Street Fighter Alpha (1999)

A dark power threatens to consume famed fighter Ryu, who is visited by a long-lost little brother. Meanwhile, a mad scientist wishes to harness this power for himself.

Directors:

Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Masahiro Hosoda

Writers:

Takashi Nishiyama (original story) (as Capcom), Hiroshi Matsumoto (original story) (as Capcom)

Stars:

Kane Kosugi, Kazuya Ichijô, Yumi Tôma

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kane Kosugi	...	Ryû (voice)
Kazuya Ichijô	...	Ken Masters (voice)
Yumi Tôma	...	Chun-Li (voice)
Tomomichi Nishimura	...	Gouki (voice)
Ai Orikasa	...	Rose (voice)
Chiaki Ôsawa	...	Sakura Kasugano (voice)
Reiko Kiuchi	...	Shun (voice)
Bin Shimada	...	Wallace (voice)
Miki Nagasawa	...	Kei Chitose (voice)
Ken Yamaguchi	...	Gôken (voice)
Daiki Nakamura	...	Professor Sadler (voice)
Hisao Egawa	...	Rosanov (voice)
Kazuyuki Ishikawa	...	Balrog Fabio La Cerda / Dan Hibiki (voice)
Hidenari Ugaki	...	Zangief (voice)
Kokoro Shindô	...	Kid (voice)

Storyline

Shadoloo's leader, Vega (Bison in the English version), sponsors an unpublicized fighting tournament. Shotokan devotees Ryu and Ken revive their rivalry, while foolish former-Shotokan student Dan seeks revenge on Sagat, the man that killed his father. US Army Colonels Guile and Nash (AKA Charlie) attempt to stop Vega's ways, alongside countless other fighters fighting for their personal reasons. Did Ryu find the ultimate challenge? What happened to Nash? And what is the story behind the evil entity known as Gouki (Akuma in the English version)...?

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Plot Keywords:

long lost brother | school girl | flashback | computer | detective | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

This animated movie is based on a CP System-II game called Street Fighter Alpha 2 (also known as Street Fighter Zero 2 in Japan, Asia, South America and Australia) The street fighters that have appeared in this animated movie are: Ryu, Ken Masters, Chun Li, Sakura Kasugano, Rose, Zangief, Akuma, Dan Hibiki, Birdie, Adon, Dhalsim, Guy, Sodom and Rolento F. Schugurg. The street fighters that are absent are: Charlie Nash, Master Bison, Sagat (only mentioned twice) and Gen. The street fighters that made cameo appearances are: Vega (from Street Fighter II: The World Warrior) and Ibuki (from Street Fighter III: New Generation). The street fighters exclusive to this movie are Wallace, Shun, Rosanov/S.A.D.L.E.R.B.O.T. and Sadler.

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Goofs

Ryu's eyes change from light gray to brown and back in several scenes.

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Quotes

Gouki: Where I walk, I walk alone. Where I fight, I fight alone.

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Connections

Follows Future Cops (1993)

User Reviews

A step backwards, in more ways than one

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Street Fighter game franchise, Group TAC released "Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation" five years after the highly fan acclaimed "Street Fighter II: The Animated movie". Many reviews have criticized this movie based on what the reviewer thought SHOULD be in the movie. Some wanted a direct adaptation of the Street fighter Alpha game storyline, other reviewers dissed the show just because some characters were not featured. This will be a true review of the movie itself, not of what i expected to be in the movie.

True to its title, Street Fighter Alpha borrows the characters, setting and the "look" of the SF Alpha series while crafting a new story separate from the games.The focus is squarely on Ryu, a martial artists haunted by the death of his master and the presence of a dark power lurking within him. As the story begins, Ryu meets up with Ken to pay respects to their deceased master, but Ryu is having trouble controlling this dark power called the "Dark Hadou" and keeps having strange visions. They encounter a boy called Shun who claims to be Ryu's long lost brother. At first skeptical, Ryu soon embraces Shun as family and trains together with the boy, who also displays formidable fighting skills. Word of a new Street fighter Tournament reaches Ryu and Ken and they intend to sign up. But little do they know that the tournament is a front for an evil scheme concocted by Dr Sadler, a top scientist for the Shadowlaw organization.

Kudos to Group TAC for trying to make a more coherent narrative with a proper emotional center. While the previous Street Fighter II The Animated movie was a stylish gritty martial arts movie, SF Alpha plays out more like a character Drama about Ryu. While we do get some insight into Ryu's inner emotional turmoil, it really is nothing original. Ryu struggling with control over the dark hadou seems ripped straight from Star Wars' Luke Skywalker and his struggle with the Dark side of the force. Also, thanks to the strict focus on Ryu, the other iconic characters are at best reduced to mere stock characters with little to no development, or just cameo appearances that add nothing to the plot. Little side stories about Sakura's obsessive tailing of Ryu and Chun Li's Shadowlaw investigation are more an easter egg treat for long time fans than newcomers.

The biggest fault of Street fighter alpha: The Animation, is the animation itself which is merely on par with a typical anime TV series of that time. If one were to expect the gritty brutality and fluid choreography of Street fighter II: The Animated movie, one would be sorely disappointed. Street Fighter Alpha's fight scenes play out like something worse than Dragonball. Fighters flying and hovering through the air constantly was probably a way to cut costs by not animating the characters running, but for some reason all the fights seem to be done in slow motion. If it was intentional, it is a poor directing choice as it quite honestly makes every single bout a total bore. If not intentional, then it was a result of cutting corners again in the animation.

Artwork is also a hit and miss. While the art does a great job of replicating the designs used in the game, the characters go off-model quite often. The best example is Chun Li's eyes which keeps changing size and even shape in different scenes. The art constantly shifts from a dark and highly detailed style to a bright flat cartoony look, sometimes in stark contrast to the scene being presented, giving the entire production a very inconsistent feel.

It is a huge pity Street fighter Alpha: The Animation turned out the way it did. There were a couple of great ideas and a lot of room for a deeper story. Too bad all that potential got totally wasted on typical anime story clichés including an uber-powered robot and landscape-destroying fireballs. Like Akuma said, "a true warrior enters the arena with ALL his powers at the ready". Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation not only fails to bring all that its got to bear, but it figuratively pulls its punches and ends up with a mediocre final product. More effort seemed to be spent trying to cut corners in everything rather than going all out to deliver an experience as awesome as its predecessor or the games that inspired it.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

30 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Street Fighter Alpha

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color