I’m a huge Street Fighter fan. I have been since Street Fighter II was first released in the arcades (and I fought, to no avail, to get off a shoryuken). I’ve enjoyed every incarnation since, so I’m always there when a new anime based on my favorite fighting game comes out.

Street Fighter Alpha is the third anime incarnation of the series, preceded by a movie and a TV series. This OAV series was released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Street Fighter II. Manga Video has re-released the series, edited together as a single movie.

The story centers on a master of Shotokan karate named Ryu and his battle to overcome a dark energy welling up within him. The powerful martial artists in Street Fighter have the ability to channel their “chi,” or life energy, into powerful and explosive attacks. Ryu’s particular form of chi is called “hadou;” Ryu’s dark hadou is threatening to consume him. Ryu trained in the martial arts with Ken Masters, the son of a wealthy American businessman. Ken and Ryu have become best friends and rivals. They fight regularly to improve their skills and prove who is the better warrior, but don’t let this fool you into thinking there is any animosity between them – they’re closer than brothers.

Ryu is constantly fighting a struggle with his dark hadou.	Sakura makes an appearance as the requisite sailor-suited teenage girl.

In the movie, Ken shows up at Ryu’s training hall about the same time as a young boy claiming to be Ryu’s long lost brother. Since Ryu is an orphan and never knew his parents, he accepts the boy, Shun, at face value. Ken, however, is wary since the boy comes only armed with a photograph of Ryu’s supposed mother. Contrary to Ken’s suspicions, though, Shun begins to show signs that he is also being gradually being consumed by the dark hadou. Furthermore, Shun is without Ryu’s training and willpower, and unable to hold it in check. To make a long story short, Ryu battles his inner demons and has to rescue Shun, kidnapped by a scientist who is exploring the power that these street fighters wield in order to make himself invincible. Expect the standard twists and turns.

A couple of other Street Fighter Alpha regulars hold speaking roles and are involved with the entire plot. Chun-Li, the ever-popular Interpol agent, takes an interest in Ryu after he helps her take care of some thugs, as does Sakura (the obligatory sailor-suit-clad teenage girl), who promptly decides to become a street fighter.

The animation is better than average, but not great. The colors and character designs make it worth watching, though. The backgrounds are also fascinating and are styled to contrast with the cel animation, lending an incredible amount of atmosphere to the show. The backgrounds waver in style between pastel and watercolors in certain scenes, then move to hard line art in others. Even though they are often static, it makes watching a pleasure.

The sound is well done, even though some of the fight sounds are a wee bit over-dramatic. The music moves between fitting and invisible. Nothing struck me as heinous, nor did anything make me want to rush out and buy the soundtrack – mediocre, but professional.

Now before going on, I’m going to make my review judgements here. I have no doubts this review talks to two groups, those who are huge Street Fighter fans, and those who aren’t. It’s fair to say both sides deserve answers in this review. If you’re a Street Fighter fan, you have to buy it – you’re a fan! However, expect some disappointments; see below to understand why.

Those who aren’t fans, you really might want to try checking it out. If you enjoy some high action that is, oddly enough, driven by internal philosophical conflict, you’ll dig it. For instance, if you like the torn and brooding pilots in Gundam Wing, you’ll understand where Ryu and Ken are coming from and what Sakura, Ryu’s #1 fan, is looking for. In other words, it’s surprisingly character driven, with great color and style.

Now to the fans; you’ll feel the opposite in some ways. First of all, the fights aren’t Street Fighter battles. The first one is great, after that, they turn into charging projectile battles – or constant boss fights with characters just getting beat up. I consider the best Street Fighter battle to be Chun-Li vs. Vega (Balrog in Japan) from the Street Fighter II anime movie. Watch that, and you’ll see what I mean. You’ll be disappointed that Rose just mystically “shows up” twice with no real reason. She acts a lot as Ryu’s conscience, which is very strange.

This is definitely Street Fighter Alpha and not Alpha 2. Sakura doesn’t fight at all: though her character is interesting, she’s a bit underutilized. Dan gets destroyed ... twice (well, that’s acceptable). The only other characters that get real screen time are Zangief (why?), a tiny bit of Vega, and Birdie (as a hero … go figure). Also, while the marketing seems to sell it as a showdown between Ryu and Akuma (Gouki in Japan), the master of the dark hadou and the murderer of Ryu and Ken’s master, Ryu and Akuma never actually fight! In other words, it’s going to leave you wanting a lot more.

Overall, I’d have to rate it slightly higher for the non-Street Fighter fans, but it's still fun to watch. The final plot point is kind of weak (that’s the polite way of saying stupid), but the trip getting there is pretty good. And, this is one where I recommend watching the credits. You’ll get some of the best fight scenes from the show there!

Notes: Disclaimer #1: I know that there is a 4th Street Figher animated series, the one for made for the U.S. Can we forget that please? Disclaimer #2: The DVD case says 120 minutes; that’s pretty close…only if you consider off by a half hour "close." Try 92 minutes. Disclaimer #3: The fact that Sakura is my absolute and total favorite game character period has nothing to do with me being a little down on the game’s influence on the movie … no, really … it's true … hey … why won’t you believe me?

Distributor: Manga Entertainment
Creator: CAPCOM / Polydor / Manga
Released: 1999

Plot: B-
Character Design: A
Animation Quality: B+
Music: B
Overall: B