STREET FIGHTER II V: I probably listed this here once before, but it was at least a few months ago and figure I'd type more at length about it. This is a 29 episode Japanese TV series made by Capcom in 1996 and was dubbed & distributed by Manga Video in 1997-1998 on 10 volumes. Nowadays, the DVD box set runs for about $50. Back when it was new, the final volume literally had a send-in offer for a mixed audio cassette of the theme song. Yes, an
audio cassette. Takes you back, eh? Some posters on Hype might not even remember them.
Naturally the
STREET FIGHTER II ANIMATED MOTION PICTURE in the early 90's set the standard for fighting game anime and is usually a top choice even today, with a re-released DVD edition looking as sharp as ever; the late 80's-early 90's were really a high point for theatrical anime in some ways. That flick got me started on anime in 6th grade and so the SF franchise has some soft spot for me. The TV series came out when I was 15 and I had seen most of one episode via a bootleg copy from my Comic Book Club so I was anxious for it, and at the time, I loved SF II V, although I still felt then as I do now that the FATAL FURY anime is/was better overall.
Anyway, next gen consoles have essentially wiped out a lot of the popularity of arcade fighters (IMO) from where they once were, but in 1996-1998 Street Fighter was still fairly "hot"; STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 1 & 2 were still fresh in the arcades, after all, offering new animated sprites of old faves. The II V series (the V is for Victory, I am told) dove into this element and I am sure has been a hit for Manga Video/Entertainment, as they have kept the property in print. The ads for the VHS editions offer a window of many titles Manga Entertainment either has allowed to be sold to other distribution companies, like GIANT ROBO, or stuff that let lapse out of print, like one of my faves, DEVILMAN.
Watching it now, the most startling thing is this show was completely shameless with reusing footage, and it only got worse as the episodes wore on (the animation budget wasn't terribly high and got worse by midway through); sometimes an episode would reuse footage it had JUST SHOWED less than 5 minutes prior. Ryu & Ken do the same exact movements over and over again, almost to the point of parody. Speaking of parody, another thing that surprised me now is how awkwardly M. Bison shifts from being used for semi-intentional humor and then for intimidation. Witness one of M. Bison's first major dialogue sequences in an episode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JsNMkO-8WY
Yes, he literally LAUGHS SO HARD AS TO TIP HIS CHAIR, THEN RANDOMLY CRUSHES IT WITH PSYCHO-POWER. M. Bison would have plenty of moments of awkward melodramatic laughter and posturing. But oddly, the villain still maintains some appeal. He is the ultimate video game boss, after all.
This series wasn't connected to the first film, although if you suspended belief and came up with some ideas in your head, you could try to. In a way it takes an "Ultimate" approach, using most of the major characters as teenagers; Ryu & Ken are 17, Chun-Li is 15, Vega is 18 and I believe Fei Long was about that age, too. Yet it seemed to me the series essentially forgot how young their heroes were supposed to be, especially in a sequence where Bison literally delves into pedophilia. Of course, anime has plenty of menacing of minors so it just establishes how nasty he is.
The other major thing that hit me is the sheer buckets of unintentional homoerotica, and I don't think I'm a prude or have any issues with homosexuals. In episode 1, Ken strips Ryu's pants during sparring to check out his underwear. By episode 2 they are swimming nekkid together in a pool with Ken literally flexing his manhood before Ryu's wide eyes. Then they have psychic rapports, complete each other's sentences, say each other's names like Scott & Jean of the X-Men. In one episode where Brainwashed Ryu is fighting Ken (like the motion picture, only reversed roles), and Bison is watching from a view-screen summoning his Psycho Power for...some reason, and the pair are summoning their chi supers, I literally broke down laughing when Ken screams,
"Go ahead! Shoot it!" and after some more manly grunting, Bison chimes in,
"Indeed! Shoot it, Ryu, SHOOT IT!!". C'mon, I can't be alone here.
Despite all that, though, the series is cool for SF fans. The designs are pretty good and certain side characters are handled magnificently; Guile, Vega, and Dhalsim especially. Vega easily all but steals the series with his psycho stalking and high flying claw attacks. Ken also seems to get the lion's share of the focus towards the end and seems to develop his chi attack a lot faster than Ryu ever did. Ken can bust out one glowing dragon punch after the other while Ryu still passes out after waving his arms in a circle for 15 minutes to produce his fireball. Ken's oddly a redhead, but that isn't much bother. Akuma makes background cameos and plenty of SF characters are missing; Balrog seems especially wasted (the Japanese intro shows him as a boxer, which is comically misleading; all he does is spy for Bison and offers no resistance when Cammy starts beating him down), and I see some missed oppurtunities when Ryu & Ken fought made up losers instead of some classic characters. Instead of "Mr. Damned" in episode 2, why not Blanka? That sort of thing. The American voice acting team actually does a good job; Manga Video allowed many of the actors to reprise their roles from the Motion Picture and even past this series into the Alpha movie, which was released around 2000-2001 or so. The actors for all the major characters just seem to gel well, especially after the motion picture. The guy who voices Bison just gives off so much over-the-top evil that he can make a lot of awkward lines work. The music is catchy and some of the fighting is pretty good, least for the time. Most animation from before the year 2000 is showing it's age now, and this surely does.
Still, if you are a STREET FIGHTER fan, this was easily the best anime of the franchise after the Motion Picture; both of the Alpha movies (Alpha and Generations) are disappointing in comparison. The core characters are fleshed out somewhat in the beginning and the story doesn't really drag until the end, but even when it does, it has a storyarc where past actions effect future actions. By about midway, though, via repeat animation and starting the first 1-4 minutes of every episode with the last 1-4 minutes of the prior episode, things tend to drag. This is fine now, but when I was originally collecting these at 3 episodes a pop for 10 months, it got irksome. This isn't something that stands well to criticism, but works fine if you let some of it go, have a good time and recall that inner fanboy who couldn't find enough quarters to play STREET FIGHTER II with.
