The story starts with Ryuko Matoi who is ou to avenge her father's death using the weapon that killed him, half of a giant pair of scissors, and by giant I mean the size of a sword. Ryuko goes to Hannouji Academy to seek out her father's killer and discovers a bizzare Hierarchy led by Satsuki Kiryuin, a senior who claims responsibility for Matoi's death. Ryuko can't domuch about it though because standing between her and Satsuki are several loyal students wearign Goku uniforms. Uniforms are the key to the hierachy and in fact clothes are the central plot point of the story; students are ranked by uniform from no star to three stars, each star representing percentage(in increments of ten) of life fibers, a material which allows for incredible power but can be dangerous so while more stars means more power, the 20%-30% range seems to be sort of a breaking point at which normal people shouldn't be wearing them because the risk is too high. No stars would presumably have some life fibers, but not enough to actually grant any notable power. One stars are for those who join a club, the uiforms actually augment abilities relevant to the club to superhuman levels, two stars are reserved for club presidents and are pretty much the same as one stars, only twice as potent. Three stars are the most powerful and there are only five, the Elite Four, Lady Satsuki's favorites, and the leader of the sewing club who makes the Goku uniforms. There is actually one rank higher but extremely rare, the kamui, which are 100% life fibers, only two or three exist, and nobody can wear them without extreme risk to their life. The two stars are enough to hold back Ryuko, forcing her to retreat with help of a No Star by the name of Mako Mankanshoku whose father happens to be a back alley doctor that nurses her back to health. Ryuko goes back to the ruins of her house to apologize to her father(or what's left of him) and finds Senketsu, a kamui made just for her which can speak to her. Senketsu needs blood from Ryuko to function, and by function I mean transform from a navy sailor suit typical of a school girl's uniform into armor that looks impractical(read: covers almost nothing leaving Ryuko nearly naked) yet very effective at beating Goku uniforms.
The first few episodes just run this basic concept of Ryuko fighting various Two Stars who challenge her for the glory and honor of Lady Satsuki, who has a kamui of her own, Junketsu, which appears to be a conservative white suit but can transform into armor which looks just like a white version of Senketsu. Ryuko recieves some guidance from her homeroom teacher, who is in fact the only teacher we ever see, this academy doesn't seem to have a lot of learning going on. Just when the basic plot seems to run out of steam and reach its conclusion, some crazy chick shows up with the other half of Ryuko's scissors and claims she is in fact the one who killed her father. From here we discover the truth of what is actually going on: life fibers are alien parasites, Satsuki's mother is using them to enslave the human race, Satsuki was using the academy to train a resistance group that can use the power of life fibers against her mother, and Ryoko's homeroom teacher is part of another resistance group with the same goal known as Nudist Beach, which was actually started by Ryuko's father, who was in fact the ex-husband of Ragyo Kiryuin and the father of both of her daughters- bombshell, Ryuko and Satsuki are sisters! So to sum up, clothes are evil, we can only overcome them by being nudists, or learning to use them which can only be done properly by Ryuko and Senketsu because Ryuko is partly made fo life fibers herself and Senketsu was actually made with her DNA so they are uniquely like brother and sister in a wierd sort of way. Also, Ryuko's scissor blades are the only weapon that can properly sever life fibers and are therefore the only effective weapon against them. The final episodes are a typical world representing hero versus world destroying villain and we know how that usually goes. However, it is still worth watching because this one involves naked people, lots of them. They don't really show anything naughty, but it's still hilarious to see the enitre cast naked at various points in the story, especially when Ragyo first reveals herself and the evil clothes take over for a while and the only survivors of the clothing apocalypse are Nudist Beach who wear only utility belts that strategically cover just enough to satisfy the censors. Really, the whole thing comes down to gratuitous nudity and a bizzare philosphy that justifies it, or as we otaku call it, fan service. I leave you now with Ryuko's ass-kicking theme music.
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