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Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers | |
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Based on | Guilty Gear Strive by Arc System Works |
Written by |
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Directed by | Shigeru Morikawa |
Voices of | |
Opening theme | "AXCLUSION" by Ulma Sound Junction |
Ending theme | "Arika" by Nowlu |
Composer | Ryo Takahashi |
Country of origin | Japan |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Producers |
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Cinematography | Daisuke Okumura |
Editor | Hatsumi Hidaka |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | |
Release | April 4 – May 24, 2025 |
Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers [a] is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sanzigen and Arc System Works. It is based on the video game series Guilty Gear , set shortly between the three season events of Guilty Gear Strive , and its fourth season followup. [1] The series aired from April to May 2025.
The plot centers around "Gears," which in universe are magical creatures made with the intention of the advancement of human evolution. Some gears began fighting against humans leading to a 100 year long global conflict known as the Crusades. Years after the Crusades, Ky Kiske, a human, and Dizzy, a Gear, are officially getting married, hoping to promote peaceful co-existence between humanity and Gears. Their wedding is interrupted by the new antagonists, a mysterious Unika and an Anti-Gear activist Nerville Hammers, who hopes to destroy all Gears. The story follows Ky and Dizzy's son, Sin Kiske, as he tracks down Unika. Other characters from the Guilty Gear series, such as Sol Badguy (now a human), Ramlethal Valentine, Baiken, Johnny, Bridget, and more also play prominent roles in the plot. [2]
Unika was revealed to be sent by someone from another timeline to aid Nerville on his scheme to kill all Gears at once with a virus he developed by infecting Sin, due to his heritage from Dizzy and Justice as a Commander-type Gear. Unfortunately she is nothing but a disposable pawn of Nerville's scheme, and not only that she is a Gear, but also Sin's alternate future younger sister. As it turns out, to even Nerville's horror, the virus he created is meant to cause the Gears to go rampage like in Unika's timeline and the past Crusades. Both Nerville and Unika are instead being pawns of the former's alternate future-self, who becomes a malevolent being beyond Gear. Future Nerville absorbed his past-self and attempt to destroy the main timeline. However, Sol uses a bullet entrusted by Dizzy and Ky to shoot Sin to stabilize his Commander Gear without killing him while saving all Gears, and Unika is ready to atone her actions into stopping Future Nerville.
With the siblings managed to save their parents and defeat Future Nerville, peace has been restored. Thanks to an encouragement by U.S. President Vernon E. Groubitz, Sol properly comes in term with his past and ultimately present himself at a wedding of his daughter, Dizzy, where their relationships becomes publicly known. After the wedding, Unika departs to roam the world like her grandfather, Sol before her while serving as a bodyguard in training per U.S. government jurisdiction.
The series was announced on June 14, 2024 on the Twitter account of Arc System Works. The studio subsequently released a trailer for the series on YouTube. [3] The series aired from April 5 to May 24, 2025, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The opening theme song is "AXCLUSION", performed by rock band ulma sound junction , while the ending theme song is "Arika", by Nowlu. Crunchyroll licensed the series to watch online. [4] [5]
No. | Title [6] [7] | Directed by [b] | Written by [b] | Storyboarded by [b] | Original release date [8] | |
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1 | "Ceremony" Transliteration: "Shikiten" (Japanese: 式典 -Ceremony-) | Daichi Omori | Norimitsu Kaihō | Kozue Oka, Kenta Sasaki, Kotaro Kobayashi, Yuki Maeda, Chisato Ooshima, Daisuke Suzuki, Shoko Mori & Shigeru Morikawa | April 5, 2025 | |
Ky Kiske and Dizzy are set to be married and hope to establish peaceful relations between humans and Gears going forward. The ceremony is interrupted by a girl named Unika who attacks Dizzy, still seeing Gears as evil. Sol Badguy and Ky and Dizzy's son, Sin, manage to thwart the assassination attempt at the expense of Ky and Dizzy getting frozen, and must find out who Unika is and why she is doing this. | ||||||
2 | "Belief in Peace" Transliteration: "Heiwa e no Shinnen" (Japanese: 平和への信念 -Belief in peace-) | Kotaro Ogawa | Kō Shigenobu | Shinpei Ishikawa, Kenta Sasaki, Kotaro Kobayashi, Yuki Maeda, Chisato Ooshima, Daisuke Suzuki, Dong Sujian & Shigeru Morikawa | April 12, 2025 | |
Sol and Sin track down Unika and must prevent her from getting a key from the President of the United States that could kill all Gears. | ||||||
3 | "A Soaring Angel" Transliteration: "Hane no Haeta Tenshisama" (Japanese: 羽根の生えた天使さま -A Soaring Angel-) | Daichi Omori | Norimitsu Kaihō | Kozue Oka, Kenta Sasaki, Hiroshi Morota, Kotaro Kobayashi, Yuki Maeda, Chisato Ooshima, Daisuke Suzuki & Shigeru Morikawa | April 19, 2025 | |
Sol and Sin follow Unika to a run down city that distrusts Gears in the hope of keeping her from activating her plan. All the while, Sin tries to understand her motives, leading to a confrontation of ideals when they re-encounter & fight each other once more that result in Sin's latent Gear abilities activating. | ||||||
4 | "King of Gears" Transliteration: "Gia no Ō" (Japanese: ギアの王-King of GEARS-) | Kotaro Ogawa | Norimitsu Kaihō | Kozue Oka, Kenta Sasaki, Hiroshi Morota, Kotaro Kobayashi, Yuki Maeda, Chisato Ooshima, Yuki Ijiri, Futo Suzuki, Akinori Miyahisa & Shigeru Morikawa | April 26, 2025 | |
Unika is found and tended to by Bridget while Sin recovers from the fight, with both starting to reconsider their methods after briefly seeing the others' memories during their fight. Sol and Sin start to reach the conclusion someone else is backing Unika and behind everything. Suddenly Sin finds himself dubbed "The King of Gears" after he unwittingly activated the dormant Gears of the area, putting him in an awkward position with this newfound power. | ||||||
5 | "King's Decision" Transliteration: "Ō no kettei" (Japanese: 王の決定 -King's Decision-) | Unknown | Unknown | TBA | May 3, 2025 | |
6 | "Emissary from the Future" Transliteration: "Mirai Kara no Shisha" (Japanese: 未来からの使者 -Emissary from the Future-) | Unknown | Unknown | TBA | May 10, 2025 | |
7 | "Dark Sun" Transliteration: "Ankoku no Taiyō" (Japanese: 暗黒の太陽 -Dark Sun-) | Unknown | Unknown | TBA | May 17, 2025 | |
8 | "What Makes You, You" Transliteration: "Jibun no Katachi" (Japanese: 自分のカタチ -What Makes You, You-) | Unknown | Unknown | TBA | May 24, 2025 |
Overall reception to the early series was largely positive, with particular praise towards the series animation, and character interactions. [9] The 2-3d fusion the series is well known for, and the extensive worldbuilding of the series were generally positive. [10] Attention was drawn however little effort put into explaining the lore of the previous games. [11]