Guilty Gear -STRIVE- / Characters

Characters introduced in Guilty Gear -STRIVE-

The Captain Ersatz, Expy, "No Celebrities Were Harmed", Mythology Gags, Continuity Nods and Shout-Out references go here.

For May, Axl, Chipp, Potemkin, Faust, Millia, Zato, Baiken, and Testament, check the sheet for The Missing Link.
- For Sol, check his sheet.
- For Ky, check his sheet.
For Anji and Johnny, check the sheet for GGX.
For I-No, Bridget, and Slayer, check the sheet for GGXX.
For Sin, check the sheet for Overture.
For Ramlethal, Leo, Jack-O', the original Bedman, and Elphelt, check the sheet for GGXrd.
For A.B.A, check the other characters sheet.

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Base Roster

Nagoriyuki

I know the time of darkness will come someday, but I will fight until the day I die.

"Only a fool walks the path of the demon lightly."

Voiced by:
JP: Taiten Kusunoki
ENG: Evan Michael Lee
KR: Chaehon Im

Playable in: -STRIVE-

Profile:

Height: 6'8¾"

Weight: 212lbs

Gender: Male

Blood type: Unanalyzable

Birthplace: Nigeria

Date of Birth: March 18

Hobbies: Haiku, meditating

Likes: Bushido, tomato juice

Dislikes: Dishonesty, worldly desires, crabs

Character themes:
What do you fight for

, Crawl

A mysterious man who styles himself after a samurai. He is a student of Slayer and, like his master, a Nightwalker who pursues the ideals of Dandyism. Having traveled across the world in his journey to tame his vampiric instincts, he took part in the Crusades as a warrior until one day, he vanished under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly, in 2187, he makes his presence known once again, but his reasons for doing so are unclear.

Gameplay-wise, Nagoriyuki is a powerful mid-range fighter who uses his ōdachi to keep opponents at bay while dealing massive amounts of damage. He's big and slow, lacking a dash or airdash, but he has his master Slayer's teleporting dash and command grab as special moves. Nagoriyuki also has the unique ability to seamlessly cancel his special moves into one another. However, using these moves comes at a price: he has a "Blood Gauge" that fills up by a certain portion depending on the moves used. If it fills up completely, he will be forced to enter "Blood Rage".

During Blood Rage, Nagoriyuki cannot use any of his special moves, and his health drains at a rapid pace. But in exchange, the range and damage of his sword attacks are increased dramatically, and he can use a special Overdrive that deals massive damage and also ends Blood Rage prematurely if the animation is fully completed. To make his Blood Gauge go down so he doesn't enter Blood Rage at the wrong time, your options are to wait, land his command grab, hit the opponent with sword strikes, or use his Overdrive.

Ability Depletion Penalty: The Blood Gauge is this in reverse. Using his specials fills up the gauge and it powers up his sword moves at higher levels, but if you let it fill up completely, he enters Blood Rage. While he gets powered-up normals and a really hard-hitting Overdrive, he can't use specials and it drains about half his life bar very quickly. The animation where he goes into Blood Rage is slow enough to be punished, and he has no safe way of exiting Blood Rage, either. He needs to stop using his special and land attacks or his command grab to lower the gauge.
Afro Asskicker: Implied to have been one in the past; if Faust provides him with an afro, one of his responses suggest it isn't the first time he's rocked one.
Nagoriyuki: Still looks good on me... yay!
Ambiguously Related: His interactions with Chipp implies that he might have studied under Tsuyoshi in the past, with Chipp even calling one of his techniques Gamma Blade in the story mode. Ultimately, what his relation with Tsuyoshi is never elaborated upon.
Attack Its Weak Point: He has the ability to spot "weak points" in his opponents, which is made use of in the climax when he identifies I-No's palm as the location Sol needs to shoot at in order to defeat her.
Baritone of Strength: Both his English and Japanese VA's give him a very deep, pensive, and serious voice to accentuate his incredible raw power and unheard-of skill as a Nightless samurai.
The Blank: His mask doesn't actually appear to have any holes or lenses in it for him to see out of. It could be a technological mask that grants vision some other way, or perhaps since he's a vampire he might not even need to see.
BFS: His sword appears to be an ōdachi that's as long as he is tall - and he's a tall man to boot.
Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: If the implications are true, then the real-life African samurai Yasuke became a vampire and lived well into the future, only to be Forced into Evil by a powerful magic user and cross blades with a slew of Rummage Sale Rejects.
The Berserker: Normally a very stoic warrior, letting his Blood Meter max out unleashes his Blood Rage, buffing his Slash and Heavy Slash and changing his Overdrive which can be used to end the rage. However, he loses his other special moves during the Blood Rage and his health drains incredibly rapidly over the duration of the effect.
Big Damn Heroes: In the story mode, after having been freed from Chaos's control, he arrives just in the nick of time to identify and expose I-No's weak spot during the final battle.
Blood Knight: Pun aside, it's rather subtle but it can be seen in Nagoriyuki's voices lines as he fights. Should he lose, he actually breaks out into laughter, and should he win he actually encourages his opponent to train better for a future rematch.
Breaking Old Trends: Bears the distinction of being the first male Final Boss in a mainline installment.
The Brute: Happy Chaos and I-No recruit (or more accurately, force) him into their plot primarily out of need for manpower, as they need someone that can keep the likes of Sol Badguy busy.
Chekhov's Gunman: He reappears in time for the final battle and proves pivotal in killing I-No by using his Blood Rage to pinpoint her weak spot.
The Comically Serious: He's a stone-cold badass vampire samurai warrior and talks as such, and as his taunts show he'll even go on at length seriously exposition about... the nutritional value of rice balls.
Cool Mask: A very demonic-looking mask comprised of interlocking machine parts. He can put it on or off on command.
Dark Is Not Evil: He's a gigantic vampire with a massive odachi, dresses with an Oni motif, and is the final boss of arcade mode. However, he's mostly cordial with the rest of the cast and doesn't go out of his way to be evil. Outside of his tenure as Chaos's servant, he doesn't do anything bad and even forms friendships with the other characters during their arcade stories. And despite his vampiric nature, he doesn't enjoy the taste of blood.
Daywalking Vampire: Like the only other Nightwalker seen in the series, Slayer, Nagoriyuki has no apprehension about walking around in sunlight despite his vampiric nature.
Defeat Means Friendship: This gets Invoked in Anji's arcade mode as both he and Chipp are specifically seeking Nagoriyuki out because they want to befriend him. For his part, Nagoriyuki is completely bemused at the prospect, but should they defeat him he'll happily accept their offer.
Difficult, but Awesome: His damage is incredibly high and his ability to cancel special moves into other special moves can allow him to pull off some impressive pressure, but his Bloodrage gauge is always looming over him if he overcommits. Nago players must learn to efficiently end their pressure before it fills up and rely more on their midrange pokes to keep their opponent in the corner while the Bloodrage gauge slowly empties, which is easier said than done. In addition, Nago's command grab Bloodsucking Universe causes the Bloodrage gauge to rapidly empty when it connects, meaning a Nagoryuki who goes for the risky read can return back to the more aggressive pressure style faster than one who decides to remain patient. All in all, Nagoryuki is a character that rewards investment and patience in equal measure, and learning when to try for a command grab and when to remain patient is key to succeeding as him.
Double-Edged Buff: Entering Bloodrage allows Nagoriyuki to use his Zansetsu overdrive, a powerful cleaving swipe which can deal heavy damage as both a combo ender and a reversal while also kicking him out of Bloodrage. The drawback? Being in Bloodrage rapidly drains up to half his health to the point where a single combo from his opponent can kill him if they manage to hit him in the state. As such, high-level strategy for Nagoriyuki involves both carefully avoiding entering Bloodrage by accident while pulling it out only in circumstances where it's going to absolutely be advantageous for him to try and hit a Zansetsu.
Dreadlock Warrior: Sports thick dreads tied up into a Samurai Ponytail.
Dual Wielding: In his first appearance in -STRIVE-'s announcement trailer, Nagoriyuki had both swords in each hand. Despite this, the wakizashi is only used in his close slash, in a Reverse Grip. Otherwise, it remains sheathed as a part of his daishō.
Empowered Badass Normal: Nagoriyuki isn't a natural-born vampire like Slayer, but became one by choice. The fact that he has to moderate himself to avoid going berserk and entering Blood Rage indicates that the looming compulsions of his vampire instincts put an immense strain upon him physically and mentally. And given his mastery in the way of the samurai, this also indicates he was pretty strong-willed long before his transformation.
Fighting from the Inside: Finally having enough of Chaos having complete control over his actions, Nagoriyuki forcibly takes back control of his own body to intentionally let his guard down, allowing Sol to win their fight.
Final Boss: He is the last opponent fought in Arcade Mode, with a much stronger moveset and no limitations when he enters Bloodrage. The exceptions to this are every DLC character starting with Season 2, who all have unique final bosses more relevant to their character instead.
Flash Step: "Fukyo" is a special move that has him dash has him move so quickly that he briefly becomes invisible. It's designed to compensate for his otherwise limited mobility, letting him close the gap or make space when needed.
Forced into Evil: Nagoriyuki is a pawn of Happy Chaos, having been under his control for well over a century, and fully aware of it too. He breaks free after Chaos merges with I-No.
Fur Against Fang: He's a vampire who gets into a fight with Giovanna in the Story Mode, as she becomes fully possessed by her wolf spirit Rei and claws at him like a werewolf.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Nagoriyuki's Bloodrage functions much differently in Story Mode than it does in actual gameplay. In Story Mode, he is able to activate Blood Rage at will, appears to suffer no harmful effects from using it, comparing it to the in-game version, which forcibly turns him into The Berserker and drains his health, and can even use it to pinpoint weak spots on an opponent's body. The latter fact becomes very important at the end. It's also worth noting that these details are an aversion for his SNK Boss form as the buffs he gets line up with those abilities.
Glass Cannon: Not in the traditional sense as Nagoriyuki actually has one of the best health and defensive stats in the game, second to Potemkin, but if his blood gauge were to fill this will result in a Super Mode, where his strength goes through the roof at the price of his health instantly draining.
Graceful Loser: His voice lines when being defeated are mostly him sincerely commending his opponent's strength, and congratulating them on a well fought battle. Even as the victor, his quotes complement the opponent's strength, or at least their potential.
Hammerspace: While he can physically take his mask off or put it on, it can also retract or extrude seemingly from out of thin air behind his head. It's possible that it's coming out of whatever he ties his hair with, but it's probably this trope anyway.
Heel–Face Turn: Sort of. Nagoriyuki was never evil but was tricked and manipulated into serving Happy Chaos. When Chaos is taken out of the picture, Nagoriyuki firmly returns to the side of good.
Historical Domain Character: Heavily implied to be Yasuke, an African man who served as a retainer of Oda Nobunaga.
Hunk: Underneath that mask, he has a chiseled, handsome face; his Icy Blue Eyes only adds to the appeal.
Icy Blue Eyes: His eyes are so light they're almost white or silver.
I Let You Win: Much like Slayer, Nagoriyuki is depicted casually lounging about after being knocked down.
Image Song: "What do you fight for" as well his boss theme, "Crawl".
Lightning Bruiser: Zig-Zagged; normally a Mighty Glacier with great reach and defenses, his specials are lighting-fast, powerful, and can be cancelled into one another, letting Nago quickly close gaps even from afar. The only thing that keeps it balanced is that using his specials fills up his Blood Gaugeful. While his normal attacks are stronger in Blood Rage, it disables his specials and he drains massive amount of health over time.
Lust Object: Miraculously, even in the mind of an Extreme Omnisexual Love Freak like Elphelt Valentine, Nagoriyuki is this for her in -STRIVE-. The woman is so head-over-heels for the Nightwalker that she spends a majority of her Arcade Mode's storyline hounding him 24/7 with increasingly insane attempts to seduce and marry him, including going as far as to strip naked in front of him while picking out a new wedding dress, much to Nago's complete dismay. And while Elphelt does flirt with the idea of getting hitched to Faust instead (which is also a bad idea), she backs out of it because she's already promised her commitment to Nago...even after he had refused her advances multiple times since.
Elphelt: I got too caught up in the love in front of me...But I think my future husband will be upset if we have matching afros...
Nagoriyuki: Wrong! I have no intentions of marrying—
Elphelt: You sure can be the jealous type! If you're that worried, you could put a ring on it right now! That's right...Let's elope, darling!~
Nagoriyuki: What?
Faust: Oh...Congratulations! (grabs a half-wilted flower out of his scrubs as an engagement gift)
Elphelt: (Presents Nago with yet another wedding certificate) I actually wrote a wedding march, just for a time like this!
Faust: That's...nice.
Nagoriyuki: ...You can't possibly be serious, can you?
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Nagoriyuki has a unique resource to mange called the "Blood Gauge" which fills up whenever he uses a special move. The Gauge increases the damage of all of his sword attacks the higher it is, but he risks losing access to his special moves if it maxes out, being one of the only characters who can be locked out of their own options.
Meaningful Name: "Nagoriyuki" means "lingering snow", and he wears mostly white with Icy Blue Eyes to match.
Mighty Glacier: Nagoriyuki has some of the highest damage output in the game through normals alone, plenty of good long-ranged pokes, and defensive options to keep opponents at bay. In exchange for his strength, though, he lacks otherwise universal movement options like airdashes or double jumps, and his command dash and specials become unavailable during his Blood Rage.
Mirror Match: Nagoriyuki's Story Mode boss is the SNK Boss Nagoriyuki, using an alternate version of his default color that obscures his top half with shadows, leaving only his eyes and mask markings glowing in the dark. This is justified in-universe by Nagoriyuki himself, who explains to his sparring partner Zato-1 that the shadow is his Enemy Without and represents the vampiric instincts he's trying to suppress constantly.
Zato-1: So, this is the darkness within you...
Nagoriyuki: Careful. My inner demons are known to take shape.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A futuristic vampire samurai.
No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Played for Laughs when poor Nago unwittingly became the latest love target of Elphelt Valentine, who is so head-over-heels for the Nightwalker that she spends a majority of her Arcade Mode's storyline hounding him 24/7 with increasingly insane attempts to marry him, much to Nago's complete dismay.
Elphelt: Let's commit to a five-minute minimum on conversations, no matter how busy we get. And I won't quit my band even if we start a family, because I've got to give people hope with my music!
Nagoriyuki: Continue as you will. One must stay on their path, no matter who stands in the way. However, this has nothing to do with me.
Elphelt: ...You're right! My music motivates people...but my motivation is YOU! I'll commit to both!
Nagoriyuki: So you've found your path?
Elphelt: Yes! And it leads me down the aisle with my beloved husband!
Nagoriyuki: HUH?!
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Flip-flopped. He takes a lot after the historical figure Yasuke. But it's highly implied from in-game interactions and Word of God that he may very well be the man himself.
Not So Above It All: One minute, he'll engage his opponent with the utmost of seriousness. The next, he'll gleefully gush about the taste and nutritional benefits of onigiri, and is ecstatic when Faust puts the afro on him. Elphelt also sends him into an outright panic as he desperately tries to stop her from trying to marry him.
Occidental Otaku: He's from Nigeria, and he's a trained samurai who loves onigiri. His interactions with Chipp imply that he may have studied under or at least known Tsuyoshi (Chipp's master).
- Ironically, if the implications that he is Yasuke hold true, he likely has more first-hand experience with Japanese culture than any of the game's actual Japanese characters.
Oni: His mask's design emulates the head of an oni. This isn't a coincidence, as the motifs of his mask are the same as those of Happy Chaos.
Out-of-Character Moment: He gets several in both I-No's and Happy Chaos's arcade storylines. Justified as it's not him; they're alternate reality versions of him the two encounter on I-No's timeline-hopping adventures. Most of them employ either Large Ham tendencies or Hulk Speak, with one in I-No's storyline even calling her "motherly". The most off-the-rails version of Nagoriyuki is encountered on stage 8 of Chaos's arcade storyline if the player doesn't win via Flawless Victory, where he drops a Precision F-Strike and a little bit of Poirot Speak as he makes his exit:
"Nagoriyuki": Piece of shit! I want nani-mo nothing to do with you!
Our Vampires Are Different: Like his acquaintance Slayer, he can walk around in the daytime and has superhuman capabilities, enough that he can go toe-to-toe with Gears. He also isn't a natural-born vampire, as revealed by Happy Chaos, instead having willingly been turned.
Power Nullifier: His blade is made of a material that undoes Sol's Healing Factor. Such material is also present in the ammunition of the guns that Happy Chaos and his brainwashed mooks wield.
Red Is Violent: His blood effects and Blood Gauge represent Nago being at risk of losing control to his vampiric bloodlust. Mechanically, he hits harder the more gauge he has but loses control over his moveset, and it's signified by his sword dripping blood and his eyes turning a bright red.
Samurai Ponytail: Made of dreads, even.
Sealed Badass in a Can: In the story mode, Nagoriyuki is introduced as being sealed inside a statue in deep meditation and buried underground beneath a skyscraper for half a century. Happy Chaos gets to him by blasting the area with a giant laser.
SNK Boss: In an Extreme arcade route, Stage Eight Nagoriyuki is intentionally unbalanced, having no health drain during his Blood Rage, full body invulnerability for several moves (including his transition into Blood Rage, meaning it can't be punished), double his damage output, and triple his original health, and you don't even have another character to even the playing field. Stage Nine Nagoriyuki, who can only be fought by winning against him the first time without losing a round, has an unlimited Bloodrage that only drains when he gets damaged (and enters a stun state when fully drained, but then immediately re-enters Blood Rage right after).
Spanner in the Works: As Chaos is someone who actively enjoys incorporating holes in his own plans, he deliberately got Nagoriyuki involved because of this, since his ability to spot weak points makes him the one person who can take him down. True to expectation, the climax has Nagoriyuki arrive just at the right time to identify I-No's weak spot, allowing Sol to defeat her for good.
Spin Attack: "Kamiriyuki" has Nago leap forward with a spinning slash.
Strong and Skilled: Nagoriyuki has a massive amount of inherent raw power due to being a Nightwalker, which is only compounded by him being a millennia-at-the-very-least-old samurai possessing legendary proficiency with his blade. He's equally matched against Sol at the bare minimum because of this.
Super Mode: His Blood Rage is a double-edged sword variant. While in Blood Rage, he gains a massive damage increase, longer-ranged normals, a high-damage super move, and more opportunities for counters and punishes. However, he also loses the ability to use specials, cannot block, lasts for a very short amount of time, and his own HP rapidly drains out. The activation and end of Blood Rage also leave him vulnerable, so it's ill-advised to activate Blood Rage on a whim.
The Snack Is More Interesting: Some of his taunts have him eating onigiri during a fight and giving a lecture on its nutritional value.
Trademark Favorite Food: He loves onigiri to the point where a couple of his taunts combine into a lecture on their nutritional benefits.
Vampiric Draining: Has Slayer's Bloodsucking Universe command grab, which is arguably more vital to his own playstyle than his master's; Nagoriyuki's variant not only allows him to restore life (similar to Slayer's), but it is the only was he has of stopping his Blood Gauge (which Slayer doesn't have) from filling.
Vegetarian Vampire: Having trained for a long time to subdue his vampiric instincts, Nagoriyuki doesn't need to sustain himself with blood and only bites his opponent for damage. His profile states that he likes tomato juice, and he praises the nutritional value of his Trademark Favorite Food, onigiri.
Warrior Poet: One of his hobbies is Haiku, after all.
Was Once a Man: Happy Chaos' Arcade story reveals that Nagoriyuki wasn't born a Nightwalker, but rather a human that became one through unknown means.
Western Samurai: Originally from Nigeria, his extended time in Japan led him to abandon his birth name in favor of his current one. And he may have known Chipp's Master Tsuyoshi as seen in their interaction.
White Mask of Doom: His mask is mostly white, except for the "Heart" kanji on the front.
Worthy Opponent:
- In the Story Mode, he comes to regard Sol as this. Gameplay-wise, he expresses this belief during one of his Respects.
  "While you may be my enemy, you have my admiration."
- In Arcade Mode, Nagoriyuki takes a special interest in Baiken, given that Anji previously talked her up as a fellow Ronin. After the fight is over, he wants to continue to fight her again in the future, and the feeling is mutual on Baiken's part.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: During his brief duel with Giovanna in the story mode, she manages to subdue Nagoriyuki after going into her Super Mode. Nago feigns surrender so that she would drop the form and he could catch her off guard. He later admits had she not given him the benefit of the doubt, she actually would've defeated him.

Giovanna

I do I, don't be fake. Keep it real, keep it real.

"Yeah, don't care... Can we just do this?"

Voiced by:
JP: Mayumi Shintani
ENG: Lilimar Hernandez
KR: Myungho Lee

Playable in: -STRIVE-

Profile:

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 137lbs

Gender: Female (for both Gio and Rei)

Blood type: O

Birthplace: Brazil

Date of Birth: November 6th

Hobbies: Moongazing

Likes: Her spirit wolf companion, her unique sense of professionalism

Dislikes: The smell of cigarettes and alcohol

Character theme:
Trigger

A US Secret Service agent tasked with protecting the 76th President of the United States. She's rather powerful compared to other USSS agents, yet she doesn't go further up in the ranks. She's always accompanied by her familiar, Rei, a spiritual wolf that can enhance Giovanna's physical prowess.

Gameplay-wise, Giovanna is a wicked-fast rushdown fighter who can attack from multiple angles and then chain her attacks into a special dash that extends her pressure. Giovanna gains unique stat boosts depending on how full her tension meter is, ranging from percent-damage increases, damage reduction from her opponent's attacks, and increased chip damage on all of her attacks; this makes her reliant on closing the gap to get anywhere in a fight. But once she's in your face, she can overwhelm you like no other.

Advertised Extra: Despite being a highly advertised newcomer to the series, Giovanna unfortunately doesn't do much of anything in story mode aside from acting as the presidential state car driver and fighting Nagoriyuki near the end, which not only she loses, but most of the fight happens offscreen. Her Image Song, "Trigger," does seem to acknowledge that she isn't that significant in the grand scheme of things.
All Women Are Lustful: She's really into Leo it seems, even to the point where one of her win quotes against him is telling Rei, who wants to eat him, "no, because I'm gonna eat him."
Ambiguously Human: It's subtly implied that Giovanna may be some werewolf: she has numerous canine and wolf motifs on her outfit, has an incredibly good sense of smell, acts notably more bestial when in her Super Mode, briefly sprouts a tail during her Super Move, and one of Nagoriyuki's intro quotes to her has him outright call her a "feral one" (which she takes offence to).
Animal Companion: Rei, a spiritual canine that hovers around Giovanna during battle. She can also form a set of legs to walk on.
Animal Motif: Giovanna is often likened to dogs, particularly wolves.
Bare-Fisted Monk: Giovanna uses no weapons, relying on martial arts and Rei instead.
Big Friendly Dog: Rei is quite goofy and cuddly outside of battle, jumping on top of her owner for pets and scratching her back on the pavement, much to Gio's embarassment.
Boring, but Practical: Giovanna was intentionally designed to be a character easy to use for beginner players, boasting the least amount of Special Moves of any of the cast, and her companion Rei doesn't serve as a Puppet Fighter, instead offering a passive Buff to Giovanna's attack and defense as her meter builds. Despite this, Giovanna also has incredibly oppressive combos at high levels. The 1.10 balance patch even took it a step forward by pushing Gio's combo game to incorporate more air combos.
Brilliant, but Lazy: She's got "42 manuals worth of emergency protocol" memorized and her superiors know she could easily get promoted if she only applied herself. However, she also tries to skip training exercises and refuses to wear her uniform according to regulations.
Close-Range Combatant: Her fighting style revolves around close range and closing the distance between herself and her opponent.
Deadpan Snarker: She speaks in a very "Yeah, whatever" manner and frequently makes subtle jabs at her opponents before battle.
Fighting Spirit: She is aided in battle by a wolf spirit named Rei.
Flash Step: Giovanna decisively moves both her and the President out of harm's way in the Story Mode. In gameplay it's subtle, but Giovanna's forward dash has her take very small and quick flash steps forward rather than a running animation like most of the cast.
Foil:
- One to Jam Kuradoberi, of all people. Like Jam, Giovanna is a Kick Chick whose playstyle focuses on mercilessly rushing down the opponent and giving them no room to breathe. She also has a mechanic where she can spend resources to buff her attacks. Whereas Jam is a Chef of Iron who takes great pride in her cooking skills but can't seem to catch a break, Giovanna is a Brilliant, but Lazy secret service agent who'd much prefer to watch the clouds go by and hunt for men than do her job properly.
- Similarly, they both lust after Illyrian kings, though they go about it differently. Jam prefers the smooth-skinned Pretty Boy Ky Kiske and is a borderline Stalker with a Crush towards him, even becoming visibly enraged after discovering that he's gotten married. Meanwhile, the much more straightforward and blunt Giovanna develops an interest in the bearded, Large Ham Manly Man that is Leo Whitefang, stating to him outright that he meets her standards and not so subtly implies that she's going to have her way with him after beating him.
Gameplay and Story Integration: Giovanna, when at full Tension meter glows in an aura the same color as Rei; when this occurs, her damage and defense modifiers puts her effectiveness amongst the top in the roster. This gets acknowledged in the story mode as when she goes into her Super Mode, she manages to subdue Nagoriyuki.
Gathering Steam: Giovanna has a special "Meter Boost" mechanism where she becomes slightly more powerful the more Tension she has. At half-meter, she gains ~5% damage bonus and 0.97 defense modifier while also making Rei glow. At full gauge, the damage bonus becomes ~10% and the defense modifier becomes 0.93 and Giovanna herself starts to glow. The damage modifier will apply to Overdrives but will vanish once they are done.
Hartman Hips: She has very prominent hips which are emphasized quite well with her pants.
Has a Type: She's into manly men with a gruff charisma it seems, as she says that Leo (who Lucifero describes as a "big bear-looking gorilla") is just her type. Doesn't extend to All Amazons Want Hercules, though, since one of her taunts has her saying to Rei "he's not too strong, but he's hot, so I still want him."
Heroes Love Dogs: She's very affectionate towards Rei, petting and snuggling with her between battles.
Image Song: "Trigger".
Kick Chick: Aside from a couple of quick jabs here and there, the vast majority of attacks, specials, and combos involve chaining together a series of kicks. Her spirit dog, Rei, will also kick with her canine legs for a couple of attacks.
Lightning Bruiser: Giovanna is one of the faster characters in -STRIVE-, only getting outpaced by Millia and Chipp who both fall into the Fragile Speedster camp. In Giovanna's case, she's sits in the middle with both health and strength, but thanks to her passive Super Mode, when fully charged she also becomes one of the toughest characters both offensively and defensively.
Little Bit Beastly: While nothing about her has changed physically, Giovanna seems to have some canine-esque traits, likely from her time with Rei. She can deduce when something is about to happen based on a sense of smell alone, and she constantly talks about "finding a good man", much like a female dog in heat. She also briefly grows a furry dog tail during her Overdrive Move, "Ventania", but it vanishes as soon as the attack is over. Also, when Rei fully possesses her during her fight with Nagoriyuki, Giovanna's fighting style becomes much more feral and savage, going from her normal taekwondo-esque fighting style to violently pouncing on and clawing at Nagoriyuki like a wild animal.
Major Injury Underreaction: She reacts to any injury she receives in battle with a Dull Surprise at best, even when she gets Blown Across the Room. The exception to this is Faust's Bone-crushing Excitement Overdrive.
Miko: Well, shaman. Director Daisuke Ishiwatari had stated in the Early Access Showcase that he had wanted to "include a character who is like a shaman."
Ms. Fanservice: She's quite powerful and shapely and well aware of it. She even wears her shirt with the topmost buttons undone and long pants that emphasise her legs.
Mysterious Past: Her interactions with Johnny hint that they've known each other for a much longer time than anything has indicated, and that Johnny has repeatedly tried to persuade her to join the Jellyfish Pirates, but nothing else is elaborated upon.
The Nose Knows: Twice, she's shown sniffing the air just before a major event occurs - the first time was Anji showing up, and the second time before Happy Chaos' attack on the White House.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: One of her quotes has her saying she needs to find herself a good man. She also has a thing for Leo.
- In Story Mode, she jokes that she wears her shirt the way she does, exposing her cleavage to catch the eye of "good men."
Shameless Fanservice Girl: She intentionally leaves her top shirt buttons undone for the sole purpose of attracting men, much to the annoyance of her superiors.
Spicy Latina: She is Brazilian and is quite the Ms. Fanservice, having the buttons on her shirt undone and a shapely, dark-skinned figure. She's also openly lustful and seductive, with a good part of her characterization revolving around attracting men.
"Why yes, I am single."
Statuesque Stunner: Discounting Justice, Giovanna stands as the tallest woman in the series, at 170 cm.
Super Mode: As mentioned above, Giovanna's skin will glow the same color as Rei, and her eyes will glow when she is powered up. In the Story Mode, this shows she is taking a fight seriously.

Introduced as DLC

Goldlewis Dickinson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goldlewis_1.PNG

It's not a big deal, we can handle it.

"You fixin' to start a war there, hoss?"

Voiced by:
JP: Masafumi Kimura
EN: Steven Barr
KR: Jang-won Lee

Playable in: -STRIVE- (DLC)

Profile:

Height: 7'0"

Weight: 566lbs

Gender: Male

Blood type: A

Birthplace: USA

Date of Birth: October 9th

Hobbies: Hunting cryptids

Likes: Miles Davis records, cherry pie

Dislikes: People who believe in aliens and ghosts

Character theme:
The Kiss of Death

The right-hand man of the 76th US President Colin Vernon and the Secretary of (Absolute) Defense, Goldlewis Dickinson is personally invested in the ordeal with Asuka R. Kreutz, trying to protect his country from a possible threat of destruction. In battle, Dickinson wields a large coffin containing heavy weaponry such as drones, a minigun, and what appears to be some sort of alien lifeform, though he insists that the creature is terrestrial.

In terms of gameplay, Goldlewis is a Mighty Glacier through and through. He's slow and large, but can take a few more hits than others. He has to work his way into getting in range of his opponent, but once he does, he hits hard. and can obliterate their health bar even without meter. Even blocking opponents have to watch out for the heavy amount of chip damage and blockstun his specials can deal. Once he has the advantage, his Thunderbird special lets him set up his offense again once they get back up. Ironically, his defensive options are very limited and he suffers from a poor neutral game.

Acrofatic: He's a large, rotund man weighing almost 600 pounds and he's still a decently mobile character with fairly decent air coverage and the ability to lug around and weaponize a massive metal coffin to boot.
All-American Face: He's the heroic, Texan, burger-loving Secretary of Defense of the United States, who's so American that he has Horseshoes on his gloves.
Arbitrary Skepticism:
- His bio states that he refuses to believe that the organism in the coffin he fights with is of extra-terrestrial origin, and insists that it's some cryptid, although it could be the White House's official stance that aliens do not exist.
  Dickinson: You wanna know what's in this coffin? ...Aliens? Heh, don't be ridiculous!
- His bio states that he dislikes people who believe in aliens and ghosts. Granted, the wording of it implies he merely dislikes the people themselves rather than outright denying their existence, but considering Zappa's existence and torment, it is especially pushing it if he was genuinely disbelieving the latter.
Ambidextrous Sprite: The black panel on his glasses switches sides depending on where he's facing.
Ambiguously Gay: His discussion with Bridget has him saying that he understands having to hide aspects of himself from his family and that he's felt "lost" before. A lot of his discussion with Bridget reads as someone who's been closeted for a long time advising someone far younger than him.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Goldlewis does unusually high chip damage with his Behemoth Typhoon and Skyfish, both of which tend to be fairly safe on block, furthering his pressure game.
Assist Character: In Bridget's Arcade Mode in Hard difficulty, Dickinson will appear in stage 8 to assist her in fighting Ky Kiske.
Badass Boast: Delivers a pretty impressive one in reference of That Man himself after the latter asserts himself into the White House, someone the entire world hesitates to try and lay their hands on.
"Well, he came down the chimney and into our home. If he's not Santa, then I'm afraid I'm gonna have to see him out."
Bag of Holding: Similar to Faust's portal doors, the coffin housing the alien is bigger inside, and he uses it to store weapons and explosives.
Barrier Warrior: His Area 51 alien coffin projects a powerful, radial forcefield when he slams in on the ground in front of himself.
Big Beautiful Man: A rare example in fighting games, which tend to play fat characters for gross-out humor. Goldlewis is well-dressed, charismatic, and overall quite good-looking.
Big Little Brother: He's far bigger than his older brother, the Burger Sheriff from Xrd.
Cardboard Prison: It seems UMA is inside that coffin by choice since it's not exactly sealed up, and it can open the lid at any time. One of Dickinson's taunts has him knocking on the lid, and the alien opens it up to hold a mirror up to style his hair with.
Collector of the Strange: He is a UMA enthusiast, which is another way of saying he is a big fan of Cryptids. He carries around a coffin containing an alien organism that he has dubbed a UMA. He'll always display an interest in another fighter's odder traits (like with Ramlethal's familiar Lucifero, or Faust in general), with the implication he's trying to capture the other fighter because he believes them to be an UMA. Goldlewis' trailer even calls him a Cryptid Collector just to hammer this point home.
Commonality Connection: He's able to relate to Bridget's Trans Tribulations with his own experience; hiding his true feelings and hoping things would work out ended with him estranged from his family, and he encourages her not to go that route and instead live as her true self.
Cool Old Guy: Looks past his prime yet remains physically strong and imposing while carrying himself with confidence and style.
Creator's Culture Carryover: The All-American Goldlewis refers to the creatures he hunts as "UMAs", an acronym meaning "Unidentified Mysterious Animal" used in Japan, rather than Cryptids, as they're generally referred to in the US.
Developer's Foresight: One of his victory animations has him look at his watch to see how long the fight took... and he has a voice line for every possible number that a round can end on, along with commentary depending on how quick it took (e.g. the round ending within 35 seconds can have him being self-congratulatory for "being on schedule"; any longer, he's annoyed with the opponent's resistance). This also includes 0 seconds, which only happens when the round timer is set to unlimited time and prompts Dickinson to question if his watch is broken.
Difficult, but Awesome:
- Goldlewis has some of the best pressure, highest damage, and scariest mixup potential in the game. If he somehow doesn't open you up, he'll slowly chip you down and build tons of meter to mount some serious threat against you. As a counterbalance, he has a deliberate and dangerous neutral and is particularly vulnerable against zoning. While Goldlewis is amazing once he's reached his opponent, any smart enemy will spend most of their time running away from him.
- His "Behemoth Typhoon" is a versatile move with a variety of uses. That said, it has eight variants, each done by a different Half-Circle, with many of them being rather tricky to pull off (particularly the 47896 and 69874, which are both overhead half-circles).
- His "Down With The System" Overdrive can do Potemkin levels of damage, but, to maximize its power, you'll need the game's longest input to date, a 1080 (Three full circles). That, and the fact that the move is a very close-range uppercut, makes it hard to combo into.
Downloadable Content: He's the first DLC character from the Season 1 pass.
Eagleland: Dickinson is a mixed type. He's the Secretary of Defense, wears a suit that makes him look like a sheriff from a Spaghetti Western with horseshoes on his gloves, fights with a giant coffin that has an alien in it (though he claims it's a cryptid) as well as several other weapons and gadgets, loves burgers, and while obese is still incredibly strong.
Epic Flail: In his various "Behemoth Typhoons", he wields his coffin this way, swinging it around on it's chain to perform a variety of powerful attacks that can hammer into an opponent even if they do block it.
Fanboy: He loves UMAs (short for "Unidentified Mysterious Animal," Japan's name for cryptids, which he refers the alien inside that coffin as), to the point where one of his taunts is happily singing the acronym. His quote after losing to himself while being abducted is "take me to the land of the UMA!"
Fandom Rivalry: In-Universe, he's a UMA enthusiast who (bizarrely) dislikes people who believe in aliens and ghosts.
Friendly Enemy: Area 51, presumably, imprisoned that alien inside that weaponized coffin. That said, the alien is helpful to Dickinson and willingly works with him, backing up some of his specials and holding up a mirror so he can comb his hair. It also doesn't seem to mind its coffin being used as a weapon.
Funny Background Event: When Goldlewis wins a match, he'll either get prank called or try to report to Erica or President Vernon, depending on who his opponent is. While this is happening, his opponent will get abducted by aliens. Goldlewis then looks back at a smoldering crop circle where they used to be and wonders what happened to them.
Gatling Good: His "Skyfish" special move sees him pull a minigun out of the coffin and fire, posing in a way that invokes an image of the Heavy. Using it at higher Security Levels make the move last longer, dealing hefty chip damage if blocked.
Gratuitous English: His Japanese voice is prone to yelling out exclamations in English.
Goggles Do Something Unusual: The black panel on his glasses is a laser targeting device, as revealed when he uses "Burn it Down".
Hoist by His Own Petard: Performing Goldlewis' special attacks with a high Security Level can absolutely devastate an opponent if they manage to land, but if they miss then the added recovery time almost guarantees Goldlewis' opponent a free hit.
Hypocritical Humor: He's a cryptid lover who refuses to believe in aliens and ghosts (or at least refuses to believe that the creature in his coffin is the former).
Image Song: "The Kiss of Death".
Improbable Weapon User: His weapon is a reinforced coffin containing, among other military weapons, an alien.
Insistent Terminology: He insists that the being inside his coffin is not an alien from outer space, but a UMA/cryptid from Earth.
Intergenerational Friendship:
- He's quite chummy with Erica Bartholomew, despite being much older than her.
- He also forms a very strong bond with Bridget, who's much younger than him. He even manages to convince her to come to terms with her gender identity.
Ironic Name:
- Not his actual name, but the names of his Overdrives, "Burn It Down", and "Down With The System". Being The Secretary of Absolute Defense and essentially the President's right-hand man, having his strongest attacks be named after phrases an anarchist would say is a bit odd.^note
- A lot of people pointed out the irony of his title. While his occupation is the US's Secretary of (Absolute) Defense, his defensive options are weak: his jab is slow and short, his backdash and jumps are slow, he used to have the worst anti-air 6P in the game, he has no meterless invincible moves, and his neutral game is generally awful and is very susceptible to being zoned out.
Joke and Receive: After Asuka turns himself in, Dickinson's skeptical about him supposedly advocating for peace and jokes about whether "That Man" is actually two separate people. Eventually, it turns out that he's exactly right: Asuka was responsible for the initial firing, but the person who exacerbated the conflict during the Crusades was actually Happy Chaos, whom the public had also pinned under the title of "That Man" due to not knowing whom to blame for it.
Kill Sat: His "Burn it Down" Overdrive triggers a massive laser that strikes down onto the opponent after a couple of seconds.
Large and in Charge: He towers over many other characters and holds a Cabinet position in the US government.
Last-Name Basis: Most of the cast in the story mode usually address him by his surname.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
- Goldlewis' "Behemoth Typhoon" special can be done via any one of eight different motions, each with its own animation and properties; pretty much the only linking thread is that each one of them has him swing the coffin in an arc similar to the motion used. He also can increase the damage of "Down With the System" by doing multiple 360 motions before the attack starts.
- Goldlewis has a unique meter called the "security level", which increases up to level 3 over time. Higher security levels will improve his "Thunderhawk" and "Skyfish" specials as well as "Burn it Down": "Thunderhawk" travels further before despawning, while "Skyfish" and "Burn it Down" deal more hits. All three of these moves reset the security level on use.
Megaton Punch: His overdrive, "Down With the System", is a tremendously powerful uppercut with his coffin in hand. It's plenty chunky on its own, but use the full 1080 degree motion input and it becomes one of the most devastating attacks in the game.
Mighty Glacier: Goldlewis only has a single jump and is relatively slow when running, and unlike Potemkin and Nagoriyuki, his normal attacks are of relatively short range and difficult to combo with, forcing him to close in. That said, if he gets in there, his pressure and damage output are utterly terrifying.
Mundane Utility: The alien within Dickinson's coffin is used for handing him weapons, beating down the opponent... and holding up a mirror so he can style his hair.
Mythology Gag: Remember the "burger sheriff" from Sol's Xrd stage? Goldlewis is confirmed by the developers to be the Sherriff's younger brother.
Pop-Cultured Badass: Goldlewis is a fan of real world jazz musician Miles Davis.
Precision F-Strike: Will occasionally swear when performing a burst or scream "GODDAMN IT!" when sent flying through the wall.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: The Secretary of Defense, a military official, and as the President's Secret Service in a World of Badass will readily state, tougher than the entire lot of them put together. They consider missing a training session with him comparable to a death sentence.
Reasonable Authority Figure: As the Secretary of Defense, people trust Goldlewis to do the right thing to protect and help people. He proves time and time again that this trust is well-placed, whether it be in manners as fantastic as Happy Chaos's plot, or as mundane as Bridget coming to terms with her own identity.
Red Baron: Referred to as "The Secretary of Absolute Defense" and "The Cryptid Collector".^note
Screen Shake: To hammer home what a huge, heavy man he is, close shots show a slight tremor accompanying every step, each of which give a reverberating thud.
Sealed Badass in a Can: There's an alien in that coffin that's integral to Dickinson's gameplay, and he wields that metaphorical can as a weapon.
Servile Snarker: A silent version in the alien in his coffin. The UMA may be willing to work with him, but that doesn't mean it doesn't want to have fun with the arrangement. Namely, during some of Goldlewis' taunts, it'll hand him a rubber chicken, a bunch of flowers, or not hand him anything, and use its many hands to wave white flags.
Signature Move: The "Behemoth Typhoon"; proper use of this move forms the crux of Goldlewis's offense, allowing him absolutely wail on a cornered opponent. There are also eight variations of this attack to master, each having its own use in a match.
Some Dexterity Required: Goldlewis only has three Specials in his kit, the least amount of any of the cast. On paper, this would give the impression that Goldlewis would be a Boring, but Practical character. His "Behemoth Typhoon" special is deceptively complex, as it not only uses a half-circle motion but there are eight variations of it, making full use of the 360 motions of a joystick. Each variation has its unique function and properties in how it attacks the opponent and what it does upon impact. This has actually led to Goldlewis to be one of the harder characters to master in the game.
Stout Strength: Even with his prominent gut, he's an extremely dangerous fighter, such as catching an RPG barehanded just before it hits some soldiers and chucking it away. His powerful arms make it obvious that his bulk isn't all fat, but equal parts muscle.
Trademark Favorite Food: In addition to cherry pie, Goldlewis also enjoys burgers just like his older brother the "burger sheriff" seen in Sol's Xrd stage. Guess being rotund and enjoying American meals runs in the family.
Use Your Head: His throw has him viciously headbutt his opponent several times.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: About 2/3 of his moveset is comprised of different variants of his "Behemoth Typhoon", with the direction depending on which of the eight different possible Half-Circle motions you input. He has a "Behemoth Typhoon" for any situation, and everyone looks like a nail.

Happy Chaos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chara_82nceh3s.png

I drift tonight carried by the waves, I will just be a black sea.

"I could be anything you like, or nothing at all. But, I do exist."

Voiced by:
JP: Makoto Takahashi
EN: Robbie Daymond
KR: Yohan Park

Playable in: -STRIVE- (DLC)

Profile:

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 141 lbs

Gender: Male

Blood type: Unknown

Birthplace: Ireland

Date of Birth: January 16th

Hobbies: Driving, browsing for local candies, looking at easy to learn musical instruments that sound good

Likes (Constantly changing): A fake jewel that he randomly found, his gun and its replica, free time

Dislikes: Whatever he just feels like disliking at any given moment, wasting time

Character theme:
Drift

A mysterious individual who makes a voice-only cameo during Raven's Arcade Mode story in Rev 2. He finally makes his first true appearance in -STRIVE- after being released from the Backyard thanks to I-No. His name comes from the code name of a second Jack-O' Valentine That Man was developing as a means of saving I-No if her time travel powers went out of control, and in the worst case scenario a contingency plan in case Sol failed to defeat the Universal Will. However, given the other Valentines it quickly becomes unclear if he is actually one himself. Regardless, following his release, he joins forces with I-No after her Face–Heel Turn to become one of -STRIVE-'s main antagonists.

Gameplay-wise, Happy Chaos is a gunslinger akin to Elphelt, but is by far the most Mechanically Unusual Fighter in -STRIVE- to date. He can draw his revolver at any time using one of two commands and, using his "Fire" command, can basically attack his opponent at almost any time, giving him great zoning and a monstrous mix-up game. The catch is that he needs to juggle 3 aspects: Bullets to fire his gun, a Concentration meter to focus his fire, and accuracy to actually land his shots, which varies between his "At the Ready" and "Steady Aim" stances. If he's lacking in even one of these, "Fire" won't work properly.

Ability Depletion Penalty: Happy Chaos has this twofold through the ammo counter for his revolver and his Concentration gauge. If he has no ammo, he obviously won't be able to fire his revolver. The game doesn't prevent players from taking up either of his firing stances when he has no ammo, punishing inattentive players who forget to reload. On the other hand, his Concentration gauge is required for aiming in general. If Chaos runs out of Concentration while aiming, he'll do a short holstering animation that his opponent can punish if they react fast enough.
Affably Evil: Despite being probably the single greatest antagonistic force in the series, he doesn't actually have malice for any of the heroes. He's generally very cordial and treats everyone, even his enemies, like an old acquaintance. It's not a front either, as he seems to treat the whole thing like he's playing a game with friends. Even as a playable character he's a surprisingly good sport, greeting his opponent on the way to the battle and complimenting them for defeating him.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Happy Chaos' skin is a dark, bluish-grey tone.
Ambiguous Gender: In Xrd, he has a mixture of male and female voices in his short cameo. It isn't till -STRIVE- that he's confirmed to be male.
Anti-Frustration Feature: If he's down to his last hit point and needs to use Scapegoat, the move will have a cut off point to keep him alive and give him even the slimmest fighting chance.
The Anti-Nihilist: A much darker example than most. Happy Chaos is about finding joy in existence and ways to make life and history interesting. It just so happens that his version of these concepts comes in the form of flip-flopping between committing great acts of charity and unforgivable atrocities as he sees fit.
- Happy Chaos' own song even develops this notion in that he honestly does not care if his plans fail or succeed. What he finds beautiful is the struggle itself and the ability for humanity to overcome adversity. There is no sweeter feeling to him than the victory people celebrate after a conflict.
  "When the violent storm is over, the blue sky is more beautiful than ever. You see, I want that, I want that, that's all I want!"
Appropriated Appellation: "Happy Chaos" was originally Asuka and Jack-O''s codename for a second Jack-O' unit, which after hearing, he decided to take as his name.
Ascended Extra: He's introduced as early as Xrd REV 2, but as no more than a silhouette. -STRIVE- brings him fully front and center as one of the chief antagonists alongside I-No, then is Promoted to Playable in the first season of DLC.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: His lack of attachment to the world means that his likes and dislikes vary widely from moment to moment, with his official bio noting that his current fixation is a plastic gem he picked up somewhere.
Author Filibuster: Prone to engaging in many Metal Gear-esque speeches that explain the central themes of the series' plot, the most notable being what ends up being excerpted in his debut trailer.
Chaos: We may discover something that ties you, me, and the world together. Your strength, your weaknesses. Your knowledge, your ignorance. The burden on your shoulders that pushes you forward. Something truly unique. Any one of these things can be charming or despicable. The world is a broad, colorful carpet. But if you pull a single thread from beneath your feet and start to unravel it, you realize, in the end, that the carpet's just made of one long thread. That thread's name is necessity. Everything is connected. One may witness an unfathomable sight and call it a miracle, but that's a misnomer. It's all cause and effect. And you should never mistake necessity for fate. Humans have the freedom of choice, but it seems you know that already.
Ax-Crazy: Fitting his name, Happy Chaos is more than a little off his rocker.
Barefoot Loon: He doesn't wear any shoes, owing to being... well, a loon.
Beware the Silly Ones: With his lackadaisical and juvenile personality, one can be forgiven for underestimating Chaos. But true to his name, he's got the power to completely throw the world into imbalance
Big Bad Duumvirate: Teams up with I-No to help her realize her dream of destroying the current world in -STRIVE-. Mostly because it sounds interesting.
Bond Villain Stupidity: Invoked, as he deliberately leaves holes in his plans and opportunities for them to fall apart, because he's bored and it's more interesting that way. As he puts it, he likes to see people struggle, not suffer. At one point, he even has one of his Slave Mooks question his own plan for the fun of it.
Bottomless Magazines: Averted. Unlike Elphelt, Chaos only has six bullets in his revolver, and he has to reload after spending all of them.
Broken Ace: In a world powered by magic, for the most part, he's The Original, the first spellcaster, and one of the most powerful in the world. His time in The Backyard caused a Face–Heel Turn, though. He is even called "The Gunslinging Broken Messiah" in his reveal trailer.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: His time-out animation has him shoot the round timer, leaving a bullet hole in the screen (literally breaking the fourth wall).
Broken Pedestal: Asuka is really not happy about the idea of his own teacher turning on humanity.
Camera Abuse: Due to being a Physical God, Happy Chaos is also able to break the fourth wall. If he loses the match via timeout, then Happy Chaos will shoot the counter in spite.
Card-Carrying Villain: He's fully aware that he's gone completely insane and that his mind and heart are "broken", and he's proud of it.
Cast from Hit Points: Scapegoat leaves behind an illusion of himself that can take hits and block movement, but it removes some of his HP when used.
Catchphrase: Repeats variations of the phrase "I exist / 存在してる" multiple times in the story.
Chaos Is Evil: An unusual example, since he didn't come up with the name himself. "Happy Chaos" was the name given by Asuka to an unfinished Jack-O' clone, that this one just happened to overhear and like enough to steal for his own alias. Otherwise, he embodies everything about this concept, indulging in unpredictability without a care for the damage he may cause others.
Cloudcuckoolander: Oh yes. Happy Chaos practically lives and breathes this trope, and is fittingly one of the biggest oddballs in the entire series. His likes and dislikes section in his bio are described as "constantly changing", his primary facial expression is a wide-open, spaced-out Thousand-Yard Stare combined with Psychotic Smirk, and he's an unhinged Wild Card who performs both good and bad actions on a whim knowing that virtually no one can stop him since he essentially has total control over the workings of the universe.
Complexity Addiction: Since his primary goal is entertaining himself before anything else, he enjoys making the plan as convoluted as possible with deliberate holes in them, because it's more fun that way. Daryl even weaponizes this at one point, negotiating a hostage release "deal" because he recognizes that he and the other heads don't actually have any important place in Chaos's plan.
Cool Shades: Yellow tinted glasses in the shape of two rotated crosses.
The Corrupter: Can turn people into Gear-like creatures that obey him at will. People he's possessed in the past also tend to go Ax-Crazy from being encroached on by a mind that has nothing left in it but pure desire. Similarly, it's implied many of the Universal Will's Laughing Mad tendencies in Xrd were caused by sealing him, as she becomes much calmer and composed once he's released.
The Cracker: If it runs on Magitek, his affinity for magic means he can hack it. Given that most of the Guilty Gear world is Magitek, this is very bad.
Crosshair Aware: His revolver shots are marked by a teal crosshair that, much like a First or Third-Person Shooter, grows larger or smaller when Chaos fires or moves around to reflect his accuracy. Steady Aim causes it to turn orange, reflecting its increased accuracy and damage compared to his other revolver moves.
Damage-Increasing Debuff: Played With; "Curse" has Chaos toss a ball of magic forward that upon hitting his opponent, improves his focus when aiming at his target, granting all of his gunshots stronger advantage.
The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Extended isolation in the Backyard while having half of I-No's powers sealed within himself to save the world from her accidentally erasing it has caused him to largely forget his original motivations and relationships. It's gotten to the point he barely even remembers, let alone cares about getting revenge on the Universal Will, who had sealed him in the Backyard on top of being his very first creation whose inability to understand humans led her to betray him and try to Kill All Humans.
Ariels: My mission was the realization of eternal joy for all mankind. But I made a wrong choice, and failed to see my mission through.
Chaos: Oh, yeah. That sounds right...
Difficult, but Awesome: Easily one of the most complex characters in the entire series thanks to his myriad of unique resources and signature, tricky aim-system. But when played well he can overwhelm the opponent with deceptively strong mixups and space control.
Does Not Like Spam: He's not a fan of black coffee, considering it too bitter.
Do Not Run with a Gun: Unlike his Spiritual Predecessor in Xrd, Elphelt, Chaos can run with his revolver drawn, as well as jump, air dash, and do non-revolver attacks. This comes at the detriment of his revolver accuracy unless he lands his Curse special move first, which greatly improves his target acquisition and aim.
Easter Egg: Depending on what attack button you hold when his round victory animation starts, he might drop his gun, nearly shoot himself in the foot, actually finish his gun twirling trick successfully (to his shock), or accidentally duplicate his gun multiple times much to his confusion.
Evil Is Hammy: Not that he'd consider himself evil, but he steals every scene he's in and rapidly switches between Large Ham and Cold Ham, whichever is more fun for him at the time. Even his theme is hammy, especially towards the end when it turns into a full-blown Villain Song straight out of a Disney film.
Evil Makes You Monstrous: Back when he was the Original, he didn't have the Oni-like appearance he has now, and if the flashbacks are to be taken at face value he used to look like an ordinary man. After reappearing as Happy Chaos, he'd changed so much in appearance that Asuka initially didn't recognize him at all, and ultimately had to identify him by his skill in magic and knowledge of things that nobody else should know.
Eviler than Thou: The Universal Will sealing him away and shoving half of I-No's powers into him caused him to Go Mad from the Isolation so badly that by the time he was freed, even she agreed that he and I-No needed to be stopped.
Exact Words: In regards to the name he gave himself, "Happy Chaos" was originally the code name for a second Jack-O' unit created by That Man to be used in the event that I-No lost control of her powers. It turns out that the Original sealed away one half of I-No's power inside himself before he was imprisoned in the Backyard by the Universal Will, thus making the name given to himself not only suitable for his new persona, but also his purpose - to return to I-No and become whole once again.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: With how wild some of the names special moves get, like "Volcanic Viper" and "Ride the Lightning", Chaos's specials have oddly mundane and straightforward names like "Reload" and "Roll". Fittingly, this makes him stand out even more as an unpredictable oddball among the cast.
Expendable Clone: Scapegoat has Chaos create a double of himself that can take a hit for him and disappear after serving its purpose.
Expy: He's like Nine The Phantom in that he's someone important to an important figure to the protagonist (the protagonist's master's wife in one case, and the protagonist's former friend's teacher in this one) who was The Ace among magic users, and has since pulled a Face–Heel Turn, became a Broken Ace, and is presently one of the main antagonists.
Fallen Angel: He has the cross and halo motifs of Asuka and Jack-O', except the crosses are rotated sideways, and his halo is black with five points (versus Jack-O''s four points).
Fallen Hero: The Original, the first magic user and teacher of Big Good Asuka, driven completely insane by the perfect knowledge the Backyard granted him.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Wears a fingerless glove on his right hand, but not his left. After stealing a US Secret Service dress jacket, he also leaves the right side off his shoulders and the left side on.
Fighting Irish: He's from Ireland.
Fights Like a Normal: Considering that he has magical capabilities that even shocked Asuka, it's surprising that his regular fighting style has him just using a gun to shoot at people, broken up by basic punches and kicks. Even the powers he does show in gameplay are mainly there to help him shoot better. Considering his Complexity Addiction, it does make sense that he restrains using his godlike powers when he doesn't have to use them.
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: One of the biggest baddies of the series, and he's sporting a pair of X-shaped glasses which make his eyes appear busy and out of reach-symbolizing his erratic and villainous nature.
Gangsta Style: Combined with Guns Akimbo during his Deus Ex Machina Overdrive. If his opponent's behind him during the startup, he'll instead shoot behind him without looking at his opponent. The wanton lack of care for accuracy is justified in either case, as he's shooting into a portal aimed at the opponent rather than at the opponent directly.
Generic Doomsday Villain: A stark contrast from the more nuanced, sympathetic antagonists in the series, Chaos's motivations begin and end with causing trouble for the hell of it. Ironically, the lack of motivations beyond making entertainment for himself make him incredibly difficult to get a bead on. Notably, even after who he is and the reasons why he became what he is now are revealed, it doesn't change anything and his motivation remains to exist and amuse himself.
Genre Motif: Befitting his spontaneous, carefree nature and his penchant for drama, Chaos's theme is all over the place, combining elements of jazz, swing, blues rock, speed metal, and eventually culminating in a melodramatic rock opera section that sounds like it came straight out of a Disney film or a Broadway musical.
The Ghost: In Xrd he's nothing but a voice, never appearing in earnest.
Go Mad from the Isolation: Happy Chaos was sealed in the Backyard for a hundred years, with nothing but its perfect knowledge of the world and the godlike half of I-No's power for company. Anything he had resembling sanity is long gone.
Chaos: Humans can't stay sane in isolation. Gave me a few epiphanies, though.
God of Chaos: His origins greatly resemble the concept of Primordial Chaos, he's more than a little nuts, and he doesn't really have any particular inclination towards good or evil. As he himself puts it, he can be "anything you like, or nothing at all".
Good Old Fisticuffs: Unlike most characters who have distinctly trained fighting styles (e.g. Jam's kung fu, Jack-O''s acrobatics, and Chipp's ninjitsu), Chaos' normal attacks are all very unrefined and simple punches and kicks. In practice it reinforces his unpredictable and carefree attitude towards fighting, simply throwing his weight around rather than hone a fighting style.
Graceful Loser: When he takes damage or loses a fight, sometimes he will compliment his opponent for defeating him. He'll also make self deprecating remarks while fumbling with his gun.
Great Gazoo: He's ultimately an extremely powerful being who revels in the chaos and drama and does whatever he wants to relieve his boredoms, even making convoluted plans to destroy the world only for his own amusement.
Greater-Scope Villain: Sort of, it's a shared role. While the Universal Will is ultimately the perpetrator behind Justice and the Gears going on a Kill All Humans rampage, I-No's start of darkness, and the Original's own transformation into Happy Chaos as part of her Zeroth Law Rebellion... it was the Original teaching Asuka magic that led to Gear technology's development, the Original who made the Universal Will, the Original who gave humanity's hope for a better future form to create I-No, and the Original who trained the Apostles who make up the Conclave. His increasing Ax-Crazy It Amused Me mindset after being trapped in the Backyard with half of I-No's powers sealed inside himself also ended up poisoning the Universal Will's mind, driving her from a Zeroth Law Rebellion to a full on Misanthrope Supreme. And he's the one responsible for the worst of the crimes attributed to "That Man" while having fun possessing people.
Guns Akimbo: Though he normally uses Crescent Moon on its own, he brings out its replica in his Deus Ex Machina Overdrive.
Gun Fu: While it's tempting to assume his guns makes him a Long-Range Fighter, Chaos's true strength is his ability to fire his gun at almost any time, in any position, in any of his moves. This allows players to safely approach an opponent by firing while running forward, insert extra attacks into combos to extend or safely exit them by pushing the opponent away, or create cross-ups by rolling to the opponent's other side while also shooting. To balance this, Chaos has to actually draw a bead on opponents (if they keep moving, his aim lags too much to keep up normally) and manage both his ammo and his "concentration", keeping him from constantly firing.
The Gunslinger: He uses two powerful revolvers in combat, one of them is an extremely rare gun called "Crescent Moon", of which only five exist in the multiverse. The other one is a mere replica, but it's still potent enough to keep up with the original. He uses them to fire rapid bursts of bullets or precise shots infused with magic.
Gun Twirling: His round win animation has him twirling his revolver, something that doesn't always go as intended^note. His Deus Ex Machina Overdrive has him doing this with both of his revolvers.
Hand Cannon: His revolver barrel is around the size of his head, and at least when steadying his aim, feels like you just got his by a cannon.
The Heavy: While he forms a Big Bad Duumvirate with I-No and likes to present himself as her subordinate, Happy Chaos is the one who primarily drives the plot of -STRIVE-, with I-No only taking center stage after he finishes his long, convoluted setup.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: He sees himself as this. Sometimes he'll use his expertise for the betterment of the world, while at others he'll cause wanton destruction. It all really depends on how he's feeling in the moment.
Holy Halo: Like Jack-O', he has a halo floating above his head to denote he is a powerful being born of the Backyard, though his is black with five points instead of Jack-O's white with four points.
Homing Projectile: Provided he has the focus for it, Chaos's bullets can track opponent anywhere on the screen, allowing him to gunsling at any point. Deus Ex Machina then has Chaos unleash a hail of gunfire into a portal that dispenses it all wherever his opponent is. allowing him to blast you to pieces from anywhere.
Horned Humanoid: He has a pair of little devil horns coming out of his forehead, emphasizing his demon imagery.
Humans Are Special: While the Universal Will hated human desire, Happy Chaos is delighted by it, and thinks it's what makes humanity special, and for all its faults, entertaining.
"I Am" Song: The lyrics of his Image Song, "Drift", reveal the motivations behind his It Amused Me tendencies that the story mode doesn't — he fancies himself The Anti-Nihilist (albeit a lazy and carefree one, drifting wherever life takes him) and finding beauty in everything, including pure chaos, because he doesn't consider anything important. The rock opera section near the end of the song puts it best:
Can you hear it? The pulses of the living
The ironic rhythm is a grand orchestra
It's never the same tone, who wants to stop this
There can be
When the violent storm is over,
the blue sky is more beautiful than ever
You see, I want that
I want that, that's all I want
I Call It "Vera": One of Chaos's revolvers is called "Crescent Moon".
Image Song: "Drift".
It Amused Me: As he puts it, "The most important thing for me... is drama!"
Late-Arrival Spoiler: His official bio outright states that his true identity is the Original, the man who first discovered the Backyard and created magic in the Guilty Gear universe.
Laughing Mad: His initial cameo in Xrd consisted primarily of him laughing wildly at how perfectly the name "Happy Chaos" fit him. And when he wins a battle in -STRIVE-, he'll hop into his car and laugh off the events of the battle with a creepy look in his eye.
Leaking Can of Evil: Despite Ariels ostensibly sealing him in the Backyard, he could still freely observe and project his spirit into the real world.
Long-Range Fighter: His gun lets him play from afar and chip away at his opponent with bullets, with the rest of his specials being used to give him space (like a combat roll and summoning a doppelganger) or refresh his bullets and focus. While not helpless at close range, he lacks a lot of strong fundamental tools like a reversal or Anti-Air to keep his foe off his back, making it even more important to keep some space and control the flow of the fight.
Mana Meter: Has one separate from the Tension Gauge called the Concentration Gauge, which limits how often he can fire his guns alongside his ammo count. Steady Aim drains it faster in exchange for more revolver damage, while Focus and Super Focus recharge his Concentration at varying rates - the latter instantly recharging all of it and decreasing how fast it depletes, but at the cost of 50% Tension.
The Man Behind the Man: Pun very much intended. Not only is he the one who taught Asuka how to use magic in the first place, he's also the Universal Will's creator...and corrupter. Due to the Universal Will essentially being a conduit for the Backyard and all the information within, that included the Original, whose extended isolation within the Backyard as a result of the Will's betraying and imprisoning him there drove him insane and transformed him into Happy Chaos. Because of this, he is both directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of not only Baiken's family, but Bedman as well, hence why both Baiken and Delilah are after him in the Another Story for -STRIVE-.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Bar none the most unusual in the -STRIVE- roster, on par with the likes of Xrd-era Jack-O'. He has two different resources to work with in-game: Bullets, which are used to fire his revolver using Heavy Slash, and Concentration, which is used to fuel two of his Specials, which are different aiming stances, each with different damage outputs; having no Concentration means he fumbles his gun and can't fire until it recharges back to full. Furthermore, he has a Super that instantly replenishes his Concentration and makes it drain slower. Aside from that, he has a Special that sacrifices a chunk of his health to leave behind a clone of himself to take the hit for him, and another that solely recharges a chunk of Concentration and also makes it drain slower. This generally gives him a very strange zoner and/or mixup playstyle that can hit his opponent anywhere from full-screen, so long as he has the Concentration to do it.
Me's a Crowd: Thanks to his immense powers, he can casually create duplicates of himself. His "Scapegoat" move trades some health to create a double to absorb one hit, and his rising animations show him materializing a whole new body, while kicking the fallen one away, simply because it's more convenient for him.
More Dakka: His cinematic Overdrive, Deus Ex Machina, has Chaos rapidly empty his revolvers into a large portal, teleporting the bullets at his opponent from all angles.
Motor Mouth: Not as much as Bedman, but it's definitely there, especially in the Japanese audio. Taken to its logical extreme in his taunt, where he goes off on a rant so lengthy the player will enter negative penalty status before it's even finished.
Mr. Exposition: As The Original, the man who first discovered the Backyard and learned all the secrets of the universe in the world of Guilty Gear, it's pretty much a given that he can explain a vast majority of the strange phenomena that have occurred throughout the series, from multiple timelines to even supernatural entities like Slayer and Nagoriyuki.
No Shirt, Long Jacket: He gets himself a blazer he wears over his bare torso just before infiltrating the White House.
Not Quite Dead: The Stinger of Story Mode shows that when I-No died, he was reborn into the world. It's not clear what his situation is now; whether he regained some of his identity as the Original and/or still has I-No's power, remains to be seen. He does, however, still have his black halo.
Obvious Rule Patch: Season 2 nerfed his overwhelming keepaway game with one (ironically) simple change: his Concentration gauge depletes faster the farther he is from his opponent.
Oh, Crap!: In the round victory animation variant where he has a misfire and nearly blows his foot off, he flinches and keeps the gun upraised in shock as he realizes how close a call that was.
The Omniscient: He has seen the true shape of the universe by delving into the depths of the Backyard, giving him perfect, complete knowledge of how literally everything works. And it has made him into an Ax-Crazy, amoral monster.
Oni: Plays off this motif, having white hair, grey skin and two horns coming out of his forehead.
Perpetual Smiler: Even when he's being opposed or having his designs tampered with, he never loses his unhinged grin, possibly because it just provides him with another form of entertainment.
Person of Mass Destruction: He can effortlessly reduce a skyscraper into a crater with just one attack.
Pieces of God: He's completely fused with the power he took from I-No in their backstory, to the point he has to merge with her to give her back her full god-like power over reality.
Pistol-Whipping: At the Ready's startup does this as a close-range Launcher Move. Some of his normal attacks also employ this trope.
Practically Joker: An Ax-Crazy, constantly grinning antagonist with lanky proportions and strangely colored hair and skin. Further he is aided by Malevolent Masked Men mooks. And his self-confessed ultimate goal is chaos and drama.
Promoted to Playable: On launch, he plays a major role in -STRIVE-'s story mode, but as a non-playable character. Come DLC and he's the third character that becomes playable post-launch.
Pure Is Not Good: He's described as a truly pure being, having been completely freed from want by the power the Backyard granted him, no longer having to care about things like survival or improvement. And it has turned him into an Ax-Crazy lunatic whose only desire anymore is entertaining drama.
Red Herring: He's not a Valentine, he was just listening in on Jack-O' and Raven's discussion back in -REVELATOR- and thought the codename "Happy Chaos" was too good not to steal for himself. The Holy Halo around his head is also just a piece of equipment that can be generated from the Backyard, not something specific to a Jack-O' unit.
Revolvers Are Just Better: His weapon of choice in -STRIVE- are two futuristic-looking 6-shot revolvers. An ironically direct means of killing people given both his Complexity Addiction and being the strongest magic user in the world.
Sanity Slippage: Being trapped in the Backyard for years and assimilating endless amounts of knowledge completely broke his mind. Having become so detached from humanity, now even looking like a demon, he sees the world as some pseudo-nihilistic playground that he can play in, living for the sake of sheer unpredictable chaos.
Secret Identity: In addition to his current name Happy Chaos, there were at least two monikers he went by in the past: The first was The Original, the very first magic user. The second? "That Man", the exact same that his student Asuka went by. Unlike Asuka, however, Chaos used the name in order to wreak untold calamity across the world, such as attacking the Japanese colony after Justice was forced to fire upon it, killing Baiken's family.
Sigil Spam: His antics are heralded by a cartoon heart of some fashion, whether on the masks of Faceless Goons or when hacking into systems.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Arguably a Deliberate example, and in a way that's done not just as a nod to the character himself, but also to a portion of the playerbase. Happy Chaos has a massive Complexity Addiction, while some players have been very vocal about how "simplified" -STRIVE- feels compared to past games. Thus, Happy Chaos's gameplay relies on no less than three separate sub-systems to play him effectively.
Stance System: He can enter two different modes via "At the Ready" and "Steady Aim", both of which makes him draw his gun with increasing levels of accuracy. The drawback to the increase in offensive power is that he loses the ability to block — and in the case of "Steady Aim", move at all — until he manually exits the stance.
Super Mode: His overdrive, "Super Focus", instantly refreshes his focus meter and increases its duration for several seconds, allowing Chaos to fire more shots and use his Steady Aim more often.
Sweet Tooth: His character bio mentions that he likes candy, and in the story mode he voices a distaste for bitter coffee.
Talkative Loon: He practically loves the sound of his voice, rambling about anything that he's interested at the moment.
Thinking Up Portals: He can use his magic to create gateways for himself and his weapons. Deus Ex Machina has Chaos summon multiple portals around his opponent to surround them with bullets.
This Is Gonna Suck: Word-for-word, he reacts to an impending Heavenly Potemkin Buster by calmly remarking "Oh... This is gonna suck."
Unnecessary Combat Roll: A key part of his moveset, Roll allows him to dodge attacks and switch sides in order to stay unpredictable. As one might expect from this trope, his revolver's accuracy drops hard during the roll, making it difficult to actually land any gunfire unless he improves his accuracy beforehand with his Curse special move.
Virtuous Character Copy: While he could hardly be called virtuous, he is this to Yuuki Terumi. Both are Practically Joker Greater Scope Villains who are driven by their own personal enjoyment and are pretty much behind virtually everything in the series. Both also managed to influence more recent events of the series before being unsealed. However, Terumi unequivocally hates humanity and wants them to suffer horribly by him whereas Chaos believes Humans Are Special. The contrast is further highlighted with Terumi's modus operandi being to shove despair down humanity's throats because he believes everything is nothing but lies whereas Chaos basically grew apathetic with concepts like good and evil as he got saddled with omnipotence and carrying all of humanity's hope towards living and thus began instigating conflict to amuse himself and remind humankind of their own humanity. Also, whereas Terumi did plans upon plans to ensure he got what he wanted (save for the occasional Spanner in the Works to derail it), Chaos deliberately leaves holes in his schemes as he finds that more entertaining. And lastly, Chaos has an overall better temperament than Terumi.
Voice of the Legion: His voice-only cameo during Xrd had him speak with a mixture of multiple male and female-sounding voices, to add to the mystery surrounding him. By -STRIVE- the effect is gone.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Besides a coat he wears loosely around his arms, he's completely bare-chested.
Was Once a Man: Before his current warped Oni form, he used to be the Original, the very man who created magic in the Guilty Gear universe. But after being betrayed by the Universal Will, who separated him from I-No and then sealed him in the Backyard, he slowly transformed into his current twisted self from the isolation and the Eldritch Location corrupting his body.
Wham Line:
Asuka: That man, Chaos... he's my teacher. History's first and strongest magic wielder... The Original.
White Hair, Black Heart: With said black heart tattooed on his chest, no less!
Wicked Heart Symbol: Hearts serve as Chaos's main calling card. The most immediately obvious appears on his chest, but his goons also bear one on their masks, and a heart with a grinning face appears when using his magical hacking skills. It could symbolize his affinity for doing whatever feels right to him at any given moment, acting based on his heart rather than his brain.
Wild Card: His official bio places him firmly in this category, stating that the concepts of good and evil are "equal" to him. Given that he is one half of I-No, and his personality is a more unhinged version of her own, this makes sense. He'll play whatever role allows for the most entertainment and drama for himself.
Wingding Eyes: When hit by Faust's Bone-crushing Excitement, Happy Chaos' eyes rapidly roll like slot machines before settling on two crying, wounded skull symbols.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: He has gained complete knowledge of the workings of the Guilty Gear universe, and it has turned him from a once well-meaning individual into an Ax-Crazy psychopath.
World's Smartest Man: As the Original, Chaos is potentially the smartest being in the entire setting of Guilty Gear, having invented the basis for all of magic and outclassing the likes of Asuka who is one of the smartest characters in canon. The intelligence means Chaos is always one step ahead with his wild and nonsensical schemes, playing the main cast like a fiddle throughout story mode.

Bedman?

Bedman? (Delilah Neumann)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f51c5526_2b48_4259_8966_86adb6aac36e.png

I may not be able to make you smile, but I'll never make you cry even once.

"This is just an ordinary dream...sleep well."

Voiced by:
JP: Akane Fujikawa
EN: Jessica DiCicco
KR: Eun-jo Lee

Playable in: -STRIVE- (DLC)

Profile:
Height: 5'1" (Delilah), 8'11" (Bed)
Weight: 99 lbs (Delilah), 1,378 lbs (Bed)
Gender: Female (Delilah)
Blood type: A (Delilah)
Birthplace: Unknown
Date of Birth: March 16 (Delilah)
Hobbies: Making geometric patterns out of ant trails, staying up late, writing 20,000-word picture diaries (Delilah), Unknown (Bed)
Likes: Baiken, her brother's old bed (Delilah), Delilah (Bed)
Dislikes: Housework, getting up early (Delilah), anyone who threatens Delilah (Bed)

Character theme:
The Circle

The sister of the original Bedman. Similar to her brother, she has spent her entire life in a state of sleep due to her being unable to withstand her incredible intelligence and abilities. Before Bedman's death in Xrd, he used the last remnants of his energy to anchor Delilah within this reality by reducing her power, though she herself is unaware of this. According to Happy Chaos, Bedman also deleted the "physical ID" which binds his existence to this reality, becoming a multi-dimensional being. As a final measure, he programmed his bedframe to operate independently of its occupant, giving it a single imperative: protect Delilah at all costs. A newly-awakened Delilah now seeks to get revenge on those who wronged her brother. During Another Story, she enounters Anji and is introduced to Baiken, who also seeks revenge against the same being whose actions resulted in her brother's death - Happy Chaos. Unfortunately, Delilah's desire for revenge runs contrary to her desire for companionship with her brother dead and her being left alone in a world she doesn't quite understand, and these conflicting emotions end up getting the better of her, resulting in her powers going out of control in attempting to get to Happy Chaos, setting in motion the main plot of Another Story. In the end, she is saved by Baiken, who agrees to give up on her revenge and live a new life with Delilah as a surrogate family member.

Delilah was later able to retrieve her brother's bedframe, which appeared during the incident to protect her, and they now travel together. Though the Bed acts in accordance with its programming to protect her, it has a few...quirks...that sometimes call into question whether its actions are simply its programming malfunctioning, or if Bedman is somehow able to control it from beyond the grave. Regardless, the Bed can no longer form any sort of complex communications with others, and is seemingly incapable of forming memories.

She's the third DLC character for season 2 of -STRIVE-...sort of. The playable character is billed as "Bedman?", and it's her late brother's bedframe that acts as the main character, protecting her of its own accord, while Delilah is a more passive "puppet" that occasionally helps "Bedman?" out, as she herself cannot fight due to her Power Incontinence.

In-game, Bedman? is a character that takes time to build up its offence, but once you give it the chance to get started, it is extremely difficult to take your turn back thanks to huge, staggering attacks and error 6E follow-ups. Paired with a tricky projectile that forces the opponent to engage directly as soon as possible, this makes Bedman? a risky character who has the potential to unleash some of the most intense pressure among the roster if its opponent doesn't chew through its surprisingly frail health pool first.

Tropes associated with the pair

Creepy Good: The duo is comprised of a gloomy child and her heavily-damaged, spiky, mechanical bedframe with a disturbing and fleshy interior to its head. But the Bed's sole purpose is to protect Delilah and make her happy.
A Girl and Her X: A girl and her sentient, mechanized bedframe.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Potentially. If the bedframe really is possessed by Bedman somehow as a multitude of things imply, then it would be this trope, as the Bed towers over Delilah even when hunched over, as it is in his idle animation. Otherwise it would just be Monster and the Maiden.
Monster and the Maiden: Delilah is followed everywhere by her brother's hulking, imposing, heavily damaged Mini-Mecha, which will do anything to protect her whereever she goes. That is, if it doesn't find a way to kill itself first. It's also heavily implied but not in any way confirmed that the mech may somehow be possessed by Romeo's spirit, which would also make them a Sibling Team.
Same Character, But Different: "Bedman?" is effectively -STRIVE-'s take on Bedman from Xrd, but with only the Bed and not the Man. Most of its normals and specials resemble its Xrd counterpart but with much more strenuous animations that illustrate its damaged state. Also different is the presence of Delilah who provides much of the personality for the duo in lieu of her brother, showing that the Bed is fighting to protect her and all of its animations incorporate her as a secondary element, reacting to its attacks and states. Its Déjà Vu mechanic has also been revised into the "Error 6e" system — rather than making every move potentially repeatable, the malfunctioning Bed merely has each of its three specials have their own unique follow-up attack that comes after a delay, which players can manipulate the timing of, allowing Bedman? to play more simply while still maintaining an aggressive misdirection playstyle.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Because Bedman as we know it is one of the few playable characters throughout the series considered officially dead, his presence as a fighter is filled in by his younger sister Delilah and his now-sentient bedframe.
13 Is Unlucky: Bedman?'s Super Mode is named "Call 13C", and upon activating it Delilah reacts with distress.

Tropes associated with the Bed

Ambidextrous Sprite: The Bed's damaged eye and hand flip sides defending on the direction it's facing. The official artwork shows that it's supposed to be its right eye and left hand which are the damaged ones.
Ambiguous Situation: What exactly this fighter is and how it relates to the original Bedman is left deliberately vague. It's called "Bedman" with a question mark at the end, as if it may or may not be the original Bedman's spirit at work. Not even Delilah seems to have all the answers to what's happening.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Using Call 13C grants Bedman?'s Error 6E follow-ups to its ranged attack Shield Crush properties, allowing it to open up their opponent from afar and close in for a potential combo.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: Its playstyle heavily encourages this, with the Error 6E system allowing it to perform nasty follow-ups and chain several multi-hit attacks into a wall-breaking combo from the other side of the screen. It also has several abilities that allow it to speed up or delay the Error 6E follow-ups to trick its enemy and never give them an opening.
Broken Faceplate: Played With; the Bed's face, which is basically a robotic head, has the area around one of its eyes broken away to reveal a glowing red eye underneath.
Cool Down Manipulation: Manipulating the timing of the "Error 6e" mechanic is how Bedman? maintains its Confusion Fu. "call 0x$0.20" makes a follow up move occur immediately after a special attack, while "call 0x$1.00" delays it longer.
Computers Speak Binary: A variant. Bedman?'s moveset names are written entirely in hexadecimal programming code. This is somewhat carried over from the original Bedman's moveset in Xrd, which had move names like "Task A" and "Task B". "Task", in this case, has been replaced with "Call", followed by a hexadecimal string of numbers and/or letters.
Creepy Asymmetry: As if the original Bedman wasn't creepy enough, Bedman? has a much more imbalanced look due to being heavily damaged. Its face is cracked open with disjointed eye designs, one of its hands has its fingers blasted off, and its idle stance is an awkward lurch as it holds itself up with an arm, making it feel pained and off-kilter in combat.
Deadly Disc: Bedman? has sawblades for hands, and uses them frequently in its attacks. It can also turn into a gigantic sawblade as its forward Heavy Slash.
Death Seeker: -STRIVE- reveals that the Bed, having lost its original owner (maybe) and seeking only to protect Delilah, it has seemingly lost its sense of purpose and now seeks out powerful opponents to try and have them defeat and terminate it. Of course, since the mech is nearly indestructible, this is easier said than done. Baiken refuses to indulge it after figuring out what it wants, but it still manages to track down and confront Ramlethal Valentine in its Arcade story.
Dented Iron: -STRIVE-'s rendition of the Bed is visibly damaged, with its head and one of its hands smashed. But its desire to protect Delilah makes it as vicious a fighter as ever, "fighting heedless of its own destruction" as its trailer describes it.
Difficult, but Awesome: Bedman? is a lumbering and deliberate fighter with slow attacks and a really committal offense, making it easily punishable. Its mobility is also very unconventional, not having a standard air dash, and have almost no reversals to stave off close-ranged pressure. error 6e though grants it a ton of potential for damage and pressure if properly timed, being able to cover and even extend their options to make up for its lack of defenses. All of its attacks are also very damaging and far-reaching, meaning with the right amount of patience, it can out-spar their opponent and convert into very simple yet damaging combos.
Facial Horror: Beneath the crack on its face, the Bed has an almost fleshy substance that makes no sense for a mere machine. Faust's overdrive reveals it also has a full mouth of teeth underneath as well.
Haunted Technology: The character's tagline is "Error-prone Guardian Machine", and its description is "fighting heedless of its own destruction". The mannerisms of the Bed make it seem as though Bedman is possessing it from beyond the grave, but no one cay say for certain whether this is the case.
Homing Projectile: "call 4BA" will briefly hone in on the opponent's location, as does its follow up only with electric effects.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: The Arcade Story reveals that this is what the Bed effectively wants after the events of Another Story. It believes its duty to be fulfilled, and wishes to be destroyed by a powerful opponent, which is why it went on a rampage in the first place. Delilah is finally able to get it to stop when she openly declares that it's the only thing left she has that reminds her of her brother.
Late-Arrival Spoiler: This character's role only makes sense if you know that the original Bedman died in the last game. Not even the devs bother trying to cover that as a spoiler.
Necessary Drawback: Bedman?'s offense-heavy playstyle is balanced by it having absolutely trash-tier defense, being equipped with only a weak ranged attack, and the ability to slowly trundle forward. It can get decimated at long range or if its opponent manages to read it well enough and counter its attacks.
Non-Malicious Monster: The Bed may be haunted by Bedman's will, but it's not inherently hostile to anyone. It only acts with violence if it believes Delilah is threatened in some way.
Mighty Glacier: Its walking speed is among the slowest of the cast, and it has air mobility that takes a bit of finessing to properly use. In exchange it has incredible damage, carry potential, and great blockstring potential that makes cornering its opponent spell out their doom if used well.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Half of the Bed's "face" has been grievously damaged, revealing an angry red eye underneath that becomes more prevalent as it attacks.
Spike Shooter: "call 4BA" fires one of the Bed's fingers as a spike projectile.
Spin Attack: "call 4B3" has the Bed perform a multi-hitting spin that dashes it forward.
Super Mode: "call 13C" enhances the Bed's damage and durability while also buffing all of its error 6E specials.
Transforming Mecha: Once again, the Bed mech is capable of transforming to and from a normal bed, which Delilah can sleep on in one of her taunts.
Use Your Head: Several of the Bed's punch attacks make use of its head, including forward-punch in which the head swings up for a strong Anti-Air.
Your Head Asplode: "call 4B9"'s follow-up has the Bed's head pop off and turn into an exploding projectile. It's head quickly grows back afterwards.

Tropes associated with Delilah

Acting Your Intellectual Age: Delilah has the same IQ of over 200 as her brother, and certainly acts the part. That said, she's still very much a child, and is fully aware that despite her high intelligence she is still prone to emotional outbursts due to her physical age not being in alignment with her intellectual age.
Arc Villain: The primary antagonist of Another Story, though in practice she isn't much of a villain.
Avenging the Villain: Although Bedman was more along the lines of a Well-Intentioned Extremist, this still counts. Delilah's objective is to avenge her brother, by any means necessary.
Baby Of The Bunch: Barring any gears or Valentines who age faster than humans, Delilah is the youngest member of the cast at twelve years old.
Big "NO!": Deliliah shouts this if the Bed activates call 13C.
No!...NO!!!
Birds of a Feather: With Baiken. Both of them are after Happy Chaos for revenge, and both end up opting not to act on it in the end.
Death Glare: Her default expression throughout most of her part in STRIVE Another Story, Delilah is completely hellbent on exacting revenge against Happy Chaos for her fallen brother, with no desire of doing anything else in her life. There’s only a moment in that story where her expression eases up, showing bigger eye irises than her perpetual dead fish-eye look and a relaxed look.
Emotional Powers: Her conflicting loneliness over the loss of the only family she had and her desire for revenge against Happy Chaos, the one responsible for said loneliness, causes her powers to go out of control. Had Ramlethal and Baiken not successfully intervened and calmed her down, she would have taken the entire world with her to the grave.
Family Eye Resemblance: Both Delilah and Bedman have Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes, fitting for a pair of siblings who are usually almost always asleep.
Kid with the Leash: The Bed she inherited from her brother fights on her behalf, and is implied to be possessed by his ghost.
Non-Action Guy: As a DLC fighter, Delilah actually doesn't do any fighting herself. Instead, Bedman's bed frame does it for her. Unlike Bedman, she doesn't lie in the Bed, and many of her animations are cowering behind the Bed or separated from it entirely. The fighter was even announced as "Bedman?".
Power Incontinence: As mentioned by her brother while he was alive, trying to use their powers while awake results in a much stronger effect at the price of causing their bodies to "overheat" in a sense, because their brains operate at such an advanced rate compared to normal humans that their bodies simply cannot keep up with it. Her attempt at teleporting to Happy Chaos's location causes her powers to spiral out of control, starting the events of Another Story.
Reality Warper: Just like her brother, Delilah can effectively rewrite reality by tapping into the power of the Backyard. Doing so while awake, however, results in her being unable to fully control it and potentially putting innocent lives in danger, as her powers have very nasty side effects when it comes to her surroundings.
Revenge: The reason why she woke up is to find the person who took Bedman's life. As it turns out, although Ariels is technically the one who killed Bedman, Happy Chaos is the one she's after because he's The Man Behind the Man to Ariels and his corrupting influence from within the Backyard drove her insane enough to do it.
Shrinking Violet: Deliliah's animations in-game are very withdrawn and nervous, showing a hesitation to fight while the Bed protects her. More key animations like her throw and aerials have her cowering from all the damage the Bed deals.
Sibling Yin-Yang: The arrow patterns on her and Bedman's heads are in opposite directions and their hair colors are also opposite to one another (Bedman has white hair while Delilah has black hair). Bedman is the more sociable and talkative of the two, albeit a smarmy Jerkass, while Delilah has No Social Skills but isn't hostile to anyone, not even when Baiken tells her to give up on her revenge.
Stronger Sibling: She and other characters believe that she is stronger than Bedman. She can seemingly destroy the entire world if she isn't capable of controlling her powers, something she can't really do while awake.
Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Another Story's climax consists of her essentially having an emotional meltdown and channeling her powers with the potential of wiping out herself and an entire village below her, while Baiken, Ramlethal, Sin, Faust and May desperately try to penetrate the barrier she's in so Baiken can calm her down.
Tagalong Kid: Delilah cannot fight because her powers would quickly spiral out of control, so instead she stays safely in the background while her brother's Bed fights on her behalf. Becomes this to Baiken in Another Story.
Tell Me About My Father: In the scene that plays out after beating Stage 9 Ramlethal, Delilah finally musters up the courage to inquire Ramlethal about the full details of her brother's story, and what his life was like before he sacrificed himself for her.
Unseen No More: Originally she was only partially seen in -REVELATOR-'s story, looking over Bedman's ashes. -STRIVE- finally gives us a look to who she actually is.
When She Smiles: She finally smiles in their victory animation, and it's adorable.

Asuka R. Kreutz / Asuka R♯

Asuka R. Kreutz / Asuka R♯ (That Man)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asuka_r_kruetz.png

As the universe turned black, did the Sun ever defy fate? Do you know? Do you recognize me? Gravity holds all the answers.

"Heaven made man for its reason. Men respect men for their own sake."

Voiced by:
JP: Yasunori Masutani (X-XX), Tomokazu Sugita (Overture onward)
EN: Yuri Lowenthal (Overture), Derek Stephen Prince (Xrd onward)
KR: Gang Gu-han (XX), Kim Yeong-seon (-STRIVE-)

Playable in: -STRIVE- (DLC)

Profile:
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 126lbs (Asuka) / 128lbs (his clones))
Gender: Male
Blood type: AB (current body, the 5th documented case of his body containing type AB blood)
Birthplace: USA (Asuka) / Outer Space (his clones)
Date of Birth: October 1 (Asuka) / November 10th (his clones)
Hobbies: Making buckwheat noodles in a Rube Goldberg machine, tending to bonsai trees (specializes in succulents)
Likes: Sol Badguy, Aria Hale (shared), Asuka (his clones only)
Dislikes: Steaks cooked rare, seafood (Asuka) / Chaos (his clones)

Character theme:
The Man

, The Gravity

One of the lead scientists on the Gear Project alongside Sol Badguy / Frederick Bulsara and Aria Hale. Like Sol, he wishes to atone for creating the gears after seeing them go on a Kill All Humans rampage. But unlike Sol, who decided to hunt down the gears himself, Asuka chose to pursue another, mysterious goal by manipulating events from the shadows.

As the one of the co-creators of the Gears, he has a deep connection with Sol and Justice, and has become a target of multiple other characters in the series like Baiken, Anji, and Axl Low for the destruction his creations wrought. He also has multiple agents carrying out his various agendas, including the immortal Raven, the witch I-No, and Jack-O' of the Valentine Series.

His existence is first alluded to in the events of Missing Link, where Justice mentions him in Ky's ending and recalls his existence as part of her and Sol's past in Sol's ending. Here, he is referred to simply as "That Man". However, he only appears in earnest in XX, where he reveals himself to Sol after I-No's defeat, invites Anji to join him in "the betterment of the world", and other cryptic actions.

Overture and Xrd however reveal his true name, his history, and his motivations. The Gear Maker, a.k.a. Asuka R. Kreutz, was one of the Apostles who trained under the man who discovered the Backyard, The Original. After the sudden disappearance of their teacher within the Backyard and the oncoming threat of an entity called the Universal Will, he and the other Apostles, who would eventually become known as the Conclave, had a falling out due to a difference in ideals of how they should proceed. While the Conclave believed it was necessary to hold humanity back so as to not incur the Will's wrath, Asuka believed that a more progressive approach was needed to counteract it, and so he turned to applying his knowledge of magic as a scientist, where he would later meet Frederick and Aria. He would go on to create the Gears, but would end up losing control of his creations to the Universal Will. Seeking to destroy humanity for their perceived imperfections, the Will brainwashed the Gears to serve as its puppets, leading to the destruction of Japan and the century long Crusades. Asuka, meanwhile, had made it his life mission to release the Gears from others' control, and create a world where humans and Gears can at last co-exist as equals, no matter what methods he must resort to. In the end, his private war with the Universal Will ends with his victory, and with that he sets forth to put the final phase of his plan for human-Gear coexistence into motion.

In -STRIVE-, Asuka has turned himself over to the custody of the United States, stating that he has two goals he wants to achieve in the lead-up to the G4 Summit, which will ultimately lead to the world peace he desires. As the world's most powerful magic user, he has mastered the usage of the very device his master once utilized containing all knowledge within the Backyard - the Tome of Origin, a grimoire so powerful that it effectively allows its user to bend reality itself to their will. His first goal is to seal away the Tome for eternity so that its incomprehensible power can never be used for evil purposes. His second and final goal for his ultimate plan for world peace...is the elimination of Sol Badguy. With his objectives set in stone and the final stage of his plans underway, Asuka is ready to settle the score with his old friend once and for all.

Asuka was first teased in May 2023 was teased at the Arc World Tour 2022 Finals and came out on May 25th, 2023. Here, he uses his vast magical power to send a stand-in of himself, labeled 'R♯' to fight in his stead.

Gameplay-wise, Asuka is perhaps one of the most complex characters in the entire franchise; he can best be described as three characters in one, having a little bit of everything in his kit, but he requires managing several important resources in order to enact his gameplan. He has a single special move, Chant, which casts one of four spells from the Tome of Origin corresponding to the button pressed to activate the move. There are 26 types of spells he can cast, each contained within its own "Test Case", or stance. Each Test Case contains a total of 30 spells within, and there are 3 Test Cases in total. The first Test Case turns Asuka into a zoner, the second turns him into a close-range mixup character, and the third turns him into a setup character who places objects on the screen which alter the flow and course of a match similar to Faust's items. All of Asuka's spells require the usage of Mana, which can be recharged normally at a slow pace or at a faster pace but at the cost of his health or Tension Gauge. Be careful, however, for if he runs out of Mana he not only becomes unable to cast spells, but his defense also becomes the worst in the game, bar none.

Accomplice by Inaction: -STRIVE- reveals that past getting Justice to initially fire on Japan, he had no direct involvement in the Crusades that followed, with Happy Chaos taking the credit of "That Man" by escalating the conflict. Since he started the war but didn't do anything about it, Asuka still considers himself as solely to blame for it happening.
Actually a Doombot: The playable version of Asuka in -STRIVE- is called "Asuka R♯", and it's confirmed in Asuka's own bio that he uses "bits", or clones, of himself to handle strenuous physical tasks since he gets tired very easily. It is possible to switch between the clone and the real deal via a code, but all this does is change some of his dialogue.
Affably Evil: For a major antagonist, he's shockingly polite, and most of his subordinates seem to genuinely like him. Axl even points out (and I-No agrees) he expected the guy to be someone more... villainous. In -STRIVE-, after he turns himself into government custody, everyone is surprised by how polite (and socially awkward) "the Devil" is.
Ambiguous Syntax: At the end of -REVELATOR-, he states that he has a "score to settle" with Sol, and in -STRIVE- says that he needs to erase "Sol Badguy" from the world. Said "score" is simply that he wishes to free Sol from his uncontrollable Gear powers so he can live a peaceful life as Frederick Bulsara again, and he (mostly) strips Sol of his Gear nature and declares "Sol Badguy the hero has perished."
Anti-Villain: Despite being antagonistic towards a lot of characters, he ultimately wants to bring about a peaceful world where gears and humans can live side by side.
The Archmage: It can't be understated how ridiculously powerful Asuka's magic is. He's so powerful that Sol actually seeks advice from Ky on what to do, as he knows that when he's not holding back Ky is probably the only other person on the planet that could compare. Sol flat out says that Asuka is the strongest mage alive, and even with his battlefield genius Ky can only muster up one way to win but explicitly states that only Sol could pull off. By the time said confrontation comes, it's a complete Curb-Stomp Battle on Asuka's part, with Sol emerging mostly unscathed only because Asuka had other plans in mind.
- This all translates to Asuka's gameplay as well; he boasts a massive number of spells that he can pull from and some of the scariest space control of the cast.
The Atoner:
- He repeatedly comments that he deserves every bit of Sol's hatred, blaming himself for not being able to cure Aria/Justice's brainwashing into a mindless ruthless weapon out to destroy all of humanity. He even explicitly creates Jack-O' in hopes she'll be able to restore Justice into Aria in -REVELATOR-.
- In -STRIVE-, he considers himself to be a bystander who simply reacted to things as they came and thus at fault for causing the Crusades, and considers his current actions as atonement for it. On a personal level, he invites Sol to kill him instead of letting him remove the Flame of Corruption from him if that's what he really wants, because he's in his current situation because of Asuka forcing his will on him. His title when selecting the true version of himself is even, verbatim, "Atonement of the Gear Maker".
Badass Bookworm: Asuka is and has been a super-genius magic user for the past hundred years, and his power is only matched by his teacher, the Original. He was also the guy who created Gears(with Frederick and Aria's help). He possesses further extreme power from the Tome of Origin, which allows him to draw even more power from the Backyard.
Badass Cape: As a playable fighter, he dons a massive, billowing cape with the cosmos itself tailored on the inside. It helps sell the power of his abilities.
Badass in Distress: He ends up captured by Bedman and Ariels after his attempt to stop Justice's revival fails in Xrd. He briefly winds up in this situation again when Happy Chaos finally catches up to him in the climax in -STRIVE-.
Bait-and-Switch Boss: The Stinger in -REVELATOR- and all of the advertising and beginning parts of -STRIVE- hinted that despite settling a lot of his differences with Sol, he was still looking for a fight, and that he had ominous plans of the Well-Intentioned Extremist kind for the sake of world peace, up to and including "erasing" Sol from the world from being Too Powerful to Live. Actually, he's completely genuine about his intentions to have himself and the Tome protected from the reach of humanity, his grand master plan for "world peace" simply involves going up to a space shelter and using the knowledge granted to him by the Tome to run a peace advocacy radio show, and his plan to "erase" Sol simply means turning him back into a human and having him publicly declared dead to the world so he can live a normal life free from being a Living Weapon or a public hero. I-No and Happy Chaos's plans had nothing to do with him, and not only does he ultimately end up firmly on the protagonist side for the entire duration of the game, he also turns out to be just as blindsided as everyone else is about I-No and Chaos's Evil Plan.
Big Bad: He's one of the creators of the Gears, which directly led to the Crusades, and manipulates and targets the rest of the cast at regular intervals to further his Evil Plan. Subverted in Xrd, where he's revealed to actually be Good All Along, trying to stop the Omnicidal Maniac Universal Will, who was behind Justice and the rest of the Gears going insane, from wiping out humanity for good.
Big Good: Xrd -SIGN- reveals he's been orchestrating the efforts to stop the Kill All Humans plan of the real Greater-Scope Villain of the series, and imprisoned and experimented on Justice in an attempt to save her from said villain's brainwashing.
Broken Pedestal: In -STRIVE-, he's clearly not happy seeing that his old teacher has gone off the deep end and turned against humanity in the form of Happy Chaos.
Card Cycling: His Overdrive has him freeze the game to enter a state of concentration; he can then press any attack button to replace the spell assigned to it.
Cast from Hit Points: One way he can speed up his mana recharge is to sacrifice his health.
The Chessmaster: He's orchestrating the action of multiple characters throughout the series, with a number of them even serving as his personal agents. -STRIVE- ends up deconstructing this side of him; Asuka acts like a Chessmaster because it's the only way he knows how to get anything done, but only a select few have ever really been swayed by his line of thinking over the years and even then their loyalty to him only goes so far as seeing his vision come to fruition. His inability to understand people and take their feelings into account makes everyone wary of him, and in fact is the root cause of why he became seen as the war criminal he is in the present day.
Classical Anti-Hero: Despite his initial, seemingly-villainous approach to things, this is what Asuka actually is underneath everything. He is Sol/Frederick's polar opposite in every way. He's not physically strong like Sol is, but he makes up for that by having more intelligence and capacity for tactics compared to Sol's Brilliant, but Lazy approach, using his complete mastery of sorcery to outwit his opponents. Also, while Sol is flawed because of his guilt in creating the Gears and killing the woman he loved, he is still sociable and eventually learned to let go of his past and move forward. Asuka is driven by his guilt of driving his True Companions away due to his inability to express his true feelings, a flaw he isn't able to realize until much later after everything is said and done, and doesn't actively take steps to overcome until the endgame of his plans.
Cloudcuckoolander: By his own admission in -STRIVE-; he has No Social Skills and doesn't really get social conventions all that well. He's also mostly gotten by through picking up on others' traits and adopting them. And through everything, he remains unfailingly calm. What this actually qualifies as is never clarified in the games though. His own teacher, Happy Chaos, outright describes him as a lunatic.
Collective Identity: Turns out Asuka isn't the only person to bear the moniker of That Man, as his former mentor, Happy Chaos, also used it while committing various atrocities, making everyone believe that it's Asuka being responsible for the destruction.
Cosmic Motifs: His design is adorned with all sorts of visual keys relating to astrology; the inside of his cape resembles a night sky, he can summon mechanical constructs akin to telescopes in battle, and his Home Stage is a massive observatory.
Creating Life: He's called "The Gear Maker" for a reason. He's also implied to have created various other beings over the years as well, and by -STRIVE- has created clones of himself which are homunculi based on A.B.A.
Dark Messiah: He wants to bring peaceful coexistence between humans and Gears, even if it means using any and all questionable means possible to get there.
Death Faked for You: In -STRIVE-, the reason he'd been so ominously talking about "erasing Sol Badguy from the world" was that he wanted the world to recognize that "Sol Badguy, the hero, has perished" so that he could return to a normal life as Frederick Bulsara and not be exploited as a hero or weapon. Jack-O', Ky, and President Vernon bear witness to what actually happened (Asuka turning Sol back into a normal human), but the government holds a funeral for Sol, and the public is informed that he's dead.
Duality Motif: One of the key concepts behind Asuka's design as a character is "two sides to a single coin" - two opposing, clashing, or otherwise contradictory things that either merge together to form something new or are two parts of a whole picture.
- There are two main views people hold of him over the series: some believe he's a war criminal up to no good, while others see him as a Visionary Villain seeking to lead the world towards a new era. In reality, he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist with No Social Skills who made many mistakes and wishes to atone for them. Many are skeptical he even exists, while there are those who swear he exists and is someone of great power. He does exist, and is one of the strongest beings in the Guilty Gear universe, but chooses to shroud himself in secrecy. This actually plays heavily into his Arcade story in -STRIVE-. The clones he creates of himself are based on the two personas he cultivated throughout his life: the reclusive sorcerer wandering the world in pursuit his goals of world peace, and the scientist who created the Gears. Through his interactions with them, he learns more about the value of one's own existence as well as the importance of relating to and connecting with others, and comes to accept that both of the identities he cultivated really are a part of who he is as a person,
- Even his outfits in games where he makes a physical appearance have very clearly contradicting but blended themes, most prominently the mixture of science and magic as well as religious imagery and symbolism. His design in -STRIVE- is a logical evolution of this, mixing both classical mage garb with a mixture of both a Catholic and Shinto priest's robes.
Eagleland: -STRIVE- reveals he hails from the USA, and while he is a Mixed Flavor type like Sol is, Asuka is an inversion of Sol's take on the trope. His name suggests he's from a mixed ethnic background (Japanese-German), correlating to America as a whole being a melting pot of cultures. Also, while Sol more embodies the Boorish variant of the trope, Asuka leans more towards the Beautiful side, and deep down yearns for a future much like how America the Beautiful is depicted as, though in a more realistic, progressive way.
Easter Egg: Pressing up while selecting which color to use will let you toggle between the clone and the real Asuka, albeit nothing really changes aside from his name and his interactions with Sol and Jack-O'.
Enemy Mine: He joins forces with Sol, who for years considered Asuka to be his Arch-Enemy, to take on their mutual enemy and destroy the Cradle's shield in Xrd.
Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being a criminal and terrorist who created what amount to magical bio-weapons, he was utterly horrified to see the gears being used as puppets and tools of war. It's to the point his central motivation has become to make sure the Gears become a true sapient race and no one can ever control them again.
Evil Plan:
- Subverted. Despite the underhanded means he resorts to and sending his agents out to fight multiple members of the cast on a regular basis, all he wants is to allow Gears and any other sentient beings on Earth co-exist with humanity just like Dizzy and Ky, rather than being a mindless weapon like how the Conclave and Ariels wanted, and free his friend Aria from her current fate as one such mindless weapon.
- -STRIVE- reveals that he never really had much of an overarching Evil Plan to begin with as much as he was crafting smaller ones to deal with things as they came, to the point where he'd considered his prior actions to actually be Bystander Syndrome.
Evilutionary Biologist: Played with; he turned both Frederick, and later Aria, into Gears without their consent, in the first case to extend his lifespan, and the second case to save her life.
Evil Versus Evil: In Xrd he's fighting against the equally antagonistic Conclave and Ariels. Subverted when it turns out Ariels is the Greater-Scope Villain of the series and Asuka was actually the Big Good fighting her the entire time.
Exact Words: States that he wants to eliminate Sol Badguy in their final clash, and that "our world has no need for his power." So he removes the Flame of Corruption from Sol's body, effectively "killing" Sol by turning him back into Frederick Bulsara and removing his powers so that the world will stop relying on him as a hero.
Eyepatch of Power: He has a wing-shaped eyepatch over his right eye in Xrd to visually illustrate his growth from a mere scientist in flashbacks to a powerful magic user now. It's a winged-wheel design one in -STRIVE-.
The Faceless: We never get to see what he looks like under his hood in XX, with his full in-game appearance only being revealed years later in the Xrd series.
Fatal Flaw: His inability to understand people and failure to properly state his intentions, which resulted in one of his best friends thinking he betrayed him, his other best friend getting corrupted into a monster that believed herself designed only to bring death, himself branded a war criminal, and the entire world being plunged into a 100-year long war that very nearly brought both humanity and the planet itself to the brink of annihilation.
Fountain of Youth: A very strange, self-inflicted case; in order to be able to exist within the Backyard, Asuka had to reverse his aging process using magic. In XX and Accent Core, he appears just as he did years ago, but in Overture his body has de-aged to that of a teenager. By Xrd he's practically a child. This gets somewhat retconned in -STRIVE-; he has remained young because he creates homunculi bodies for him to inhabit to continue living past his normal lifespan. His current appearance after he no longer needs to work within the Backyard is that of a young adult.
Friendly Address Privileges: Like Aria/Jack-O', he's one of the few characters who calls Sol by his original name of Frederick, even after they've returned to being on better terms in -STRIVE-.
Friendly Rivalry: By the end of Xrd -REVELATOR-, Sol declares that his battle against Asuka isn't over, and, although he knows the truth behind Asuka's actions and Aria has been revived, he doesn't have the same animosity he once had, turning their battle into more of a rivalry. Subverted in -STRIVE- when it turns out that, despite what Sol thought, Asuka never saw it this way at all, and merely just wants to atone for what he's done for Sol and give him a better life.
Genre Motif: His theme in -STRIVE- is a fusion of progressive rock, symphonic power metal, and opera, which falls in line with Asuka's theme of blending multiple concepts together to form something new.
Good All Along: Despite his antagonistic actions in the previous games, in Xrd he's revealed to have been trying to stop the actual Greater-Scope Villain who made Justice and the Gears go crazy and try to Kill All Humans in the series's backstory, is still working to stop this enemy, genuinely cares about Sol and Aria despite their strained relationship, and wants Gears to be able to peacefully coexist with humans.
Good Counterpart: His playable appearance in -STRIVE- displays a sheer contrast with his ex-mentor, Happy Chaos. The two of them are undoubtedly the most powerful spellcasters in the entire franchise, however:
- Asuka tends to make convoluted and long-term plans for the good of humanity and gear-kind, while Happy Chaos does whatever he fancies on a whim for his own amusement.
- Asuka is decked from head-to-toe in white regal outfit, whereas Happy Chaos just dresses in shabby, unbuttoned black clothes while also being dark-skinned himself.
- Asuka uses the full might of his magic to fight, while Happy Chaos instead Fights Like a Normal using minimal magic.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: -STRIVE- reveals he suffers a really bad case of this. Despite being one of the most powerful humans alive by that point, Asuka still considers himself a "hopeless nerd" whose mistakes nearly brought the world to the brink of ruin. Much of his Arcade Story is spent with his clones giving him what amounts to a therapy session regarding this and helping him get over it.
Hidden Agenda Villain:
- For several games, his actual motives and the degrees of how responsible he is for anything are unclear and the only thing apparent is that everyone in the cast is affected by his machinations. Becomes a heroic example, as he just wants to revive his friend Aria, and make a world where gears and humans can live side by side, even seeing Dizzy as a symbol of hope for a better world.
- This bites him in the rear in -STRIVE- when everyone constantly speculates about his potential nefarious plans behind his surrendering to the government at the time of G4, figuring that there has to be some kind of sinister plot behind it, which isn't helped by I-No hinting at him having a secret plan he calls the "Accumulation of Goodwill" and his outright stated intent to "erase" Sol from the world. In fact, every single thing he intends to do over the course of the game is pretty unambiguously benevolent, his supposed Evil Plan is actually just a radio show, and he just wants Sol to be able to live a normal life as a human away from the public eye; it's just that, by his own admission, he's very bad at communicating his intentions.
Hidden Depths: -STRIVE- reveals that for all of his smarts, he's plagued with an abysmally bad case of difficulty with understanding human relationships and a ton of regrets over the disasters his mistakes caused. Having his hood off for the duration of the game exposes a lot of the emotions he'd been processing that had previously been difficult to glean due to his prior status as The Faceless.
I may craft a persuasive dissertation, but I've always had trouble choosing words others could understand.
Honor Before Reason: In the end of -REVELATOR-, although he's nearly reconciled with Sol, he states that he's looking to "settle the score", and Sol senses that he's still looking for a fight. Subverted in -STRIVE- when it turns out that he had no intention to fight beyond removing the Flame of Corruption from Sol, and otherwise wants him to live a normal and happy life.
I Did What I Had to Do:
- Though he regrets it, he justifies forcing Justice to fire on Japan in order to prevent something far worse; namely the Universal Will's invasion of reality using humans it infected with Gear Cells.
- He also justifies turning Sol into the first Gear as being the only way to make sure Sol would still be alive when a cure was found to Aria's disease and she could finally be unfrozen. He really regrets this one, and once it initially seems danger has subsided, he decides to fix his mistake by turning Sol back into a human and comments "I should have done this a hundred years ago."
I Have Many Names: He's called a lot of things over the course of the story, including "That Man", "the Devil", and "the Gear Maker". His real name is revealed at the end of Xrd -REVELATOR- and in -STRIVE- he admits that he's been just going along with whatever people call him (as evidenced by the fact that he's not even responsible for a good chunk of things the public attributed to "That Man" in the first place), and reclaims his identity as Asuka as a sign of making proper decisions and joining the fight directly instead of (in his mind) being a bystander reacting to things as they happen.
In Place of an Eye: The flower in Asuka's eye is a Rosenkreuz (Rose Cross). His whole design is a Visual Pun, since it's a symbol of the Rosicrucian Order (Order of the Rose Cross). A close-up on his character design reveals Rosenkreuz related phrases like "Dat Rosa Mel Apibus"^note"The Rose Gives Honey to the Bees". Even his name references it - Asuka R. Kreutz.
Irony: Asuka is one of the series' most Mechanically Unusual Fighters, and makes his playable debut in the Guilty Gear game that's supposed to have more simplified movesets and mechanics compared to its predecessors.
Insufferable Genius: While he's polite and friendly, he still can come off this way sometimes.
It Was with You All Along: His Image Song ultimately describes his motivations as searching for the meaning of existence. In the end, after accomplishing his goals, he finally realizes that his True Companions, Sol and Aria, are what gives his own life meaning.
Karma Houdini: Regardless of how benevolent his motivations actually were in the end, he still got off pretty lightly for someone who contributed to the initial near-extinction of the human race and numerous other disasters afterwards come the end of -STRIVE-.
Long-Range Fighter: His normals are all very big and disjointed, using magic, his book and various mechanical constructs to strike from mid-range. Then there's his absolutely massive selection of spells that let him smother the screen in projectiles and items. The drawback is that he almost no reversals and no tools for fighting face-to-face.
Love Makes You Evil: A platonic version, and not so much "evil" as much as "make questionable decisions", but all of the disaster he'd caused ultimately traces back to his devotion to Frederick and Aria. He converted Frederick into a Gear so that he could live long enough for them to be happy together once she emerged from cryogenic sleep, and tried to do the same for Aria only for the Universal Will to invade her mind. While his actions thereafter also had broader goals of world peace, a large chunk of them also came from a desire to make it up to them, including creating Jack-O' for the sake of restoring Aria from Justice in some form, and eventually turning Sol back into a human so he can live his remaining days as a normal human with her in peace.
MacGuffin-Person Reveal: In -STRIVE-, it's revealed that the Tome he carries with him is a decoy, and the real book is actually bound to his own body in an attempt to keep it safe, hence why keeping the Tome in a safe location requires him to be locked up with it. Happy Chaos, who wrote the book himself, sees right through the ruse. Asuka eventually starts up a radio show so he can communicate its knowledge from a safe location without giving humanity unfettered access to it.
Magi Babble: Despite being a scientist, he's prone to devolving into meaningless jargon and allusions that mean little to nothing regarding magic and magical constructs.
Mana Meter: Asuka has a mana meter right above his tension gauge. Casting any of his spells costs a set amount of mana that he needs to manually recharge when he can, either as a standalone special move, a special-cancel he can cast from other spells, or one of his spells that instantly restores mana. If he needs to charge it quickly, he can sacrifice either his Tension or health.
Mana Shield: His mana also cushions the damage he takes; if he has no mana left, he'll take massive damage.
Meaningful Name:
- "Asuka R♯" has two meaningful references. "♯" is the symbol indicating a sharp or major pitch for musical keys. It's also a reference to the first updated version of his series debut: Guilty Gear XX ♯Reload. The "♯" symbol is also referred to as the double-cross (or Doppel-Kreutz in German). It is a pun on the fact that the playable Asuka is a magic doppleganger fighting in the real Asuka's stead.
- The "R. Kreutz" part of his name also references Rosicrucianism, a school of Esotericism.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
- Asuka's gameplay takes heavy inspiration from collectible card games, especially Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering. His "stances" work like archetypal decks, and have a pool of several unique resources that are displayed above his Tension gauge: mana, a card counter, and four queued spells pertaining to every attack button (minus Dust), effectively acting as his "starting hand". Juggling all of these components is crucial to mastering his playstyle.
- Asuka is the only other character in the roster of -STRIVE- besides Zato to have an "Ease of Use" rating of 1 star. For the record, that's one less star than even his teacher Happy Chaos. This is because Asuka has even more sub-systems than both characters combined, on top of having 26 different spells that he can cast at a time.
Merlin Sickness: A rare, self-inflicted version. The reason he's been alive for over 100 years is because he's been using magic to reverse his aging.
Manipulative Bastard: Has been influencing the majority of the cast since X through his agents and giving them cryptic hints to accomplish his goals. Becomes a heroic example in the end of Overture, where it's revealed his goal is to stop the series's Greater-Scope Villain from turning Gears into her puppets and wiping out mankind. -STRIVE- implies that it may not be callous manipulation on his part as much as having problems communicating with others or understanding human relationships.
Mundane Made Awesome: He's an incredibly powerful archwizard, if not an outright nigh-omnipotent Reality Warper. He wears robes lined with the very cosmos. And he also wears Air Jordans.
My Greatest Failure: Losing his best friends Frederick and Aria, betraying the former's trust in a long-term plan to see the two of them united together when technology had progressed, and the latter's death from her failed resurrection as Justice which resulted in the destruction of Japan.
No Man Should Have This Power: His professed motivation in -STRIVE-; according to him, the Tome of Origin is a danger to humanity as long as there's a threat of someone seeking it, and needs to be disposed of. Since he's physically bound to the book, his plan is to use the Tír na nÓg project's original purpose to flee to a space shelter where humanity can't reach him, and start a radio show to safely communicate its knowledge in a way that can be more effectively used for world peace.
No Name Given: In his introduction in X and multiple games afterwards, he's simply known as "That Man" or "The Gear Maker", with his actual name never brought up. Subverted as of -REVELATOR-.
No-Sell: Near the climax of Xrd Bedman gets the drop on Asuka and pulls him into Nightmare Theater. Asuka turns out to be completely immune to its effects, but it still makes an excellent prison that as of -REVELATOR- Asuka is finding troublesome to get out of.
No Social Skills: He states in -STRIVE- that he's always been bad at communicating his intentions, which is a pretty massive understatement given that he was considered by Sol and the public to be an Evilutionary Biologist Hidden Agenda Villain for over a century instead of someone whose attempts to make his friends happy led to some massive mistakes resulting in becoming a Well-Intentioned Extremist who no longer has any intention to cause more trouble by the time -STRIVE- begins. He's not even responsible for all of the incidents he was blamed for, he just didn't bother to clarify this to anyone. Happy Chaos taunts him by calling him "perceptive with everything but relationships," and he later admits his "mistake" of turning Sol into a Gear by forcing his way on him rather than doing what Sol himself would have wanted. This also retroactively implies that all of his apparent emotional manipulation of others in prior games may have just been him being that bad at understanding others' feelings.
Non-Standard Character Design: Asuka's outfit as a playable fighter wouldn't look out of place in a magical high-fantasy setting (barring the Jordans perhaps), making him stand out within -STRIVE-'s more practical and contemporary fashion design. It makes sense for how monumental a figure he is in Guilty Gear's lore, and to show that he's a powerful sorcerer.
Not Me This Time:
- -STRIVE- reveals that while he did make Justice fire on Japan to stop the Universal Will from using parts of the population as living bombs, he was not responsible for subsequent attacks on the Japanese that was attributed to That Man. That was the work of Happy Chaos, who was able to manifest in the physical world via Demonic Possession. Asuka let the public blame him for it because he was fine with going along with whatever anyone thought of him.
- On a smaller note, Happy Chaos was initially thought to refer to the second Jack-O' unit referenced in Xrd, but in -STRIVE-, Jack-O' reveals that the unit in question was never actually completed, and the actual person with that name ends up being a completely different entity using the name as an Appropriated Appellation. In fact, Asuka had nothing to do with his and I-No's Evil Plan at all, and is just as concerned about it as everyone else is.
Not So Stoic: The removal of his hood in -STRIVE- reveals via his facial expressions that there's a lot more going on behind his calm and level-headed words, and the events of the game progressively start pushing him over the edge and putting cracks in his previously implacable demeanor. This is especially noticeable when Happy Chaos turns out to be his old teacher and master, and later when Jack-O', the effective reincarnation of his friend Aria, is on the verge of performing a Heroic Sacrifice.
Older Is Better: An over century-old magic user who is considered the most powerful user of magic in the world and quite possibly the most dangerous human on the planet.
Only Friend: In After Story A, after years of serving him as a well, servant, Asuka starts to consider Raven as this, wanting them to part on terms of being friends instead of as master and servant. Raven complies with revealing his own past and ending his terms with Asuka as a close friend as well. Later subverted in -STRIVE-, as he rekindles his friendship with Sol/Frederick and Aria through her reincarnation, Jack-O'.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Up until -REVELATOR- he's just "That Man" or "The Gear Maker". It's only come -REVELATOR- his real name is finally used.
Our Homunculi Are Different: -STRIVE- reveals that this is how Asuka has been able to live well over a century after he should have already long since died. Rather than physically reverse his body's aging through magic, he instead creates genetic copies of himself and transfers his essence into them, extending his lifespan well beyond that of a normal human. These homunculus bodies are virtually indistinguishable from how he used to look, and naturally age as humans do, but are "tuned" by him for specific purposes. Some of them can also operate independently of their creator inhabiting them.
Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: In -STRIVE-, acknowledging the problems he's caused by forcing his way on others, he invites Sol to kill him before Asuka can extract the Flame of Corruption from him, if that's what he really wants. Sol can't bring himself to do it, allowing Asuka to turn him back into a normal human and correct the "mistake" he'd made centuries ago.
Poor Communication Kills: He admits in -STRIVE- that things probably would have been better if he'd been able to properly communicate his intentions in ways others could understand, instead of constantly forcing his way on other people. Part of his reason for turning Sol back into a human is to take responsibility for this, and he offers him an alternative option if he's against it.
Pretty Boy: When unmasked in -REVELATOR-, he's shown to be a svelte pretty boy with Mystical White Hair, a huge contrast to Sol's rugged hunkiness.
Promoted to Playable: Asuka aka That Man has been a crucial part of the series lore as far back as the first game, but mostly kept to the shadows for the longest time. After appearing in person for the first time in Xrd, he finally becomes playable in -STRIVE-.
Punny Name: His stand-in is called "Asuka R♯", with the "♯" symbol standing for "Doppelkreutz" in German, or "double-cross". Asuka is double-crossing both his opponent and you, the player, by sending a doppelgänger of himself to fight on his behalf.
Reality Warper: The Tome of Origin is effectively an instruction manual to the Backyard, giving its user control over the laws of the universe itself. And it just so happens to be in the possession of the world's most powerful mage.
Retired Badass: At the end of -STRIVE-, with the majority of dangers he's been fighting for the past century finally dealt with, he retires to holding a peace advocacy radio show with the knowledge from the Tome.
Science Wizard: Asuka is arguably the most powerful mage in the Guilty Gear universe. He is also one of the scientists behind the Gear project.
Shipper on Deck: The actual reason he turned Frederick into a Gear is because he knew Aria would rather spend as much time as she could with Frederick than go into cryogenic slumber and wake up who knows how many years later after a cure was found into a world were he wasn't there. Thus, he made Frederick an immortal Gear who could be there for Aria no matter how decades passed. In -STRIVE-, he says that robbing the two of the time they had together was "his biggest mistake" and turns Sol back into the human Frederick, allowing him to return to a normal life with Aria's functional reincarnation, Jack-O', as humans.
Signature Move: "Chant" is the command used to cast all of Asuka's spells, basically tying all of his capabilities into a single special.
So Proud of You:
- He genuinely praises Dizzy for her decision to live side-by-side with humans despite being a gear that most of them fear and hate.
  Dizzy, you are the hope for the world. Beyond my wildest dreams.
- In -STRIVE-, when Jack-O' is about to sacrifice her existence to stop I-No, she apologizes to him for not living up to his expectations of becoming a perfect copy of Aria as she believes she was intended. His horrified reaction makes it very clear that he does not see her that way at all.
Spell Book: His weapon of choice is the Tome of Origin, a collection of the greatest magical knowledge around that grants him access to power over reality itself.
Squishy Wizard: Nightmarishly strong with his magic, but, as Sol puts it, without it "any old fart could take him out." This translates to his gameplay as well in two ways: One, he's an absolute menace at full-screen but torn to shreds if anyone manages to close in on him, and two, running out of mana mid-fight not only bars him from using most of his moves, his defense also becomes even worse than the resident "pixie" characters Chipp and Millia. Self-acknowledged, whereas Asuka is outright surprised and relieved whenever he survives blocking any heavy attack.
Stance System: Asuka's "Test Case" system is effectively this. Each "Test Case" changes his fighting style. Test Case 1 turns him into a zoner, Test Case 2 turns him into a close-ranged mix-up character, and Test Case 3 turns him into a trap character who sets up stage hazards and obstacles that change the course of a match.
Super-Fun Happy Thing of Doom: -STRIVE- has him working on a plan called his "Accumulation of Goodwill". Sol, knowing whom he's dealing with, figures it can't be something good. It's exactly what the title suggests, namely a plan to start a radio show divulging information about the world in the hopes of humanity using that information to make the world better.
Surpassed the Teacher: In -STRIVE-, he manages to beat Happy Chaos, also known as his old teacher, hard enough that Chaos actually gets knocked out for a bit. It's only when Chaos taps into the extra set of powers meant for I-No that Asuka starts getting overwhelmed.
Then Let Me Be Evil: Xrd and -STRIVE- reveal that a lot of the actions attributed to him either had wider benevolent motivations behind them, or were actually not even his doing in the first place, but he didn't bother to clarify anything because others' opinion of him didn't seem to be his biggest priority (especially due to the disasters caused by his mistakes and his belief that Sol has every right to hate him). In -STRIVE-, he admits that his penchant for his actions getting misconstrued is his recurring problem.
Throw the Book at Them: Several of his attacks in -STRIVE- involve him manipulating the Tome of Origin or its pages to be used as weapons.
Took a Level in Kindness: Ultimately, his actions in -STRIVE- come down to him deciding that he'd rather stop doing all of this behind-the-scenes pulling the strings and causing collateral damage through his actions and inaction, and thus operating more in the open in a more straightforward manner about his intentions.
True Companions: With Sol/Frederick and Aria. How much so? Through the 100+ years of conflict, they've endured and how much they've been torn apart by it, they still found their way back to each other by the end of -STRIVE-.
Unknown Rival: Xrd and -STRIVE- reveal that while he agrees that he deserves Sol's hatred and resentment for what he's done to him, the sentiment isn't nearly as mutual as it seems. In Xrd he states that he's terrified of losing his connection to Frederick, even if said connection is Frederick's hatred, and in -STRIVE- Sol anticipates an all-out fight between the two of them to settle their differences, only for it to actually be Asuka simply wanting to make up for his past mistake and give Frederick back the life he'd taken away from him a century ago.
Unmoving Plaid: The night sky pattern on the inside of his cape doesn't move like actual fabric and behaves more like a hole in reality.
Villains Act, Heroes React: Played with. He reveals in -STRIVE- that he'd never actually seen his prior actions as proactively joining the fight as much as he'd basically reacted to situations as they'd come and stayed out of everything else (evidenced by the fact that he wasn't actually responsible for the Crusades beyond getting Justice to do the initial firing, but allowed everyone to pin the blame on him and didn't do anything about it afterwards). The result was a bunch of mistakes, bad decisions, and escalating the problem even further, not helped by his difficulty in understanding other people resulting in him forcing his way on others. He considers stepping into the public eye and bidding to have the Tome sealed away in front of the world's witnesses to be the first time he's made a proper, active decision for himself, and his actions during the game of directly helping the protagonists without question and taking responsibility for ruining Sol's life by turning him back into a human end with much fewer negative results than before.
Walking Spoiler: Everything about him, from his identity to his motivations, is directly and indirectly connected to critical details pertaining to both the world the series is set in and its characters, especially Sol.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Also played with. He does a LOT of bad things to accomplish his goals, stealing, killing, emotionally manipulating people he genuinely respects, and more, all for the sake of bringing about a peaceful world where the Omnicidal Maniac Universal Will is stopped and Gears and humans can live by side by side. However, his goal of keeping humanity advancing forward also stands in opposition to those like his fellow Apostle Chronus, who wanted to hold humanity back to combat the Universal Will first. -STRIVE- has him acknowledge that this roundabout, high collateral damage way of going about things "his way" has led to too many problems, and his actions throughout said game are significantly more peaceful, albeit initially cryptic.
White Hair, Black Heart: A white-haired villain who will stoop to all sorts of underhanded means to get what he wants. Subverted when it turns out what he wants is to prevent the extinction of humanity at the hands of a rogue magical construct and also create a world where gears and humans can live together in peace.
Wizard Staff: He keeps his spell book atop a tall scepter that he materializes, doing so in his victory animation.
The Worf Effect: He's played up as the world's strongest magic user to the point even Sol is concerned about being able to best him in combat. But in -STRIVE- even he ends up in a corner against Happy Chaos and I-No's intimidating powers, especially I-No after ascending to near-godhood. In fact, part of the reason he's able to identify Chaos as actually being the Original is that there's almost no one who knows as much about magic as him.
World's Strongest Man: Sol outright calls him the world's strongest magic user in the ending of -REVELATOR-, and he shows himself more than capable of going toe to toe with Super Prototype gears like Sol. -STRIVE- reveals he's even a stronger mage than his teacher the Original at this point as Happy Chaos is unable to beat Asuka in a Wizard Duel without using the half of I-No's Reality Warper powers he'd sealed within himself.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In his Arcade story, he does this to himself, via the use of several of his clones whom he created as part of an experiment. His interactions with his clones help him confront one of his biggest character flaws: the fact that he blames and hates himself for all the horrible mistakes he made. In doing so, he takes a step further in finally beginning to understand what it means to value his own existence, which his master Happy Chaos had been espousing during the events of the main story.

Characters / Guilty Gear -STRIVE-

Base Roster

Nagoriyuki

Giovanna

Introduced as DLC

Goldlewis Dickinson

Happy Chaos

Bedman? (Delilah Neumann)

Tropes associated with the pair

Tropes associated with the Bed

Tropes associated with Delilah

Asuka R. Kreutz / Asuka R♯ (That Man)

Alternative Title(s): Guilty Gear Asuka R Kreutz

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Characters / Guilty Gear -STRIVE-

Edit Locked

Base Roster

Nagoriyuki

Giovanna

Introduced as DLC

Goldlewis Dickinson

Happy Chaos

Bedman? (Delilah Neumann)

Tropes associated with the pair

Tropes associated with the Bed

Tropes associated with Delilah

Asuka R. Kreutz / Asuka R♯ (That Man)

Alternative Title(s): Guilty Gear Asuka R Kreutz

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Index

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