Studio Musician | Guilty Gear Strive OST: A.B.A Theme Reaction & Analysis

I think the reason she might not have gotten as requested is that it was just assumed you would see it at this point lol.

Ah, another song to listen to on repeat until my ears get entirely used to it

"And with the wisdom of the gods, he wrote "Blah Blah Blah" and told his band to sing it." LOL

I RAN SO FAST WHEN I SAW THE NOTIF

I love that you actually went to the effort of trying to understand the lyrics. Every other reaction channel I've seen cover this song just hyper focused on crazy complexity of the beat and changing genres, with no real focus on what it represented.

BEWARE the Outro in this vid is LOUD AF, so if you get there lower the volume or run, sorry for that 😅

This almost instantly became one of my top 5 Guilty Gear songs, Daisuke just can't seem to miss. And fun fact: the organ bit is a reference to her theme from Guilty Gear Accent Core +R, called Keep in Gates. That song had a very similar chord progression played on that same organ tone in the same rhythm

Considering how much Guilty gear references real music, not surprising if it was an actual pink floyd homage. That said, the message of ABA being an outcast is very on point in canon and in a meta sence. As far as the story goes, ABA's a homonculus who grew up in insolation, not being able to understand life for years, until she ends up finding that giant key (whos actually a talking demon axe) and falling in love with it as its a symbol of her key to freedom. As of strive she's kind just existing, but still trying to get used to a normal life, or even understand her own idea of love. In a more meta sence, ABA is technically a character that was created by a different writer for a side game, and got super popular that they added her to a main fighting game once and never really went back to adressing her again. Even as far as Guilty Gear goes, shes quite literally an outcast that never really maters in the story, but shes here. A quirky note in a symphony of characters

IM NOT HERE TO FIT IN THIS WORLD I JUST WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

I am 100% getting "I'm not here to fit in this world, I just want to make a difference." Tattooed on me at some point.

Im going to be the lore guy this time I guess! A.B.A is a homonculus an artificial human made by a doctor who was stolen from his lab before he could see her finished. A.B.A lived by herself for more than a decade before finding a way to escape the Lab. She found the Key she’s holding a living weapon who she named Paracelsus based off of the doctor who made her and fell in love with it. The relationship between her and the Key was pretty toxic in the last game she was in, with her forcing him to stay with her and him using her feelings to fight more as he craves violence. But in the new game after A.B.A realized that they were toxic wanted to break up. Paracelsus says that even if they were toxic in the past they’ve both grown and he wishes to stay with her and work it out and then turns blue instead of yellow to reflect her favorite color. My thoughts on the song is how she’s been alone most of her life and doesn’t understand society but after the beautiful organ section the lyrics change to say we are quirky notes in a symphony, implying that she can be happy with just her and Paracelsus. It’s kinda beautiful especially after her story of communication to fix a toxic relationship.

I knew you were going to love this theme, happy to see your reaction. As for what's left of GG Strive we have 1 more dlc character coming this season. A season 4 was announced as well but it hasn't been specified how many more characters are going to be in it.

My personal view on the song is that its an allegory for adult autism. It talks a lot about the complexity of fitting in and understanding others, comparing life to a maze woven with words. It says bothersome, sometimes its kindness, which in a way represents the efforts of autistic individuals to be kind to others but in ways that may be difficult for neurotypical people to understand or cope with. Then with the quirky note of course, its very much as interpreted. Individuals who wish to be a part of the symphony yet cant fit in entirely; in spite of this though they still add a flavour to it that if missing only dulls to piece. Normal or not, no big deal.

I really like the comparison to The Wall, never could have come to that conclusion myself but it totally works.

the real reason not that many people requested this is because all of the people that usually request were busy playing A.B.A or jamming to the song themselves.

I've been listening to this non-stop since it dropped, A.B.A totally deserves this banger

It's barely been out for a week, and Symphony is already top 5 songs in Strive imo. I can't put is above Drift, Necessary Discrepancy, Extras, or The Gravity just yet, but who knows. If I've learned anything, it's that Guilty Gear songs only get better with time, so its position could very realistically get even higher.

Every couple of listens of this song I do I end up tearing up at the final couple sections, these are some of my favorite lyrics in a GG song. Also yeah the reason you probably didn't get many requests this time is cuz everyone figured you'd do it regardless lol. But everybody I know in this fandom is loving A.B.A and her theme. Also just so you know her name is pronounced "Ahbah" and her name is partially a reference to the band ABBA, and also likely a partial reference to blood types, since in the old Guilty Gear games her gimmick involved blood packs. She's a humonculus and the giant key-like axe she carries around is her "husband", altho he was originally never really into it. His name was originakly Flament Nagel but she renamed him to Paracelsus, after the alchemist who made her, so now everyone calls the axe Paracelsus. During the war between humans and Gears he was passed around alot between users because wielding him would cause him to basically take over the wielder and put them into a bloodthirsty, life risking berserker rage that usually killed them from the strain, all for the purpose of finding the axe blood to feed on. A.B.A found him in her creators abandoned lab and it turns out her artificial biology grants her a resistance to the effects wielding him imparts, making them a pretty fearsome pair. Originally she wanted to make Paracelsus a human body (despite him being perfectly content with himself) but it seems like she eventually dropped that whole thing while off screen. She's been gone from the series for over a decade, she completely skipped Xrd and even in XX and Isuka her story was very isolated from the rest of the lore. In Strive after some battles and conversations with Testament and Elphelt A.B.A finally admitted that her extreme jealousy towards anyone who takes interest in Paracelsus isn't healthy for either of them, and Paracelsus apologizes for using her for his bloodthirst in the past, and they agree to do better by eachother no matter how hard or impossible it might be, because by this point neither of them can bear to be apart from eachother.

To answer some of your questions at the end and also add some things. First off, A.B.A is pronounced like ABBA (in reference to them, of course) instead of the spelling out of the individual letters. But, as for the question about upcoming themes, there is still one more character slated to release for Season 3 come likely end of May. With a Season 4 confirmed as well. So there should be least 4 more themes made a year from now. So no, Guilty Gear Strive themes are certainly not done and I'm here for all of them :) Also, I think overall the community's opinion of the song has been pretty positive and Symphony is well liked. I consider it a solid A if I were to place it in my personal tier list.

your comment on The Wall is really interesting when considering the opening line that states different traditional Greek virtues ("Wisdom, Patience, Empathy, Kindness, Serenity, Clarity"), which was the form of 'Education' for its own time. The link may be deeper than rhythm and arrangement.