Released back in 1994 as a adaptation of the Street Fighter II games by Gisaburo Sugii, and dubbed just a year later, Street Fighter II's story almost plays out like a Street Fighter game would. M-Bison, leader of the Shadowlaw crime organization, is capturing and observing fighters for all over the world in order to create the perfect warrior. Already, he has the powerful fighters Vega, Sagat, and Balrog under his control, as well as the sexy Cammy. When Sagat has been bested in a fight against Ryu, Bison becomes obsessed with capturing him, and goes as far as to capture his friend Ken and temporarily convert him into one of his goons.
At the same time, Interpol has been tracking Shadowlaw's movements and activities. Chun-Li, one of Interpol's greatest and sexiest of agents, comes into contact with U.S. Army colonel Guile in hopes of a joint operation. It doesn't work well at first, since Guile himself has been hunting down Bison out of revenge. After getting wooped in a fight with Chun-Li, he reluctantly agrees to the partnership.
In the midst of all this criminal activity is Ryu himself. He on a journey, looking for the best fighters he can find, and challenging them to a match. He eventually gets caught up in what's going on when he shows up in America, and joins up with Chun-Li & Guile. Throughout the entire time, action stands around every corner.
As for the show's animation, I can say that it's pretty impressive. I've been a big fan of 90s anime the past couple years, and that makes me a little bias, but this movie really does look splendid. All the guys (well, most of them) are built like tanks, and could crush just about anything their hands touch. Although there are only 2 girls in the movie (Cammy & Chun-Li), they are lithe, sexy, and could kill you with just a blink of their eyes. The landscapes are impressive. Capcom easily captured the opulence of America, the majesty of Thailand's mountains, the despair of India's slums, and the royalty of England's state buildings.
One interesting note about the fight scenes is that they were choreographed! It doesn't look like it, but it was. K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii and the late Andy Hug performed a couple of fights, which were later put into the film. In this day and age, it's easy to do for an animated film, but for the early 90s, it was hard as hell.
The sound effects, especially during the fight scenes, are also well done. When you hear a punch or a kick, you can almost feel it yourself. The soundtrack is also good, with western bands like Korn and Alice in Chains being used along side the original Japanese Soundtrack. Although some dubbing during the 90s wasn't the best (I'm looking at you Sailor Moon!), that's not the case for this movie. In fact, for any Vic Mignogna fans out there, this was his very first voice acting role. As Vega no less! In regards to the rest of the characters, they all sound pretty good as well.
On a final positive point, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie happens to still be fairly available, despite it's age. The 1997 film still has copies out there. I got my 1997 version for free at a cosplay picnic swap meet, but you can find used copies on Amazon for as little as $1.11. There is also a much newer edition of the film that got released back in 2006, with new copies costing as much as $9.68 and uses copies going for $4.92. In either case, it isn't expensive to buy, and is worth the purchase.
Now, onto the bad things about the movie. Fortunately, there are only 2 things wrong. The first is the characters. Pretty much every character from the first games are there: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, etc, etc. However, some characters have much more screen time. Cammy, for example, appears only in the beginning of the film, and a little bit in the middle. In fact, a few of the popular characters, like Blanka, Zangief, and even Deejay are only given moments of screen time. Although to be fair, Blanka & Zangief does have a minute or so on screen during their fight. I'm willing to forgive the animators for this, since I'm not a massive fan for the series in general, and that it may have been impossible to give everybody a chunk of time given the 96 minutes that this movie lasts, but hardcore Street Fighter fans may be disappointed by the amount of time their favorite character may be on screen.
Next is the censorship, and this is where things get a bit interesting. When Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie was dubbed, it was released on VHS and Laserdisc simultaneously. Regardless of what it was released on, there was a tame PG-13 version, and a uncensored version that had Chun-Li's complete shower scene, and even this was still censored from the Japanese edition. When the 2006 edition was released, it was a dual-sided DVD, with the Japanese edition on one side, and the English dub on the other. The US & UK dubs are still slightly censored, with the word "Fuck" (sorry if I offended anybody with that word) cut out of two scenes in the US version. Strangely enough, the only edition of the movie to not be uncensored at all was the Australian edition, and I haven't found a copy of that yet.
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie gets a 8 out of 10. The animation looks great, the sound effects were awesome, and the availability (as well as it's pricing) is decent, but the length of time for some characters, as well as the censorship, may drive some fans crazy.
Before I sign out, I wanted to tell you the interesting news that came my way. A couple weeks ago, my mom found me a part-time job. This job involves helping out an older woman with her gardening before the winter comes in, which isn't all that different with what I do now. I might not get much money from it, but at least it will help me out for a month or two.
Until next time, stay Otaku!
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