I think the saving grace for Street Fighter II The Animated Movie is that, at that time, the story was good enough, it was flashy and the animation was gorgeous; besides, we didn't have much to compare it when it comes to videogame adaptations, so it was pretty easy to overlook its flaws.
Omg I love this movie, back in the 90s my parents let me rent this out on VHS. This movie was way to mature for me and blew my tiny mind, I loved it and is one of the reasons I still love this style of Anime the most.
It might not have been the strongest story, but it's Street Fighter 2. I don't think anyone was rushing to watch the VGM equivalent of Gone with the Wind or Children of a Lesser God. We (or at least I) wanted some really great fight scenes, good animation, and something to link them together. Also a decent soundtrack. We got it, and I loved it. Even today, I still bust out my copy from time to time.
Kudos to the animation team for dedicating the time and energy in their incredibly tight production schedule to bless us with an extended meticulously animated sequence of the patron saint of muscle mommies everywhere, Chun Li taking a shower. Truly, they understood the assignment 😌
I think in some ways it can seem a bit more faithful to the game's story than it actually is, simply by virtue of the fact that a lot of the liberties taken by the anime, ended up being incorporated into the games lore afterwords
The movie shows these characters sort of going about their daily lives for brief moments, or trying to be sneaky and stealthy, and, no matter what, they are still wearing their getups.
In the end who cares that the story plays second fiddle to the awesome fighting choreography and beautiful animation. It is pure Street Fighter through and through. When it comes to getting the pure essence of the arcade masterpiece condensed down into a theatrical anime, and given the timeframe at hand, you couldnt ask for anything better.
I was satisfied with the story in this, considering back when this came out, almost all video game or comic movies in the 90's were lacking one way or another. This movie by comparison was more in line with my expectations, and for that reason I'm happy with what we got 😎
I thought the story was great as a kid when it came out and even now as I'm older. It really captured the essence of the game for me. I begged my parents to buy me this movie on VHS after my cousin rented it one time at Blockbuster and would watch it multiple times a month for years. I think that if they tried to tie in all the characters any more in to the main storyline, it would have become a jumbled mess. Sometimes less is more and a simple, fun movie is better than a complicated movie.
Fantastic work, as always. Next to Sonic, Mario, and Pac-Man, Street Fighter has always been one of my absolute favorite gaming franchises (Puyo Puyo and Darkstalkers aren't that far behind). While even I'll admit the animated movie has its flaws, it's still definitely much better than any of the American Street Fighter projects and most animated video-game adaptations on both sides of the globe at the time. You've gotta do either Street Fighter II V, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, or even the Mega Man OVA next year. I believe the director for Gundam Wing even worked on the Night Warriors OVA.
A very fair review. I definitely cannot deny the faults of this as a standalone feature. And yet, so much about this went on to inform the game proper, especially in the immediate future of the series with Street Fighter Alpha. The dramatic fight between Bison and Ken & Ryu, the stage between Ryu and Sagat being the same as the one from the film, Bison’s fixation on Ryu, the fleshing out of Ken & Ryu’s training. Even Street Fighter 6 pays homage to this film with Cammy’s level 2 super art being a less-fatal recreation of her execution maneuver. It’s almost like Capcom wanted to seed the franchise throughout multimedia and use it to bear franchise fruit (they even show respect for the lesser adaptations). Regardless, I appreciate you featuring this film and giving it a fair shake free of nostalgia goggles. I look forward to future reviews of video game anime. My personal favorite fighting franchise is Darkstalkers, and man, if Street Fighter II was a gorgeous anime adaptation with little story, Darkstalkers features the very same but stretched across a 4-episode OVA. Absolutely gorgeous animation that fails to properly showcase the franchise and a story that works against itself at times. But hey, any coverage is good coverage for a series that needs way more love and attention.
This movie was my first introduction to anime. the kids at my school were passing around these bootleg vhs copies of the tape, I don’t know how they obtained the Japanese ver before the American ver came out but we saw it in its original Japanese audio with no subs. At the time there was so much lore surrounding street fighter. We never seen Sf1 before and we’re imagining the opening scene in the movie was a re-enactment of the events in sf1. And I loved the little cameos each character made, and I also liked the little subtle slow paced scenes like when ryu was in India and bumped into the little girl. I thought that was touching. And the original Japanese music gave me goosebumps especially the final battle with bison. The Japanese theme song started playing and mind you this is my first anime so I’m not familiar with Japanese or anything so it blew me away and made me a bigger street fighter fan than I already was Maybe a year later I rented the English localized ver and I was so pissed. They changed the music. And it wasn’t until 2007 when they released the original Japanese ver. Anyway u should check out the street fighter ii v anime series too. I was also disappointed when they changed the beautiful opening and ending theme songs kaze fuiteru and cry. They included it in one of the vhs subtitle releases but not in the DVDs. But yeah the anime series were great too
and lets not forget that the Intro is probably the best the movie has to offer especially since it is canonical to the 1st SF game ending and then on SF Alpha 2 (and as a DLC in SF5) there is a stage called Field of Fate that is a direct refernce to the movie intro in Australia. So the movie had a real impact in the SF canon and in the minds of all the youngsters that saw the Purple version of the movie.
This brings me back to high school, when we had a bootleg copy of this to watch. Those were good times, anime was not mainstream and you had to hunt down for good shows
Yeah, it was the same at my high school though we all of had a copy by the end of the month as everyone was copying the one being borrowed and passed around.
@@Windrave I started remembering all the stuff we had to do just to buy a few VHS tapes... take 2 buses to the mall and select from whatever they had there. Fans nowadays don't know those struggles. They can just order anything from the internet.
@@Diego-Designs Not to mention when those stores like Sam Goody and Suncoast had them in stock and then a decision had to be made for a dub VHS for $21.99 or sub at $34.99.
I remember every kids keep saying "This animation is way more better than the live action!" Well gotta say it is one of my favorite 90's anime, among Ninja Scroll and Akira
The SFII Movie also has two Neutral Spanish dubs, one made in Colombia with the same cast from SF II V and the SFII cartoon, and another one made in Mexico where M.Bison was dubbed by the same actor who dubbed Raúl Julia in the live-action movie I remember watching the Mexican dub version on Cartoon Network back in the early 2000s
The ost for the western release is fantastic with the heavy rock. The ambient music that plays when Chun Li turns on her hifi system was great for the mood before the fantastic transition for her fight. Only one complaint is the voice and dialogue for Honda & Dhalsim felt so out of character. I think the moive is good at capturing the essence of sf with excellent animation, soundtrack and simple but satisfying story. The characters are well done. edit: For me the pacing felt just right. It moved along and not linger too long. But everyone is different. Interesting to see others takes on it.
I feel like that's definitely the biggest hurdle to jump when it comes to adapting fighting games. Having to make a satisfying plot but also feature the entire game cast because you have to have everyone you can't leave out anyone because someone is somebody's favorite and the game company wants you to have everyone in there to promote the brand.
This review does make me wonder what your opinions would be on the series "Street Fighter V" (no, not 5 in this case). If nothing else it had more time for a story to breathe.
although it didnt follow the game story very well.. to me this one takes the cake.. i like the animated movie as well but i enjoyed the way that developed.. the best part was the use of the same voice actors
Good video, concise and filled with information! I hope we can get a chaser in the form of the Darkstalkers OVA. It's hard to believe today that Darkstalkers was Capcom's #2 fighting game franchise for a time during SF2's heyday.
wow I never knew it was completed in such a short time! I know it certainly had its issues, but I feel like at least it was far less of a trainwreck than the live-action version? them trying to cram everyone in had to have been a challenge, I can imagine that's why most of the cast was just a one-and-done cameo. I hear there's a new uncut re-release of it on the horizon I am definitely hoping to pick it up and revisit it.
I remember to viewing street fighter 2 the animated movie for the fight of Chun-Li VS. Vega and I remember to the animated series for the fight of Ryu VS. Cammy. 😮😊❤🎉
I can agree for the story not being great but knowing the story for Street Fighter at the time, this was serviceable. To me the animation and fight scenes are the showcase and the main reason you watched the film. But you did a great job on your review and history as always!
Knowing the story for Street Fighter II being both nonsensical and nearly nonexistent at the time, the narrative for this animated film being as good as it is, is nothing short of miraculous. A lot of people forget that this film directly influenced future Street Fighter games in terms of characterization and narrative details. This film was a lot more groundbreaking in it's era (for fans of Street Fighter, fighting games and anime) than a lot of people nowadays know. I remember 1994 quite well.
I certainly remember watching this as a kid with my cousins having a VHS tape with the English dub and watching this in their home. It was quite interesting and fun, seeing this fighting game to the animation.
OMG the exact same thing here. I was a little kid and my cousin was like 19 and would babysit us sometimes and we played this on the SNES. Then he rented the movie from Blockbuster for movie night one time and I fell in love with this movie.
I agree that 'Street Fighter 2' was probably the best adaptation of the game franchise, but even that has A few things holding it back. Also, the director of this movie also directed the 'Jack & The Beanstalk' anime from the 70's, and I'm still amazed that Bryan Cranston voiced Fei Long.
The movie is everything that it needed to be and more visually, based on what we knew about Street Fighter 2 at the time. The story was good enough to showcase them all, even in short battle scenes. There was more lore added to the later Street Fighter games, along with visual fidelity, due to the movie itself. So we probably wouldn't have got the Alpha/Zero series without it and Street Fighter III wouldn't have gone all out on the brilliant animation. Speaking of which, a Street Fighter III anime never happened. But if it did, people would expect it to be just as visually engrossing and no less than Street Fighter II. Which was why the Street Fighter IV anime was such a let down. It focused more on story and less on visual quality. Which made it have virtually no impact.
16:11 The name Shaowlaw appears through out the movie. So the original Japanese animators meant for the organization to be called Shadowlaw. At least for this movie.
That's correct. It doesn't seem to be the fault of the movie's English localizers. I remember seeing "Shadowlaw" elsewhere during that time period, too. Maybe it was in the translated manga released by Tokuma Comics.
@@KasumiKenshirou when Chun-li picks up the news paper to show Guile ,it says Shadowlaw. "Joint U.S Military/Interpol operation destroys Shadowlaw!! By Keith G. Fried Man Jr. " If their is doubt that's just added for the US. On the right side of the newspaper they call M. Bison, Vega, "The Aesthetics of the Devilistic 'Ideology Symbolized by Vega" By James Tokairin.
This movie has been in my life since I was 5 years old and I was TODAY years old when I learned Fei Long was voiced by Bryan Cranston! I just flipped my table! 😅
Preordered it at Suncoast video.. got a cheesy fake cel as a reward. Wish I'd known about the uncut version being available though. The KMFDM track on the Chun Li fight (also on the Manga promo) is still a bit of accidental genius. It's like the track was made for that scene specifically. The majority of the movie was... 'eh.. but that scene, with that song.. is an all timer.
I always felt like it was a shame that streetfighter the motion picture never got a sequel. But then we did get streetfighter 2V the series, and then we got alpha movies.
Me & my brother and sisters played Street Fighter 2 on the SNES when we were kids. My older sister recorded Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie on the VHS tape, I even have it on Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition on PS2 & DVD and I really enjoyed watching it because it blows me away with fight scenes. I really enjoyed watching your videos KaiserBeamz. Can you do Dragon Ball movies, Studio Ghibli movies, Sailor Moon movies & Super Mario Bros. Anime movie?
First time checking out your channel. Liked your intro While listening to this video, took a peek at your catalog and I appreciate your taste in anime Love Street Fighter, one of my favorite game series. Yep, I'm subscribing 😎
So this is something ive noticed reviewers, reviewing Street Fighters animated movie, is what to do with the cast. One commeon comaint you, and even Bennett the Sage, have shared is juggling the large cast of characters to give them a chance to shine. Sadly, with the focus being Bison wanting fighters for his organization, you can only really give focus to his main targets and who they are as the movie progresses. Cammy, admittingly, would've been great to see more in action (as her story is deeply tied to Bison) but then with crafting the fight choreography, it could've been Cammy vs Vega! Sadly, unless the runtime was longer, you would have to figure out how to make characters have a lasting role to shine or how it could make sense for the narrative you like. If you wanted to have a tournament like the game, you'd have to make Ryu or Guile travel like Terry Bogard in Fatal Fury to meet other characters. You'd end up with story eerily similar to a plot to MK or the Alpha movie, many years later. I do understand your sentiment, as my poor boy Sagat was from wanting revenge to regulating the ship. Also Balrog, handling Bison's shady business deals in one scene, then looking crossed eyed fighting Honda. As the film is, its ok, and still great to watch. On the other hand, if you wanted to improve upon it, there's gonna be some sacrifices to which character gets focus or enough screen time.
I have to disagree about the cameo aspect of the characters. You just dont need every character facing off with the bad guys at the end like a jrpg final boss or something. There are fighters in the game who are COMPLETELY oblivious to the framing narrative with endings like "and then they went to the amusement park!" AND THATS THEIR CHARM! They arent the canon winners of the tournament, they dont have personally stakes. THEY JUST ARE RANDOM FIGHTERS IN THIS UNIVERSE. I think the focus on Ryu and Ken is really touching and the slow pace gives the film a meditative feel between the bloody fights. Like how does the implementation of Ryu and Ken's flashbacks about being each others ULTIMATE rivals and greatest friends NOT give the film an emotional theme??? I honestly think your Fatal Fury bias is hanging waaaaaaaay out.
Every criticism in this video is accurate, and it's a little sad to think of what greatness a movie with this animation quality and a tighter plot could have been. We'd be talking about it in the same tone as Ninja Scroll or dare I say Jin-Roh or even GitS. But you know what? You put this flick on and you're gonna have a good time. That's what Capcom wanted and they pulled it off. Probably still a better story than the Akira movie, if not nearly as nice looking. Yeah, I said it, come at me bro.
Maybe I'm just getting old, but i don't think a movie needs to be packed with action(not just fights and explosions and such, but just plain action). I like my movies to have a little breathing room, so you're not simply being entertained the entire time; you have to bring something to it. People nowadays are entertained too much.
KB my dude, you're editing is getting so good. PS I agree with @CMWaters, would love a video on SFII V the series..... it's so odd and like comfort food to me haha.
I can't say I dislike the KMFDM track (it's pretty awesome), but I at least slightly prefer the original music, which has that "Singing in the Rain" from Clockwork Orange vibe to it, and it's just chilling. The KMFDM track is badass, but the original gets the mood better.
Street Fighter II, possibly the best anime adaption of a video game besides the Sonic The Hedgehog OVA. I consider them my twin peaks of video game adaptions. Also hearing about Kirk Thornton being attached to it I will say this, he seriously miscast as Shadow The Hedgehog but does a very fine job as Guile.
I'm guessing those Shadaloo robots were thrown in just to be a tie-in for the video game adaptation. Yes, just like the live action Street Fighter movie, this thing also got a video game adaptation, except this one was just a series of semi-interactive FMV sequences capped off by a single fight against Ryu.
No, the androids were thrown in for narrative purposes. Bison was searching the world for strong fighters he could brainwash, and androids that could scan and access how strong they were was pretty narratively sound.
I remember watching this early on and being amazed at how good it looked. But unlike the Fatal Fury 2 OVA, it didn't stick with me in the same way. FF2 has problems (TONY), but even if you think Terry going straight to the bottle feels weird, it at least sets up the idea that Terry does things between the fights, and that his brother and friend are worried about him when he basically disappears. And none of the fights are random-Krauser seeks Terry out because he beat Geese. Andy fights Jubei to earn the right to seek out Krauser, and fights Laurence Blood because Andy and Mai are snooping around Krauser's castle. Joe fights Krauser because he's a cocky idiot who thinks he can take this guy who beat Terry and wants to get revenge for him, and of course Terry has his rematch to regain his confidence, and stop this man who will almost certainly hurt and kill others if left unchecked. Even the fight that tends to get cut from most editions, Joe versus Raiden and (briefly) Cheng is how they explain that Joe hears Terry got beaten, from Raiden taunting him. What's the arc for Ryu? Well....nothing. He beats some guys, then in the last act he has to save Ken from being brainwashed. Which he does, kind of, but I think KEN has more of an arc than Ryu in his struggle to regain the fight and save HIS friend, which would be fine if he was the main character! But he's not in this movie, Ryu is! I'm a huge fan of the Fatal Fury 2 OVA, I'll cop to that right out. So I want to be careful, and not make it sound like the SFII anime is bad. But it's empty calories-great going down, but little sustenance after you've finished it.
Being old enough to be in the craze when it came out at the time, I cannot emphasize enough how much that combo system put that game above everything else. Ok, we'll, first it was everyone trying to figure out the special moves for everyone (Blanka's were the first, and hence he was a popular pick for everyone at the time).In my neighborhood, a friend had Fighting Street on the TG-16 CD-Rom. I was the only one that actually read the instruction book to figure out how to do the Dragon Punch. Everyone had figured out quarter and full-circle moves, but ➡️⬇️↘️ wasn't understood. Tested it out on II, and finally that kind of unlocked Shotos for everyone. Anyways, the final step for people really getting the most out of it was the combo system and after that, shit went *crazy*. By the time the anime came out, we were actually cooling down on SFII and getting impatient for III. It was a nice reminder of the game and we enjoyed the anime for what it was. We weren't expecting Akira. 😂
Truthfully, you need more than just 90 minutes or so to tell the stories of that many characters, a full anime season would've done best (or multiple). They did a commendable job with the time they had, it was a big deal to my younger self.
And 4 days later from when this dropped, Thorgi posted (part 2 of 6) of his Street Fighter retrospective where he mentions on SF Alpha was influenced by the Ryu & Ken vs Bison fight to introduce "Dramatic Battle". Its in a good month for SF fans th-cam.com/video/oPh3RoQmTN0/w-d-xo.html
18:30 I was going to say that you failed to mention Debra Jean Rogers who voiced as Cammy White in this animated movie couldn't even pull off a British accent since she used only her American accent on Cammy in one of her fight scenes. I'm not just saying it's bad, but it's something that I always want to point out. Especially now thank god that we've got Caitlin Glass who's an American English voice actress nailed that British dialect for Cammy in the Street Fighter video games.
Have you reviewed SF II V? I remember that it was an excellent anime with a good story (at least for a teenager), I really love it and if find where to see it again I will do so!
I am surprised - and kind of disappointed - that this does not cover the Sega Saturn/Pkaystatiion Japan-only version of SFII Movie with it's alternate scenes and emdings. Maybe they would not change your opinion on the Cybiorgs or the movie plot, but it is novel for a movie like this to have alternate scenes specifically made for The Gane Of The Movie Of The Game.
I feel a LOT disappointed that you didn't dedicate some talk with the music choreography, including the music "Itoshisa to Setsunasa to Kokoro Zuyosa to" and "Good Luck" , singed by Ryōko Shinohara, the final battle was CREATED AROUND THAT MUSIC, every punch, every move, every part was DESIGNED AROUND THAT FIGHT from beginning to end, is true the movie is long and have a nonsensical story, but the inner story of the Friendship between Ryo and Ken is Greatly detailed here and heavely influenced by the music (Kitsusuki Nagara Atsukunare, Farewell Ryu & Ken, Warm Friendship, Life and Death Struggle, Ryu and Ken (Wake Up, Ken!), GooD-LucK), so much that the Future games to this day still depict the friendship between Ken and Ryu as a integral part of the Story (look the first special intro here th-cam.com/video/0IRbBfsifh4/w-d-xo.html ) there are lots of nods to this movie... well, I still agree with your final verdict, but I also can say that this part helps a lot in the japanese market to success... and I still can't comprehend how the movie was a success in the western market without his original music, I hate the Western music added in the film, not because are bad songs, but because the japanese music BLEND WITH THE MOVIE, the songs I mentioned before have heart and WERE CREATED AROUND THE MOVIE, it added a lot of emotion, feeling, sentiment to the movie without words, it shows how much LOVE the film team dedicated to the final product....
I always thought Shadow Law sounded better, I believe early localizations used both names. Shadow Law actually sounds like a name, Shadow Loo sounds like a typo.
So was it pure coincidence that you were making this the same time 4K remaster was announced or did this high quality video somehow went from scripted to uploaded in just a couple days? (I'm 99% sure it's the former, but can't hurt to ask.)
Am I the only complete moron who literally scoured and asked places for a copy of the first "Street Fighter" animated movie? Because OH my lord, I kept saying "Don't want to watch the sequel first. Will watch the first one and then I'll know what's going on." .... Pre-internet days
I'm surprised there was no mention of Street Fighter II V (Victory), which despite having a relatively modest TV animation budget, manages to deliver a satisfying story, since it has the time to tell one without feeling like they had to cram in the characters within a limited time constraint. It also had the freedom to somewhat re-imagine the characters in interesting ways.
I didn't see this movie until I bought the uncut DVD at an HMV in 2006 and it was so awesome despite being a glorified commercial for the game(s) but it was definitely the best compared to the live action movie and cartoon series. Now the question is what will happen next year? 2024 is gonna be Tekken's 30th anniversary and Tekken 8 might come out that year. Maybe Blood Vengeance?
Admittedly, with a large cast of charterers and involved action sequences, there is simply not money or space to do in-depth stories short of established marques like Marvel. I mean you could, but no one will spend the money for it and most won't care beyond it looking cool. Oh god, Street Fighter the cinematic universe.
What it needed was a 2nd continuation ,from the 1st Anime movie ,adding the Akuma presentation fight scene sequence .The Alpha anime & Generations anime we're horrible ..,At least they shoved the Street Fighter V series in. Those episodes are better then Alpha & Generations movie😅
"Japanese fighters stick together" He says in the most white texas doug dimmadome voice you can imagine. Man I forgot a lot of these voices and probably for good reason ffff
I think any fighter game adaptation will have the problem that they have to include all the main characters and a good chuck of the side characters. Because ever fighter is someone's favorite. If Chun Li isn't in a Street Fighter movie, I'm not going to watch it. Just like any Ryu, Ken and any of the other fighters fans are most likely not going to watch it either if their favorite doesn't at least make a cameo.
In a world where fighters from around the globe, enter the tournament to compete and win their prize. Lead by an evil organization, their leader who has the power to control darkness, is within his true match against him. Now get ready for the ultimate fighting challenge that awaits to you all! Paramount Pictures presents, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie!!
![Megan Thee Stallion - Neva Play (feat. RM) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpYTyAaTRts/mqdefault.jpg)
I think the saving grace for Street Fighter II The Animated Movie is that, at that time, the story was good enough, it was flashy and the animation was gorgeous; besides, we didn't have much to compare it when it comes to videogame adaptations, so it was pretty easy to overlook its flaws.
The only flaws are the cyborg, and Ryu saying Shadow Kick instead of Shoryuken.
Even still, the story is overall fine for what it is.
@@mechajay3358 Oh sure, I wouldn't say otherwise. It has flaws, but sure as hell is a pretty good one.
Ryu aiming at the screen, then the hadouken flash transitioning to the title... *_chills_* every time.
Seeing Chun Li shower as a kid was such an unforgettable moment as a gamer and anime fanatic, good times : D
That shower scene gave my 16 year old self a massive boner back in 1994, and would make Chun Li one of my life long fictional crushes.
The timing of this video is great because very recently, Discotek Media announced this will be getting an official 4k UHD release.
Omg I love this movie, back in the 90s my parents let me rent this out on VHS. This movie was way to mature for me and blew my tiny mind, I loved it and is one of the reasons I still love this style of Anime the most.
Man that "newest season of The Simpsons" made me audibly gasp "OH GOD!"
It might not have been the strongest story, but it's Street Fighter 2. I don't think anyone was rushing to watch the VGM equivalent of Gone with the Wind or Children of a Lesser God. We (or at least I) wanted some really great fight scenes, good animation, and something to link them together. Also a decent soundtrack. We got it, and I loved it. Even today, I still bust out my copy from time to time.
Kudos to the animation team for dedicating the time and energy in their incredibly tight production schedule to bless us with an extended meticulously animated sequence of the patron saint of muscle mommies everywhere, Chun Li taking a shower.
Truly, they understood the assignment 😌
I think in some ways it can seem a bit more faithful to the game's story than it actually is, simply by virtue of the fact that a lot of the liberties taken by the anime, ended up being incorporated into the games lore afterwords
Childhood memories this Street Fighter movie is for me.
The movie shows these characters sort of going about their daily lives for brief moments, or trying to be sneaky and stealthy, and, no matter what, they are still wearing their getups.
In the end who cares that the story plays second fiddle to the awesome fighting choreography and beautiful animation. It is pure Street Fighter through and through. When it comes to getting the pure essence of the arcade masterpiece condensed down into a theatrical anime, and given the timeframe at hand, you couldnt ask for anything better.
I was satisfied with the story in this, considering back when this came out, almost all video game or comic movies in the 90's were lacking one way or another. This movie by comparison was more in line with my expectations, and for that reason I'm happy with what we got 😎
I thought the story was great as a kid when it came out and even now as I'm older. It really captured the essence of the game for me. I begged my parents to buy me this movie on VHS after my cousin rented it one time at Blockbuster and would watch it multiple times a month for years. I think that if they tried to tie in all the characters any more in to the main storyline, it would have become a jumbled mess. Sometimes less is more and a simple, fun movie is better than a complicated movie.
Fantastic work, as always. Next to Sonic, Mario, and Pac-Man, Street Fighter has always been one of my absolute favorite gaming franchises (Puyo Puyo and Darkstalkers aren't that far behind). While even I'll admit the animated movie has its flaws, it's still definitely much better than any of the American Street Fighter projects and most animated video-game adaptations on both sides of the globe at the time.
You've gotta do either Street Fighter II V, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, or even the Mega Man OVA next year. I believe the director for Gundam Wing even worked on the Night Warriors OVA.
A very fair review. I definitely cannot deny the faults of this as a standalone feature. And yet, so much about this went on to inform the game proper, especially in the immediate future of the series with Street Fighter Alpha. The dramatic fight between Bison and Ken & Ryu, the stage between Ryu and Sagat being the same as the one from the film, Bison’s fixation on Ryu, the fleshing out of Ken & Ryu’s training. Even Street Fighter 6 pays homage to this film with Cammy’s level 2 super art being a less-fatal recreation of her execution maneuver. It’s almost like Capcom wanted to seed the franchise throughout multimedia and use it to bear franchise fruit (they even show respect for the lesser adaptations).
Regardless, I appreciate you featuring this film and giving it a fair shake free of nostalgia goggles. I look forward to future reviews of video game anime. My personal favorite fighting franchise is Darkstalkers, and man, if Street Fighter II was a gorgeous anime adaptation with little story, Darkstalkers features the very same but stretched across a 4-episode OVA. Absolutely gorgeous animation that fails to properly showcase the franchise and a story that works against itself at times. But hey, any coverage is good coverage for a series that needs way more love and attention.
This movie was my first introduction to anime. the kids at my school were passing around these bootleg vhs copies of the tape, I don’t know how they obtained the Japanese ver before the American ver came out but we saw it in its original Japanese audio with no subs.
At the time there was so much lore surrounding street fighter. We never seen Sf1 before and we’re imagining the opening scene in the movie was a re-enactment of the events in sf1. And I loved the little cameos each character made, and I also liked the little subtle slow paced scenes like when ryu was in India and bumped into the little girl. I thought that was touching.
And the original Japanese music gave me goosebumps especially the final battle with bison. The Japanese theme song started playing and mind you this is my first anime so I’m not familiar with Japanese or anything so it blew me away and made me a bigger street fighter fan than I already was
Maybe a year later I rented the English localized ver and I was so pissed. They changed the music. And it wasn’t until 2007 when they released the original Japanese ver.
Anyway u should check out the street fighter ii v anime series too. I was also disappointed when they changed the beautiful opening and ending theme songs kaze fuiteru and cry. They included it in one of the vhs subtitle releases but not in the DVDs. But yeah the anime series were great too
Oof we all needed it, we’ve been fighting ourselves and boom in round 8 Kyoto Video comes through on top!
and lets not forget that the Intro is probably the best the movie has to offer especially since it is canonical to the 1st SF game ending and then on SF Alpha 2 (and as a DLC in SF5) there is a stage called Field of Fate that is a direct refernce to the movie intro in Australia. So the movie had a real impact in the SF canon and in the minds of all the youngsters that saw the Purple version of the movie.
This brings me back to high school, when we had a bootleg copy of this to watch.
Those were good times, anime was not mainstream and you had to hunt down for good shows
Yeah, it was the same at my high school though we all of had a copy by the end of the month as everyone was copying the one being borrowed and passed around.
@@Windrave I started remembering all the stuff we had to do just to buy a few VHS tapes... take 2 buses to the mall and select from whatever they had there.
Fans nowadays don't know those struggles. They can just order anything from the internet.
@@Diego-Designs Not to mention when those stores like Sam Goody and Suncoast had them in stock and then a decision had to be made for a dub VHS for $21.99 or sub at $34.99.
@@Windrave good times! 😂
I loved that arcade game back in the day, so many quarters so many battles with my friends and randoms.
I remember every kids keep saying "This animation is way more better than the live action!" Well gotta say it is one of my favorite 90's anime, among Ninja Scroll and Akira
The SFII Movie also has two Neutral Spanish dubs, one made in Colombia with the same cast from SF II V and the SFII cartoon, and another one made in Mexico where M.Bison was dubbed by the same actor who dubbed Raúl Julia in the live-action movie
I remember watching the Mexican dub version on Cartoon Network back in the early 2000s
The ost for the western release is fantastic with the heavy rock. The ambient music that plays when Chun Li turns on her hifi system was great for the mood before the fantastic transition for her fight. Only one complaint is the voice and dialogue for Honda & Dhalsim felt so out of character. I think the moive is good at capturing the essence of sf with excellent animation, soundtrack and simple but satisfying story. The characters are well done.
edit: For me the pacing felt just right. It moved along and not linger too long. But everyone is different. Interesting to see others takes on it.
If only they could have given us as many sequels as they gave the original Street Fighter II. We'd have been eating good for a decade
I feel like that's definitely the biggest hurdle to jump when it comes to adapting fighting games. Having to make a satisfying plot but also feature the entire game cast because you have to have everyone you can't leave out anyone because someone is somebody's favorite and the game company wants you to have everyone in there to promote the brand.
THIS MOVIE WAS PERFECT FOR WHAT IT WAS. I WISH THEY WOULD DO MORE FIGHTING GAME MOVIES LIKE THIS.
Jungle King Tar-chan really shouldn't be forgotten about.
It's a fun show that really reminds me of the early Dragon Ball.
I was the first in my school to have this on vhs no one believed it was real. I had to make a copy so people can borrow and make a copy of thier own
This review does make me wonder what your opinions would be on the series "Street Fighter V" (no, not 5 in this case). If nothing else it had more time for a story to breathe.
My thoughts exactly.
And I think there might be a VG adaptation that does succeed in the areas where this doesn't:
Virtua Fighter.
That's for another day!
The anime series was titled Street Fighter II V
@Wrekkshoppe You're right. For some reason I misremembered.
although it didnt follow the game story very well.. to me this one takes the cake.. i like the animated movie as well but i enjoyed the way that developed.. the best part was the use of the same voice actors
Good video, concise and filled with information! I hope we can get a chaser in the form of the Darkstalkers OVA. It's hard to believe today that Darkstalkers was Capcom's #2 fighting game franchise for a time during SF2's heyday.
Either that or Street Fighter II V, which was also done by Studio TAC
wow I never knew it was completed in such a short time! I know it certainly had its issues, but I feel like at least it was far less of a trainwreck than the live-action version? them trying to cram everyone in had to have been a challenge, I can imagine that's why most of the cast was just a one-and-done cameo. I hear there's a new uncut re-release of it on the horizon I am definitely hoping to pick it up and revisit it.
It still amazes me how good all the special moves look. They could have looked so goofy but that didn't happen.
I remember to viewing street fighter 2 the animated movie for the fight of Chun-Li VS. Vega and I remember to the animated series for the fight of Ryu VS. Cammy. 😮😊❤🎉
I can agree for the story not being great but knowing the story for Street Fighter at the time, this was serviceable. To me the animation and fight scenes are the showcase and the main reason you watched the film. But you did a great job on your review and history as always!
Knowing the story for Street Fighter II being both nonsensical and nearly nonexistent at the time, the narrative for this animated film being as good as it is, is nothing short of miraculous. A lot of people forget that this film directly influenced future Street Fighter games in terms of characterization and narrative details. This film was a lot more groundbreaking in it's era (for fans of Street Fighter, fighting games and anime) than a lot of people nowadays know. I remember 1994 quite well.
I loved this anime so much
My brain, "Wait, does he have a Street Fighter 1 video?"
I certainly remember watching this as a kid with my cousins having a VHS tape with the English dub and watching this in their home. It was quite interesting and fun, seeing this fighting game to the animation.
OMG the exact same thing here. I was a little kid and my cousin was like 19 and would babysit us sometimes and we played this on the SNES. Then he rented the movie from Blockbuster for movie night one time and I fell in love with this movie.
I agree that 'Street Fighter 2' was probably the best adaptation of the game franchise, but even that has A few things holding it back. Also, the director of this movie also directed the 'Jack & The Beanstalk' anime from the 70's, and I'm still amazed that Bryan Cranston voiced Fei Long.
I love this movie’s art style and animation.
It should be noted that this movie significantly influenced the actual games of Street Fighter after it came out.
The movie is everything that it needed to be and more visually, based on what we knew about Street Fighter 2 at the time. The story was good enough to showcase them all, even in short battle scenes. There was more lore added to the later Street Fighter games, along with visual fidelity, due to the movie itself. So we probably wouldn't have got the Alpha/Zero series without it and Street Fighter III wouldn't have gone all out on the brilliant animation. Speaking of which, a Street Fighter III anime never happened. But if it did, people would expect it to be just as visually engrossing and no less than Street Fighter II. Which was why the Street Fighter IV anime was such a let down. It focused more on story and less on visual quality. Which made it have virtually no impact.
💯%
There's a pretty good live action street fighter about Ken and ryu
STREET FIGHTER: ASSASSIN'S FIST
16:11 The name Shaowlaw appears through out the movie. So the original Japanese animators meant for the organization to be called Shadowlaw. At least for this movie.
That's correct. It doesn't seem to be the fault of the movie's English localizers. I remember seeing "Shadowlaw" elsewhere during that time period, too. Maybe it was in the translated manga released by Tokuma Comics.
@@KasumiKenshirou when Chun-li picks up the news paper to show Guile ,it says Shadowlaw. "Joint U.S Military/Interpol operation destroys Shadowlaw!! By Keith G. Fried Man Jr. " If their is doubt that's just added for the US. On the right side of the newspaper they call M. Bison, Vega, "The Aesthetics of the Devilistic 'Ideology Symbolized by Vega" By James Tokairin.
This movie has been in my life since I was 5 years old and I was TODAY years old when I learned Fei Long was voiced by Bryan Cranston! I just flipped my table! 😅
Preordered it at Suncoast video.. got a cheesy fake cel as a reward. Wish I'd known about the uncut version being available though. The KMFDM track on the Chun Li fight (also on the Manga promo) is still a bit of accidental genius. It's like the track was made for that scene specifically. The majority of the movie was... 'eh.. but that scene, with that song.. is an all timer.
I always felt like it was a shame that streetfighter the motion picture never got a sequel. But then we did get streetfighter 2V the series, and then we got alpha movies.
Me & my brother and sisters played Street Fighter 2 on the SNES when we were kids. My older sister recorded Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie on the VHS tape, I even have it on Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition on PS2 & DVD and I really enjoyed watching it because it blows me away with fight scenes. I really enjoyed watching your videos KaiserBeamz. Can you do Dragon Ball movies, Studio Ghibli movies, Sailor Moon movies & Super Mario Bros. Anime movie?
First time checking out your channel.
Liked your intro
While listening to this video, took a peek at your catalog and I appreciate your taste in anime
Love Street Fighter, one of my favorite game series.
Yep, I'm subscribing 😎
So this is something ive noticed reviewers, reviewing Street Fighters animated movie, is what to do with the cast. One commeon comaint you, and even Bennett the Sage, have shared is juggling the large cast of characters to give them a chance to shine. Sadly, with the focus being Bison wanting fighters for his organization, you can only really give focus to his main targets and who they are as the movie progresses. Cammy, admittingly, would've been great to see more in action (as her story is deeply tied to Bison) but then with crafting the fight choreography, it could've been Cammy vs Vega! Sadly, unless the runtime was longer, you would have to figure out how to make characters have a lasting role to shine or how it could make sense for the narrative you like. If you wanted to have a tournament like the game, you'd have to make Ryu or Guile travel like Terry Bogard in Fatal Fury to meet other characters. You'd end up with story eerily similar to a plot to MK or the Alpha movie, many years later. I do understand your sentiment, as my poor boy Sagat was from
wanting revenge to regulating the ship. Also Balrog, handling Bison's shady business deals in one scene, then looking crossed eyed fighting Honda. As the film is, its ok, and still great to watch. On the other hand, if you wanted to improve upon it, there's gonna be some sacrifices to which character gets focus or enough screen time.
I have to disagree about the cameo aspect of the characters. You just dont need every character facing off with the bad guys at the end like a jrpg final boss or something. There are fighters in the game who are COMPLETELY oblivious to the framing narrative with endings like "and then they went to the amusement park!" AND THATS THEIR CHARM! They arent the canon winners of the tournament, they dont have personally stakes. THEY JUST ARE RANDOM FIGHTERS IN THIS UNIVERSE. I think the focus on Ryu and Ken is really touching and the slow pace gives the film a meditative feel between the bloody fights. Like how does the implementation of Ryu and Ken's flashbacks about being each others ULTIMATE rivals and greatest friends NOT give the film an emotional theme??? I honestly think your Fatal Fury bias is hanging waaaaaaaay out.
Me at 13 enjoying street fighter, anime, and alice in chains all at the same time. 😁
Every criticism in this video is accurate, and it's a little sad to think of what greatness a movie with this animation quality and a tighter plot could have been. We'd be talking about it in the same tone as Ninja Scroll or dare I say Jin-Roh or even GitS.
But you know what? You put this flick on and you're gonna have a good time. That's what Capcom wanted and they pulled it off.
Probably still a better story than the Akira movie, if not nearly as nice looking. Yeah, I said it, come at me bro.
Subbed! While I feel the story element was fine I understand where you're coming from. I would kill to see a Street Fighter 3 adaptation like it.
Maybe I'm just getting old, but i don't think a movie needs to be packed with action(not just fights and explosions and such, but just plain action). I like my movies to have a little breathing room, so you're not simply being entertained the entire time; you have to bring something to it. People nowadays are entertained too much.
KB my dude, you're editing is getting so good.
PS I agree with @CMWaters, would love a video on SFII V the series..... it's so odd and like comfort food to me haha.
I can't say I dislike the KMFDM track (it's pretty awesome), but I at least slightly prefer the original music, which has that "Singing in the Rain" from Clockwork Orange vibe to it, and it's just chilling. The KMFDM track is badass, but the original gets the mood better.
Street Fighter II, possibly the best anime adaption of a video game besides the Sonic The Hedgehog OVA. I consider them my twin peaks of video game adaptions. Also hearing about Kirk Thornton being attached to it I will say this, he seriously miscast as Shadow The Hedgehog but does a very fine job as Guile.
Street Fighter 2 The Animated Movie is a great movie for the Street Fighter franchise.
I'm guessing those Shadaloo robots were thrown in just to be a tie-in for the video game adaptation. Yes, just like the live action Street Fighter movie, this thing also got a video game adaptation, except this one was just a series of semi-interactive FMV sequences capped off by a single fight against Ryu.
No, the androids were thrown in for narrative purposes. Bison was searching the world for strong fighters he could brainwash, and androids that could scan and access how strong they were was pretty narratively sound.
I remember watching this early on and being amazed at how good it looked. But unlike the Fatal Fury 2 OVA, it didn't stick with me in the same way. FF2 has problems (TONY), but even if you think Terry going straight to the bottle feels weird, it at least sets up the idea that Terry does things between the fights, and that his brother and friend are worried about him when he basically disappears. And none of the fights are random-Krauser seeks Terry out because he beat Geese. Andy fights Jubei to earn the right to seek out Krauser, and fights Laurence Blood because Andy and Mai are snooping around Krauser's castle. Joe fights Krauser because he's a cocky idiot who thinks he can take this guy who beat Terry and wants to get revenge for him, and of course Terry has his rematch to regain his confidence, and stop this man who will almost certainly hurt and kill others if left unchecked. Even the fight that tends to get cut from most editions, Joe versus Raiden and (briefly) Cheng is how they explain that Joe hears Terry got beaten, from Raiden taunting him.
What's the arc for Ryu? Well....nothing. He beats some guys, then in the last act he has to save Ken from being brainwashed. Which he does, kind of, but I think KEN has more of an arc than Ryu in his struggle to regain the fight and save HIS friend, which would be fine if he was the main character! But he's not in this movie, Ryu is!
I'm a huge fan of the Fatal Fury 2 OVA, I'll cop to that right out. So I want to be careful, and not make it sound like the SFII anime is bad. But it's empty calories-great going down, but little sustenance after you've finished it.
Being old enough to be in the craze when it came out at the time, I cannot emphasize enough how much that combo system put that game above everything else.
Ok, we'll, first it was everyone trying to figure out the special moves for everyone (Blanka's were the first, and hence he was a popular pick for everyone at the time).In my neighborhood, a friend had Fighting Street on the TG-16 CD-Rom. I was the only one that actually read the instruction book to figure out how to do the Dragon Punch. Everyone had figured out quarter and full-circle moves, but ➡️⬇️↘️ wasn't understood. Tested it out on II, and finally that kind of unlocked Shotos for everyone.
Anyways, the final step for people really getting the most out of it was the combo system and after that, shit went *crazy*. By the time the anime came out, we were actually cooling down on SFII and getting impatient for III. It was a nice reminder of the game and we enjoyed the anime for what it was. We weren't expecting Akira. 😂
Love these videos ❤
Truthfully, you need more than just 90 minutes or so to tell the stories of that many characters, a full anime season would've done best (or multiple). They did a commendable job with the time they had, it was a big deal to my younger self.
Could you do a video on the "Doomed Megalopolis" OVA?
And 4 days later from when this dropped, Thorgi posted (part 2 of 6) of his Street Fighter retrospective where he mentions on SF Alpha was influenced by the Ryu & Ken vs Bison fight to introduce "Dramatic Battle". Its in a good month for SF fans
th-cam.com/video/oPh3RoQmTN0/w-d-xo.html
18:30 I was going to say that you failed to mention Debra Jean Rogers who voiced as Cammy White in this animated movie couldn't even pull off a British accent since she used only her American accent on Cammy in one of her fight scenes. I'm not just saying it's bad, but it's something that I always want to point out. Especially now thank god that we've got Caitlin Glass who's an American English voice actress nailed that British dialect for Cammy in the Street Fighter video games.
My child self was pleasantly surprised by the Chun Li shower scene. I didn't know I wanted it, but happy that I got it. 😂
Have you reviewed SF II V? I remember that it was an excellent anime with a good story (at least for a teenager), I really love it and if find where to see it again I will do so!
the big one
IIRC Street Fighter II got Andy Hug and Kazuyuoshi Ishii to choreograph the fights, though I don't know the source for that.
I’ve owned this movie 5 times that is not a joke, sometimes I would buy it to just leave it a friend’s houses.
I am surprised - and kind of disappointed - that this does not cover the Sega Saturn/Pkaystatiion Japan-only version of SFII Movie with it's alternate scenes and emdings. Maybe they would not change your opinion on the Cybiorgs or the movie plot, but it is novel for a movie like this to have alternate scenes specifically made for The Gane Of The Movie Of The Game.
I feel a LOT disappointed that you didn't dedicate some talk with the music choreography, including the music "Itoshisa to Setsunasa to Kokoro Zuyosa to" and "Good Luck" , singed by Ryōko Shinohara, the final battle was CREATED AROUND THAT MUSIC, every punch, every move, every part was DESIGNED AROUND THAT FIGHT from beginning to end, is true the movie is long and have a nonsensical story, but the inner story of the Friendship between Ryo and Ken is Greatly detailed here and heavely influenced by the music (Kitsusuki Nagara Atsukunare, Farewell Ryu & Ken, Warm Friendship, Life and Death Struggle, Ryu and Ken (Wake Up, Ken!), GooD-LucK), so much that the Future games to this day still depict the friendship between Ken and Ryu as a integral part of the Story (look the first special intro here th-cam.com/video/0IRbBfsifh4/w-d-xo.html ) there are lots of nods to this movie... well, I still agree with your final verdict, but I also can say that this part helps a lot in the japanese market to success... and I still can't comprehend how the movie was a success in the western market without his original music, I hate the Western music added in the film, not because are bad songs, but because the japanese music BLEND WITH THE MOVIE, the songs I mentioned before have heart and WERE CREATED AROUND THE MOVIE, it added a lot of emotion, feeling, sentiment to the movie without words, it shows how much LOVE the film team dedicated to the final product....
I was hoping for the intro to be a fakeout and you actually talked about the SF IV ova.
11:19 Kinda look like Poison from Final Fight with a alternate costume
The monitor cyborgs/androids are cannon. Or maybe made cannon via Street Fighter 4 and the S.I.N. (Shadowloo Information Network).
I always thought Shadow Law sounded better, I believe early localizations used both names. Shadow Law actually sounds like a name, Shadow Loo sounds like a typo.
i will love to a new street fighter anime move, on sf1.
28:39 By having the two share a honeymoon penthouse suit and going skinny dipping together on a private pool lile the tv anime did.
So was it pure coincidence that you were making this the same time 4K remaster was announced or did this high quality video somehow went from scripted to uploaded in just a couple days?
(I'm 99% sure it's the former, but can't hurt to ask.)
I wonder if their were people out there that thought that this anime was the sequel to the Van Damme film?
I'm not sure "Shadow-law" is a mistake, in British English "Shadow-loo" sounds like a secret toilet. And yes I know it's Shadaloo.
Am I the only complete moron who literally scoured and asked places for a copy of the first "Street Fighter" animated movie? Because OH my lord, I kept saying "Don't want to watch the sequel first. Will watch the first one and then I'll know what's going on."
.... Pre-internet days
I'm surprised there was no mention of Street Fighter II V (Victory), which despite having a relatively modest TV animation budget, manages to deliver a satisfying story, since it has the time to tell one without feeling like they had to cram in the characters within a limited time constraint. It also had the freedom to somewhat re-imagine the characters in interesting ways.
When you read the roster for the movie 😅😅😂😂
Chun-li should also have been part of the final battle against Bison. Sadly for me, She and Ryu never met each other until Street Fighter Alpha movie
Charlie Blanka approves of this video
I didn't see this movie until I bought the uncut DVD at an HMV in 2006 and it was so awesome despite being a glorified commercial for the game(s) but it was definitely the best compared to the live action movie and cartoon series.
Now the question is what will happen next year? 2024 is gonna be Tekken's 30th anniversary and Tekken 8 might come out that year. Maybe Blood Vengeance?
Discotek Media just announced they are doing a new 4k release of Street Fighter.
The dub soundtrack is amazing
Admittedly, with a large cast of charterers and involved action sequences, there is simply not money or space to do in-depth stories short of established marques like Marvel.
I mean you could, but no one will spend the money for it and most won't care beyond it looking cool.
Oh god, Street Fighter the cinematic universe.
whooo!
The only flaws are the cyborgs, Shadowlaw and Ryu going Shadow Kick instead of Shoryuken.
What it needed was a 2nd continuation ,from the 1st Anime movie ,adding the Akuma presentation fight scene sequence .The Alpha anime & Generations anime we're horrible ..,At least they shoved the Street Fighter V series in. Those episodes are better then Alpha & Generations movie😅
Was that a version of Poison in the concept art at the 11:15 mark and it looks like she is wearing M.Bison's hat.
ChunLi fighting Claw in her undies definitely woke me up as a boy.
"Japanese fighters stick together" He says in the most white texas doug dimmadome voice you can imagine. Man I forgot a lot of these voices and probably for good reason ffff
I forgot how cowboy e honda English dub is
Where can one find the uncut version with the officially licensed soundtrack?
I think any fighter game adaptation will have the problem that they have to include all the main characters and a good chuck of the side characters. Because ever fighter is someone's favorite.
If Chun Li isn't in a Street Fighter movie, I'm not going to watch it. Just like any Ryu, Ken and any of the other fighters fans are most likely not going to watch it either if their favorite doesn't at least make a cameo.
In a world where fighters from around the globe, enter the tournament to compete and win their prize.
Lead by an evil organization, their leader who has the power to control darkness, is within his true match against him.
Now get ready for the ultimate fighting challenge that awaits to you all!
Paramount Pictures presents, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie!!
Now find a new rival