Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers Episode 1-2 Review

Uncovering that fighting games possess deep and expansive lore might sound strange to the uninitiated, who believe the way to “win” at Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter is to mash buttons and pray. However, fighting games often feature layered stories that span decades and multiple titles. Guilty Gear is no exception, with an entire wiki dedicated to its lore and character origins. Browsing the wiki can be overwhelming due to the sheer number of characters and story elements, so I hoped this anime adaptation would streamline the story and at least provide some enjoyable fight scenes. Unfortunately, Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers fails on both counts.

The series opens with the first of many narrations establishing the world and characters of Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers. In this world, magic has replaced science; however, this rise in magic has wreaked havoc, as bioweapons created through magic—known as Gears—sparked a war between humans and Gears called the Crusades. While humanity ultimately wins the war, tensions remain, especially when Ky Kiske (Takeshi Kusao), the hero of the Crusades and chief of the international police force, falls in love with Dizzy (Kazue Fujita), a person who is half-Gear, half-human. The two eventually have a child, Sin Kiske (Issei Miyazaki), and are on the brink of marriage when Unika (Yui Ishikawa), who harbors a deep hatred for Gears, attempts to kill Dizzy at their wedding.

I still wonder if I fully grasped everything that occurred across these two episodes. When I say narration happens often, I should clarify—it’s constant. Reminiscent of Pokémon narration on steroids, it sometimes feels like there’s more narration than actual dialogue. During fight scenes, the narrator interrupts to explain how a character’s abilities work—information that could have been conveyed through dialogue or shown visually through animation. Each character is introduced with the narrator stating who they are, which might be a nod to the character select screen from the games. If that was the intention, the transition from game to anime has ultimately failed.

Moreover, there are simply too many characters to keep track of, with a new one seemingly introduced every two minutes. This rapid influx creates confusion about who matters and why. I frequently found myself resorting to the wiki just to figure out who everyone was and how they were connected. It becomes so overwhelming that when Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers finally attempts to engage with its plot, my interest plummets due to how razor-thin that plot is. The thematic weight of hatred toward Gears feels nonexistent, especially since we’ve only met Dizzy, a half-Gear. This leaves the audience wondering whether Gears are even evil. After two episodes, we’re still in the dark, as Gears have barely appeared on screen—diminishing the impact of the central conflict entirely.

A weak plot could be somewhat redeemed by fun and engaging action, and you’d expect an anime based on a fighting game to deliver beautifully choreographed fight scenes. Sadly, that redemption proves to be a fantasy. The action is marred by confusing scene geography and lacklustre choreography—mostly consisting of characters running around, firing magical orbs, and slashing weapons in simplistic ways. Even the animation can’t salvage the experience; the art style feels generic and uninspired.

On paper, Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers should have been a fun action anime that, at worst, uses a dull story to string together epic fight scenes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t even manage that. The result is an anime that’s painful to watch at worst and uninspired at best. Regrettably, I won’t be continuing with this show beyond episode two.