You already know the smell of the game. Now it’s time to get a taste of the upcoming anime in the Guilty Gear franchise: Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers. The news comes as companies gear up to show off their latest creations at the Anime Expo 2024 event in Los Angeles. Burgers and hot dogs aren’t the only thing to look forward to on July 4th as many anime and related gaming announcements are expected. The team noted there will be a trailer ready and some behind the scenes uncovering of how this idea came about. On paper this is hype as hell. Guilty Gear has a large roster of interesting characters with some rich lore. But if you’ve played the game’s story mode…

I’m worried guys. That story mode was pretty atrocious. Not only was the way it produced very stiff and boring like an incredibly low budget visual novel, but what’s more is the writing wasn’t very good for the vast majority of it. I enjoyed Happy Chaos and what, well, chaos he injected into the plot but other than him I barely even remember anything of importance or emotional weight occurring. I DO remember the President of the United States claiming that “FOOTBALL WILL SAVE THE WORLD!” as he saves the day so that’s a memorable aspect I suppose. So my faith was shaken by the game’s main story and DLC, and it’s not like a giant in the industry such as MAPPA is stepping up to produce this project. We got Sanzigen Studios in the house, which I had to look up on Wikipedia. They’ve done a couple of notable works in the past like collaborating on Black Rock Shooter, but not enough consistency for me to feel comfortable. Anime based on games already have a reputation for feeling underbaked with weak narratives. But I digress, those wanting the full scoop can read the announcement article for themselves to try and piece together what level of quality to expect down the road. 

I’ve been hurt by these types of projects too many times in the past for raw hype to be flowing right now, but I still look forward to seeing some more content released for this anime. Under the layers of over the top character backstories and ridiculously grand scale plots, there ARE genuinely heartfelt story beats and moments to be explored. It’s just a matter of constructing them. Did you hear about this upcoming anime? Do you play Guilty Gear? Will you check this out once it drops, or wait for more showcasing? Heaven or hell, grab a guitar, and rock your opponents silly in the comments below!