Street Fighter II: V

I've purchased every one of the videos for this series, and am thoroughly impressed. I saw the animated movie first, and thought I'd check the show out too, and found that the show is much better. Some of the best fighting animation I've seen with the exception of Voltage Fighters.

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.

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.

I haven't seen such a good anime (except for Rurouni Kenshin, that is as good as SF II V). First of all... The music, what a great music! very appropiate in every scene. Is a shame that Manga Entertainment replaced the intro video (and also the intro music) for the US market; the Japanese intro is very similar, but the music is very pretty and smooth (the music is the one placed at the end during the "NEXT EPISODE" summary, but they have supressed the lyrics of the song in the US), But the US music is also great.

Great action scenes, and a very attractive plot after the fifth episode.

I allow myself to say, that this is the greatest action anime ever. If you saw Saint Seiya or Dragon Ball, and you are looking for something different, you should see Street Fighter II V.

Also is shame that this series is too short, i have seen it twice, and i still want to see more... (I could also watch it four times more and still not get bored).

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!