Street Fighter Alpha

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
98 mins
Year
1999

Street Fighter Alpha

By KRis
23rd May 04

Street Fighter Alpha is also named Street Fighter Zero. What's the difference between the two? I don't think there is much different except the quality. I had seen Alpha instead of Zero so I'm not too sure. Anyways, I had seen Alpha at my friends house one night. That was a long time ago. I think I fell asleep. But, Alpha was my second anime experience and I wasn't into anime at all then. That was a few years ago. Nowadays, there is quite a bit of Street Fighter anime that I have seen. So I decided to watch Alpha again, just to see what I missed while I was asleep.

Street Fighter Alpha takes place in Japan, (surprised?) with of coarse, Ryu and Ken. During the opening credits you see this bad ass guy with red hair known as Akuma. Akuma is by far the best character that has emerged from the Street Fighter universe. Akuma had trained under the same master as Ken and Ryu, but instead of learning "good" Hadou, he chose to learn the Dark Hadou. Thus he was changed into an unstoppable killing machine. He later kills his master and disappears. So we have Ken and Ryu in Japan, along with Chun-Li. Ken and Ryu are training like they usually do and all of a sudden a boy shows up. The boy introduces himself as............shit, I forgot his name. Oh well, he is Ryu's little brother. So the boy stays with Ken and Ryu and also takes part in their training. Later one night, Ryu wakes up and feels an evil force taking over him. He tries to fight it, but he can't stop it. Ryu tries to get away from the others but Ken shows up and helps Ryu. Later they find out that the evil force is really the Dark Hadou. So I guess from there the plot picks up after they go to a tournament and some whacko scientist kidnaps Ryu's brother. In Alpha, we don't get to see as much characters as The Animated Movie shows. Just a few old and a few new. We also get to finally see a new villain instead of the faggot M. Bison, also known as Vega in Japanese. They kinda changed the names between the Japanese and English versions. Akuma isn't really the villain in Alpha, rather the scientist, but we still see lots of him anyways. Here's a surprise, Chun-Li actually doesn't go after any men. I think Chun-Li has turned over a new leaf. Maybe, maybe not.

Street Fighter Alpha is by faaaaar the best chapter to Street Fighter. The art is the best I've ever seen. Alpha shows what Street Fighter is really like. The fighting was quick and not so predictable. The music wasn't too bad, considering it was Street Fighter. The ending left you with a few loose ends, but not so much that it would confuse you or anything. But I liked the ending pretty much. I suggest you try it. A seven is the best I would EVER give Street Fighter.

7/10

-- KRis 23rd May 04

Street Fighter Alpha Images