Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation



Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, released in Japan as Street Fighter Zero: The Animation (ストリートファイターZERO) and also known as Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie on the home video packaging, is a two-part original video animation film released in 2000 based on the Street Fighter Alpha series. It was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, with character designs by Yoshihiko Umakoshi. An English adaptation was produced by Manga Entertainment and released in 2001.

Although based on the Street Fighter Alpha series, the movie is not canon to the Street Fighter series.

Story
The movie begins as Ryu contemplates the death of his master, Gouken. As he's thinking about this, a shootout is taking place nearby. Chun-Li, an officer of Interpol, is engaged in combat with several thugs from the Shadoloo organization. The situation takes a turn for the worse when a small boy is taken hostage by one of the thugs. It is at that point that Ryu jumps in, gets the boy for from the area, and uses his fighting techniques on the criminals. Chun-Li and Sakura are in awe of his skill as they watched him fight with grace.

Ryu returns to the temple to Gouken's grave to pay his respects, when he suddenly has a strange vision, in which Rose tells him that he must grow stronger in order to control his darkness. This vision is interrupted, however, when Ryu encounters his best friend and former training partner, Ken. As they place flowers on the tomb, and Ken leaves to get some water for them, Ryu is suddenly overcome by the ki of the Satsui no Hadou for a short time, with images of the warrior Akuma flash through his mind. Ken rushes back up to Ryu when he witnesses a large release of energy from his general area. He sees Ryu lying on the ground, and a young boy standing near him.

The boy reveals himself to be Shun, Ryu's little brother, though both Ryu and Ken have little doubts about him. Regardless, they let him train and live with them for a while. One night, though, the Satsui no Hadou swells within him again. After Ken calms him down, Ryu tells him to kill him if the ki ever completely overtakes him. Later, a new Street Fighter tournament is announced. Ken and Shun are both prepared to enter, but Ryu decides it best that they stay out, for fear of the Satsui no Hadou within him could take over him if he was to fight a strong opponent.

As they seek out the location of the tournament, Ryu and Shun are attacked by a few rowdy street thugs. Shun displays his skill by beating the thugs senseless, but then he begins to take it overboard (possibly from the Satsui no Hadou), almost strangling one to death unknowingly, until Ryu tells him to stop. They're located by Chun-Li, who requests Ryu's help in tracking down Shadowlaw. As they enter the tournament building, they witness a rather brutal battle between Dan and Vega.

Meanwhile, Ken runs into Sakura, who's being attacked by drunks in a bar. Ken easily takes them out, and when Sakura asks if he knows Ryu, he takes her to the place where he left the brothers, only to find that they aren't there. They proceed into the tournament building, but Ken discovers that it's too late to sign up. Instead, he decides to go witness the fight already occurring. At this point, Shun is fighting Zangief. Shun holds his own for a while, displaying the same raw brutality that he did in the previous fight. However, when Ryu starts to see that Shun is in trouble and is being crushed, he intervenes in the fight. At that point, the ki of theSatsui No Hadou begins to corrupt his spirit once again. Ryu fires off a Metsu Hadoken which just barely misses Zangief but causes parts of the building to collapse. Zangief falls through the crumbling floor. Dr. Sadler, the sponsor of the tournament, is impressed by Ryu's skill to harness it. As Ryu asks Shun where he learned the power of the Satsui no Hadou, they are approached by Dr. Sadler's gigantic cyborg Rosanov, who attacks Ryu. Chun-Li jumps into the fight, but neither of them have much process against the robotic beast, and just as it's about to blast Ryu into an unconscious state, Shun gets in the way and takes the shot for him. As he hugs Shun tightly, The Satsui no Hadou overtakes Ryu in a burst of Rage, and he destroys the cyborg with a Shinku Hadoken. Shun is then carried away by Shadolaw agents in a helicopter. Ken carries Sakura, who now has a broken leg, to the Tama Hospital in Tamagotchi Town.

At this point, Ryu has completely lost the will to fight and become very depressed because he could not rescue Shun, even a few street thugs to beat him to a pulp. Ken visits Sakura in the hospital, telling her only to continue fighting if she's really for it, because it's also a road to pain. Ryu has another vision with Rose, who tells him to save Shun from both Dr. Sadler and from himself. Ryu eventually decides that he's going to rescue Shun, but first, he has to see somebody.

Ryu and Chun-Li venture out to a wheat field filled with what look like wooden tombs. Akuma's voice can be heard, and he recognizes Ryu as a student of Gouken. It is apparent that Ryu has come here to test his self-control over the Satsui no Hadou as Akuma's ki is awakening Ryu's ki. He then asks Akuma if he has a son, referring to Shun. Akuma wanders off, telling him that where he walks and fights, he fights alone.

Ryu is later confronted by Ken, who wants to remind him that he can be strong without resorting to the Satsui no Hadou. They engage each other in a short but brutal fight which ends in a draw. As they both lie on the ground, breathing heavily, Ryu once again asks Ken to kill him if the Satsui no Hadou completely consumes him. Ken reluctantly agrees through a silent nod despite not wanted to do so.

Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li decide to fly out to Sadler's laboratory, traveling along with Birdie, Adon, Guy, Rolento, Dhalsim, and Dan. Upon their landing, they also run into the warrior Sodom and its pal Wario.

The various fighters duke it out in Sadler's arena when he shows the prize money, while Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li investigate. Birdie, being the first winner after defeating Dan, is led to a room by Sadler's men, gassed and imprisoned. Later, he's freed by Ken and Chun-Li. Ryu wanders off and finds a garden filled with children in white robes. Ryu sees a boy that looks like Shun but has freckles and blue eyes, and as the boy stares soullessly at Ryu he suddenly crumbles to the ground and starts convulsing, apologizing to Sadler. Ryu appears to feel pity for boy and hated of Sadler.

As Ken and Chun-Li carry away Birdie, they are attacked by what seems to be the same cyborg that Ryu destroyed during the earlier tournament. It makes quick work of Birdie and knocks him outside, and Ken tells Chun-Li to leave with Birdie and of him to fight him the cyborg. It fires a blast of ki at Ken, then captures Birdie and tries to carry him off. Birdie wakes up and tries to sneak attack the cyborg, but he's quickly defeated and knocked out once again. Chun-Li tries to take him down too, but she's also defeated. Ken returns, and the cyborg takes a lot out of him, but Ken attempts to stay up and continue the fight. Ryu arrives at the scene, only to realize that the cyborg they've been fighting is actually Shun, who is being controlled by Sadler. He tells Ryu that if he doesn't use the Satsui no Hadou fully, Ken will die. Ryu attempts to take him down without using very damaging techniques, but as he does, the data from the fight is pumped into Sadler's body, making him more powerful. None of his attacks are particularly effective, and Shun keeps taunting him. He becomes enraged as the controlled Shun proceeds to use a Shinku Hadoken on Ken who has collapsed due to his injuries. In a desperate final assault to free the boy, Ken unleases his powerful Shoryuken on the Cyborg dislocating its jaw before collapsing once more, this time unable to continue fighting. In Ryu's desperation, theSatsui no Hadou begins to take over him completely, Ryu tries not to fire his Hadouken at Shun, but the ki has become so much stronger then before that he accidentally fires it at him through the cyborg's abdomen, blasting and freeing Shun out of its body.

Sadler then emerges from his lab, with a new, pumped up body powered up by the Satsui no Hadou, and attacks Ryu with a barrage of punches, kicks and headbutts quickly. As Ryu powers up a Hadoken in angry as the Satsui no Hadou is still flowing through him, his friends, as well as Shun, ask him to fight off the Satsui no Hadou, but just as he was about to shoots, Rose came out of fear for him and helped him overcome it. Sadler then fires a Hadoken which overwhelms Ryu. Amidst Sadler's attack Ryu returns to a normal state and fires an stronger Hadouken than ever even without the Satsui no Hadou, he fires it at him, the ki itself was so powerful that it disintegrates Sadler.

Shun tells Ryu that the reason he lied was so he could get money for him and his mother to survive. Ryu tells Shun that it is all right and he'll never use the Satsui no Hadou again. After that, Shun dies form the lost of his life force that was drained by Sadler, and for a moment, Ryu almost gets emotional and angry. He puts Shun's dead body down and is driven with a greater than ever desire to fight to better himself as a warrior.

The movie ends with the fighters returning to their normal lives, and a sparring match between Ryu and Akuma to show him that he is nothing like him.

Trivia

 * In the hospital, Sakura is playing the WonderSwan version of Pocket Fighter''. In the game, Chun-Li is fighting Ibuki.
 * The word "Hadouken" is never vocalized in the film, though the attack is used several times.
 * Professor Sadler replaces M. Bison as the antagonist and Charlie is never seen. Although Sagat's name is mentioned, he does not make an appearance.
 * Although she is wearing her Alpha outfit in the movie, Chun-Li's design and color schemes are slightly different than the games. Her schemes consist of red, green and yellow, instead of the actual blue and yellow.
 * This is one of the few anime Street Fighter movies where Ryu is more of a hero than a warrior.