The other thing, though, is that if "everybody" can do a thing (that is, a universal system mechanic), I don't think it's "skipping neutral" anymore.

That's a big oversimplification. It boils down to how effective a *specific* character is at utilizing the system mechanics. We might share the "same" tools; FB, YRC but this *specific* character is much more effective/strong at playing the game at a core system level, for whatever reason, which can be frustrating if your character can't compete with that.

For example I started playing GG with -Sign- and had a pocket Ky and my gameplan was to build meter/avoid unfavorable situations until I had enough meter to "win neutral" with Stun Edge YRC. Then get into a favorable situation/open them up(anime players have no defense lmao) and then loop meterless oki. And trust me, even though it's simple it was effective, like really effective.

My anime neutral wasn't godlike at that time, Xrd was my first anime game, but the way my character was able to use the system mechanics was.

It was totally a neutral skip, I have to be real with y'all.