Street Fighter II: V

I bought all 4 of DVDs of this show some time ago and only started to watch them now. I liked the Street Fighter II animated movie but I was put off watching this one as I wasn't too keen on Street Fighter Zero, even if this series is directed by Gisaburo Sugii who did Street Fighter II (as well as the brilliant Night on the Galactic Railroad). How is that for confusing?

What makes this better than the rather dour Street Fighter Zero is that it has a pretty good sense of humor, great fight scenes, interesting plots and the occasional moment of cartoonish goofiness. Each episode is made up of a brand new adventure as Ken and Ryu travel the world, getting into mischief. A simple formula, but it works.

Since the show is from the mid-nineties the animation isn't as smooth as more recent stuff, but you shouldn't let that ruin your enjoyment. The only thing I can complain about is the opening credit sequence, which just takes too long.

"Street Fighter II: V" is cool. It's been a while (since about 1994) from when I last played the video games but this animated series, done in true Japanese Anime' style, remains tasteful and respectful to the source material. But still, obviously it was meant to cash in on the "Street Fighter" craze of the early '90s. Ken and Ryu are two fighters who have trained together since childhood and embark on a worldwide odyssey to learn the secrets to fighting. They encounter many friends and enemies (including Chinese babe Chun-Li and American military hard-a** Guile) and run afoul of martial arts-trained nasties including ruthless dictator M. Bison. The "Street Fighter" movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme wasn't cool, but this piece of animation takes the cake. It's just too cool.

As part of the endless Street Fighter craze in the early to mid 90's, two Street Fighter TV shows were made. One was an American GI Joe knockoff, and the other was II V, a prequel to the Street Fighter II game. Let's compare the two, shall we?

II V is about the main characters of the game, Ryu and Ken, barely out of their teens as they travel the world in a quest to improve their martial art skills, meeting new foes and friends along the way (most game characters of course). No top secret crime fighting organization (US cartoon) or country invasion that has nothing to do with street fighting (US movie), the show actually sticks to the premise of the title, street fighting!

The show does deviate in character designs for a bit, but most are recognizable. Fighting babe Chun-Li looks a bit different from her video game incarnation, but she's still immediately recognizable.

The show is reasonably well animated, not as good as the SF II anime movie (although that's expected considering the budget) but far superior to its American animated counterpart.

And of course, how can you not like a show that ends its previews with "Gonna burn some muscle!" You can't. Unless you're a soulless critic (oh wait...) So if you like fighting anime and don't mind some deviations from the plot in your instruction manual, do yourself a favor and hunt down the DVD's, or wait till it airs on WAM! or Encore Action. You won't be disappointed.

Ryu has no bandana in his head, some characters don't appear at all, Sagat is Ryu's fried, Dhalsim is not a fighter, Chun Li is a 15 year-old girl and his father, being alive, is Fei Long's sifu. In abstract, this japanese series is not even faithful to the original plot of the game. If you're a Street Fighter fan you might say "Then this series sucks!". That affirmation is far to long from reality -and I myself am a Street Fighter fan. Street Fighter II V is probably one of the greatest stories in whole anime, and one of the the best martial arts plots ever. We're before a very realistic story, narrated in the very realistic way possible for a 90's anime (except for a chapter or two). No one here has special powers or unreal moves. They're just martial artists, as real as Jackie Chan or Jet Li can be (without special effects). And when the 'hadouken' makes its presence, is not in a fantastic way, but a real one. Not just a power up like a Kamehame (Dragon Ball) that you can do like you walk of talk. Is based on a real work of investigation from the production team. In this series, you get to know Bodi Darma, the spiritual basis of martial arts, an the principles of Kundalini. Also, you get to know some places in the world, being as faithful as they can be in anime. From USA to Hong Kong, to India and Spain. The character's are for real too, not too cartoonish (for their personalities). Ken, being rich, changes his cloths almost every day, while Ryu has only 3 shirts and 2 pants (count if you don't believe me); and a pair of "Jordan" shoes that Ken gave him. Bison is not just "the bad guy". He has some napoleonic spirit in him, and the power he has is no different from the one Ryu and Ken have (in the game, every character's power is 'different' or with different origins. In the real world that can't be true). I can say, with no regrets, that the all Street Fighter things out there (games, movies, comics), this was the one I enjoyed more. And the one with most value. Totally recommended!

That's basically the only flaw of this anime series, the plot is fairly slow to develop, I guess by choice, since it's a series made of several episodes, but aside from that, it's a great view. Very nice artwork, and cool fighting scenes.