Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers

After the decline of the once robust fields of science and technology, a new energy source known as magic fuels the modern era. Humanity creates forbidden biological weapons: Gears. Those Gears eventually stand against humanity in a rebellion. Although they manage to overcome in the struggle for survival known as the Crusades, humanity's losses are so great that even after several decades pass, their emotional wounds remain unable to fully heal.

Sin Kiske, the child of a human and a Gear, heads to his father Ky and mother Dizzy's wedding ceremony. Their wedding breaks the ultimate taboo: a union between a human and a Gear. Even with the world at peace, it took many years for such a ceremony to come to fruition. Despite the complex array of emotions surrounding it, the wedding ceremony is met with blessings. When suddenly, a mysterious girl appears... The fated child inheriting Gear blood–and the mysterious girl who despises Gears. Their meeting would shake the world.

(Source: Official site)

Badguy, Sol Main

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Kiske, Sin Main

Miyazaki, Issei Japanese

Unika Main

Ishikawa, Yui Japanese

Bridget Supporting

Iwami, Manaka Japanese

Kiske, Ky Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Baiken Supporting

Asano, Mayumi Japanese

Valentine, Ramlethal Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Dizzy Supporting

Fujita, Kazue Japanese

Valentine, Elphelt Supporting

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Testament Supporting

Kou, Yuu Director

Ootera, Fumihiko Sound Director

Kaihou, Norimitsu Script, Series Composition

Nowlu Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Jul 20, 2025

Ragnaris

Recommended

This is my first review and it's for a series which is dear to my heart.

This anime had all the right things going for it until you realize it doesn't do justice to them. The games series which it is based on feature a wide roster of characters - each with different traits, goals, motives and charm. The first fault is not taking advantage of these characters.

Only about one third of them are present. I understand that this wasn't meant to be a big budget. But everyone aside from the main main main cast only serve as plot points and/or comedy relief. The way this ... should have been handled is either focus on specific characters or go deeper, with more episodes, so that more context can be present.

The VA are magnificent. I cannot stress this enough but they are one of the reasons I recommend this series. Authentic and unique, just like in the games. Even if you have no prior experience, surely you would enjoy them.

The visuals are mixed. The 3D sections are unexpectedly well done and the overall style and execution are consistant and good. That said there are many questionable decisions with the way some of the action sequences are presented and the many, many MANY still shots, that are likely there to save on budget.

The soundtrack is very underwhelming for the most part. The opening and ending are above average and are enjoyable. I am not too familiar with licensing for songs of games that are made anime but presumably there is a reason not a single song from the games made it here. That is a shame because (totally not biased) it is the best soundtrack out there.

The plot itself is nothing impressive, quite shallow to be fair. Alot of the interesting lore is alluded to but never expanded on, which makes sense for the amount of episodes but still leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Furthermore, many key plotpoints of the series are served right up in a very linear way without much context which may or may not confuse viewers that have not played the games. The narrator, while excellent as presentation, fails to be useful as it brings up points that anyone should be able to tell for themselves. This is not a fault exclusive to this anime and I get why it is placed there, but it was poorly done.

Honestly, this series gives mixed feelings. The reason I give it a recommend is because the games are nothing short of phenomenal and for me - the finest fighting game series out there, by far. The 8 I gave is somewhat biased but hopefully, through this medium, some people would get invested in it. Hopefully.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 7, 2025

2HalfSandwiches

Mixed Feelings

Informative

Preliminary (3/8 eps)

Not a great show to watch, unless you're already enamored with Guilty Gear.

I'll admit I had incredibly low expectations coming in, from a general rarity of strong video game adaptations; however, this show was better than expected. This show is better than the average video game-based show.

Overall, the show comes off as somewhat ham-handed in how it tells its story. For example, every major character is announced with a title card when they are introduced. While it works and does get its point across, it can be pretty jarring to be constantly hit with title cards. In one instance, titles appeared within a minute of ... one another, between Johnny being and the presumed antagonist Hammer being introduced in episode 1. And, it's a pretty clunky way to introduce someone:

You don't need to directly tell the audience the guy with no shirt and a katana is named Johnny. You can simply have Dizzy call him that. You don't need to directly state that he's essentially a surrogate father to Dizzy, if she's ecstatic he's at her wedding. And you don't need to say Johnny is a robin Hood-type character if you show him doing Robin hood-type stuff. If any of that didn't need to be established, then you didn't need to break the flow of the show to mention it in a title card; you can have him just be a cool cameo for the established fans. This is just an example of how the show can be somewhat blunt in how it conveys its narrative. That said, I suspect that this particular problem will diminish the further into the series, as the major players will all be introduced.

The animations, while serviceable, are underwhelming. While not as egregious a The Way of the Househusband's adaptation, there is a heavy reliance on still images that becomes more and more noticeable as the show goes on. While the 3D animation is usually fine and often good, it's a pity we don't get to see more of it. That said, it's clear this show was operating on a shoestring budget, so these flaws are reasonably forgivable, but shows can certainly do better, even with such limitations.

Overall, an average show that's honestly better than most video game-based anime, but still isn't really strong enough for mass appeal; I can recommend you give it a try if you're a fan of Guilty Gear, but I can't really recommend it so far otherwise.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 18, 2025

MrKessler

Not Recommended

I know that Guilty Gear isn't exactly known for its amazing story. But this might be one of the dumbest stories in any show I've seen in a while. The plot is horrible, it develops at a distractingly fast pace in the second half and its centered around a relationship that has no time to build itself up. And if you expect any of the characters you like from the game to matter, well though luck, because they are all glorified cameos And the villain is just awful, its like if you grab every terrible villain in fiction and smush it together into one terrible, ... cliched, mess, who has the dumbest plan and the most confusing motivation of every villain you've ever seen. His plan is to destroy the gears in the past to avoid the detruction of the world that has happened in the future, but then he goes to the past TO DESTROY THE WORLD ANYWAY? WHAT? WHY EVEN GO TO THE PAST, THEN?

Unlike a show like Arcane, for example, this show doesn't feel like it takes place in a world that is independent from the characters from the games. It feels like the world is an excuse to put a bunch of quirky videogame characters together. And their designs make no sense for the setting and situation they are put on.

Surprisingly, the 3D animation is really solid, even great at times, it uses the camera for its action sequences really effectively, and it adapts arc system works' style from the game pretty well (even though it doesn't even come close to the animation fidelity of Strive). But the 2D animation and the compositing are just awfull, take a shot every time this show drags a 2d shot across the screen 3 times for "dramatic effect", you will be in a coma in half an episode's time. It's terrible.

I think this one example of a show that for some can be "so bad that its good" but I personally think its way too boring to be even that, besides some great action sequences sprinkled in, its really bad

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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