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- “When you get back, let's go on a date!”
- — Mako to Ryuko
RyuMako is the femslash ship between Ryuko Matoi and Mako Mankanshoku from the Kill La Kill fandom.
Canon
In the series, Mako is very loving and affectionate towards Ryuko, and is always ready to help her when needed. Mako has often gone into "Mako Theater" mode when Ryuko is in trouble. For example, she does this when Tsumugu was trying to destroy Senketsu, who is Ryuko's Kamui. She is also very supportive of Ryuko, telling her to be confident and even "get naked" when Ryuko is embarrassed to wear Senketsu in the beginning of the show. Mako also consistently compliments Ryuko's looks.
From the very beginning they have been very close. Specifically, when they first meet in episode 1. In the first episode, Ryuko saves Mako from being fried after discovering Senketsu's power. After this, Mako notices that Ryuko doesn't have anywhere to go and invites her to live with herself and the rest of her family. They live together for the rest of the series.
As mentioned previously, they care a lot for each other, and are willing to make grave sacrifices for each other. A great example of this is when Ryuko is brainwashed by Ragyo. During this period, she is trapped inside a fake wedding, Before getting "married" Mako crashes the wedding and saves Ryuko from this state.
Ryuko, like Mako, cherishes her very much. Ryuko has saved Mako many times and even let herself get beat up by Mako to save her. The both of them lean on each other for support, and trust each other almost more than anyone else. Senketsu even stated that Mako is the key to getting Ryuko to calm down.
Before Ryuko's finale battle with Ragyo, Mako asks her on a date, and kisses her on the lips during one of her Mako Theaters. You can also see them holding hands, sitting on a bench during this Mako Theater. Ryuko agrees to this date, before going off into to space to defeat Ragyo. In the credits of the last episode, you can see the two girls going on this very date. It should be remembered that dates in Japan are common between friends and not seen as romantic, leading to this scene being interpreted as romantic by The western part of the fanbase.
Finally, in the 2019 fighting game, Kill La Kill IF, when fighting against Inumuta, Mako will directly state "My heart belongs to a girl named Ryuko!", and outright call Ryuko her "beloved". While the VS Mode itself isn't canon, the original team behind the anime are responsible for writing all the dialogue, and can be assumed to be in-character. Although this is the case, it should be remembered that this is not the real mako and is a fever dream created by Junketsu. This can be attributed to KLKIF not being part of the original 24 episode run, allowing the writers to be less vague on romantic relationships, similar to Episode 25 featuring a giant robot despite Studio TRIGGER Art Director Shigeto Koyama not allowing robots in their seasonal shows and Ryuko and make holding hands at the end.
Kill La Kill animation director and character designer, Sushio, posted numerous artworks of Ryuko and Mako living together after the events of Kill La Kill.
Fanon
The ship RyuMako quite popular within its fandom. However, there are rival ships such as IraMako in the fanbase. Trigger does like to tease fans about RyuMako by posting art (Official and fanmade) on their Twitter account although they directly said that there are no romantic relationships in Kill La Kill. They have also done this with many of their other series. On the other side there is a large part of the Kill La Kill fanbase who dislikes this ship, and saying that Ryuko and Mako are nothing more than friends/sisters to each other.
Fandom
FAN FICTION
- Mankanshoku Mako/Matoi Ryuuko tag on AO3
- Ryumako stories on Wattpad
- Mankanshoku Mako & Matoi Ryuko tag on FanFiction.Net
FAN ARTS
- 流マコ/Ryuko x Mako tag on Pixiv
TUMBLR
Gallery
