Street Fighter Alpha

What sets this film apart from others in the fighting-game-turned-anime genre us that the plot and character setup are especially important to the actual portrayal of the character. Don't expect to be able to jump into this film and like it, because you won't. If, however, you choose to watch it from the beginning and actually empathize with the characters, you will most likely enjoy yourself.

Street Fighter Alpha (the videogame) was the turning point of the street fighter universe because Ryu ceased to be the wandering, invincible (and emotionless) street fighter who is thrown into the plot by accident, and became the central character of the story, in a far more convincing fashion than Guile and Chun Li ever really managed in Street Fighter II. This movie is the expression of that story in film.

The fighting scenes are spectacular and the story well-paced, but in the end, if you're looking for the kind of popcorn-action flick that guys watch during frat parties, the original Street Fighter Animated Movie is much more your cup of tea (or beer). If, however, you're looking for a sensitive film which deals with the personal side of each of the characters involved, Alpha is much better.

Okay, granted, this animated film is based upon an arcade game. Not just an arcade game--an arcade *fighting* game. The requirements for a good arcade fighting game (especially back when Street Fighter set the standards) did not involve having a plot. If it played well and was fun, then you had a hit. It's a given that to make a film the creators are going to have to expand on the three sentences of backstory each character has, and the equally shallow endings they all have; sometimes even substancially change them . . . so why did they feel it necessary to invent a whole new villain with artificial fighters at his disposal? No.

Granted, I haven't played the original SF Alpha in ages, but I recall Bison (generally speaking) still being the villain in the Alpha/Zero series (yes, I know, not everyone fought Bison in the first one). I can understand them not wanting to introduce Bison in this film to preserve the storyline of the existing SF Anime, but you still have Sagat from SF1. Heck, this film even brings up Akuma (who would have made an excellent lead villain if given the spotlight) but he's not pursued. Instead we're stuck with a throwaway guy no one cares about who has no connection to the Street Fighter game universe. The only thing worse is they don't make much attempt to make him or his underlings as interesting as the "true" SF characters. He's just a cliche mad scientist. That's all.

Then the presence of annoying existing SF characters doesn't help either. I hated Sakura in the game; I hate her in the anime. Ryu's brother issue started out all right; however, it quickly dissolved into meaningless drivel as the "plot" involving the "villain" consumed him.

Much of Street Fighter Alpha/Zero's vast cast of characters is not utilized (understandably so considering the volume of faces they've developed over the years), but even the ones who are really don't do much but get beat up until Ryu overcomes his inner demons, discovers the true warrior spirit, yadda, yadda, yadda, and ultimately saves the day. Every Street Fighter player knows that Ken is just as bad as Ryu, if not he's even badder; they even fight to a standstill in this, and yet Ken can't put a dent in the android/robot/artificial guy/whatever he was supposed to be? No. If nothing else, Ken would be able to severly hurt the thing.

I liked the original anime and even the V series because in the end Ryu & Ken ultimately team up. One or the other (usually Ryu) has to get the final hit, but it takes both of them for a victory. Akuma would have given them both a run for their money with his raging demon; Street Fighter fans don't want the throw-away Sadler crap, we want the real deal--bring on Akuma.

This movie was not quite what I hope it to be. I mean, is good in terms of animation, script and voice acting, but lacks in story impact for the fans of the game (and we know that the real Street Fighter story would work better than this one, while this has at least some basis). In this movie, we know a young martial artist named Ryu. His sensei Gouken was killed some time ago by a man named Gouki (we, the game's fans, know that Gouki and Gouken were actually brothers, but this is not mentioned in the movie at all, maybe because is just not relevant). This Gouki uses the power of the Satsui no Hadou, wich is no other that the 'Evil Intent'. Ryu is feeling that power inside him, and try to find out how to defeat it. Just in this stage of his life, a kid shows up reclaiming being his young brother. This boy also has the power of Satsui no Hadou and manifests it. Things are not getting any good to Ryu. The script open many storyline gates, but the one that really matters is Ryu's internal fight, while not the character's life itself. So, when the movie ends, all other storylines remain opened, while only the important one closes. This is very risky for a script, but I think it works fine. I mean, in the real life at the end of one dilemma, other possible dilemmas might not get solved. This is what happens to Street Fighter Zero. However, some of this dilemmas actually needed to be solved, like Sakura's. For example, Chun Li has her own dilemmas, but she actually gets in Ryu's way, so to know some about her was obvious. But what impact had Sakura on Ryu's trial? None. It was, in fact, in the other way: Ryu has a strike on Sakura's trail. That would work for a Sakura movie, but not for a Ryu movie. I felt Sakura's incursion very rushed, like a fan service thing. However, in the whole, Street Fighter Zero is a good, but not excellent movie. It could be better, just that. And an advice: This movie is not for those who look for a lot of anime action. This is more like Ang Lee's Crouching Tigger, Hidden Dragon. It has some action, but the spirit lays in the inner fight.

Ok. Being an semi-anime fan for a few years, I once fell upon street fighter 2, as an animated movie it was pretty good. The drawing was top notch, and the plot made sense. Not to mention most of the fights were pretty well done. In this, street fighter zero(alpha?) I found it sucked. The drawing was nowhere near as good as SF2. The plot was crap, I mean, the kid shows up and this amazing hardcore die hard fighter dude just believes he's his little brother? What's with that? The whole dark ha-do(sorry, don't know how to spell) thing is kinda cool, but if this had been pursued as more of a sequal to SF2 using some continuity between them, not to mention better drawing in general, I would be more pleased. I can't say the movie didn't entertain me at all, I still like whatching people get beat up, but I think it lacks some of the more apealing features of most plain old let's kick some tail movies.

Street Fighter Alpha (1999) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows Ken and Ryu training one day when an orphan claiming to be Ken's brother arrives. The brother trains with Ken and Ryu and eventually they are attacked by a man who wants to steal Ryu's power and kidnaps his brother as a trap to get Ryu into his lair. Can Ken and Ryu save the brother and stop the tyrant?

This movie is directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi (Dragon Ball Z) and contains the voices of Kane Kosugi (DOA: Dead or Alive), Kazuya Ichijô (Cowboy Bebop), Ai Orikasa (Sakura Wars) and Bin Shimada (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind).

The animation in this is just okay and hasn't aged well. The characters are fun to see, especially Vega. The scene he arrives is very well done.

The every day environments the fighters reside in is very well delivered and interesting. There are some clever scenarios our heroes need to overcome, the wooden ghosts were very cool. The fight scenes are good and the final battle is unpredictable and entertaining.

Overall this is a slightly above average addition to the animated genre that is a must see for fans of the video game series. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.