‘Kill la Kill the Game: IF’ Reveals First-Look at Satsuki’s New Form

Kill la Kill fans are paying pretty close attention to its upcoming video game release as Kill la Kill the Game: IF will be featuring a story mode with a newer focus on series favorite Satsuki Kiryuin, and will even see the debut of a brand new form.

Fans got their first look at Satsuki’s new Junketsu form in a recent magazine scan (as provided by @HDKirin on Twitter), and you can check it out below.

A variation of her Junketsu Shinzui, this form will be entirely original to the game. The new form sees an inverse of her usual Junketsu transformation, with the dark blue taking up the majority of the transformation rather than white. Along with the color flip, Junketsu’s eyes seem a lot larger and sharper than the Junketsu seen in the original anime series. This original design was handled by series art director Shigeto Koyama, and the anime’s character designer and chief animation director Sushio provided clean-up for the design.

This form will debut as part of the new original story focusing on Satsuki. Playing off a “what if?” route branching off from the events of Kill la Kill‘s eighth episode, original anime screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima wonders how Satsuki would react if her mother Ragyou appears in the series much earlier than originally expected.

Kill la Kill the Game: IF teases the new story as such, “At the end of the First Naturals Election, the one that appeared before Satsuki was Ragyou, not Nui!? Why did Ragyou appear? What is this series of inexplicable events?”

Kill la Kill the Game: IF is currently scheduled to release sometime this year for PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. As for the original series, Kill la Kill is the first original anime project from Trigger, a company formed by ex-Gainax employees Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Ohtsuka. It was directed by Imaishi and written Kazuki Nakashima, who had both worked together on Gainax’s Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

The series follows Ryuko Matoi, a girl in search of her father’s killer. Left with one half of a giant pair of scissors, she transfers to Honnouji Academy. The school is under the control of of the student council and their president, the dominate Satsuki Kiryuin. What’s different about this academy however is that every student is equipped a Goku Uniform, a suit that gives its wearer superhuman abilities because of the “Life Fibers” sewed within.

It was licensed in the United States by Aniplex of America starting July 2014, and the series had its English language broadcast premiere on Adult Swim’s Toonami block in February 2015. A manga serialization written by Ryo Akizuki began in Young Ace magazine in 2013. It was received extremely well critically and praised for its expresses character animation and fight scenes.