Arc System Works really knows how to make a competent anime fighter, but Guilty Gear especially just has some great setplay and okizeme (for those who don't play fighters, basically setting up attacks after knocking down your opponent) as well as interesting neutral game that's very unique. Most of the characters are really fun to play, with particular setplay dynamics ranging from Venom's pool ball setups to Kum's moving ball setup to Millia's loops. Roman cancels are also still in and while they aren't perfect (YRC slowing down time is shit) they add another dimension to meter management and decisionmaking that's just incredibly deep and fun to play around with.

The music is also great, giving a huge metal power to each character with their themes and just being kickass to listen to while fighting. And even if you don't approve of the new soundtrack, you can queue up tracks of old like Guilty Gear XX's. The character designs are anime as hell and they're great as well, it is an aesthetic feat to watch even if you can't get into the base gameplay.

The only real issues are more personal, as in setplay is cool for a solid 20-30 hours and then not so cool when that's all neutral becomes at times. Also the netcode is some real trash to work with, and Danger Time is still a terrible mechanic. It's a great fighting game and I highly recommend trying it even if you're not a big fan of anime fighters. (8/10)