Nui Harime

"DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THEY'RE WORTH?! I'M THE GRAND COUTURIER, DAMN IT!"

• Nui after her arms have been cut off during her fight with Ryuko

Nui Harime is the secondary antagonist of the 2013 anime Kill La Kill. She is the Grand Couturier for the main antagonist of the series Ragyo Kiryuin.

Appearance

Nui Harime seems to be a teenage girl of medium height. She has very long blond hair styled in twin drills, and her eyes are sapphire blue.

She wears a richly adorned pink lolita-styled dress, accompanied by boots, a parasol, a large hair bow and a purple eyepatch covering her left eye, which she lost in her battle against Isshin Matoi. Her eyepatch is a combination of the two katakana characters for her name, ヌ (nu) and イ (i).

Personality

Nui demonstrates a very childish and cheerful behavior. She is always seen smiling, and acts, on the surface, very friendly with everyone, demonstrating excessive intimacy towards even Satsuki and revealing to Ryūko in a rather nonchalant way the fact that she killed her father. According to Ragyō Kiryūin, Nui is a free spirit and will do whatever she wants according to her whims. Her often bubbly behavior masks a very sociopathic individual, and she has shown a high degree of sadism. When she finds herself injured or out matched, she drops her usual cheery front and becomes more frantic and aggressive, which becomes more evident by the endgame after Ryūko cut off her arms. It's hinted, and nearly confirmed that Nui keeps heavy grudges and is likely targeting Ryūko simply because Isshin cut her eye out.

Role

Nui was a Life Fiber-infused human that was born from an artificial womb. She was created by and works for the show's main villain, Ragyo Kiryuin as REVOCS Grand Couturier. Prior to the show's main story, she fought with Ryuko's father Isshin Matoi (apparently to obtain the Scissor Blades from him), and he succeeded in cutting her right eye out with two pieces of said scissors. However, she prevailed, murdered him and took half of the scissors for herself.

This is the reason why Nui holds a grudge against Ryuko, whom she regularly battles over the course of the show, first appearing when she interrupts her battle with Elite Four member Uzu Sanageyama. After effortlessly dispatching Sanageyama by tearing apart the Banshi of his Goku Uniform, Nui reveals to Ryuko that she is the true murderer of her father, taking pleasure in Ryuko's subsequent fury which results in Senketsu overheating, transforming her into a rampaging beast. However, she does not kill Ryuko, probably thanks to Satsuki's intervention.

When Ryuko goes through a breakdown as a result of her rampage, Nui assumes the form of a high school student who begs for Ryuko's help in fighting back against the tyrannical academy. As soon as Ryuko accepts, Nui reveals her true self and tears Senketsu to pieces with her blade, but is again interrupted by Satsuki before being able to kill Ryuko.

Nui continues to be a thorn in the heroes' side, assisting her "mother" Ragyo throughout the series. She was a crucial component in Ragyo's plan to fuse Kamui Junketsu to Ryuko, turning her into a Life Fiber agent. When Ryuko manages to overcome the brainwashing, Nui arrives personally to finish the job. However, by this point Ryuko is able to access her own innate Life Fiber powers and combine them with Senketsu's to overpower Nui. She takes the Grand Couturier's scissor blade and combines it with her own, managing to cut Nui's arms off. To Nui's horror, her arms do not regenerate as usual, and to add salt on her wounds, Ryuko stomps on her arms. This ultimately causes Nui to drop her bubbly facade and try to kill her as revenge.

Nui is seen one last time in the final battle between Ragyo and the heroes, using new Life Fiber arms created for her by Ragyo. She eventually commits suicide at the command of her "mother", fusing her essence to the Primordial Life Fiber to further Ragyo's plan. She is presumably destroyed for good together with the Primordial Life Fiber.

Powers and Abilities

• Life Fibers
  • Superhuman Physical Prowess - As a Life Fibers-infused human, Nui possess immense physical strength, speed, reflexes, durability and endurance. She is able to handle herself exceptionally well in battle, being able to effortlessly fight against the Four Devas, who were all wearing enhanced, Three Star Goku Uniforms, fight on even grounds against Kamui-wielding fighters such as Satsuki and Ryūko and easily defeat the Nudist Beach forces. In spite of her natural strength, due to the particular nature of the Life Fibers infused to her, Nui is unable to don a Kamui, as it would have no effect on her.
  • Regeneration - As a Life Fibers/human hybrid, Nui can regenerate from any wounds and even lost limbs almost instantly, regardless of their severity. The only exception to this healing power is if Nui is cut by the Scissor Blades or the Bakuzan, as they can nullify Life Fiber restoration.
  • Mon-Mignon Prêt-à-Porter - One of Nui's unique skills allows her to create replicas of herself that can either fight her opponents or act as distractions. Although physically identical to Nui and possessing all of her abilities, the duplicates appear to be far less powerful than the original, relying mainly on their superior numbers.
  • Mental Refitting - Much like Ragyō, Nui can release Life Fibers from her hands that ensnare opponents and turn them into mindless puppets.
  • Shapeshifting Arms - For the final battle, Ragyō replaced Nui's lost arms with Life Fiber replicas that can alter their shape. During the final episode, Nui's new arms transformed into blades for melee combat and bat-like wings for flight.
• Natural Abilities
  • Infiltration and Disguise Skills - Nui also appears to be extremely skilled when it comes to mimicry and infiltration. She was able to completely disguise herself as Shinjirō Nagita, disguising her height, hair style, gender and voice almost perfectly. She was also somehow able to create fake student data for Nagita, which appeared genuine upon inspection but disappeared immediately when she discarded her disguise. The only clue to her true identity that she apparently could not change was her eyepatch, which she instead covered up. In order to support her disguise she also used lifelike puppets to imitate the One-Star students chasing Nagita, indicating that she is also skilled at puppetry and ventriloquism.
  • Piloting Skills - Nui is also a skilled pilot, as seen when she hijacked Satsuki's personal helicopter and flew it back to the Kiryūin manor.
  • Master Sewing Skills - Being a Life Fibers/human hybrid and the Grand Couturier, Nui has a deep knowledge of how Life Fibers clothing is made, as demonstrated when she effortlessly spotted and removed Uzu Sanageyama's uniform's Banshi, dismantling the uniform. Likewise, she altered the Kamui Junketsu to be worn by Ryūko by sewing the Kamui's Life Fibers to Ryūko's own in order for the Kamui to possess her, making it extremely difficult for it to be removed from her body. She can sew high quality garments, especially Life Fiber based with ease, even after losing her arms as seen by her completion of the Shinra Koketsu.
  • Fingernail Hooks - The bottom edge of Nui's fingernails are lined with small hooks that can catch threads. She can use these hooks to grab and remove Banshis from uniforms.

It is also of interest that of the characters shown in the series thus far, she is the only one to be capable of performing reality-warping feats such as leaning upon the characteristic large red text which forms her name, and completely disregarding the space separating her from Satsuki, allowing her to run her fingers through her hair as though they were standing eye to eye, when in reality, they were many meters apart. However, this may be an artistic effect for her character and not an actual ability.

Former Powers and Abilities

• Scissor Blade – Nui's signature weapon is one half of a giant pair of scissors, which she took from Isshin Matoi after defeating him. She wields the scissor as her main weapon, as one-handed, single-edged sword. The blade is capable of cutting Life Fibers, which are otherwise indestructible. Her skill with the blade is equal, if not superior to that of Ryūko's own.
  • Scythe Mode - Like Ryūko's blade, Nui can alter the shape of her Scissor Blade. During the battle on the S.S. Naked Sun, she converted her blade into a large, double-sided scythe. Apparently, this form can also increase the blade's power, as Nui intended to use it to sink the ship.
• Razor Tape Measure - Nui used a measuring tape with retractable blades during her attack on Isshin Matoi's lab. It was destroyed by the Scissor Blades.

Trivia

• Her Seiyuu, Yukari Tamura, who has previously played Nanoha Takamachi, the titular main heroine in Magical Lyrical Nanoha series.
• 'Nui' means sewing and 'Harime' means stitch.
• Her eyepatch symbol is derived from the the Katakana characters that writes "Nui" (ヌイ) combined together.
• There exists a fan theory that Nui somehow managed to escape death by possessing Mako Mankanshoku.
• If one looks closely at Nui's good eye, it is noticeable that the glints and glimmers in it form the shape of a grinning devil-like mask, with horns.