield the Phantom Ruby
Has defeated many of Eggman’s robots, including mechs powered by Eggman himself
Power
Can flip large buses and trucks
Can smash metal, rubble, large doors, stone structures, and large machines
Fought on par with Seven Chaos Emeralds Emerl, who was stated by Gerald Robotnik to be capable of destroying planets; also likely superior to Ultimate Emerl, who had absorbed some of the energy of the Final Egg Blaster that destroyed a star cluster
Superior to enemies amplified by a single Chaos Emerald, which are capable of moving continents (1.4 Yottatons of TNT)
Wields the power of one Chaos Emerald; 6 Chaos Emeralds together could power the Eclipse Cannon, which p̶i̶s̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶o̶n̶ destroyed part of the moon (10.86-43.42 exatons of TNT per Emerald)
The Eclipse Cannon is also stated to pierce stars numerous times by Black Doom (3.967 ninatons of TNT)
On par with Sonic, and more powerful than him when the rings come off; Sonic has:
Blew up a mountain (200 tons of TNT, Multi-City Block Level)
Broken off a stalactite in a fight with Metal Sonic (200 kilotons of TNT)
Matched Perfect Chaos, who channels the negative energy of all 7 Chaos Emeralds; this puts it comparable to the Eclipse Cannon
Fought Dark Gaia in base form; this form of Dark Gaia was far superior to how it was when it broke open the planet (7.2 yottatons of TNT)
Should reasonably scale to Sonic and Silver’s super forms
His Super Form should logically be superior to Eggman’s Final Egg Blaster, which can destroy entire star clusters in seconds (5.7 exafoe)
Wields the full power of the Chaos Emeralds in his Super Form, which should be comparable to the full power of the Sol Emeralds; the Sol Emeralds are capable of merging universes
Comparable to Super Sonic, who fought evenly with the Egg Wizard with the Power of the Stars (who could sustain parallel dimensions), the Egg Salamander (which was set to tank the collision of Sonic and Blaze’s dimensions), and the Time Eater (who could erase time and space on a universal scale)
Fought Solaris and destroyed its light shells and consciousness. Solaris was capable of destroying all existing timelines and dimensions in Sonic’s history. This possibly extends to the 326 alternate pathways in Shadow the Hedgehog, as well as Maginaryworld, a dimension consisting of everyone’s dreams manifested as physical worlds, which Eggman was aware of when making the statement.
Likely comparable to Base Erazor Djinn, who had absorbed significant portions of the energy of the Arabian Nights universe when he fought Sonic, and restored the universe while in a weakened state
Speed
Can create tornadoes
Maneuvered through a circuit when turned into lightspeed particles
Collected one of the Chaos Emeralds after Solaris flung them “to the distant corners” of the distorted world he was in (a time-space rift).
While he has even admitted that Sonic is ultimately faster than him, he still regularly keeps up with the Blue Blur, who:
Can boost 9 times faster than the lightspeed dash as his weaker Unleashed self
Can “accelerate through time” with speed alone, though this may have been possible due to being in White Space, a timeless void
Flew so fast when fighting Mother Wisp that stars appeared as a blur (38,555 c)
Flew to a dimensional rift created by the merge between Sonic and Blaze’s dimensions to fight the Egg Salamander
Traveled to the Nonaggression Zone in seconds as Super Sonic
Nonaggression is described as an unknown region of space and is represented as a multicolored area, potentially making it a nebula
Should be at least comparable to the attack speed of the Final Egg Blaster in his super form, due to fighting enemies that are far superior to any technology Eggman has created on his own (18.77 billion c)
Superior to Metal Sonic in Sonic 4 Episode 2, who traveled from Little Planet to Earth in seconds (15-72 c)
Kept up with and tagged Solaris, a being who exists across all of time and needed to be damaged at all points of time he existed at once to be beaten
Durability
Survived a fall from the ARK to the Earth (as shown in the above image)
Regularly matches up with Sonic who:
Threw a small rock with enough force to destroy the Egg Mobile
Along with three other people, can stop a moving train
Knocked over the 250 ton Egg Golem with a single kick
Along with Tails & Knuckles, destroyed several ships in the Egg Fleet
Along with Knuckles, created an explosion that took out the 755,000 ton Egg Makan
As Super Sonic, destroyed several ships in Eggman’s space armada
As Super Sonic, damaged Dark Gaia’s massive hand
Can take blows from Knuckles, someone stronger than Sonic, and Mephiles, who’s killed the Blue Blur
Resisted the effects of Diablon’s antimatter cannon, only being damaged physically
Super Form can tank hits from the Egg Wizard, which is powered by the Power of The Stars
Super Form can survive hits from Solaris, who can destroy timelines
Ryuko
Overall
Found and defeated the killer who murdered her father
Defeated many club presidents at Honnouji Academy, including the boxing club president Takahara Fukuroda, the tennis club president Omiko Hakodate, and many other miscellaneous minor characters
Defeated three of the Elite Four, who were some of the most powerful Goku uniform users at Honnouji
Stalemated Satsuki during the Tri-City School Raid Trip
Overcame Ragyo’s mind-stitching and defeated Nui Harime, reclaiming the second scissor blade
Helped to almost destroy the Primordial Life Fiber
Saved the Earth from being blown up by Life Fibers, absorbing Shinra Koketsu defeating Ragyo Kiryuin in the process
Helped stop the Honnouji Defense Apparatus, which was created to defend against the PLF
Easily defeated a clone of Satsuki Kiryuin
Power
Without Senketsu, she smacks down seven one-star students effortlessly
Throws a man from the schoolyard to the top of the school building
Sent Nonon’s mech crashing down (19:10)
In her Berserk Mode, managed to create massive explosions in her fight with Satsuki (1.4 gigatons of TNT)
Without Senketsu, using only air pressure, cut through a skyscraper from hundreds of meters away
Could harm Nui & COVERS; the former said she’d sink the S.S. Naked Sun and the latter caused damage to it (1.78 Petatons of TNT)
In her Kisaragi form, she dispersed a massive hole in Ragyo’s Life Fiber Cocoon over Japan (At least 31 Exatons of TNT)
Speed
Kept up with Ira Gamagoori who could swing a student across Honnouji Academy (Mach 170.33)
Sliced dozens upon dozens of tennis balls into strings (15:08) (0.0102-0.21c)
In Shippu, flew fast enough to dodge and catch up to Symphony Regalia’s missiles (4:40)
Produced many explosions in quick succession while Berserk in her fight against Satsuki
Blitzed Nui after taking off Junketsu (5:50)
After getting cut in half by Ragyo was able to regenerate under the ocean and fly up the height of the primordial life fiber without being noticed
Kept up with Mako, who could easily catch cards flying at Supersonic speeds.
Flew from the Earth’s surface into the outer atmosphere in a few seconds
Durability
Survived ripping off Satsuki’s Kamui, which had been stitched onto her body; despite losing massive amounts of blood, Ryuko remained conscious (this feat is likely helped somewhat by her regenerative capabilities, but she still withstood the pain and blood loss)
Tanked a beating from Fight Club Uniform Mako for almost a day. Mako was capable of creating a massive crater (4.208-13.052 kilotons of TNT)
Was still conscious after a brutal beating by Mark 2 Goku Uniform Sanageyama
Survived Nonon’s incredibly loud music, which could affect an entire stadium
Tanked Symphony Regalia’s musical explosions with no visible damage
Survived having her heart ripped out of her chest by Ragyo
Survived a massive explosion that destroyed a dome (52.58 megatons-1.15 petatons of TNT)
Survived being cut in half by Ragyo. Both halves fell into the ocean separately and she was only able to regenerate because her life fibers weren’t completely cut
Took plenty of nasty beatings from Satsuki and Ragyo
Fell from orbit after defeating Ragyo and fell most of the way down in her birthday suit; Senketsu did not make the trip
Weaknesses
Shadow
Shadow’s claim as the Ultimate Life Form is a bit of a misnomer in the Sonic series. Besides the fact that he’s been bested by the likes of Sonic multiple times throughout and has never really beaten him back (except that time when he fought Sonic and Diablon but). While Super Shadow is an incredibly powerful boost, it can only last for a few minutes at most without a steady supply of power rings to keep it going. Granted, this usually is more than enough time to take out whatever he’s fighting, but once that Super Form is gone, Shadow will have a very difficult time getting it back. However, he can seemingly collect rings from some source as seen in his battle against the Biolizard and Solaris.
Shadow’s own past has also haunted him throughout his existence, whether it be due to the amnesia he once had or just remembering the events that happened aboard the ARK itself. As such, it’s caused him to second guess his actions and leads to him getting in even more trouble than he already was before.
Most importantly, Shadow has a history of underestimating his opponents recently. You'd think after how his last two Death Battles went that he wouldn't do that a third time, but he doesn't want to hear it. Shadow firmly believes he can handle everything by himself, and it goes about as well as you'd expect it to. This has led to him getting stuck in situations like getting mind controlled, losing to inferior opponents, and nearly causing whatever villain Sonic’s trying to stop to end up winning.
But the worst part of all: Shadow still can not find that damn fourth Chaos Emerald to this day.
Ryuko
Senketsu is powered by Ryuko feeding him her blood, which could negatively impact her performance in the long term. Even with her regeneration, using Senketsu still has a time limit. Ryuko also has a tendency to rush headfirst into danger, which results in her sometimes falling victim to traps and unavoidable damage.
Much like her opponent, Ryuko often looks down on her foes and underestimates them often. Because of this, she has a handful of losses on her record that could have easily been avoided. Also, while she can't be killed by normal means, Senketsu can be removed by force, leaving her with much less options than before (also she'd be naked and that's pretty embarrassing).
But perhaps her rotten temper is what holds her back the most. During her first fight with Nui, her lust for revenge was so great that it made her go Berserker Mode. This form lacks her skills, speed and stamina, as it drains her blood much faster than before. While she has sworn to never use that form again, there's no guarantee that her rage won't get the better of her in the case of a one on one fight to the death.
Kill la Kill is also not for good boys and girls.
Summary
Shadow the Hedgehog
Advantages:
Base form is stronger, faster, and tougher than even Ryuko’s max potential, and Super forms increase this gap even further
Is far superior in terms of long-ranged combat
More experienced
Better array of hax
Has a much wider arsenal of weapons
Is an overall more pragmatic strategist than Ryuko, albeit not by a massive amount
Super Shadow is actually standard
Disadvantages:
Inferior regeneration and pain tolerance
Most of his weaponry isn’t quite as good as the Scissor Blade
Releasing inhibitor rings exhausts him exceedingly quickly
Likely less skilled with melee weaponry
Super form has a time limit
If Ryuko targets & successfully destroys his air shoes, he could lose much of his speed
Already killed by a comically oversized weapon once before
Ryuko Matoi
“Deal with it, cause this is WHO I AM!”
Advantages:
Superior regeneration and pain tolerance, which can allow her to walk off and even heal serious injuries; Nothing but reduction to mush and any destruction beyond that can put her down
Scissor Blade is superior to most of Shadow’s weaponry
Most likely more skilled with melee weaponry
Due to her targeting clothing, it’s possible that Ryuko can cut off the source of a large portion of Shadow’s movement speed
Kisaragi could possibly match Shadow’s base form in power
Kisaragi possibly doesn’t have a time limit
Reactive power level could decrease any gaps in power and speed by a small amount
Disadvantages:
Clearly bested in all relevant stats, even in Kisaragi, which can allow Shadow to overtax her healing factor with ease
Duped of any chance at being FTL thanks to Inumuta
Comes up extremely short in versatility & powers
No real answer to counter long range combat, time stops, or battlefield removal
Much less experience & training on her own
Could possibly enter her Berserk state in the fight, which would decrease the level of strategy she could use in combat to nothing
Kisaragi is not standard
Nor is her game, Kill la Kill: IF, applicable here at all
Might accidentally cut off Shadow’s Inhibitor Rings :monkaS:
Verdicts
Phantom Falcon
(Expect 3 more KLK PFP’s. We’re not biased I swear
My 3rd most wanted matchup. Two characters I love a lot. It’s all finally happening, and I couldn’t be more hyped. It’s Ryuko’s most thematic matchup and Shadow’s 2nd most (Mewtwo is prolly still at the top), and I have faith DB can make this episode the best it can be. Luis and others are really hyping up the fight here. The sheer excitement is piercing the heavens, and I’m overjoyed I can give my verdict on this one. Working on this blog has been an absolute ride and I want to thank my friends for helping with that. Y’all are the real ones. I’m going to go through each of their stats, abilities, everything to the best of my ability and give them both the respect they deserve. Now, with all that out of the way,
Shadow the Hedgehog
How strong is Base Shadow?
In terms of direct feats, Shadow has destroyed rather large meteors, plowed through Mephiles’ clone army, destroyed an entire Metarex fleet, and managed to stop the Biolizard’s collision with Earth. All of these are fine and dandy, but they don’t come close to how strong the Ultimate Lifeform can be with scaling. Chaos Emeralds have shown multiple multi-continent to even planetary level capabilities, including, but not limited to, a single Chaos Emerald moving a continent back into place, 6 Chaos Emeralds powering up the Eclipse Cannon, which pissed on the moon, and more. All of this is notable because Shadow wields a single Chaos Emerald with him and can draw power from it, and he’s defeated multiple enemies powered by a single one of these fuckers. The Eclipse Cannon even has statements of piercing stars (though haha Hoshi debate so I’ll keep it on the sidelines for now).
How Strong is Super Shadow
Oh boy
Okay so I’ll start with the bare minimum here at least. Super Shadow should at absolute bare minimum be large planet, via Dark Gaia breaking apart the planet, and even accounting for surface area or volume, he would at least be very high into the moon/small planetary ranges of power. However, as I said, this would still be the lowest he can get. On higher (and more reasonable imo) ends, he easily gets into the stellar ranges of power. The Final Egg Blaster can destroy entire star clusters in seconds, which would require bare minimum star level destructive power, and even up to solar system level. But this is far from the highest arguments from Shadow. Time to address the big elephant in the room. And I mean a universe-sized one
Is universal Super Forms fine?
I would say yes
First off, Solaris’ infamous timeline shenanigans is pure AP, no way around it. It’s outright stated the dude eats timelines like a happy meal, and that sure doesn’t sound hax related to me. There’s also the fact that Super Shadow, Silver, and Sonic were all capable of surviving blows from Solaris, which would mean their durability scales to Solaris’ destructive powers. The Sol Emeralds were capable of merging entire universes together, and the Power of the Stars could maintain the existence of 2 parallel universes. Those last two are admittedly pretty contentious but Solaris should be as clear cut as it gets imo
Didn’t Sonic and co only fight a weakened version of Solaris?
Not really. In the second phase of the fight, Eggman outright states that it’s Solaris’ physical consciousness their fighting. This “unanchored” form of Solaris, if you will, is the one doing the whole universal stuff, and therefore, Super Sonic and Super Shadow would scale to his destructive capacity
How fast is Shadow
Shadow is around lightspeed to FTL in base form. He outright has a feat of maneuvering through a circuit while moving at lightspeed, and scaling to Sonic, he can outrun other lightspeed attacks like the Cyan Laser, which is most definitely lightspeed. It reflects off solid surfaces, including prisms, move in a straight line, and are even flat out stated to move at lightspeed. So decently consistent for the Black Blur to be at this level of speed
Super Shadow is a bit controversial, given how a lot of his speed scaling is pretty sus among(us) the community. And I kinda have to agree with them. Well, sort of. The Final Egg Blaster I think you can have the best argument for it scaling, given how Eggman considered Metal Overlord his strongest creation, which was after Sonic Battle came out. Kind of dubious but eh. Non-Aggression Zone seems to be MFTL but I can’t really say it is in good confidence, given how immediately after the fight, Sonic...falls down to Earth in like a few seconds. If he was really as far as a goddamn nebula, that wouldn’t happen. Even then, Sonic final bosses have a lot of cosmic space like backgrounds, even in Mania or Secret Rings. I’m not too comfortable putting that much stock in it when a series is known for having backgrounds like that in epic final battles. That said, Super Forms should upscale exponentially from FTL-FTL+, albeit to an unquantifiable extent. I’ll give MFTL+ to Shadow for a bit of a high-end estimate
Does fighting Solaris put Shadow at immeasurable
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot really. Solaris is one you can probably put at semi-omnipresence, given how he exists in the past, present, and future. Thing is, Shadow wouldn’t scale to that. It’s a key plot point that in order to put Solaris down, they need to fight him at separate points in time, and attack and defeat him at the same time. If Shadow or Sonic were really immeasurable in speed, I feel like that whole thing wouldn’t really be necessary? Like at all? The game itself completely contradicts that notion. I’d be much safer with the previous speed values I put above, as their far more clear cut and at least less sus than this.
What abilities does Shadow have?
Due to having the power of the Chaos Emeralds, Shadow has long raged attacks with Chaos Spear, a huge “fuck you” AoE blast with Chaos Blast, and a time stop with Chaos Control, which can be a huge advantage in a fight. He also has BFR with Chaos Rift, as well as sealing. So good haxxy options for a fight
Alright, I think that clears things up for Shadow. Let’s get started on best girl
Ryuko Matoi
How strong is Ryuko
Kill La Kill is one of the flashiest anime out there, and part of that is due to the insanity of the feats some of the characters can pull off, and Ryuko is certainly no exception. She can cut down buildings with just the sheer air pressure of her swings even without her trusty sailor uniform, Senketsu, and lift up GIGANTIC SCISSOR BLADES, powerful enough to slice apart the S.S Naked Sol and the Honoji Academy Death Machine, a monster of power. And she’s even tougher too, given how she survived having her goddamn heart ripped out by best mother in the world, Ragyo Kiryuin, and survived the explosion of Honoji Academy’s gigantic dome, which the kinetic energy for it can get up to the petatons of TNT, which is solidly continental level. Worth noting her sister Satsuki managed to survive this same explosion while practically naked.
Scaling wise, as I mentioned above, she could damage the S.S Naked Soul. Why is this important? Well, the Naked Sol managed to pierce the Primordial Life Fiber, which could survive planetary explosions. While surface area definitely cucks the durability of it from being truly planet level, my pal Migue still managed to get 1.7 petatons for it, which is remarkably consistent with the dome KE. Even bit feats like Ryuko in her Berserk state alongside Satsuki creating dust explosions can get up to the gigaton ranges for KE (dust be dense af lmao). While I do think the form is non-standard, Kisaragi is most certainly being used for that sweet juicy golden super form clash in the episode, so might as well mention it. Kisaragi Ryuko would just unquantifiably upscale farther from the Primordial Life Fiber, enough to possibly be in the multi-continent ranges of power
Isn’t Kisaragi moon-planet though?
I hate you Cyber
To my utter dismay, I unfortunately...can’t feel comfortable putting Ryuko at that level. The main feat where this comes from is from Ryuko making a hole in the Cocoon Sphere Genesis, which can get calc’s up the exatons and even low zettaton ranges.
There’s a few problems
-We see the cocoon begin to form, but are never shown or told that it finished forming.
-We literally see Ryuko fly through the cocoon and she doesn't destroy or displace any of it in that scene. This is probably the most damning point. If she punched a hole through it by flying through, as is often assumed, we would have seen that when she flew through.
-The hole is shrinking as Ryuko and Ragyo are talking/fighting. This supports the idea that the cocoon was still in the process of forming. The hole is the last part that still hasn't formed yet, but it's forming as the confrontation unfolds.
-Ragyo's dialogue supports the idea that the cocoon isn't completely formed yet. "Mankind's fusion into clothing can no longer be stopped". "Can't be stopped" implies the process is ongoing.
-Senketsu telling Ryuko “We’re running out of time” implies the cocoon hasn’t formed completely yet as well
There’s unfortunately far too many inconsistencies in the feat for me to comfortably say I’m okay with it. For every minor point you can make towards Ryuko making the hole, there’s at least two arguments against it. Shame she can’t be that strong but it is what it is
Can Ryuko still be at that level?
Probably. The simulation by Inamuta for the planetary destruction can get up to very high into moon level for the PLF surviving it. Whether you want to use it is up you, though I’d probably say nah, since the process is clearly depicted as much faster in the simulation than in real time
How fast is Ryuko
The tennis ball feat at the beginning of the series is at bare minimum MHS+, and can get up to sub-relativistic. The high end assuming Ryuko cut it into strings is around 20% lightspeed. While that end is debatable admittedly (it’s likely they burst into strings since the thing connecting them was likely cut, given how life fibers strings given how life fibers work, as in, she likely cut the thread connecting them), but I’ll give it to Ryuko as a benefit of the doubt. Now, you’d imagine because of the huge blitzing chain in the series, Ryuko would logically be faster than light, right?
Inamuta is a bitchass motherfucker
Inamuta’s statement alone cucks any potential FTL feat in KLK, which are dubious at best. The 110 million tennis balls not only is most likely hyperbole (110 million tennis balls would cover the entire arena they were on), but the result getting into MFTL would be an outlier for the series. Ryuko and Ragyo’s supposed galactic travel in the final fight is so hilariously just visual flair that taking it seriously is dubious at best. So at best, we can only say Ryuko is relativistic+ with the benefit of the doubt.
How good is Ryuko and Life Fiber regeneration
Pretty solid. Ryuko’s best regenerative feat would be surviving being completely cut in half and repairing herself. However, due to the fact that both Nui Harime and Ragyo have life fibers in their body, we can reasonably scale Ryuko’s regenerative capabilities to them, which is good enough to heal from impalement and even being decapitated. I’ve heard arguments that Life Fiber regeneration is on the sub-atomic level because of how even basic ones could survive planetary destruction. The issues with this are as follows. But this completely ignores the context in the final episode, in which Ragyo destroying her heart managed to kill her. I know some argued that she only died because she had her life fibers absorbed by Senketsu’s recently awakened absorption powers, but she very visibly still had life fibers in her body, making that argument pretty weak. So we’re solidly looking at mid-high regeneration for Ryuko
Is Kill La Kill IF usable?
Kill La Kill IF is the video game adaptation of the anime, but it differs from it later on in. Drastically so, in where Junketsu literally warps reality and makes Satsuki’s dream of her ideal world “tangible”. The Primordial Life Fiber was going to destroy this universe Junketsu made, and Ryuko in her Kisaragi form was capable of matching and defeating it.
How I wish this was fine lol
For starters, the big elephant in the room is that this all took place in a dream world, meaning Ryuko’s capabilities in the real world wouldn’t scale in the slightest. But even besides that, Ryuko, in order to match the PLF, had to absorb life fibers across multiple parallel dimensions to even match it, and time at that point was heavily in flux, which likely helped her absorb that many life fibers. She realistically can’t do that normally, especially when she has never once shown such absurd range and absorption capabilities in the real world. Even if all of these were possible to be replicated in the dream world, Ryuko needed FAR MORE life fibers than the amount she absorbed in the final episode to even reach that level of universal power, and it was only capable of doing that because of a certain scenario in the dream world. Ryuko normally has literally 0 chance of accomplishing such an absurd feat or even come close to reaching those levels of power in the real world. Kill La Kill IF is quite literally inapplicable for any of Ryuko’s fights
Who do I think wins
Before I start, I just want to go on a mini-tangent I guess
Kill La Kill means a lot to me as a piece of fiction, and it’s helped me make some friends I’d consider the best I’ve ever known. Glorious animation, amazing music, a lovable cast, a compelling plot, it has everything I love in an anime. And Sonic means a lot to me too. I remember watching the Sonic Boom cartoon with my dad every weekend as it was airing, so it has a soft spot for that. But even then, while the series has been in some rocky roads recently, I will still love and support this franchise. A bright and unique cast of characters, a fantastic soundtrack, great gameplay, etc. There’s a reason why Sonic is considered one of the best gaming franchises out there. I hold both of these franchises near and dear to my heart, and Shadow and Ryuko are my favorite characters in their respective series. Their story and struggles are compelling, and I always have a big dumb grin on my face whenever I see them on screen. That’s one of the main reasons as to why I love this matchup. I want both of these characters I adore to have the best damn episode possible, and this is the perfect one for both of them. It has fantastic connections, great animation potential, utter god tier music potential (as I finished this, the track is already out, it’s a fucking banger), it has everything I love in a fight, and I’m beyond happy that I managed to work on it with the best group of friends I could ask for in this fight (Js, Homie, Migue, and Hyper? Y’all fucking rule.). I just wish it was more debatable
Let’s go into every possible scenario with their stats and abilities locked down now
-Shadow in his Super Form would bare minimum be high exatons to low zettatons if you decide to account for surface area/volume in the Dark Gaia calc, while Kisaragi, giving it the benefit of the doubt, would be capable of matching that level of power. However, due to Inamuta being the dick he is, even if Ryuko was literally 99% the speed of light, Shadow in his base form alone outspeeds this casually, so you can imagine how much faster Super Shadow would be. Couple that with superior abilities and Chaos Blast, and Shadow would have enough to overcome Ryuko’s regeneration
-Super Shadow would be large planet level scaling to Dark Gaia without taking surface area into account, in which case, Ryuko wouldn’t be able to land a dent on Shadow, while Shadow can turn her into a pile of mush with just a single punch
-Assuming you scale Kisaragi’s full potential to the simulation end of the CSG, she’d maybe reach dwarf star? Lol? But even then, Super Shadow would scale to the Final Egg Blaster blowing up multiple star systems and Solaris, which is far more clear cut and direct, and he goes back to AP stomping.
-Let’s ignore Inamuta’s statement and take the 110 million serves and the “galaxy travel” 100% literally. Ryuko wouldn’t be able to outlast Super Shadow, as he has a time stop, and it gives him the perfect opportunity to one-shot Ryuko
-Using Kill La Kill IF for whatever fucking reason, they’d probably be even in AP at their highest interpretations (Universal+ vs Universal+ to low multiversal), but Shadow’s time stop, BFR, range, AoE, etc. give him enough to win
You can probably see where I’m going with this
No matter what you do, Shadow wins. He’s consistently far stronger, far tougher, far faster, more experienced, has far better range, and is infinitely more versatile than Ryuko can ever hope to achieve. Even with her potent regeneration, it doesn’t matter when Shadow can turn her into atoms with a single hit, or send her into another dimension. She’s probably more skilled in close combat, but Shadow is no slouch in that category either, and as I’ve said, has way better range than Ryuko. Time stop is an insta-win, Wisps allow him to turn invisible and stun/blind Ryuko or even deconstruct her body, etc... As much as I wish I could make this close, there’s just no way around it.
Shadow will prove once and for all that he is the True Ultimate Lifeform
(Thanks to everyone who made this blog enjoyable. You guys are the best)
Oh, and before I go, have some good friends. That’s all for now, see ya later
Hyperstarman
(This battle plus Pyra in smash has made a lot of my friends happy, I’m glad for them.)
So Yoda vs King Mickey was a baller first episode to the season and really set a strong start for this big year of death battle, I really loved the ending especially. It really got me in Star Wars mood and I look forward to all the new releases for the series.
Now for this battle and ohhhh man, this is a big one. I know a good amount of people who wanted it and didn’t want it for various reasons but here it is. I will say I was in the group of people who really wanted this as all of Ryuko’s ideas didn’t seem that interesting to me. And we got Kill la Kill in Death Battle now and I know a certain someone Phantom Falcon who’s really happy to see them here. They also introduced me to Kill la Kill and it was an enjoyable experience that I’ll remember for a good while. This is also Shadow’s third runback after his previous appearances which were less than stellar to put it simply. I also recently got to appreciate Shadow more as a character when I looked back in his earlier days and grew to actually like him now which made me really look forward to this even more. This episode to me has a lot of expectations riding on it more than your average episode for several reasons. I’ve heard people’s issues with this match and a frequent one was it was a stomp and, well ye it is.
I’m not gonna beat around the bush here, Shadow very easily wins this. Ryuko in her highest form which isn’t even standard gets her to Planet which could only possibly match Shadow’s power in his base form which doesn’t even mean much as Ryuko gets blitzed no matter what due to Inumuta’s statement making it impossible for Ryuko to be FTL or higher. Shadow also has time stops with Chaos control, more experience, more versatile and factor in his super form which is standard places Shadow at a Universal level makes it basically impossible for Ryuko to win this.
So yeah I can get it not being that interesting to discuss but there’s more to this outside of just the debate aspect. A friend of mine, Gumballviking, who’s a fan of the matchup said that if it’s thematic enough and the characters can work off of each other more than their other ideas, then it can justify the stompy nature of it which I agree with. I’d prioritize it being a cool idea that has merit to it over being an interesting debate any day. On top of that, it’s the first rep for not just Kill la Kill but Studio Trigger and depending on how it’s received, we could see characters like Simon from Gurren Laggan in the future. This is also important for Shadow as his last two appearances really didn’t do the character justice so this is most likely their last chance to have good representation on the show. I’ve grown to appreciate these characters more by my friends around me and change my opinion on aspects I used to dislike about them. So I want this to do well so I can see these characters I grew to like now get a fair shot and satisfy those who are excited for it, those who have concerns for it and especially the lads that got me into this match.
So yeah while this a one sided win for Shadow, I have hope that this episode will do really well and give justice for these ultimate lifeforms. From the sneak peak alone, it impressed me and a ton of people and it’s setting up to be a really stellar episode and keep up the hype of this anniversary season. Unfortunately it comes at the cost of Matoi's life because she has Ryu-no chance of winning this.
(Thank you gumball for that ending pun.)
Oh and thank you to everyone who helped work on this blog, I had a real great time here and I’m glad for those who were excited to work on this. See yall next time.
Js250476
(I have been awaiting this day for a long time)
So Mickey vs Yoda was an outstanding premiere, had everything I wanted to see from it and even had the type of ending I was hoping for. Definitely a solid start to the 10th anniversary season and hopefully a good sign of what’s to come. Then we get to the next time which is the subject for today, Ryuko Matoi vs Shadow. This is a match that’s been mixed among some people with some wanting it and others not. I myself was one of the people who was all for this match and now it’s finally here, and my hype levels have skyrocketed high enough to pierce the heavens! I love Ryuko a lot and and have been greatly looking forward to Kill la Kill in Death Battle for a long time dibeing of my favorite anime (I even remember when the Scissor Blade made a cameo appearance in Hercule vs Dan 6 years ago) and Shadow is also a character I really love a lot and who’s had a rather lackluster episode record in Death Battle to say the least and Ryuko is an idea that meshes extremely well with Shadow and is definitely one of his most thematic not only due to the similar color schemes but also because of the fact they have extremely similar stories overall (it’s been a popular comparison for a long time for good reason.) And now that it’s finally here hopefully it’ll be the superb episode I know it can be and fortunately judging by the preview that’s what appears to be the case so far. So with our introductions completed time for us to put some life into this match as I stitch together my verdict and unfortunately for Ryuko this is a straightforward losing battle against her.
Starting out with power and attack potency, Ryuko in her base synchronized form scales to large country/continental level (1.7 petatons) due to one shotting covers and defeating Nui Harime. The former were capable of causing damage to the S.S Naked Sun, and the latter was capable of sinking it. The Naked Sun was capable of piercing and killing the Primordial Life Fiber, which in the past, covered entire planets, causing them to explode as it caused more life fibers to scatter across the cosmos. Taking its surface area into account, the Primordial Life Fiber must have at least this level of durability, so Ryuko should be of this level of power as previously mentioned. She also has multiple lesser but still impressive feats like cashing a massive explosion while fighting Satsuki (1.4 gigatons) and tanking the explosion of a dome (52.58 megatons-1.15 petatons). In her most powerful form, Kisaragi, though this has become somewhat contested recently, she burst through Ragyo’s Cocoon Sphere Genesis, creating a massive hole this can vary from 35 exatons to the low Zetaton range, possibly higher if you scale to the cocoon spheres planet busting (such as what was demonstrated from the hologram animation made by Satsuki, Inumuta, Ect), putting her in the planet level range.
Shadow is comparable to beings who use the power of a single chaos emerald and has been compared to the power of one before. A single chaos emerald has the power to put a continent back into place of the planet after being restored from the Gaia temples. This comes out to 1.4 Yottatons of power. 6 Chaos Emeralds powered the Eclipse Cannon’s super laser piss energy blast to destroy half the moon resulting in 10-43 exatons per Chaos Emerald. And being a consistent rival to the blue blur himself, Sonic, Shadow can scale to Dark Gaia who, while in a weakened state, shattered the planet to pieces, coming out to 7 yottatons. And all of this is just base Shadow, not even going into his super form which, when compared to Super Sonic, has numerous feats that are universe level, possibly even low multiversal (Time Eater consuming all space time on a universal scale, Egg Wizard using the Power of the Stars to sustain 2 dimensions, the Egg Salamander which could have survived the collision of 2 universes.). Essentially, Ryuko with her most powerful form could at most maybe match Base Shadow in power and sadly is non standard (since it requires the uniforms and life fibers of Mako, Satsuki, the Elite Four and everyone else present at Honnōji Academy at the time) and at Super Shadows highest power it outclasses Ryuko’s, completely making her unable to win.
Going into speed, Ryuko’s best is when she sliced apart dozens of tennis balls coming at her at once. Depending on how much she cut it whether it’s up to 5 times to cutting them down to string results in Sub-Relativistic to Relativistic in speed (0.21c). What’s especially impressive about this is this was from episode 2 before Ryuko had fully synchronized with Senketsu and before she’s gotten several large jumps in power and speed since then. So while the exact difference is unquantifiably, we know Ryuko at her peak is far far faster than this feat or in other words as Mako puts it best.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any clear cut FTL feats to say she’s that fast, since every supposed FTL feat from KLK can ether be easily disproved or have unknown details that make them hard to quantify (stuff like Ryuko and Ragyo moving past galaxies is just the background moving while their in place to symbolize the universe, Ryuko’s Scissor Blade coming to her from space is hard to calculate since where exactly it was in space is unknown, the highest end of Ryuko’s tennis ball feat assumes she cut though 110 million tennis balls based on the name of the serve 110 million serves which is obviously false based on the visible amount of Tennis Balls seen on screen Ect.). It also doesn’t help that Inumuta, one of the smartest characters in verse, has said it’s impossible for humans to move faster than light. While Ryuko is obviously not a normal human being infused with life fibers and normally you could argue against statements like these with feats, given the lack of definitive FTL feats present and it coming from one of the most intelligent characters around, it’s pretty hard to argue against it so yes a computer nerd has been the bane of all KLK supporters thanks Inumuta.
Shadow is relatively straightforward. In base he’s been a consistent match for Sonic who has some legitimate laser timing feats that reach FTL results. Shadow himself has been only to react and navigate in a lightspeed circuit before. Super Shadow is more contentious as there are multiple MFTL+ feats that have been questioned for super forms, namely Non Aggression Zone, flying past stars against the Nega Mother Wisp Ect. However, at bare minimum, Super Shadow is far faster than base, so it should upscale significantly from base Shadows FTL feats. So no matter how you slice it Shadow gets the edge in this area as well.
Then when it comes to the overall repertoire of both, Shadow ultimately has the advantage here as well. Ryuko definitely has an impressive list of abilities. Generating blades all over Senketsu with Senjin, flight with Shippu, being able to use both at once, some degree of shape shifting, creating shockwaves with her Scissor Blade and willpower, creating massive Scissor Blades for a devastating attack, and extremely effective regeneration that can survive normally lethal injuries such as being cut in half, being decapitated (as shown by Ragyo who Ryuko should have comparable regeneration to.), getting sliced to pieces Ect.
However, Shadow has several abilities Ryuko doesn’t have any real counter towards. Chaos Control to stop time, Chaos Rift to BFR, Teleportation which helps Shadows mobility, Chaos Spear, Chaos Lance, Chaos Blast Ect, all giving him the range advantage over Ryuko and giving him a more variety of abilities to use against her. Add that with additional power ups like the Chaos Emeralds, Color Powers, removing the Inhibitor Rings for a big power boost, and Shadow takes the advantage when it comes to versatility and powers that will help him secure a win.
Ryuko definitely has her advantages, with her scissor blade being a better overall weapon then any of Shadows’s melee weapons, better regeneration and superior stamina, but unfortunately, they are not enough to overcome Shadows massive advantages in power, speed and overall abilities. Ryuko will always be amazing and I’m certain she’ll have a phenomenal episode cause I know the talented animators and researchers of Death Battle will do their best to give both the justice they deserve. Ryuko will never lose her way, but the winner of this Kill la Kill will be Shadow without a shadow of a doubt.
On a final note, I wanted to give my thanks to the G1 blog. Thank you for giving me the chance to make a verdict for a match I’ve been looking forward to for so long, and thank you to all who helped make this possible.
And most of all it’s been wonderful to help work on this with some of my coolest friends, you all did an incredible job on all of this. Thank you all so much for everything!
Migue79
(Kill la Kill in DB is absolute poggers)
Whew! Hello, everyone! Migue79 back in this blog to bring you all another verdict. And KLK is finally in DEATH BATTLE!!! Absolute poggers! There were a lot of MUs for Ryuko that I didn’t quite like myself cough cough Ryuko vs. Akame cough cough. So I am quite glad that Ryuko’s opponent is Shadow the Hedgehog. Besides, more Sonic in DEATH BATTLE! is always great in my book!
This MU has so much history it is a known fact that Shadow loves KLK and has Ryuko as their waifu. … Okay, real talk. Just look up “Shadow vs/and Ryuko” on Google. You’ll get so many results and fanart of the two it’s not even funny. This MU was also very requested from my recollection. Hell, I myself wanted this MU to happen. So I am super glad it’s happening and it is an absolute honor to be writing a verdict for this dream MU.
Without further ado… Let us sink our teeth into this MU by discussing stats, starting with the Ultimate Life Form. Shadow in Base form should -without the slightest doubt in the world- scale to Base Sonic who defeated Chaos who is Planet level. What makes it this powerful is it absorbed 4 Chaos Emeralds, where 1 could move entire continents at quadruple digit Mach speeds. This was calced in VSBW to be around 1.4 Yottatons of TNT which is suuuuuper high into Planet level. And the Sonic cast, including Shadow, upscales from this since they defeated stronger enemies such as Infinite who toyed and defeated Base Sonic with ease in Sonic Forces. One could argue Base Shadow is Large Planet level (or even outright Star level) via scaling Sonic to the Eclipse Cannon -which was stated to pierce the stars (it got calculated to around 4 Ninatons)- through Perfect Chaos since it was being powered by the same number of Chaos Emeralds as said Cannon. Though there is that whole “Hoshi” debate behind that feat, so until the Sonic Encyclopedia officially says the Eclipse Cannon can ‘pierce the stars’, I won’t be using it in debates.
As for speed? Shadow should scale to the same Blue Blur who has a lot of laser timing feats as far as the Classic Era (though you could say some of these aren’t legit lasers if you subject them to a lot of scrutiny). Not like it matters anyway since Sonic has also boasted that lightspeed is nothing to him, and he has demonstrated this by moving faster than the LSD at times clocking him at about 9c, which is FTL. And Shadow moved at lightspeed easily in a circuit so him scaling to 9c at best in Base form should be no stretch. There is so much proof of the Base Sonic characters being FTL it is not even funny. So… Yeah, Base Shadow should be Planet level and FTL pretty handily.
For his Super Form? Super Shadow should without a doubt be Uni-Low Multiverse level via defeating Solaris who was stated to be capable of devouring dimensions and causing a spatial distortion of 3 timelines by Iblis and Mephiles merging together. Long ago this would be argued to be an outlier. However, there are more Universal-Low Multi feats for the Super Forms such as Egg Salamander being powered by both Chaos & Sol Emeralds which if misplaced can cause the destruction of 2 universes. There is also the Power of the Stars and Time Eater, other feats of the same caliber as Solaris. I personally feel like anything lower than Universal for Supers is downplay.
Speed, though? Personally it is a very contested topic for me to have a solid opinion on atm. I have seen many speed calculations and arguments used to justify the Super Forms being Massively FTL+, but most of them I have all sorts of problems with that avert me from using them in debates, or even thinking they’re legit in the first place. Though the best feat that I’ve seen is the classic Nonaggression Zone feat from Sonic Advance 3, which involves assuming that Sonic flew to a Star Cluster/Nebula based on the level’s background (it got calculated in the low-mid Billions C). But even this feat in particular has its own fair share of problems, like nothing saying he actually did fly there (remember, saying he did is an assumption), the background possibly being misleading (it has happened before. See the final level in Sonic Riders Zero Gravity and the Ark of the Cosmos), Gemerl falling down to Earth, etc. I will say that if the upcoming Sonic Encyclopedia confirms that Nonagression Zone is indeed a star cluster and not just a vague region in space, then most major problems with the feat could be dismissed as the developers taking liberties as it happens very often in fictional works. But for now, I’m not using this. Oh, and Immeasurable Supers is a can of worms I am not going to touch with a 10 foot pole so I’m not even going to discuss it, let alone use it. Without any of the Massively FTL+ and Immeasurable stuff, the Supers would just be FTL+ from upscaling from Base Forms. So as a result, Super Shadow should be both Low Multiverse level & at least FTL+, possibly(?) Massively FTL+.
On the other hand, Ryuko Matoi in Base should be at least a ‘not too shabby’ Continent level from being able to literally destroy the S.S. Naked Sun which was durable enough to remain undented after piercing the Original Life Fiber whiiiiiich should have such durability. It was re-calculated to 1.78 Petatons of TNT by yours truly ;). This is suuuuuper consistent with the destruction of Honnouji Academy which my bud Phantom calced at 1.17 Petatons of TNT using KE. So cheers to him. And coincidentally, this can be used to justify consistency with the higher ends of the S.S. Naked Sun’s durability. Yes. You heard me. It is possible to get the S.S Naked Sun much higher than Teratons-Petatons (probably Moon level-Small Planet).
How you may ask? Well, you can calculate the KE of the Earth’s explosion in the little hologram animation made by Satsuki, Inumuta, and co., (using the speed at which the Life Fibers fly on screen since they use that energy to move about space and Earth’s mass) and use this energy as opposed to the Earth’s GBE for the OG Life Fiber’s durability. Whether or not it’s reliable is up in the air, but I feel like you can get away with arguing it is since the animation was made by people who knew of this plan since day one and have been preparing for such an occasion ever since (Thanks Soichiro/Isshin!). In any case, Ryuko should be in the Petatons at minimum for AP.
For speed, Ryuko has many feats that hit Triple-Quadruple Digit Mach (like summoning her Scissor Blade from outer space, reacting to Gamagoori who could launch students across the academy in mere milliseconds, etc). However, her most impressive one and the one everyone uses is her Tennis Ball feat in Episode 2. This feat has been calculated many, many, MANY times by different people (including yours truly) with results yielding between Massively Hypersonic+ and Relativistic. I calculated the feat to 0.01c which is Baseline Sub-Relativistic assuming that Ryuko sliced each ball 5 times. However, one can get this higher by arguing Ryuko sliced it to strings since the balls do burst into such things as a result of Ryuko’s swinging. How you interpret this will vary, and I do think all interpretations hold some validity. Doing this, however, gets your results to 0.2c which is Relativistic. Not too shabby considering this is done by the very beginning of the series, and massive blitzing chains give her massive upscaling. If you take the hyperbole at face value, the feat would get in the Thousands-Millions C. Unfortunately, because Inumuta -like the shithead he is- said FTL speeds are impossible in-verse, Ryuko cannot upscale into FTL, let alone be that in any shape or form. So… Yeah. Ryuko should be at the very least Continent level and Sub-Relativistic, likely muuuuuuuch higher in both fronts (up to Moon-Small Planet and Relativistic).
Now… for her ‘Super Form’ (which is unfortunately not standard): Senketsu Kisaragi/Fashion Week! This form at the very least upscales massively from Base Ryuko who is already Continent level to Small Planet level & Sub-Relativistic to Relativistic. However, the form does have a feat of its own that unfortunately has been in contention as of lately, and that is Ryuko ‘piercing’ the Cocoon Sphere Genesis. I say unfortunately because while I do believe it’s fine and that her piercing the hole is the more likely outcome (at the time of this verdict, I’m still writing a document regarding all my thoughts on this feat), I cannot deny the inconsistency of how the event is depicted and I perfectly understand why some have problems with the feat even if I personally disagree with some of their complaints. In any case, you can argue her to many varying levels of AP if you do believe she pierced the hole. If you use curvature, the feat should get Multi-Continent level. If you use Japan for scaling, the feat should get Small Planet level. This last interpretation is something I’ve been thinking about for a while and can get her to Planet level in this form: the CSG was stated to blow up the Earth by Satsuki during the animation, meaning that the CSG would have to be generating energy that overcomes the Earth’s GBE. This means that the mechanism’s durability scales by default to this AP since this huge single piece of clothes itself produces and exerts this energy. Nothing suggests that it isn’t as durable since it is noted that the Life Fibers that compose this willingly use this energy to propel themselves across space. And Ryuko could poke a hole in this large singular piece of cloth. So… There’s that. A little high-end argument for Ryuko’s Kisaragi form. Since this is my verdict, I’ll say that Kisaragi can be anywhere from Moon-Planet level if you assume Ryuko did pierce the hole, while comfortably upscaling in speed from her Base Form’s Sub-Relativistic to Relativistic in any case.
Now with stats out of the way for both, let’s stack them up against each other. And…!!!!! It’s… It’s not even close. Ryuko w/ Kisaragi at best would still get one-shot by Base Shadow’s worst in AP (23.55x AP difference in Shadow’s favour) and still get speedblitzed & haxed (speed gap is over 45x in Shadow’s favour). Though he probably doesn’t need it even in this case. He just needs AOE which he’s got covered with Chaos Blast. And this is the best case scenario for Ryuko with a non-standard form! Now imagine the worst case scenario for Ryuko :weary: Yiiiikes. I don’t think I need to go in depth about that. Nothing changes anyway (aside from Shadow AP stomping and speedblitzing exponentially harder). If only the IF game was viable and Inumuta didn’t say that liiiiiiiiine ;-;
...
Ah, who am I kidding? Ryuko probably still loses even with that. Shadow’s wisps and Chaos Powers would still net him the win even if they were even in stats.
Now, despite Shadow having all the important advantages, Ryuko still does hold some advantages. Minor, sure, but still advantages nonetheless. So I’ll live knowing Ryuko holds advantages of her own such as better regeneration, stamina, skill and having a far better melee weapon. And that’s about it for my little comfort.
In any case, Shadow did not lose their way in this bout!
RadioactiveCaffeine
(Thank you to a certain video that helped to make this fight so popular)
One of my most wanted fights of all time is finally happening, and I could not be more thrilled. I love both characters to death, and I...really want to see them fight to the death, lmao. I know that sounds bad, but there’s not many other shows/media that go this far into making cool crossovers between characters, even if it results in murder.
I think most people generally understand that this fight is a stomp either through their own knowledge on both characters or general hearsay, and they’d be correct in thinking so. People have said that this makes the fight a waste of both characters (or just Ryuko, if the bias is showing), and I could not disagree any less. This was simply the best fight for both characters theme wise, for a stupid amount of reasons I shouldn’t even have to explain to the people who will inevitably claim it’s just because they’re edgy and black and red (putting aside the fact Ryuko vs Akame exists for both of their series having similar name titles and both having red and black color schemes).
Shadow and Ryuko just mesh so well, and as someone who grew up loving both Sonic the Hedgehog and Kill La Kill (which is already about 8 years old btw), it’s nice to see the love for both characters and their strangely large number of similarities thriving.
Tbh, I’m gonna have a hard time figuring out how to write a verdict that’s any different than what’s been written so far, because they’ve covered about the full extent of the stat arguments already. I could just use this time to make this a big sappy love letter to Shadow the Hedgehog and Ryuko Matoi, but I feel like that might be boring and whoever reads this would just wanna skip over it lmfao. So I’ll try to kind of go into this without giving numbers, but still painting a very clear picture of how this fight goes. I’ll also go into a few of the...weirder arguments I’ve been seeing in regards to this fight (which I know are just trying to throw a bone to Ryuko, but are too silly to consider anyway lmao).
For starters, in terms of strength, Ryuko at her highest without Kisaragi should be continent level through destroying the S.S. Naked Sun, a ship that could pierce through the Original Life Fiber, which was meant to survive the explosion of the Earth and other planets throughout the universe. Putting aside any questionability due to the purpose of the explosion being to scatter the Original Life Fiber into many pieces across the universe, would this be enough to put down her little pogchamp? Probably not. Shadow in base form should still be Sonic’s almost equal, and Sonic could survive that funny “black hole” feat DB has mentioned a few times now, that grew so big, it destroyed Eggman’s whole Amusement Park, which was so big that the planet Earth was said to be unable to accommodate it. One Chaos Emerald alone is also capable of moving a whole continent, and Shadow makes an active habit of using at least one at all times if he has it, if not the whole set, which brings us to “super forms”.
Giving Ryuko Kisaragi is kind of a stretch in most vs debates because it requires a LOT of outside help, but I doubt she won’t get it considered anyway, so let’s talk about where that added option leaves her. Ignoring the recent contention on the feat, Ryuko’s Kisaragi Form causing a hole in the life fibers covering the planet would get anywhere from multi continent+ to small planet level, so maybe that could be enough to put her around the level of Shadow’s base form. However, Shadow’s super form is also going to rear its ugly head, and that leads us into many arguments ranging from multi solar system level for scaling to the Final Egg Blaster, which destroyed a star system, to as far as low multiversal for scaling to the Egg Wizard with the Power of the Stars, which was a force keeping Sonic and Blaze’s separate dimensions from clashing into each other. I’d say this is the only multiversal feat in the series worth mentioning though, because both Time Eater and Solaris were only destroying timelines by...eating time, if you can believe it, making it more hax based than AP.
Speed can be put as blatantly simple as Shadow can at the very lowest, move at light speed through his own light speed attacks (which according to Sonic Unleashed’s in-game speedometers, he and Sonic have already normally surpassed in speed with their own boosts). Ryuko’s own speed meanwhile physically cannot achieve light speed in her own verse according to Inumuta.
Now with the winner very obviously being Shadow, let’s get into the fun(?) arguments that’ve been surfacing a lot throughout this waiting period for the fight.
Can Ryuko use sen-i-sosh-itsu on Shadow’s shoes to destroy them and make him slower than her?
No. His shoes should be about as durable as he is to survive the things he can, and even if she tried to target his shoes, she would be quick to find out that they do not have any life fibers in them. This is also ignoring that sen-i-sosh-itsu works to destroy all the clothes on a person, which would inadvertently detach his inhibitor rings, making him even more powerful. Assuming she somehow did destroy only Shadow’s shoes though (and cursed us all with the knowledge of what a Sonic character’s feet look like), there’s no reason Shadow would ever be significantly slower than the likes of Amy and Tails, who already consistently keep up with Sonic. As an extra point, in the IDW comics, as a Zombot, Shadow didn’t know how to use his own Air Shoes, but could still keep up with Sonic well enough to land blows on him.
Can Ryuko destroy Shadow’s fur for life fibers, since clothing is made of life fibers in Kill La Kill?
No. God no. Not only are you trying to make us question what Shadow’s feet look like, but now what he’d look like without fur? Good lord imma need therapy after this. Life fibers in Kill La Kill are explicitly an alien parasite species that existed before mankind even had clothes. This is an alternate world where in all of our clothes are dormant alien threads waiting to take over. This does not mean, under any circumstances, that Shadow’s fur somehow contains said alien parasite species, just because fur can be used to make clothes.
I can understand wanting to toss Ryuko a bone and all, and I think her having pretty damn good regeneration is enough of a point in her favor that we don’t have to stretch this hard for anything else.
Unfortunately for our badass magical girl Ryuko however, she won’t get to Live and Learn not to mess with Shadow the Hedgehog, before he Kill La Kills her.
P.S. I am terrible at writing puns
JJSliderman
(Shadow on his way to get a third L)
Guess this is what happens when you give me a last-minute chance to make a verdict, but someone’s gotta stick up the root for Shadow and I guess it’s gonna be me. Oh, and, thank you to the G1 peeps for letting me write this, it was really cool.
So I know it’s late but lemme give my quick spiel on Yoda vs King Mickey. Episode itself was really solid on all fronts I think. The animation is really on-point, the dialogue is pitch-perfect, the voice actors delivered their lines really well, the ways the powers and abilities bounced off each other in the animation was really clever (shoutout to that reference to Mickey fighting 13 Xehanorts in Re:Mind by the way, that was really cool), and that ending and climax in general was just mmmm...chef’s kiss. Kinda went back and forth on it a lot, but I think this might be the best season premiere, if just for Hearts of Light. It was a VERY strong start to the season, and I couldn’t wait to see what was-
Oh...
Okay, I’ll admit, when I first saw this I was kind of...underwhelmed. I understand the matchup is thematic and has a great track potential (track is already released as I’m writing this so whoops it’s good), but I was really kinda sold on Shadow vs Sol Badguy. There’s a laundry list of connections there too, and ah, spoilers, probably would have been more fair. Ryuko also apparently had other matchups like Guvyer and Masane, but I could tell those were never gonna happen.
But, times passed, I mellowed out, and now I’m actually kind of excited. The preview alone convinced me this will be easily Shadow’s best episode, and a good introduction of KLK to the series. And maybe it's only episode but let’s not focus on that.
I guess to sum up, I’ve been a Sonic fan for a very long time, ever since Heroes released in the early 2000s. And Kill la Kill is an anime that I like quite a bit. Maybe not as much as everyone else here, but I still very much enjoyed it (Satsuki best girl). Let’s just say it’s this and move on.
So, yeah, going into this ah...well, everyone else has already said this is a stomp, so I’ll keep it fairly quick.
Base form Shadow should be easily Planet Level+ based on upscaling from a single Chaos Emerald, as he has fought Emerl with all 7 Emeralds. Speaking of Emerl, he was described by Gerald Robotnik as being able to destroy the planet with all 7 Emeralds, so yet more consistency for Planet level Base Shadow. And then Shadow should likely be superior to Ultimate Emerl, as he is still a rival for Generations-era Sonic, who is far superior to the Adventure-era Sonic that fought Emerl. Emerl in particular absorbed portions of the Final Egg Blaster’s energy, which could easily destroy a cluster of stars in one blast. How much energy Emerl absorbed is unquantifiable, obviously, but considering the blaster’s power easily reaches the exafoe range of power, even a small percentage of it would likely be enormous. This also lines up with Shadow likely being comparable to Perfect Chaos, who absorbed the negative energy of all 7 Emeralds. This energy was used to fuel the Eclipse Cannon, which is stated to pierce stars, a feat that gets anywhere from low ninatons to Star-Solar System level. Some might call this into question, given that Shadow describes the cannon as “planet-piercing” once, which would make the issue of Hoshi translation come up, but since the majority of the time the cannon is referring to star piercing, and star piercing fits overall better with the development of the cannon’s power with all 7 Emeralds compared to simple planet-piercing, there is credence in using it. But as a lowball, we’ll say Shadow is massively above 1.2 yottatons of TNT via upscaling from his Adventure-era self.
Ryuko’s base form is somewhat simpler to pin down. As mentioned earlier, Ryuko’s power allowed her to destroy the S.S. Naked Sun and fight the Honnouji Defense Apparatus, which were designed to (or outright did) overcome the durability of the Primordial Life Fiber, calced at 1.78 petatons of TNT. Just as a comparison, a petaton is a thousandth of an exaton, which is a millionth of a yottaton. So Ryuko is almost a billion times weaker than Shadow when comparing base forms. She also has some other feats, like surviving the Honnouji Academy dome explosion which was in the high megatons, and taking hits from Mako who formed a kilotons-tier crater, but these are kind of irrelevant.
Speed-wise, Base Shadow should be fairly above 9c. He’s superior to Unleashed-era Sonic, who just straight up ran 9x faster than the lightspeed dash’s speed rating in Unleashed. Apparently you can get it higher by factoring in the Quick Step, but this is just to be safe. There’s also other things that line up with this too, like Adventure-era Shadow having lightspeed reactions, and Metal Sonic in Sonic 4 traveling from Little Planet to Earth in a few seconds (which apparently got bigger since CD but let’s ignore that…). I could also meme and say Immeasurable Base Shadow via scaling to Sonic “accelerating through time”, but I’d rather not dig Ryuko’s grave any further.
Ryuko, by contrast, is really just scaling off of one feat, that being her Relativistic tennis-ball cutting in Episode 2. She upscales from this feat...a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. Like 5 zenkai boosts, upscaling from characters who upscale from other characters who upscale from the feat, yadda yadda. It’s probably Rela+ at this point and would maybe even be above lightspeed if Inamuta didn’t exist.
It’s all his fault.
Still, pretty fast, but not quite fast enough, especially when breaching lightspeed is something that Sonic in Colors DS said he could do extremely casually.
So, we’ve got a Continent and Rela base Ryuko, fighting a Planet+ and FTL base Shadow. It doesn’t really look good, and comparing their super forms (Kisaragi and Super Shadow) just makes it worse. Ryuko with max highballing reaches about Planet level, and unquantifiably faster than her previous state. Now, you can make an argument that, with a lowballed Shadow, a highballed Ryuko, and Ryuko’s reactive power level, she could theoretically survive enough hits from Base Shadow to evolve past his power level, as Kisaragi. But then you factor in Super Shadow and it all just falls apart.
The minimum scaling for Super Shadow would be Dark Gaia’s planet-breaking at 7.2 yottatons of TNT. This was done when Dark Gaia was at its absolute weakest form in the story, to the point it couldn’t even sustain itself and collapsed after doing it. So, logically, Super Shadow would heavily upscale from this due to Super Sonic fighting Dark Gaia after DG absorbed all its leftover essence and the Werehog energy. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Moving onto higher stuff, Super Shadow should probably upscale from the Final Egg Blaster, as Eggman constantly seeks the Chaos Emeralds due to having more power than he can feasibly produce on his own. The Egg Blaster, as previously mentioned, is an exaFOE tier weapon, easily putting Super Shadow at Multi-Solar System level. You can also argue this corroborates with Ix’s statement that he would “shake the universe” upon acquiring the Master Emerald, although this could likely be just hyperbole.
And then you move onto the big boy feats. Firstly, there’s Egg Salamander, who was built to survive a universe-merging collision and create a new beyond-dimensional Eggmanland (5-D Sonic hype). Either way, this puts the Salamander at Low Multiversal, which makes sense when considering that the Sol Emeralds that the Salamander drained to get power were causing a universe merge to begin with.
Then, in Rush game number 2, we have the Egg Wizard, who absorbed the Power of the Stars. According to the localization, the Power is stated to be the cause that sustains the existence of at least two, potentially more, parallel universes. Yet another Low Multiversal feat. While you can argue Eggman didn’t absorb all of the Blaster’s power, as the Wizard’s ultimate attack is just a planet busting cannon, I submit that there is:
No reason why the Eggmen wouldn’t take all of the power, and
Using attack names and area of effect to downgrade the power of the attack is silly. No one uses Universe+ Saiyan Saga Vegeta or Planet level Kid Buu or Galaxy level Captain Ginyu, and this is the same case.
After that, we move onto the Time Eater, which was destroying time and space on a universal scale, and keeping the entire universe in limbo White Space until it was defeated. This is yet another feat that is Universal+ or higher, and this is without even factoring that Crisis City from ‘06 was a level in Generations, meaning the Time Eater can even reach into and annihilate alternate non-existent timelines, possibly putting Time Eater at Low Multiversal as well.
There is also Classic Super Sonic, who Super Shadow should be comparable to, fighting the Egg Wizard with the power of the True Phantom Ruby. On its own, this does nothing, but unreleased footage of Forces shows the Phantom Ruby as being capable of creating Null Space, which is infinite in said footage. It’s not a very strong argument, I realize, just make of it what you will. (BTW Sonic also fought and defeated a True Phantom Ruby powered Death Egg Robot and the Time Eater was repelled by a single Chaos Emerald, I swear Uni base Sonic is gonna happen someday ._.)
And then there’s Solaris, the “super-dimensional life form”. Or “ultra-dimensional” in Japanese.
OUTER SON-
Even though Solaris is technically nonexistent in the current Sonic lore, Sonic still remembers Solaris, and the hedgehogs weren’t really amped while fighting it, so the scaling probably still works. Solaris, as part of its ultimate plan, was set to destroy all timelines and dimensions in the greater Sonic cosmology. At minimum, this would include 2 timelines (the present timeline and the Crisis City timeline), but if you really wanted to push it, there is also 326 alternate stories in Shadow the Hedgehog that could potentially form their own timelines, multiple special stage universes, Blaze’s dimension, and a couple others past ‘06 that could vaguely fit into the “future” aspect of Solaris’ timeline destruction. Basically, hundreds of universes that Solaris was destroying, with the only caveat being an unknown timeframe that saddles Solaris with just “unquantifiably above” two universes. And even though it can be argued as just hax, Solaris was going to survive the process, meaning his durability is likely fairly comparable to his range of power, and he can take hits from his own attacks redirected by Super Silver, which do about the same damage as Super Shadow’s attacks, showing that the Super hedgehogs potentially have the power to be considered comparable to Solaris.
Speed-wise, Super Shadow is at least FTL+ via being far superior to his base form, but there are a couple other feats to mention. A lot of the big ones, like Sonic traveling to Exception or Nonaggression Zone, as well as collecting the Chaos Emeralds and traveling to fight Solaris, are unfortunately either blatantly false (Exception isn’t outside the universes, just in a dimensional rift in an unknown location), or use some assumptions that are a bit shaky (Nonaggression could just take place in the Local Interstellar Cloud instead of a nebula, which might explain how the background could be the way it is while still allowing Gemerl to feasibly fall back to Earth), but at minimum I feel like Super Shadow scaling to the Final Egg Blaster’s beam speed is okay. It would be kind of weird if a character like Solaris, one of the most powerful entities in the entire game lore, was inferior in speed to a non plot-important one-off weapon Eggman created. So, this would put Shadow’s speed in Super form at over 18 billion times the speed of light, based on the beam traveling to the Centaurus constellation.
Oh and I guess also Super Shadow might have had to move through time with speed to fight Solaris, or at least have attacks with temporal area of effect to destroy Solaris’ consciousness, since Solaris exists across all of time. Again, make of that what you will
With that, we have a Low Multiversal Super Shadow with MFTL+ speed, versus a Planet level Relativistic+ Kisaragi Ryuko…
Yeah.
But, if you’re still not convinced, let’s take a look at Kill la Kill: IF to really hammer this home. In IF, some speculate that because the Primordial Life Fiber could reality warp Satsuki’s entire dream world, and the dream world contains other dimensions Ryuko drew life fibers from to defeat the Primordial Life Fiber, that Kisaragi Ryuko is anywhere from Universal to Multiversal.
Well, first off, the whole thing is a dream, which somewhat limits its usability, but even if we use this scaling, Super Shadow arguably still gets higher via Solaris. As previously mentioned, Solaris was destroying *all* existing timelines and dimensions. This would possibly include Maginaryworld, a dream dimension created in Sonic Shuffle that is brought into existence as a sort of nexus for dreams made by characters in other dimensions we don’t know of. This Maginaryworld space consists of countless different dreams, which take the form of tangible worlds with their own stellar cosmology. What this means is, if accepted, Super Shadow would also scale to the same type of feat as Kisaragi IF Ryuko, except to an arguably greater degree when factoring in both the dream worlds, and the other dimensions that feed dreams to it.
So, no, IF likely wouldn’t change the result, even against Game Shadow.
To sum up, Base Shadow outclasses both forms of Ryuko with even a lowballed version of Base Shadow, Super Shadow destroys Ryuko in anime canon and probably defeats composite Ryuko if given the same leeway, and while I didn’t talk about it much here, Game Shadow also possesses far superior hax.
Given his Wisps that can deconstruct Ryuko’s body and turn him invisible, his Chao from Chronicles that can either boost Shadow’s defense, increase his luck and probability to hit Ryuko and avoid her attacks, his self-revivals, his potential to one-hit kill Ryuko to bypass her power boosts, his stat-boosting equipment, his Chaos Blast that allows him to completely burn Ryuko’s Life Fibers and bypass their regenerative capabilities, his far greater arsenal of weapons, his Chaos Control to stop time and more easily break the Life Fibers/send Ryuko into space or another dimension, etcetera etcetera…
Yeah, I just ain’t seeing Shadow losing this, chief.
Any minor advantages Ryuko has, like melee combat skill, regeneration, and stamina, are just completely irrelevant at best. It’s kind of sad this fight is this much of a stomp, but at least Shadow gets to make up for being cucked out of a win this time (Mewtwo needs a good episode too).
Ryuko kinda just got Shad-owned.
I said I would make this quick and it’s one of the longest verdicts I just cared too much
