If you’ve spent any time at all looking into the lore of Arc System Works' flagship fighter, you know the name. Well, the title. That Man Guilty Gear fans have whispered about for decades isn't just a meme or a vague shadowy figure anymore. He’s the literal architect of the apocalypse. But here’s the thing: most people still get his motivations completely wrong because the game's story mode is, frankly, a massive fever dream of time travel and magic-science.
For the longest time, we just knew him as the silhouette with the glowing eyes. The guy who turned Frederick Bulsara into Sol Badguy and kicked off the Crusades. He was the ultimate "big bad" who didn't actually do much fighting himself. Then Guilty Gear -Strive- happened, and suddenly the man behind the curtain, Asuka R. Kreutz, is a playable character with a cape made of literal magic math. It’s a lot to take in.
Who is the real Asuka R. Kreutz?
The history of That Man Guilty Gear players obsess over starts at a university. Not a battlefield. Asuka was a scientist. He worked alongside Aria Hale and Frederick (Sol) on the "Gear Project." Their goal wasn't to create biological weapons of mass destruction. They wanted to evolve humanity. Of course, that went south.
Asuka is a character defined by a very specific kind of guilt. He isn't "evil" in the way a cartoon villain is. He’s a guy who did a terrible thing—turning his best friend into a monster and causing the extinction of a huge chunk of the human race—to prevent an even worse thing. That "worse thing" is the Universal Will. Think of it as a cosmic entity that decided humanity was a failed experiment and needed a hard reset.
He essentially became a scapegoat by choice. He took on the mantle of the "Devil" so the world had something to hate while he worked in the shadows to fix the mess. It's a classic trope, but Daisuke Ishiwatari (the series creator) weaves it with so much heavy metal melodrama that it actually lands. Asuka is basically the personification of "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
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The Confusion Over Multiple Versions
Wait. Is there more than one? Sorta.
In Guilty Gear Xrd, we see "That Man" as a hooded figure. By the time we get to Strive, we find out Asuka has been busy making clones. The Asuka R# (Asuka R. Sharpe) we see in the latest game is actually a digital construct, a sort of remote-controlled avatar while the "real" Asuka is chilling on the moon.
Why the moon? Because he’s broadcasting a podcast. Seriously. After centuries of being the most wanted man in history, he ends his character arc by becoming a lunar radio host. It’s the most Guilty Gear thing imaginable.
Why That Man Guilty Gear Fans Hated Him (And Then Didn't)
For years, Asuka was the target of Sol Badguy’s legendary "I’m going to kill that man" motivation. Sol’s entire life was ruined by the Gear transformation. Because the audience sees the world through Sol’s eyes, Asuka was the antagonist.
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But the nuance lies in the "Justice" incident. When the Universal Will tried to manifest, Asuka was forced to turn Aria (Sol’s lover) into the first Command Gear, Justice, to save her life from a terminal illness. It was a botched save. Justice went berserk, nuked Japan, and started a hundred-year war.
- The Intent: Save Aria and stop a cosmic reset.
- The Result: Total global devastation and the loss of Japan.
- The Reputation: He became the most hated figure in human history.
Honestly, his story is about the burden of genius. He thought he could outplay destiny. He couldn't. By the end of the Strive story mode, we see a guy who is just tired. He’s done the math, he’s seen the outcomes, and he’s ready to hand the keys of the world back to the people who actually live in it.
Gameplay Mechanics: The "Math" Character
When That Man Guilty Gear finally became playable as Asuka R#, he didn't play like a normal fighter. He’s a "resource management" nightmare—in a good way. He uses a deck of spells.
While Sol hits things with a flaming slab of junk, Asuka is over there managing mana bars and shuffling through 26 different spells. It perfectly reflects his lore. He isn't a brawler; he’s a mathematician who treats reality like a computer program he can rewrite.
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If you’re trying to play him, you’ve got to embrace the chaos. You aren't just playing a fighting game; you’re playing a card game inside a fighting game. It’s high-risk, high-reward, and incredibly annoying for your opponent when you start rain-looping cubes of energy across the screen.
Practical Steps for Understanding the Lore
If you're trying to catch up on the actual plot without reading a thousand wiki pages, here's the most efficient way to do it:
- Watch the "Guilty Gear Story So Far" on YouTube. The official Arc System Works channel put out a multi-part series before Strive launched. It covers the Gear Project in detail.
- Play (or watch) the Xrd Sign and Revelator Story Modes. This is where the transition from "shadowy villain" to "complicated scientist" really begins.
- Check the In-Game Glossary. Guilty Gear -Strive- has a massive relationship map. Look up the entries for "The Gear Project" and "The Universal Will." It clears up why Asuka did what he did.
- Listen to the Lyrics. "The Gravity" (Asuka’s theme) is basically a confession. The lyrics talk about "the guilt that weighs me down" and his desire to find a path where he doesn't have to be the villain anymore.
The most important takeaway is that Asuka R. Kreutz is no longer the looming threat. The story of That Man Guilty Gear has effectively concluded. He’s retired. He’s on the moon. He’s at peace. The focus has shifted toward the consequences of his actions rather than his mysterious identity.
To truly master Asuka in the game, focus on your "test case" management. Don't just spam spells; learn which deck supports your current mana levels. If you run out of mana, your guard breaks instantly, and you're dead. It’s a literal representation of his lore: his brilliance is his only shield, and once that's gone, he’s just a man who's made a lot of mistakes.