The Dual Rulers Anime is a Pretty Big Letdown…
When I first came across Guilty Gear, it was during Exert. And I remember thinking to myself, bro, these characters and the designs are so fly. When it comes to fighting games, it’s almost like Jojoish, especially in Strive. All the characters, the guys are buff as hell, bro. And everybody’s just on some totally different type of swag, bro. Like, when people talk about Melty Blood being the swagless game, this has to be the polar opposite cuz everybody in Strive is swagged out. Since seeing exerted, I said, “Bro, this game would make such an awesome anime because they already have such anime like aesthetics.” I just always thought it would translate well into anime, right? So, when they announced Dual Rulers, immediately I was like, I’m going to watch it because I’m a Guilty Gear fan regardless. For me, it doesn’t need to have the same graphic and animation that I would expect from another newer anime because I know it’s coming from having like less budget behind it and not coming from a manga. It It’s different. All right. Now, I’m trying. Y’all let me know if I’m tripping, but as I’m in the middle of editing this Guilty Gear video, went and rewatched the first three episodes and caught up. The elephant in the room is definitely the animation. It’s not really getting better. I was thinking it was going to be animated like the music video, but whole time that was just like cow. None of the animation, the CGI, the models, none of it looks like how the music video looked. The CGI is really not fluid. It’s like they use the 3D the models from the game, but I don’t know. It’s just it doesn’t translate good. Certain drawn backgrounds mixed with the CGI, certain things that just it’s kind of jarring. It’s definitely kind of jarring. It just sticks out like it’s noticeable. Amount of like still images used that are just panning or zooming is kind of excessive. Like it it gives me big berserk anime vibes. 2016 2017 anime. Even when you compare it to the Tekken anime, the Tekken anime definitely had CGI, but I feel like even that CGI was more fluid between the the CGI, the static backgrounds, the panning backgrounds, and the lawn drawn out still image shots, I don’t know. Because of Guilty Gear’s aesthetic since I come across it during Exert, I just always thought it would lend itself good to an anime. But maybe the budget behind it, the way it’s looking right now, if it wasn’t for Guilty Gear’s name being on it, I definitely I would have dropped it already just because of the unfluid CGI. So unfluid. There’s a few decent CGI scenes. Like certain ones with Unica and then it’s like they throw it all the way in the next one where they make it look it’s like watching a a slideshow like a PowerPoint presentation but like the most slideshow anime I’ve ever seen. Again, budget behind it. I understand. I’m not trying to put them down, but I’m just being realistic from the perspective that like it’s just not that enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, for the fans, they’re going to love it because, you know, it’s just animated story of a game they love. But at this point, I would much rather have me a manga to read. They could just drop a new Guilty Gear manga instead because the few chapters they dropped on the website look much better. I’d much rather see that art style and just read black and white manga than see this difficult to watch jarring anime. I’m sorry. I might get bashed for it. My videos before up until now with Door Rulers, I was so hyped for it. I was really looking forward to it, especially thinking it was going to be animated like the music video, but it’s nothing like that. It’s Yeah, if you like Guilty Gear, if you you just want to see, you know, more of the story and hear about the story, what’s going on, then yeah, definitely. If not, if you’re just a have no background, no nothing in Guilty Gear, no fighting games, you just came across Dual Rulers on Crunchyroll, you’re like, “Oh, let me check this out.” I probably wouldn’t recommend it to you. Probably not going to like it. I mean, if you can completely ignore and get past all animation to try to get to the story, then probably check it out. But I’m not going to lie, it’s got a fighting game story line. So, like, it’s an interesting concept if you’re not into Guilty Gear, but I don’t think the concept is going to be enough to carry you through that animation. Bro, I just watched episode 5 earlier today and I’m not going to lie, I feel like it almost completely ruins the show. I feel like I can’t take it serious because they didn’t take the animation serious. I don’t mean to disrespectfully, bro. Like I’ve I’ve loved Arcis ever since I came across them. Damn near everything they’ve put out. Almost every game, fighting game for sure, bro. Even some of the non-fighting game titles, some of the more like platformer stuff. But SW Internet Boss, I’m sorry that CGI is but I’m not even a big proponent for CGI. I’m not really a fan to begin with. I could stick it out if it’s decent, you know, or the story is good enough depending on certain circumstances, but this one needed needed some more justice for the gears. But as far as recommending the anime right now, maybe go play Strive instead. Like I’d probably recommend somebody pick up one of the Guilty Gear games as opposed to watching this right now. If we were going to do it this way, we should have just put it off or waited. But let me know what y’all think. Like I said, I was ready to drop the video earlier, but then I went back through, watched it again, and then caught up since the other two episodes were out, and I was just like, “All right, bro.” Kind of glad I watched this before I dropped this video because I was about to be a man. Everybody check it out. But sorry, I can’t the animation bother me. Y’all let me know what y’all think. Also, check out Fire Force. I already did the episode one reaction, but I’ll do some more videos talking about season 3 of Fire Force cuz final season. I’ve been waiting for this for a while. So, check back for other anime and manga content if you’re interested. There’s any anime or manga you guys want me to check out specifically, let me know down in the comments. Aside from that, I’m going to have for today.
I was really excited when they announced Guilty Gear Strive Dual Rulers, especially after watching the music video produced by the same studio.
But sadly, the animation and CGI is nothing like what I had expected. I held out a few episodes before fully passing judgement, at first I was like “Nahhhh I know it’s gonna get better, maybe we just gotta wait for a big fight”. Unfortunately it didn’t change. I know it has to do with the budget, but the animation mixed with still and panning backgrounds is jarring.
I’ve been a big fan of Ark System Works from when I first came across them, and I’ve made plenty of videos about multiple games. I thought this anime was gonna be a big hit for fighting game anime, maybe pave the way for more to come. But I’m sorry, the Gears deserved more justice than this, especially with the Strive story mode looking 100 times better.
But let me know what you guys think. Am I tripping? Do you think they did Guilty Gear justice with this one?
#GuiltyGearStrive #DualRulers #AnimeReaction #FightingGameAnime
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:00 Intro
0:52 The Elephant in the Room
1:40 Comparisons
2:00 Expectations vs Reality
2:46 Guilty Gear Manga
3:17 Would I recommend it?
4:00 Love for Arksys
4:34 Final Thoughts
5:05 Outro
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Song: I-85
Artist: Kia
Music by: CreatorMix.com
Song: Crested
Artist: Kia
Music by: CreatorMix.com
Song: The Feels
Artist: Owl Nest
Music by: CreatorMix.com
Video: https://youtu.be/hcgSsoJ2488