Unika is a character in the Guilty Gear series, who first appears in the animation series Guilty Gear -Strive- Dual Rulers. She made her playable debut in Guilty Gear -Strive- as part of Season Pass 4. In reality, she is actually a half-Gear herself, and revealed to be Dizzy and Ky Kiske's biological daughter and Sin Kiske's older sister from an alternate dark future.[1]
Design[]
Unika is a young woman of short black hair streaked with blue on her fringe who hides crimson eyes behind light gray goggles; the lenses are dark orange in color while their shape resembles that of cat ears. Her outfit consists of a long, white sleeveless turtleneck with "T.E.O.C" written in sky-blue on the chest area, and an orange light jacket with three-quarter sleeves and brown belts serving as shoulder straps. She wears an oversized blue jacket with light brown lining and silver details, sports black shorts, matching thigh-high socks, and boots that are slightly lighter in color. She also possesses a black and white helmet , visible during her character intro, with black ears like her masks and with "GRAND" written in glowing red text on the visor.
When she’s in " Weapons Free " mode, her hair grows in length and turns into glowing light blue and begins flowing and she grow a black, salamander-like tail with a yellow bow similar to her mother, Dizzy
She wields a blue and white weapon similar to Sol Badguy's Junkyard Dog, but contains a Thunderseal belonged to her timeline's Ky, which itself also serves as one of the foreshadowing that she is related to the Kiske-Bulsara family. She is able to use it both in melee and ranged combat thanks to it's ability to open up, revealing a rail gun. She can also change her weapon into a hovering motorcycle mode, sporting blue magical constructs that act as a propeller and pedals.
Personality[]
Initially, she had an enmity towards all Gears. Until a brief talk with Bridget along with remembering Sin's determination to prevent second Crusades; then when she found out that she herself is a Gear and had been used as a disposable tool by the Future Nerville the entire time, she is revealed to be naïve and gullible. Nevertheless, ever since learning her true heritage from her true family, then ultimately upon witnessing Bridget got out of commission after critically injured by Nerville, Unika seeks an atonement to make up her mistakes.
Story[]
Background[]
Unika originates from a future where an anti-Gear virus developed by Nerville Hammer that Dizzy had become infected with caused all Gears to go berserk, leading to a 'second Crusade'. She hatched from an egg that Dizzy laid before she died, and never knew her birth parents. Despite adopting her, Nerville never saw Unika as a person, and began to use her Gear cells to modify himself. At some point, Nerville and Unika found Axl Low after he had found himself in their future, and Nerville explained the state of their future to him before taking control of him and using his power to send Unika back in time. At some point after this, Nerville sent her to the present from this future, along with the virus, to meet with his present self and explain the circumstances of their future to him. Unika's knowledge of the future aided Nerville in obtaining immense wealth.
Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers[]
A girl of unknown origins who appears out of nowhere. She bears exceptional hostility towards Gears, and plots to destroy every last one of them.[2] At some point after December 2187,[note 1] Unika encounters Sin Kiske, who is on his way to his parents' wedding ceremony.[4]
Unika arrives at the wedding of Ky Kiske and Dizzy at Illyria Castle in an attempt to provoke Dizzy into a rampage. She is noticed by Johnny, who questions her presence. They briefly fight before Unika attacks Dizzy, who shields herself with magic, although significant damage is caused to the surrounding area. Unika then fights with Ky and briefly states her goal of destroying all Gears. She then attacks Dizzy again, severely angering Necro. In order to prevent Necro from causing significant destruction, Ky uses the Thunderseal to seal himself and Dizzy, causing an explosion. Sin Kiske, who had arrived earlier, and Johnny then attack Unika, but she flies away. She then states her motive and view on Gears in a broadcast.
Following this, Unika infiltrates a speech held at the site of a former anti-Gear weapon by President Vernon on peace following the Crusades and reiterates her views on Gears before revealing herself in full, causing the crowd to flee and the military forces present as security to begin shooting at her. Unika protects herself using a force field and disarms the soldiers, then pursues Vernon and disperses the security surrounding him before attacking Vernon and stealing the access key to the weapon, explaining that she intends to use it to aid in the eradication of all Gears. Before she can escape, she is confronted by Sol Badguy and Sin Kiske, and drops the access key, which is then retrieved by Sol and returned to Vernon. She then summons worm-like creatures to attack Sol and Sin, which they fight and destroy as she again attempts to flee. Sin then begins to pursue her and she fights him. During their fight, Unika and Sin experience a 'shared vision', after which the intensity of Unika's fighting increases. Baiken then appears to assist Sin, and Unika again flies away. Unika then confers with her father about the events, and reveals her possession of a newly created copy of the access key.
Using the copied access key, Unika activates the weapon, which fires a laser, destroying a bioweapons facility (which had been used to develop Nerville's anti-Gear virus) in which Elphelt Valentine was present, although Elphelt survives. She also declares a direct assault on Illyria. Unika then encounters Sin in an area that was devestated by the Crusades, where he attempts to dissuade her from her goal by explaining that he, as a Command-type Gear, could command all other Gears to stop them from fighting in the event of a war between Gears and humans. Upon hearing that Sin is a Gear, Unika attacks him, and they begin to fight. Their fight is interrupted by a group of aircraft firing at Unika, which she destroys, causing the aircraft to crash into the surrounding area. As she attacks an aircraft with lightning, Sin jumps in front of the lightning and is caught in the aircraft's gunfire before Unika destroys it. Unika then begins to attack Sin once more, and is tackled by him as he tries to reason with her. This causes Unika to experience a series of memories and attack Sin again, but Sol shoots her from a nearby window with a plastic bullet (which cannot be blocked by her 'electromagnetic barrier') fired from a gun. As she falls from the rooftop that she was standing on, Sin leaps after her, commanding the body of a nearby inactive Gear to catch her. As a crowd gathers around the two of them on the ground, soldiers arrive and begin to shoot at the crowd, but are intercepted separately by Baiken and Johnny.
Unika leaves the site of her and Sin's battle, then, as she staggers through an alleyway, she encounters Bridget, who recognises her from the previous incident at Vernon's speech. Bridget then takes Unika to a beach, where Unika, with her injuries bandaged, wakes up to Bridget repairing her jacket. That night, Unika looks at her copy of the access key and reflects on the previous events. The next morning, she sees Bridget bathing in the nearby body of water, and they discuss mistakes - Unika's throat 'feels tight' due to her previous failure, while Bridget tries to reassure her by explaining that one's actions following a mistake matter more than the mistake itself. Later, at night, Bridget tells Unika about her experiences with her identity.
Once she decides to talk to her father, Unika leaves the beach and arrives at Nerville's base of operations, where she asks if Illyria has to be destroyed for them to achieve their goal. Nerville replies that the threat to destroy Illyria was merely a distraction to 'buy time' for his actual goal. Sol and Sin then break in and begin to fight Nerville's guards. Jack-O', Johnny and Baiken also arrive shortly after to assist them. Sin and Unika then begin to fight, and Nerville attempts to shoot Sin with an accelerator for the virus, which Sol deflects. Despite the accelerator being deflected, the virus still affects Sin, as Nerville had infected him with it earlier, and he issues a command for all Gears to die. This affects Unika, leading her to learn from Nerville that she is a Gear. Sin then tells Unika not to die, and she, as another Command-type Gear, issues a command for all Gears to live. These conflicting commands cause the virus to go 'haywire', and all Gears begin to go berserk. As this occurs, Nerville's future counterpart arrives, absorbs his present self, and explains that all Gears going berserk was his goal, so that both Gears and humans can be eradicated for the world to be 'reborn'. The conflicting commands also affect both Sin and Unika, causing them to begin rampaging. Sin attacks Unika, then attacks the others.
After attacking Unika and the others, Sin begins to regain control of himself, and the formerly rampaging Gears around the world begin to deactivate. Sol then shoots Sin with a gun that had been made as a failsafe for Dizzy and, by extension, Sin, which eradicates the virus. Nerville attempts to kill Unika, but is intercepted by Sin before he becomes fully unconcious. Nerville then reveals his true form as an 'immortal' being and begins to create clones of himself. As they seemingly gain the upper hand over the Nerville clones, tentacles emerge from the sky, accompanied by Nerville's laughter, and more copies of Nerville drop from them as Unika regains conciousness.
As the Nerville copies drop from the tentacles, Jack-O' states that the tentacles are behind a multidimensional distortion barrier, preventing them from stopping the clones at their source. After Ramlethal and Elphelt attack the barrier with a laser, causing them to recede in order to regenerate, Sin, Sol, Jack-O', Baiken and Johnny then meet with Vernon to discuss the situation, while Unika is placed in a cell. Sin, after assissting with preparations to use the anti-Gear weapon to attack the barrier, visits Unika and attempts to talk to her, although he leaves shortly thereafter. Unika then sees Bridget, severely injured by a Nerville clone, being wheeled through a corridor on a stretcher. Motivated by this, Unika flies to the entity to which the tentacles belong and tells Vernon to fire the anti-Gear weapon at her so that she can amplify it to damage the barrier and buy everyone some time. While Unika manages to pierce the barrier, the tentacles grab her as she falls and drag her through the rift before closing it again to heal.
When Sin enters the core of the entity, he finds Unika, and begins to fight off the tentacles trapping her. The two of them both begin to charge attacks, which collide, creating a magic resonance and freeing her. When Sin shows her the electromagnetic wave tracker that he used to find her, Unika notices another electromagnetic wave, and they begin to travel towards its source. As they do this, two are attacked by more tentacles, which they fight off. Noticing their struggle, Dizzy commands all Gears to lend their strength to Unika and Sin, and others do the same. As this happens, a purple figure sends more tentacles to attack them, which they destroy. Unika and Sin then find themselves in an amorphous environment in which Nerville speaks to them, belittling their efforts and restating his view that he is the world's true savior. While sinking into sludge, they argue against this, stating that Nerville only sought power in response to his own loneliness. As Nerville begins to devour them, they join hands and fire a bullet infused with the anti-Gear virus at Nerville's body in the core of the entity, finally killing him, as well of all of the Nerville clones. As they fall to the surface, Dizzy uses magic to slow their descent, and they hug Ky and Dizzy after landing.
Following the incident, Unika, whose prior actions were considered 'offset' by her role in defeating Nerville, was placed under the protection of the government of the United States of America. Unika is also present at Ky and Dizzy's wedding. After the wedding, Sin and Unika briefly discuss the recent events, and Unika leaves to discover more about herself.
- Guilty Gear Strive
Currently under United States' jurisdiction since helping to defeat Nerville, Unika becomes a trainee to be presidential bodyguard under Giovanna's directions during her journey to redemption, thus unable to stay with her biological family just yet.
Music[]
- CARPE DIEM - Guilty Gear -Strive-
Quotes[]
Main Article: TBA
Allusions[]
- Her Overdrive Weapons Free may be to the song Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim.
- On her weapon, it says the word "Thunderstruck" which is the song from the Australian rock band "AC/DC" and The numbers and letters "AD/43" is also a homage to the band’s name
Trivia[]
- Posted on July 4, 2024, Unika's original website portrait had her wearing her distinctive goggles;[2] however, on July 21, to celebrate the reveal of her inclusion in Guilty Gear -Strive- as part of Season Pass 4, the image was immediately changed into an unmasked version.[5]
- Her entrance to the present-self in Episode 6 of Dual Rules is a reference to the Terminators from Terminator series.
Gallery[]
References[]
Notes[]
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Guilty Gear -Strive- Dual Rulers Episode 6
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 @GUILTYGEAR_STDR. (Jul 4, 2024). "UNIKA
A girl of unknown origins who appears out of nowhere. She bears exceptional hostility towards Gears, and plots to destroy every last one of them. What does she see...? #GGSTDR #GUILTYGEAR" - ↑ Guilty Gear -Strive- script § "Prologue"
- ↑ Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers Anime's Teaser Trailer Confirms Cast, 2025 Debut - News - Anime News Network
- ↑ @GUILTYGEAR_STDR. (Jul 21, 2024). "Following the announcement at #EVO2024 To commemorate Unika joins the roster of GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- SEASON4, we reveal Unmask visual of Unika. (...)"