Answer
I am driven by my guilty conscience.
― Character trailer
Answer is a character in the Guilty Gear series. He is described as "The Business Ninja" , "Chief of Staff", and even as the "Human Database". He acts as Chipp Zanuff's Chief of Staff and personal assistant.
Design
Answer is depicted as a tall, slender, but muscular man with long blond hair tied into a large fluffy ponytail. He has a middle part, with the left side of his bangs being longer than the right, and a few small tufts of hair sticking out outside of his ponytail. He has blue-green eyes with long thick eyelashes. He wears grey browline glasses with three lenses in the shape of a triangle, with one lens covering his forehead. The third lens has a small shuriken symbol on it with some illegible writing etched underneath. He wears a black business suit with a large shuriken symbol on the back. The suit jacket has 3 vents and wide black and white lapels. It has large bronze buttons on each of the lapels, 4 on the abdomen, and 2 on each sleeve. A skin-tight red shirt underneath his suit jacket is connected to a mask that covers his lower face up to the bridge of his nose and the bottoms of his ears. He has a white tie, brown fingerless gloves, black pants with a brown belt, and brown shoes with black laces. He has holders for his business cards attached to shoulder straps, which are connected by another strap across his back that has a long red scarf tied onto it.
Printed on his business cards are his name, signature, and photo, a logo consisting of 2 rows of 3 gold shuriken symbols with "Eastern Chipp Kingdom" written underneath, and some other mostly illegible text, including what appear to be phone and fax numbers. He carries a padfolio with a shuriken shaped clasp on it, which he uses to block attacks. He is often seen speaking into a magic headset even while fighting.
In his victory screen, Answer removes his suit jacket to reveal a white button-down shirt over top of his red shirt. It has a front pocket and small shuriken-shaped cufflinks, collar buttons, and tie bar. Answer can be seen unmasked in game, but his face does not have any outstanding features that are not visible through his mask.
In Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- Answer had a smaller build, and had darker blond messy hair tied into a loose shoulder-length ponytail. His suit jacket was shorter and had silver buttons that were round on top instead of flat, with 6 buttons on the abdomen and 3 small buttons on each of the shoulders. His mask-shirt was not as tight on his face. His gloves were black and his tie had a light grey shuriken symbol on it. His glasses had two lines of text on the forehead lens instead of one.
In Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-, Answer had his hair tied back into a short spiky ponytail with longer, more symmetrical bangs that covered more of his face. His mask-shirt became tighter, with the outline of his mouth clearly visible through it. He was shown to have larger shoes with no laces.
Personality
He is shown to be straightforward and rational, maintaining a strict and consistent work ethic. He is presented as a professional and anxious man when speaking of government affairs, but defaults to frustration at Chipp's lack of participation in getting the Eastern Kingdom of Chipp recognized as a legitimate nation by other governments. He can also be sardonic and cynical, showing doubt towards Chipp's intuition, and in the past criticized Chipp for his bright ideals. However, he respects and is fiercely loyal to Chipp, expressing genuine anger when Bedman nearly killed him, promising that he would find him and personally take his life if Chipp had died.
Story
Background
Adjutant to self-proclaimed President Chipp Zanuff. He is blessed with a preternatural memory, and can remember any facts after hearing them once. Some refer to him as a "Human Database". When Answer first met Chipp in the slum lands of South Africa, where Chipp was trying to establish his new nation, he was poor and fell into a crowd with the local criminals and gangsters. He found Chipp's incessant preaching irritating and challenged him to a duel—which he lost spectacularly. Following the one-sided match, Answer eventually fell under the sway of Chipp's charisma. He has since put his memory to good use in Chipp's service, and has sworn to put Chipp in office.
Guilty Gear Xrd
He is seen once in the episode mode of Chipp Zanuff, where he tries to get Chipp to stay and do work to get the country recognized. Answer makes another appearance when Chipp contacts him and asks to look for any available information on Bedman during his encounter with the hitman.
He is seen on a magic headset apologizing in advance to an unknown party about an anticipated intervention from Chipp. He eventually comes to the Japanese colony and fights alongside Baiken and May to repel Phalanx Nine.
In his episode mode in REV 2 before the great battle, Answer dealt with the continuous calls while gathering information about the "Universal Will" and the piecing up the theories about the Conclave's involvement to a far greater plot. He arrives to the Colony as a diplomat, though he had a hard time reasoning with Baiken. He shows her some of the paper reports and the colony being likely the battlefield.
Guilty Gear -Strive-
Answer is seen in the epilogue helping Chipp with some presidential business.
Music
- Enough is Enough - Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2
Quotes
Allusions
- His name could be an allusion to Northern Irish hard rock and blues-rock band The Answer.
- His character theme is most likely an allusion to American hair metal band Enuff Z'nuff, the band that provides Chipp with his last name.
- One of Answer's Overdrives, Deadstock Ninpou: Baramaki (Deadstock Ninja Art: Brah Strewer) is a reference to the Vedic Sanskrit term, "Brahman", which is known as the ultimate reality in the universe via the highest possible principle in religion, and also means the highest ranking priest of Hindu priesthood. The name of the Overdrive uses a portion of the Japanese name of brahman, which is "baramon" (lit. "wet nurse gauze gate").
- Answer's ability to summon giant frogs and serpents with his ninjutsu is a popular ninja trope in Japanese media stemming from the Yomihon [[wikipedia:Jiraiya#Classic tale – Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari|Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari].
Trivia
- Answer's brand of ninjutsu was taught to him by Chipp, who stated that he does not use this particular style often. The one move he shares with Chipp is Resshou.
- A vast majority of Answer's Special Moves are homophone/pun-based names of common ninja themes or business terms, rendered with different kanji;
- Business Ninpo: Caltrops - "Makibishi" (撒火紙, Makibi Shi?) meaning "Handing out Fire Paper", instead of "Caltrops" (撒菱?).
- Business Ninpo: Under the Bus - "Hakensha-in" (覇権射忍, Haken Sha Nin?) meaning "Hegemon's Sneak Shot", instead of "a temporary worker" (派遣社員?)
- Savvy Ninpo: Request for Approval - "Ringisho" (麟技の書, Ringi no Sho?) meaning "Shining Art of Calligraphy", instead of "a document needing approval" (稟議書?).
- Savvy Ninpo: Seal of Approval - "Hanko" (凡虚, Han Ko?) meaning "Common Emptiness", instead of a "seal, stamp/chop" (判子?).
- Savvy Ninpo: Down the Ladder - "Amakuderi" (雨降り?) meaning "Rainfall", instead of "high-ranking staff stepping down" (天下り?).
- Savvy Ninpo: Stepping Down - "Shikkyaku" (疾脚?) meaning "Quick Legs", instead of "getting overthrown" (失脚?).
- Savvy Ninpo: Into my Office - "Katatataki" (迦汰蛇滝, Ka Ta Da Taki?) meaning "Weeding Out the Heavy Drinkers", instead of "pressuring someone to resign" (肩たたき?).
- Savvy Ninpo: Safety Net - "Musasabi" (武者鎖火, Musha Sabi?) meaning "Martial Body Chain Fire" instead of "flying squirrel" (ムササビ?).
- Savvy Ninpo: Tax Write-off - "Keihideotosu" (螢灯落とし, Keihi Otoshi?) meaning "Firefly Lantern Drop" instead of "tax write-off" (経費で落とす?).
- Dead Stock Ninpo: Firesale - "Baramaki" (婆羅撒, Bara Maki?) meaning "Brahman Strewing" instead of "fire sale, giveaway" (散播き?).
- Business Ultimate Ninpo: All Hands - "Jinkaisenjutsu" (塵芥旋術, Jinkai Senjutsu?) meaning "Trash-Turning Technique" instead of "all hands on deck/human wave attack" (人海戦術?).
- Savvy Ninpo: Tax Write-off also pays homage to the Izuna Drop, a classic throw used by Vega from Street Fighter.
- Savvy Ninpo: Data Logging likely pays homage to Hanzo Hattori from Samurai Shodown, having both the Japanese name "Utsusemi" (空蝉, Utsusemi?), and both being substitution-based ninjutsu.
- Answer's signature above his printed name on his business card is written in such a way that it can be read as his name in both English letters and Japanese hiragana.
- Answer never removes his mask himself, even in cases where it would appear necessary, such as breathing through a hollow reed while underwater in his intro and biting his finger hard enough to draw blood in his instant kill. However, his mask does occasionally briefly come down in game when he gets hit.
- Despite his frog seemingly disliking the taste of humans and spitting them out after eating them during one of his round win animations, it has Answer in its mouth during his jumping Dust attack.
- Unlike Chipp's clones in Strive being identical to him, Answer's clones do not have his scarf.
- For his Deadstock Ninpo: Firesale overdrive, Answer throws his phone up into the air and it can actually hurt the opponent.
- In his victory screen, the white shirt and tie bar Answer is wearing suddenly appear on him, as they would be visible even with his suit jacket on if he had been wearing them the whole time. His jacket also loses the card holders when he removes it, and his scarf is still stuck onto the back of his white shirt, on the middle of his upper back despite not being tied to anything. His scarf then just disappears entirely on his win quote screen.
- Answer breaks the fourth wall during his instant kill; for a split second while riding the snake, he looks directly at the viewer and flashes a two-finger V / peace sign.
- If all Revelator and Rev 2 scenes that Answer appears in are viewed in chronological order, he changes back and forth between all 3 of his Xrd designs within the same day.
- Answer has made a guest appearance in the game #COMPASS and Code Shifter.
Gallery
External links
- GGXRD-R2/Answer at Dustloop Wiki
References