Arc System Works warns of fake images, likely in response to Bridget related tweets that talk about the Guilty Gear character’s gender identity

Arc System Works has released a notice on its official Twitter account warning users about the spread of fabricated images that attempt to imitate an official response from its customer support team.

The company does not specifically mention the content of the fabricated images in question, simply stating, “ASW will not individually answer questions relating to content that is not published in-game or on our website.” This suggests that the fabricated images being spread are related to the company’s games.

This notice has received a great number of responses that talk about Bridget, a playable character in the Guilty Gear fighting game series. The recent addition of Bridget to Guilty Gear -Strive-, the latest game in the series, received great fanfare, and the character’s gender identity quickly became a hot topic (related article).   

Bridget is a character who was born a boy but raised as a girl. This is because Bridget’s parents wanted to hide the character’s gender due to the superstitions of their village. Bridget’s feminine looking design can likely be attributed to this backstory. The character became popular among fans, especially in Japan, as a so-called “otokonoko” (male with a feminine appearance).

In Guilty Gear -Strive-, Bridget’s appearance remains feminine despite now wearing more casual attire. The symbol on the character’s hat representing “male” has been changed to a symbol that closely resembles the one used for “transgender” or “androgynous.” Based on this change and some of the conversations that take place within the game, fans began to wonder whether Bridget was now transgender.

There has not been any official declaration made about whether this is indeed the case or if the character remains a male with a feminine appearance (otokonoko). Still, a number of fans have expressed critical opinions about the latest development of the beloved character.

In the midst of this internet debate, an image of what appears to be response email from Arc System Works’ customer support began being circulated. The email touches on the interpretation of the events that take place during Bridget’s story in Guilty Gear -Strive- and provides a clear and definite answer to the question surrounding the character’s gender. The content of this email was translated into English by fans and the information spread on social media.

While Arc System Works did not specifically mention that the notice it released was in relation to this image about Bridget, based on the wording “content that is not published in-game or on our website,” there’s a very high possibility that this is the case. If you happen to come across an image like this, then it is probably best to view it with an ample amount of doubt.

Written by. Marco Farinaccia based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-08-26 21:22 JST)