Suzaku

No, you misunderstood, 2P is the correct orientation. Facing left. It's a generalization, but the sprites are almost always designed to be seen in the 2P orientation, because most of the characters in the game will be presented to the player as opponents (in the 2P orientation). I think I maybe phrased it better that time.

Just for referance, most character sprite sets in fighting games are designed and drawn with the intention of facing to the left. This is because, apart from the character they're playing, most of the characters a player sees will be on the 2P side.

Apart from the Valentine stuff, it's also implied in Sol's ending in the original Guilty Gea, with the whole, "the three of them should get together and talk again" stuff. Also, it just generally makes the most sense. And yes, of course nothing's directly said. That's the whole point of something being implied.

As another note about what the Merciless Apocalypse might refer to: As a young bioinformatics scientist, That Man created an "Apocalypse" theory stipulating that "God's Will" is for races to evolve naturally and correctly, and that races which have "Missing Links" are doomed to extinction. He speculated that Missing Links are, in fact, caused by outside forces who subvert God's Will by altering evolution, such as forcing Species A to evolve directly into Species C, or by turning off Species B. He cautioned againt straying from the path God has laid out, noting that straying from the path would lead to ruin. This worried Aria, but Sol called the theory bullshit and said she shouldn't listen to him. Whatever happened to cause That Man to reverse -- or at least modify -- this theory and carry out the Gear Project is unknown, but if there is to be a "merciless apocalypse", then perhaps he opted for a "merciful apocalypse" instead. Missing Link may also refer to Sol and/or Justice, or otherwise somehow to the plot of the original Guilty Gear (fully titled Guilty Gear: The Missing Link).

It's the guy or girl with the weird cone-head cloak and high heels. Has only been seen in two pieces of artwork:

According to Ishiwatari's comments in the 10th Memorial Book, it appears that he never intended Raven to be Axl's "parallel existence", and his parallel existence is someone else entirely from what the fans have speculated; their identity will be a surprise. The book also explicitly states that Raven's powers have nothing to do with time slipping, and basically debunks any connections between the two characters. His strong allegiance to That Man is the result of That Man giving his long life a purpose (presumably to 'be a witness to history'), when he had previously lived for so long that life had lost all meaning. The book also describes him as a "dark hero", and contrasts his long life with Sol's, basically noting that Raven's immortality has caused him to see the worst in things. Raven is "genetically immortal", or in other words, is a natural immortal by birth. At the moment his immortality "activated", he stopped aging, and has been living for at least 2,000 years. No matter how severe his injuries are, he regenerates completely -- even if his body is reduced to carrion; a spike through his brain stem has no affect on him. He was born in Germany in the middle ages and was an accomplished knight, presumably during the Crusades in the early 12th Century (rough estimate based on known information). His "first death" was being surrounded by enemies who "showered his body with arrows" and then stabbed him to death with swords. Rather than dying, he found himself in a "cylindrical space" filled with window-like mirrors. There he had the sensation of being caged with predatory birds and felt their stares boring into him, eventually transforming into the pain of needles piercing him every part of his body capable of feeling pain; this is described as, "perhaps greatest amount of pain a human can possibly experience". His powers presumably have something to do with this "cylindrical space". Both. GGXXAC happens very, very shortly after GGXX, which happens very, very shortly after GGX. Not confirmed, but seems likely. Sol was Aria's lover, and Aria became Justice. Dizzy is Justice's "daughter". No, but they're rivals and that's always exploitable by yaoi fangirls. Ishiwatari doesn't help with some of his artwork. Regardless, Sol had a relationship with Aria, and Ky has a wife and son. The Maiden of the Grove, AKA Dizzy. I'm not sure if it's been 100% confirmed, but the 10th Memorial Book lists Dizzy and Ky as being in love, and it's even more heavily hinted than Aria being Justice. Almost without a doubt, but not outright confirmed. The 10th Memorial Book lists them as "The same person?" Yes. He has a twin brother and was raised as a boy by his parents due to superstitions in their village about twins. He is trying to prove his manliness, however. He also wears Riot brand clothing, just like Sol and Sin, for those who are curious. Pretty much, yeah. Solaria is a sentient Command-type Gear created by the Blackard Company in the novel Lightning the Argent, she is currently in the custody of the International Police Force. Marina was a character from the same novel, who was crippled. She was drawn into Ky's investigation of the Blackard Company, and eventually their miracle cure caused her legs to explode into Gears. And yet, they are listed in the 10th Memorial Book, and the characters are part of the official character chart. All indication would point to, at the very least, the characters being canon, if not the events. Canon means the official, confirmed storyline, as defined or described by the owners of the franchise. Saying that those games/manga aren't canon is as much fan speculation as assuming they are, because it hasn't been clearly defined. The characters are included in the 10th Memorial Book, and that's as much as I can confirm. Defining what exactly is canon or not is hard to do, because there are various branching story arcs, and there's no way everything could happen. Regardless, you can take virtually everything as being true to the characters, or, "This is what would happen IF this happened." In other words, it can give you more information and truth to a character, their personality, and their story, even if that event didn't actually happen. As a purely hypothetical example, if Faust revealed he was Baldhead in one ending, but nothing like that ever happened in his official, true ending, you could still consider the other ending a confirmation of him being Baldhead.

Ki is one of the magical elements in GG. In GG, recall that magic is actually an effect produced by interacting with the Backyard, a world which you could compare to the background processes that keep your computer running that you don't actually see. In a way, using magic is like hacking into the Backyard and tampering with the programming of reality. Now, Ki seems to be a more neutral "element", something with a more spiritual root, probably relating directly to the latent "magic" within living organisms, or something along those lines. The common fictional depiction of Ki/Chi as an energy that flows through the body that can be channeled (for example, shooting blasts of energy from your palms) is derived from Chinese breathing exercises, and has a medatative aspect, as in Tai Chi. In the Guilty Gear memorial book, it specifically describes the Japanese people of having a natural ability to control Ki, as a result of their "strong spiritual core". The implication seems to be that, rather than being some sort of a genetic trait, it's because of their specific spiritual beliefs or spiritual history that they have an inate predisposition for controlling Ki. In other words, they have natural access to a magic "weapon". This is why Justice made Japan her first target. She feared that, if the Japanese people as a whole were able to awaken to this understanding and weild this natural magical weapon, that they would pose a considerable threat. From a practical standpoint, any Japanese character in GG should be a "natural" at controlling Ki. This is why May being Japanese is supposed to be an important plot point. That's certainly not to say that only Japanese people can use it, of course. Chipp, Kliff, Jam, etc., are able to use this, and their abilities probably stem from training in Asian martial arts which emphasize breathing and Ki flow.

A mouse is workable with practice and nice for making straight lines, but a good tablet can really take you places.

Valentine's also not a Gear and was herself destroying Gears, screwing with Ky, Dizzy, and Sin, and threatening to make massive problems vis-a-vis the Backyard. He also initially thought Valentine was part of That Man's plot. But let's not forget that Sol's a bounty hunter. Disposing Gears is not just part of a personal creed, it's his profession, and Sin's as well. He seems to draw the line at non-threatening sentient Gears, is all.

Shigeru Sakano was also the uncredited voice actor who did Raven pre-GG2. It's also not known whether Crow (クロウ, Kurou) is really Kurou Kuruwaba (郭羽 九郎 (くるわば くろう), Kuruwaba Kurou) or not, since he claims not to be. Baiken and Johnny both identify him as such, however, and Crow acknowledges he knows Johnny's master, Hirofumi Unchou (雲長 博文, Unchou Hirofumi). To be absolutely clear, Kurou and Hirofumi are their given names, while Kuruwaba and Unchou are their surnames. In the English AC+, when Johnny is talking to him, the line, "Crow... Kuruwaba Kurou?!" was translated as just, "Crow... Kuruwaba!", but a moment later, Crow identified Johnny's master as Unchou Hirofumi, so the name ordering wasn't really localized consistently there.

Baldhead's weapon has always just been called a "mes", which is the Japanese word for scalpel (derived from Dutch). Same for Faust. Venom's is a cue, Bridget's is a yoyo, I-No's is guitar (it's name isn't mentioned in the weapons section, IIRC), and so on. There's some more details on Potemkin and Slayer, I think, I'll check into it later. It does mention Millia's hair/forbidden beast being named Angra.

Just a random covergirl from a GG2 "Promotion Card". Random chicks in Sol-themed clothing with the FREE motif are pretty common for album covers and such. There's also the one blonde chick with the guitar, wearing Sol's limiter and FREE belt buckle hanging between her legs, sticking her tongue out, from the Guilty Gear X OST; the brown-haired girl with a guitar, wearing the limiter around her neck with FREE scrawled down her stomach, groping herself, from the Guilty Gear Series Best Sound Collection; and the red-headed girl dressed a bit like I-No, wearing skimpy HEVEN brand clothing, from the Guilty Gear Sound Complete Box Set. Edit: Oh, and Blade, no, a lot of that stuff doesn't seem to have made it into the canon lore. Chipp's blade is just called "Blade", May's anchor "Anchor", and so on.

Alternate costume? You mean her original GG costume, or the beta design? In the beta she was a Brazilian knife-user. May had a battle axe named Bohemian, Potemkin was Russian and had a big scythe-like axe named Dreadnaught, and Baldhead had more normal proportions and a slightly more obviously Chinese outfit. Chipp's blade was named Les Paul, Ky was Russian, and I think Sol's personality was more good natured, but otherwise they aren't too different.

Zazz is right, Ishiwatari stated in an interview in the GG2 Material Collection book that Paradigm's, Izuna's, and Ky's are the only "real" ones. Paradigm's are Gears, Ky's are humans, and Izuna's are youkai. Some of my personal casting ideas: May/Johnny - Jellyfish Pirates Venom - Assassins - Elite unit: The monster from Nirvana Testament - Demons (think "western youkai") Slayer - Nightwalkers Zappa - Ghosts - Elite unit: Raoh Gabriel - Zepp Military - Elite unit: Potemkin Crow/Robo-Ky - Robo-Army - Elite unit: Giant King Robo-Ky A.B.A could also be interesting with various homonculi, I can imagine various interesting servants for her. Depening on how Chipp fares in his bid for presidency and what country he's shooting for, he could be an interesting master. Someone (or something) with various Forbidden Beasts could be interesting, too.

Most of the servants aren't exactly "real". Only Ky's and Paradigm's, which are humans and Gears, are. The youkai are are sort of on the bubble, being born naturally in the Backyard, but the rest are simply manifestations of their master's will, summoned using the power of the Backyard. Sol's tribe could probably be considered inventions or ideas within him, which are brought forth when he needs them, though they're basically machines so they probably don't have "personalities", exactly. If they have any personalities to speak of, they're probably terse and efficient. Sin's are probably called forth based on his memories of Illyria, so their personalities are probably based on his memories and opinions as well. Because he considers those associated with the Kingdom to be elitist and disconnected from the people, the servants he summons might reflect that? The Vizuel, or at least the Gas Mask Girls that appear in the Campaign, don't appear to have any personalities (or emotions) to speak of, just being dolls Valentine uses to carry out her goals. Youkai have been around for a very long time and likely match up with the mythological interpretations of them. Izuna's short story or the setting materials might shed more light on them, but I haven't checked that out yet. Paradigm's Gears probably have a variety of personalities, though considering Paradigm's views on humans and humanoid Gears, their personalities are probably more primal / tribal? Again, short story or setting materials might provide more information. Ky's human soldiers... From a practical standpoint, I'd bet that many of Illyria's soldiers are former Holy Knights that served under him in the Sacred Order during the Crusades, but that's just speculation based on the fact that many of his subordinates in the International Police Force were, and still called him "Captain," even though the Crusades were over. The Convict Hammers in the Campaign seem to be extremely loyal to him and even seem to share some of his old religous zeal. Since they're humans, there are probably a variety of personalities even within a single soldier type.

Baldhead = Faust is one of the "public secrets" of the Guilty Gear series, just like Dizzy = Maiden of the Grove and Justice = Aria. Everyone knows the truth, but it has yet to be stated explicitly in official sources.

No problem, it was a quick and easy translation. I'm trying to figure out just what to work on next, but I think it'll probably be the races section, since it's only one page.

You're right, it was just a typo on my part. Post will be edited shortly. Edit: And fixed.

Well, back in the olden days, The Gear Project was pretty much entirely plot discussion, as I recall. When that went down in flames, people migrated around to Holy Zen! or Roman Cancel, and of course, these days, Dustloop is pretty much the only notable Guilty Gear forum around, though it caters almost exclusively to the competitive aspects of the [2D] Guilty Gear [fighting] games. Story discussion only got shoehorned into this thread when people started bitching about story mode discussion and theories in the Accent Core + thread (as opposed to general gameplay discussion, I assume). Whatever the case, I certainly wasn't suggesting breaking away from Dustloop, just that story discussion could be better organized for the people who are interested in it. At any rate: Birthplace map from "The World" section of the 10th Memorial Book.

It seems a little ridiculous to lump all official story discussion into what was essentially a fanfiction thread, in what's basically a big fanart/cosplay section. At least, I think so. I'd much rather see official story + official art seperated from fanfiction + fanart. Make a new forum section, call it "The Bureau", and put all official GG/BB stuff in there, then leave Zepp Museum to fan-created stuff. I don't think something like that would be too much to ask for.

I was pouring over artwork and decided to make a list of character's clothing brands: Sol Badguy / Order-Sol: RIOT May: JFP, JELLY FISH, VENUS 6 Zato-One/Eddie: Priest Axl Low: REE (?), MEGU Testament: LOW Johnny: J (?) I-No: Do It Yourself Bridget: RIOT A.B.A: ALICE, SUPER BODY FLUID (Blood Packs) Sin: RIOT Valentine: NONSUGAR Raven: LIVE That Man: HEVEN (?) Some of them may not be clothing brands, just patches, accessories, or epithets, and some may wear multiple brands or what have you, and of course some of them were probably just thrown into art on a whim by Ishiwatari, but I thought I'd list them anyway. Sol always wears RIOT stuff, as does Sin. In one artwork of Bridget and Jam, Bridget's got a RIOT tag on his socks. In one Sol art, his RIOT tags are also marked with "METAL" and "MADE IN USA". May and Johnny probably wear clothing made by one of the Jellyfish Pirates. J's jacket has a "J" emblem in one artwork, and in one artwork May's clothing has "JFP" or "JELLY FISH" on various bits of clothing, as well as a patches on her hat that say "I ♥ JOHNNY (JELLYFISH 2007)" and "VENUS 6". 2007 is because it was for the 2000-2007 artbook. Venus 6 is an amp by Rivera. Axl, Zato, and Testament have brands in their clothing in their GG1 character concept designs. Zato's is listed as a referance to Judas "Priest", and Axl has "REE" written on a belt in one artwork, which may have been FREE or REEL (REAL?) cut off. Axl's also got clothing and a briefcase with a "MEGU" brand in one artwork from around the X era. The bottom of I-No's boots are marked with the brand "Do It Yourself" in one artwork. A.B.A's clothing is marked with the brand "ALICE" in a couple places in one artwork, and in another her blood pack is marked as "SUPER BODY FLUID". Valentine's obviously got NONSUGAR clothing (a suitable name for a gothic lolita brand). Raven's got "LIVE" written on his clothing, and head spike, the latter of which makes it more likely to be a personal epithet than a brand. The visor on his mask says "oreno yutaka terada nawoittomiro", which roughly translated into English from Japanese would be something like, "My body is a temple? We'll see about that." The text on his chest says, "And mortal life shall cease, / A life of joy and peace." Both of the later use the symbol font. The coin over his eye is apparantly a Mexican peso, and says "IMPERATOR CONSTITUT" and something else I can't make out, and was probably just grabbed off the web for the way it looks. That Man has "HEVEN" [sic?] featured prominently on his clothing. The writing on That Man's clothing is "HEVEN MADE MEN FOR IT'S REASON, MEN RESPECT MEN FOR THEIR OWN SAKE.", and there's also "PROTEUS" and "UNI-VERS" on bits of his stuff. Ky Kiske's clothing in doesn't appear to have a brand, but his GG2 clothing is covered with his old "HOPE" epithet, as well as "GLORY OF THE KINGDOM". Potemkin's pile bunker things seem to have a brand name in one artwork, which seem to match up with an ammo box in another, but I couldn't make it out. I can just imagine a Guilty Gear game with a brand-based equipment system like the one in The World Ends With You.

I updated Raven's profile with translations of his quotes. The official English lines match up for the most part, though a few are worded differently and a couple were different, so my translations don't match up exactly. Not sure if anyone but Blade would really care, though.

Yeah, you could be very right about all that, I think. I'm gonna shoot for getting two of these out a week. Valentine will probably be next, then maybe Paradigm, then Izuna or maybe Sin. I'll probably leave Sol or Ky for the last.

Well, technically, Ishiwatari isn't the scenario writer for the story modes, it seems like he really probably didn't plan for that and it was an invention of the scenario writer. In the GG2 Material Collection Interview, Ishiwatari seemed completely unaware of it, but didn't want to outright dismiss it: Or perhaps I'm misinterpreting that, and he means he didn't have an answer prepared for that question, in regards to the interview. At any rate, in the 10th Memorial Book, it seems he's trying to work with it and incorporate it into his own plans: Now, of course, in GGXX, we get this: A lot of theories and fanon were based on that conversation, namely things like Raven being a future version of Axl or having the power of time travel, and more reasonable things like Axl's timeslipping preventing Raven from "disappearing". But it appears that it's being "retconned", or more accurately, it's like it didn't mesh with Ishiwatari's plans, and now he's trying to make it fit. If that's not the case, it's just outright misleading, either intentionally or unintentionally, based on recently revealed facts. Assuming it still holds relevance, though, we should first of all disregard the theory that Axl's timeslipping has anything to do with Raven's immortality, both in terms of "physics" (variable and constant) and in terms of "causality" (alteration of the past or future). Obviously disregard theories like Raven being able to time travel. Second, disregard the theory that Axl and Raven parallel existences. Third, assume that Axl is Raven's... "something." Descendant, ancestor, friend, partner, rival, killer, who knows? Axl is something to Raven, and he isn't doesn't know it yet. Fourth, assume that Axl does have a parallel existence which has yet to be revealed, and it will be an unexpected character. So long as Axl continues timeslipping, that parallel existence presumably won't age or disappear. That Man and Raven likely know its identity. Fifth, assume that in the future Axl will be at fault for something that both That Man and Raven are aware is going to happen. Whatever he does is what causes things to "wind up this way." I think it's fine to keep theorizing, so long as that's all kept in mind. I have a feeling that the answer to the mystery will hinge on Crow, the P.W.A.B., and the future event That Man is anticipating, but it's just a vague theory.

Well, the thing, it states that Raven has been experiencing the daily routine of life for hundreds of years, long enough that he doesn't care about anything anymore and just wants to die. His immortality is such that even if his body is completely reduced to rubbish he'd regenerate from it. If the idea is perhaps that the cylindrical space is some sort of third party tampering with him, I suppose that's possible, although it's really a major leap of speculation. So far, there's nothing to indicate that his immortality is anything but a natural phenomenon. According to the 10th Memorial Book, in Raven's "That Man" keyword section, Ishiwatari basically explains that Raven had been alive for so long that he stopped feeling and caring, but That Man came along and gave his life purpose. Raven pledged loyalty to That Man to show his gratitude. The purpose in question is probably to "be a witness to history," because in all of Raven's appearances as an associate of That Man, his role has been that of an observer. In Lighting the Argent, he is literally referred to as "the watcher", and in Sol's GGX+ ending That Man tells one of his associates (likely Raven) to observe Dizzy, I believe it was. And of course, his assignment in GG2 is to observe and hinder Valentine. Well, regarding Sol and Raven, they're pretty much opposites. In the section explaining Raven's appeal in the Memorial Book, it even contrasts them a bit, noting that Raven and Sol have both lived for a long time, but unlike Sol, Raven's long life has made him pessimistic, and it also says that Raven could be considered a "dark hero" (aka antihero). Regarding their conversation in Illyria, it seems to parallel the conversation they have in Lighting the Argent, based on what I could make out of the Korean translation that was posted a while back: Basically, Sol is examing a dead body, and plunges Fireseal into it, burning it down to just skeletal remains, when he realizes he's being watched. He calls out and tells the person to show themselves, and Raven appears. This what follows, very roughly translated, in script form: While we certainly can't rule out the possibility that there may have been encounters between the two throughout time, or other connections regarding descendants and things, considering Raven's 1000+ year life and Axl's frequent timeslipping... I think it really would be for the best to stop trying to come up with a connection between the two, at least for the time being. Ishiwatari has made it pretty clear that Axl's "parallel existence" is someone other than Raven, and their phenomena are unrelated, regardless of fanon. Edit: I was just reading the lyrics to Worthless as the Sun Above Clouds, and although it's still incredibly Engrishy, and seems to mostly be about his powers (invisiblity / invincibility), his role as a "watcher", and the fact that he's become nihilistic and pain is all he can feel, where it gets interesting is: So, are you gonna stay the same? / Pale, Grim, Deep in Shame? All I want is to know! / Never wanna let go! / If my fate is so... / I'll strive Forevermore! I think that could very easily be interpreted as some sort of exchange between Raven and That Man. The first part would be That Man asking Raven if he's going to say the same (suicidal), and the second part appears to be a sort of revelation for Raven, in which he "wants to know" (what happens) and accepts that if immortality is his fate he'll strive forevermore (to observe history). It feels nice being able to try and analyze something that's actually in English by default. Take that, Japanese fans, with your tomes full of easily accessible information!