What Got You Shipping Anbai? I’m New Here And They Seem Cute ^^ /gen

What got you shipping anbai? I’m new here and they seem cute ^^ /gen

Oh god-

where do I even begin....

TLDR/Short version of it: Friend talked about Guilty Gear, I found out about Baiken, watched Another Story and some arcade mode interactions and song breakdowns and read some comments and it got me wondering "what is going on with these two~", I go on ao3, there is a little over 20 fics. I got really frustrated, made content of them myself, fell further down the rabbit hole, now I'm here.

The long and very rambly version of why I ship them that you can read under the cut if you wanna ↓

Firstly, a few things that I really enjoy about them (to get this out of the way-) is that they contrast and compliment each other really, really well if you think about it. Which I have. A lot.

I know I've said some of these before but like; the Sun and Moon motifs and how it literally shows up in their Overdrives (and Anji's command...grab...thingy(? idk strive terminology) also has a moon briefly appear hmmmmmwhatsupwiththat-), the Butterfly and Flower symbolism associated with them respectively and how in a sense, one helps the other grow, the classic red oni blue oni dynamic, cat and dog, Anji's graceful elegance and calm demeanor to go with Baiken's rugged toughness and fiery temper, blah blah blah the list goes on you get the idea. They're opposites, but they match each other and balance each other out, like yin and yang.

There's also their (strive) songs! Rock Parade is...extremely obvious lmao. I know folks like to joke about it but, dude. Single footstep carries two hearts? The promise he made to her? (Whatever that was I wanna knOW-) It really does feel like more than just a song about a crush he has on her, this man is dedicated. And with Mirror of the World it basically encapsulates Baiken's whole journey, going from someone who's resigned herself to a life of revenge to ultimately breaking out of her self imposed "exile" in the end. Also the line "If I had a comrade, I wonder what I would tell them." and I'm over here yelling "YOU HAVE ONE! HE IS RIGHT THERE-" (I actually think the song is also about Delilah, but still kinda about him too, it's about both of them they're both the comrade how about that)

But to get to the heart of it all (and to also get extremely corny here), there's this sort of earnestness to their relationship that I really admire. Every now and then, there's a pairing that comes around and makes me go Ooga Booga for the better part of a year because it's just got a lot of good stuff to chew on. Angst? Drama? Some form of love that isn't just inherently romantic but something more? I'm eating it up and annoying my friends to death with it. And I think to me that really shows in their XX arcade mode endings, (BOTH of their "canon" ones btw THEY GET TWO ENDINGS TOGETHER) where Anji gives up what he was doing so he can follow Baiken and make sure she's actually living instead of just wandering by herself. This one thing he's been chasing for a while now, probably even his dream job of learning the secrets of the universe (or whatever Asuka was teaching him), and he just gives it up because he can't stand to see someone he loves dedicate her life to something that will inevitably destroy her in the end. "I don't want you to die." I think about this so often it's not even funny.

(And y'know, he also gives her the choice to just get rid of him if she doesn't want him around anymore, and idk about you, but I think that's very sexy of him and also very telling of her that she hasn't done it yet but moving on-)

Delilah ultimately ties it all together because at the end of Another Story, Baiken becomes to Delilah what Anji was to her all those years ago. A friend, a companion, someone to lean on. There's the line "She won't die well unless she finds a better way to live." before May mentions that's what Anji had said about her, and suddenly she gets it now. (I think) It's the final push that gets her to save Delilah from winding up in the same situation she's been stuck in for years and in the end, finally let go of her revenge.

No that does not have to be inherently romantic in the slightest, you can do whatever you want with that information or interpret it however you want and I encourage that, but also it's driving me insane whenever I think about it. He cares about her SO much, even if he has a weird way of showing it. I don't even think I can begin to do it justice trying to describe how it makes me feel but hopefully that can give you (and maybe some other folks who have made it this far hello) some insight into why I like this ship so much.

Also their strive in-game interactions are really flirty.