Such Wonderful Gowns: ‘Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers’ – Review

Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers is a new anime looking to deepen the world Arc System created with Strive. While GG is a well-loved fighting game series, the anime feels precisely like the narrative moments that pop up between fights. Dual Rulers is just like playing Guilty Gear: Strive. Just with none of the interactivity of playing the game. Let’s get into it. Dual Rulers has the look down pat. The mixed, clunky steampunk-cyberpunk hybrid aesthetic is on full blast. Characters who look like created players are a part of what makes GG so alluring to begin with. Why does Sin Kiske wear a patch? No idea, but it’s provocative, gets people going, you know? Some very beautifully designed parts of each episode are mixed medium – a 2-D, hand-drawn, textured overlay over some settings that make the world feel more lived-in. 

Why does Sin have an eyepatch? That says ‘hello’? And why is his weapon a flagpole?

Cel shading and very crisp animation are what makes the Guilty Gear IP stand out (a signature and staple of Arc Systems). The fight scenes are easy to read, but the narrative threads holding the story together don’t have enough weight for anything to feel earned. Dual Rulers suffers from the polar opposite kind of aura farming (intentionally trying to make things look effortless) that Solo Leveling has mastered. Unless you’ve played a slew of Guilty Gear, you might not be able to keep up with what is already a paper-thin storyline. The reverse aura farming shows up in two …