Bridget

is a fictional character in Arc System Works's Guilty Gear video game series. Bridget first appeared in the 2002 video game Guilty Gear X2. In the series, Bridget was born male with a twin brother in a village where the birth of same-sex twins is considered bad luck; therefore, Bridget's parents named and raised Bridget as a girl to hide her cisgender identity, despite how much it pained them. In her youth, Bridget recognized their pain and set out to be a man and gain great wealth in order to disprove the superstition and to make her parents happy. After disproving the superstition, Bridget found that being a man did not make her happy, and realized that her true self was her desire to live as a woman in accordance to her gender identity. Bridget was created as "a cute character" by Daisuke Ishiwatari, who wanted to vary the cast of Guilty Gear X2, where she was presented as a cross-dressing but self-identifying boy. Due to the character's appearance, Bridget was initially described as female by video game press. When they became aware of her biological sex, reviewers included Bridget on lists of best androgynous and cross-dressing characters, and debated her sexual orientation. Bridget has become a popular character among gamers, and critics have described her as "a memorable character" in the series. Critics praised her appearance in Guilty Gear Strive in which she affirmed her identity as a trans woman. Concept and design Bridget was created by Guilty Gear Daisuke Ishiwatari, wanting to create a "cute character," initially presenting her as a crossdressing boy, a detail that was kept secret to most staff members. Ishiwatari "wanted something unconventional" to differentiate Bridget from other fighting games' cute characters; he and staff members decided it "would be interesting to make the character a guy." The idea of making a character who wields a yo-yo came about when Ishiwatari was told that he should make a character based on an acquaintance of his, who was an experienced yo-yoer. Ishiwatari also said that Bridget was a difficult character to animate; she "has double the frames of animation" due to her yo-yo's movements. He spent "a very long, very frustrating time trying to get the animation to work", rejecting many versions before studio staff made Bridget "look natural".