Kill La Kill - "The Elite Four" Discussion Thread

[immblueversion]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the Elite Four who are immediately under Satsuki's command. The Elite Four consists of the following members in particular order:

Ira Gamagōri: He leads the disciplinary committee at the Academy.

Uzu Sanageyama: He is in charge of the athletic clubs at the Academy.

Hōka Inumuta: He leads the information and strategy committee at the Academy.

Jakuzure Nonon: She is in charge of the non-athletic clubs at the Academy.

Enjoy!

[Gravitas Free Zone]

We learn from Episode 6 that...

Spoiler for A sequence of events.:

Sanageyama was the last of the Elite Four to join up with Satsuki. (Presumably the really big guy is Gamagoori with more delinquent hair.) There's plenty of time in the series for origin stories for the other three; I'd be curious to know how they got there and what order the rest of them joined in. (I see now the comment that Jakuzure joined first.) It's also interesting to show this non-chronologically.

[VirgilTheart]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

We learn from Episode 6 that...

Spoiler for A sequence of events.:

Sanageyama was the last of the Elite Four to join up with Satsuki. (Presumably the really big guy is Gamagoori with more delinquent hair.) There's plenty of time in the series for origin stories for the other three; I'd be curious to know how they got there and what order the rest of them joined in. (I see now the comment that Jakuzure joined first.) It's also interesting to show this non-chronologically.

Spoiler for response.:

The long haired dude is definitely Gamagoori. Looks and sounds like him. While it's not confirmed, I'd say that the flashback sequence indicates that Gamagoori joined second after Jakuzure and that Inumuta joined third, based on his skepticism of Satsuki being capable of defeating five hundred opponents on her own, while Gamagoori and Jakuzure were both completely confident in her ability to do so.

[SilverSyko]

I'd like to believe this most recent episode showed there's some actual, even if faint, bonds of friendship between our antagonist group, rather than just "Satsuki and her most loyal subordinates". It was shown they've all known each other for at least three years after all, which is even before Satsuki started crafting her fascist empire once entering high school.

It's very interesting seeing a group of antagonists with chemistry like this once in a while.~

[Seitsuki]

Am I the only one who finds Nonon weirdly super attractive? Snarky, sadistic, only DFC in a world of useless meat, shame there isn't more art of her..

[v1cious]

Originally Posted by Seitsuki

Am I the only one who finds Nonon weirdly super attractive? Snarky, sadistic, only DFC in a world of useless meat, shame there isn't more art of her..

I'm actually starting to think Nonon's a guy. We know basically nothing about her, even though she's been next to Satsuki the longest. That voice is also suspicious, why would a seiyuu use such a strange voice for a little girl, unless she's possibly hiding something? Keep in mind, this is the girl who played Haruka from FLCL, so she knows how to do a girl voice. She also seems way too ladylike for this particular world. Every woman in this show has been exposed to some kind of fanservice, even Mako's mother, yet for some reason we hardly ever see Nonon.

[Breimoon]

Originally Posted by v1cious

I'm actually starting to think Nonon's a guy. We know basically nothing about her, even though she's been next to Satsuki the longest. That voice is also suspicious, why would a seiyuu use such a strange voice for a little girl, unless she's possibly hiding something? Keep in mind, this is the girl who played Haruka from FLCL, so she knows how to do a girl voice. She also seems way too ladylike for this particular world. Every woman in this show has been exposed to some kind of fanservice, even Mako's mother, yet for some reason we hardly ever see Nonon.

i'm just waiting for her transformation to comment on that

[Seitsuki]

It's obviously because Nonon is a pure girl!

After a long agonising internal debate I have decided that a Satsuki/Ryuuko/Nonon threesome is now OTP er OTT.

[quigonkenny]

I've noticed that each of the elites has the kanji for an animal in their name.

Gamagoori - toad
Inumuta - dog
Jakuzure - snake
Sanageyama - monkey

Any idea what the significance of that might be? I was thinking Chinese Zodiac, but there is no toad/frog in that.

[serenade_beta]

Nonon's voice is like this... Kuroko EX. BBA voice, but strangely cute/addicting.
Weird. Not in a bad meaning.
ﾍﾟﾛﾍﾟﾛ(^ω^)

[ZabiLegacy]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

I've noticed that each of the elites has the kanji for an animal in their name.

Gamagoori - toad
Inumuta - dog
Jakuzure - snake
Sanageyama - monkey

Any idea what the significance of that might be? I was thinking Chinese Zodiac, but there is no toad/frog in that.

Well they've referenced it explicitly within the series. Nonon refers to the other three as Toad, Monkey, and Dog. I think it has something to do with the inherent symbolism of those animals. Also if you look at their designs you can clearly see elements of each animal in their designs.

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by v1cious

I'm actually starting to think Nonon's a guy. We know basically nothing about her, even though she's been next to Satsuki the longest. That voice is also suspicious, why would a seiyuu use such a strange voice for a little girl, unless she's possibly hiding something? Keep in mind, this is the girl who played Haruka from FLCL, so she knows how to do a girl voice. She also seems way too ladylike for this particular world. Every woman in this show has been exposed to some kind of fanservice, even Mako's mother, yet for some reason we hardly ever see Nonon.

We know nothing about Jakuzure? What about Inumuta? We're already at the part where Ryuko fights the Elite Four, and all we know about him is that he wears glasses, has a funny collar, and is fascinated by the weirdness going on around him. At least we know Jakuzure was friends with Satsuki long before the Elite Four were formed, to they point where she knows how Satsuki thinks. Sanageyama and Gamagoori even had full-blown flashbacks. I'll admit there's still a lot of stuff we don't know about Jakuzure, and that she may be worth keeping an eye on, but for me, she only comes second to this guy in terms of what's-the-deal-with-this-one-ness. And now, thanks to the speculation page, I'm starting to wonder if we'll be getting as much focus on Inumuta in the next episode as we first thought we would...

[Tyabann]

Jakuzure is going to kill him or something of that nature. Calling it now.
Then the reveal of his real identity will play a big part in the second cour, just watch.

[NinjaRealist]

Nonon's Transformation sequence is awesome.

NSFW

Warning: Not safe to view at work or school!

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[FlavoryFantasy]

My body was not ready for all the Nonon this episode. She is pure love.

I do hope that Inumuta does get more screen time in the second half of the show for more development though...

[orangejuicetang]

What I found interesting was the way Nonon's relationship with Satsuki actually is different from the other three elites (I think she even calls her Satsuki-chan at one point). Going further, from what we've seen so far, the other three elites were all originally hostile who converted to Satsuki after being 'defeated', more or less while Nonon seems to have been best friends from Satsuki from the very beginning, or at least since kindergarten.

And I think the moment when Nonon smacked the sand out of Satsuki's hand before grasping it is the first time Satsuki seemed genuinely surprised

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by orangejuicetang

What I found interesting was the way Nonon's relationship with Satsuki actually is different from the other three elites (I think she even calls her Satsuki-chan at one point). Going further, from what we've seen so far, the other three elites were all originally hostile who converted to Satsuki after being 'defeated', more or less while Nonon seems to have been best friends from Satsuki from the very beginning, or at least since kindergarten.

And I think the moment when Nonon smacked the sand out of Satsuki's hand before grasping it is the first time Satsuki seemed genuinely surprised

This also raises another point. Satsuki chose the other three elites for clear purposes: Sanageyama for his perception, Gamagoori for his resolution, and Inumuta for his intelligence. Each of these three have demonstrated these characteristics in their respective episodes and flashbacks, and had these characteristics tested. But what about Jakuzure? What does her moment in the spotlight show?

I doubt Satsuki picked her merely because they were friends, yet that seems to be the reason why Jakuzure agreed to join her in the first place. She appears to have put both Satsuki and herself on a pedestal--a "tower in her mind", if you will--and she's been trying to keep hers as tall as Satsuki's. Now, thanks to her ability to fly that none of the others have, she has the power to build that tower as high as she wants. It's been built so high, in fact, she's literally looking down on Satsuki.

I've brought this up at least once on the other forums, but I get this feeling that when Jakuzure loses, Satsuki won't be quite so forgiving as she was with the other three. When the other three lost, they clearly still showed loyalty and subservience to Satsuki, did everything in their power to remold themselves in her image, and were forgiven. That's what I think Jakuzure is being tested on: her subservience. It's her attachment to Satsuki, yet also her ability to sumbit to her. And from the looks of things, Satsuki's world doesn't have room for two towers.

[SilverSyko]

Some interesting info on the families and early years of the Elite Four which I believe is straight from Trigger themselves, only translated and compiled into this picture by a fan:

Images

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[Gravitas Free Zone]

I hadn't given any thought at all to Ira Gamagoori's name, background, or blondness, so his origins do make some sense. The absent American serviceman father thing is a little overdone, perhaps, but at least reminds us that there's a rest of the world (which really hasn't figured into the show at all, besides Rei and Ragyo's discussion of current events in episode 17).

[SilverSyko]

I think the most plot-relevant thing to take from that though is the part in Nonon's list where it says Satsuki was a very well-behaved and happy girl in her early years of kindergarden, yet suddenly changed around the same time to become the cynical and stoic person she is now.

Which likely means there's something about Satsuki's past that's still lurking in the dark and may possibly also be a contributing factor to the show's current events. That's speculation for another thread though.