Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie



Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, originally released in Japan as Street Fighter II Movie (ストリートファイターII MOVIE) is a 1994 animated film adaptation of the Street Fighter II fighting games written by Kenichi Imai, directed by Gisaburō Sugii and animated by Group TAC. The movie, originally released in Japan on August 8, 1994, has been adapted into English in dubbed and subtitled format by Manga Entertainment, who later produced the TV series Street Fighter II V.

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie was well received among fans of the games, and is generally considered to be far superior to the live-action film which followed it. The action sequences had a very realistic portrayal in comparison to other Street Fighter anime, and action anime in general, due to the assistance of K-1 founder and professional fighter, Kazuyoshi Ishii and Andy Hug. Though the movie's events do not seem to be acknowledged by the main games' storyline, many of the details were included in later games, in particular the Street Fighter Alpha series.

Plot summary
The movie begins with Japanese martial artist Ryu facing off against Muay Thai champion Sagat. With the thunder roaring in the background, they fight an epic duel. However, despite his renowned strength and abilities, Sagat has some difficulty defeating his opponent. Channeling his chi, he unleashes his built-up internal energy at his challenger. Ryu evades the blow, but Sagat knocks him down with a couple of kicks. Sagat attempts to finish Ryu off. However, Ryu counter-attacks with his technique the Shoryuken, inflicting a severe wound on Sagat's chest, a wound that later becomes Sagat's trademark scar. Enraged, Sagat charges towards Ryu. Ryu gathers internal energy and unleashes it in the form of a Hadoken, at which point it cuts to the film's title.

Time has passed since his battle with Sagat, and Ryu now travels the Asian continent in search of battle. On the other side of the world, Ken, Ryu's old training partner, friend, and rival, finds himself dissatisfied with the lack of challenge. Eagerly desiring a rematch with Ryu, he reminisces over his childhood experiences. Meanwhile, a terrorist organization called Shadoloo, led by a man named M. Bison, plots to kidnap Street Fighters around the world in order to brainwash them and use them to carry out assassinations. After witnessing footage of Ryu's battle against Sagat, Bison gains an interest in capturing Ryu, due to his immense fighting potential.



Chun-Li, an Interpol agent with a personal score to settle with Bison, seeks the help of Guile, whom she enlists him in locating Ryu. While gathering information on Ryu's known whereabouts, they also warn other Street Fighters, such as Dee Jay, to look out for Monitor Cyborgs in their general vicinity. This attracts Bison's attention, and he subsequently dispatches his assassin Vega to New York to kill Chun-Li. Vega ambushes Chun-Li in her apartment, and they engage in a vicious and bloody duel. The fight takes its toll on both fighters, but Chun-Li emerges as the victor by actually kicking Vega through the wall and sending him falling to the street below (via the Hyakuretsukyaku), albeit at a heavy cost: she passes out from blood loss and slips into a coma just as Guile arrives to help.

Guile continues the investigation in place of Chun-Li, vowing revenge for what Bison did to the both of them. Bison gains an interest in Ken after seeing Monitor Cyborg footage of him fighting T. Hawk and notices that Ken uses the same martial art style as Ryu. Meanwhile, rumors of an underground terrorist organization named Shadoloo that has unleashed several attacks on worldwide governments and political figures attracts the interest of Interpol. After learning of Ken's whereabouts, he heads over to Seattle. Ken, meanwhile, is driving home after dropping off Eliza, to whom he has just proposed. On the way, though, he's ambushed by Bison, who captures him easily. Guile arrives after Bison's VTOL jet flies away only to find Ken's vacant car in the middle of a deserted road. With no other leads, Guile heads to Southeast Asia in the hopes of getting to Ryu before Bison does. Bison, however, is aware of Guile's intentions and sets out on an intercept course with Ken in tow. Sagat begs Bison to allow him to fight Ryu again, but Bison reminds Sagat that he has orders to go to New York to eliminate Cammy and Vega. Out in Southeast Asia, Guile finds Ryu and warns him of the plot and the possibility that Ken may have been brainwashed. At that point Bison arrives, and steps out of the jet with Ken.



Controlled by Bison, Ken fights Ryu with a seething rage. Ryu, unwilling to hurt his friend, attempts to reason with him. Bison defeats Guile easily, while Bison's henchman Balrog and E. Honda fight (while rolling off the mountain in the process). Meanwhile, Ken beats Ryu savagely, who is unwilling to hurt his friend. Memories of the past wreak havoc on Ken's mind, and finally, through memories of his past with Ryu, Ken succeeds in breaking Bison's influence on him. However, Bison appears and uses his power to knock him out, and then tosses him into the forest behind the battlefield. With no help at hand, Ryu takes on Bison alone and is beaten back. Ken regains consciousness, and discovers he cannot move his legs, but finally manages to climb to the top of a hill and witnesses Ryu's battle against Bison. Upon seeing this, Ken recalls his master's teachings of Neijia and the I Ching to heal his body and rejoins the battle. Aiding Ryu, the pair succeed in defeating Bison with a combined Hadoken, seemingly vanquishing Bison. The Hadoken flies into the VTOL, which explodes. Ryu and Ken assume that Bison has been defeated, and E. Honda reemerges carrying the unconscious bodies of Guile and Balrog to witness the end of the spectacle.

Later that night, a combined Interpol and Military air strike successfully locates, and bombards Shadoloo's main base of operations. Guile returns to the hospital and finds out that Chun-Li has recovered from her injuries (after she plays a practical joke on him).

Somewhere in America, Ryu and Ken bid farewell to each other, as Eliza arrives to pick Ken up. Ryu begins his journey anew. That is, until he sees a huge truck heading right for him with Bison (who apparently teleported himself sometime after the Hadoken hits him and before it hits the jet) in the driver's seat. Thinking of preparing for another match, Ryu readies to fight against the Shadoloo leader.

1995 home video version
Two English dubbed version were released directly to VHS and Laserdisc in 1995: a tamer, PG-13 version and an unrated version which contains, among other things, a slightly more revealing shower scene featuring Chun-Li that is still censored from the original Japanese version. The UK version contains the Chun-Li shower scene and all the swearing and is rated 15 by the British Board of Film Classification. In addition, a slightly different version of this movie appears on both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection as a bonus feature accessible from Hyper Street Fighter II ' s Gallery Mode. It is more censored than the PG-13 version in terms of language, and contains some other minor edits not related to mature or vulgar content.

The American VHS releases and the version in the North American Street Fighter Anniversary Collection were "pan and scan", while the Region 1 DVD has non-anamorphic widescreen. The European VHS version is non-anamorphic widescreen. These localized English versions replaced the original Japanese soundtrack consisting of J-Pop, orchestral, and jazz with licensed, popular alternative, Western music from Korn, KMFDM, Alice in Chains, and other bands, as well a new instrumental score.

2006 DVD version
An Uncut, Uncensored, Unleashed DVD of the movie was released on July 18, 2006 and addresses the complaints made about the censored English versions of the movie in 1995. Unlike the previous unrated version released in the US which was still censored, this release is uncut from the original Japanese version and for the first time ever (for non-Japanese releases of this movie), it contains the original Japanese soundtrack in addition to the Western soundtrack (both featuring a new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix). It is a double-sided DVD, with one side containing the English dub with the Western soundtrack and the other side containing the original Japanese voices with the original Japanese soundtrack with optional English subtitles.

The video on the English and Japanese sides differ, though, with the Japanese side sporting what appears to be a new, higher quality transfer from the original Japanese master. Like the original Japanese release, the movie is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. Also, the addition of Chun-Li's shower scene and a longer credit roll makes the Japanese cut of the film longer by two minutes.

Japanese version
There were two CDs released in Japan of the movie's soundtrack. Both CDs were released in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. The first CD was released on August 1, 1994, while the second CD was released on November 21, 1994. The entire second CD consisted of the musical score pieces by Tetsuya Komuro that did not appear on the first CD.

English version
The alternative/grunge-oriented musical score for the English version was composed by Cory Lerios and John D'Andrea of Baywatch fame. Songs featured in the movie include "Blind" by Korn; "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains; "Israel's Son" by Silverchair; ""Hallucinations (Dream World Mix)" by In the Nursery; "Evil Dancer" by Black/Note; "Ultra" by KMFDM; "Cuz I'm Like Dat" by Smokin Suckaz Wit Logic; and "Mantra" by Intermix.

Related media
Capcom released an interactive movie game based on the film, simply titled Street Fighter II Movie for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1995. The game involves the player taking the role of Shadowlaw's "monitor cyborgs", who would simply observe the events of the movie to collect move data from fighters. The game's fight sequences features an interface similar to Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Cyborg's Special Moves includes the Hadoken, the Shoryuken and the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, as well as Ken's Super Combo from Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the Shoryureppa.

A manga adaptation of the film was authored by Takayuki Sakai and serialized in the monthly CoroCoro Comic in 1994, later collected in a single tankōbon. An English adaptation of this manga was published Viz Communications as a six-issue comic book in 1996.

Street Fighter II: Yomigaeru Fujiwara-Kyou is a quasi-sequel to the film, an educational short film which takes place after the movie and details Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and E. Honda being sent to the past to Fujiwara, where Ken tells Ryu about the history of the ancient capital before they are sent back to the present.

Legacy
The success of this movie prompted Capcom to create the Street Fighter Alpha series and flesh out the backstory of many of the characters; in addition, several details from the film were included in the storyline of the series and other future games.
 * In the movie, before facing Blanka, Zangief points towards Balrog in a "You're next!" style. This causes the boxer to get enraged and inflate up his chest (the gesture bursts all the buttons of his white social shirt) to show his own physique for Zangief in a "I don't fear you!" gesture. During his win animation in the Capcom vs. SNK series, Balrog flexes as he did in the Street Fighter II games, except he entirely rips his shirt in the process instead of merely bursting the buttons.
 * A thicker, more muscular look for Bison was used in the Street Fighter Alpha series, a contrast from the slender version seen in the Street Fighter II series.
 * Ryu and Ken team up against Bison in a secret Dramatic Battle in the original Street Fighter Alpha. In the Japanese arcade version of the game, an instrumental QSound rendition of "Itoshisa to Setsunasa to Kokorotsuyosa" is played instead of Bison's regular theme in the game.
 * The VTOL jet that Bison used in the movie is seen in many endings in the Alpha series. It is also seen in Bison's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2.
 * The grass field in Australia where Ryu fights Sagat at the beginning of the movie is the stage for Sagat's final battle against Ryu in the Arcade mode of Street Fighter Alpha 2, complete with lightning in the background.
 * Ryu's red headband is a gift from Ken, shown in Ken's ending in Street Fighter Alpha 2.
 * Senoh, Bison's mad scientist servant, makes a cameo appearance in Bison's ending in Street Fighter Alpha 2.
 * Bison's ending in Alpha 2 is meant to parallel his capture and subsequent brainwashing of Ken in the film, but with Ryu in his place. In Street Fighter Alpha 3 during Ryu's story line, he encounters Ken, who was brainwashed by Bison, and fights him before battling Bison himself. Ken's brainwashing by Bison was also the inspiration for the character Violent Ken from SVC Chaos.
 * In X-Men vs. Street Fighter and later games, Cammy will remove a red cloak similar to the one in the movie at the beginning of each match.
 * In his battle intros, Zangief also appears wearing the red cape he wears when he is first seen in the movie.
 * Ken's longer hair, seen in flashbacks in the movie, is the same style in which it appears in the games.
 * Chun-Li and Guile's partnership was first established in this movie.
 * The Monitor Cyborgs have a similar appearance to Seth and Sagat.
 * In Capcom Fighting Evolution, when Demitri Maximoff (from Capcom's Darkstalkers series) uses his Midnight Bliss attack on Ryu, the latter will transform into the little girl he met in Calcutta.
 * In Street Fighter X Tekken, Cammy's Cross Art involves her twisting the opponent's neck in a similar way to which she twisted the British justice minister's neck in the film.
 * Ryu's backpack used in the film appears with him in the Street Fighter Alpha series, his Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter ending, the Street Fighter III series, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes.

Trivia

 * The method the movie uses to introduce the title (Ryu performing the Hadoken onto the screen) is exactly the same as the intro to Super Street Fighter II.
 * Akuma makes a cameo appearance in the movie, sitting against a wall in Calcutta shortly before the assassination attempt. However, fullscreen versions cut him out.
 * When Ken is driving on the highway, and is about to go head on with a semi-truck, the Capcom logo can be seen on its side.
 * While the name of Ryu and Ken's master is never spoken on-screen, it appears printed as "Goutetsu" when Ryu's and Ken's profiles are compared on a monitor. In the games' continuity, Gouken is Ryu and Ken's master, while Goutetsu was actually Gouken and Akuma's teacher.
 * During the English credits, Cammy's and Dee Jay's names are spelled "Cammie" and "DJ" respectively.
 * In the Japanese version before the battle between Chun-Li and Vega, the former is shown completely nude (her buttocks and breasts explicitly seen) while taking a shower in her apartment, which was later added back in the uncut DVD version.
 * At the end of the credits to the Japanese version, a small announcement about the live action Street Fighter movie is shown, with a "Spring 1995" release for Japan.
 * During his fight against E. Honda, Balrog's face is drawn differently, with his eyes constantly pointed in different directions among other details.
 * Guile's clothing colors change at many random points in the film, even where it doesn't make any sense for them to have done so, such as between camera angles in the same scene.
 * T. Hawk is voiced by Steven Blum, who would later go on to voice Ken in Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation.
 * Whether intentional or not, the film appears to borrow several elements from Dragon Ball, particularly the anime adaptation of Dragon Ball Z, such as the following:
 * Bison's monitor cyborgs scout the world for fighters by analysing them during battle and measuring their power levels, in a very similar fashion to the scouters in Dragon Ball Z.
 * Like the aforementioned scouters, the monitor cyborgs are unable to detect a fighter's Ki if successfully repressed, while normal humans such as Dhalsim can train themselves to detect nearby power levels without the aid of technology, like the Z Fighters in Dragon Ball Z.
 * Bison spends the majority of the movie aboard his aircraft until the final battle where he finally steps in, similar to King Piccolo in Dragon Ball. Interestingly, in his corresponding saga, King Piccolo also seeks out the world's strongest martial artists, but for the purpose of killing them so that they will not pose a threat to him.
 * The final fight between Ryu, Ken and Bison is strikingly similar to several fights in Dragon Ball Z, where the hero aims several blows at the villain at super-fast speed only for the villain to block or dodge each one with little effort, and the hero only manages to break through the villain's guard by catching them at a precise, well-timed moment. Ryu's tactic of grabbing Bison's leg so that Ken can hit him is also similar to when Chiaotzu grabs Piccolo's leg and gives Tien and Yamcha the chance to strike him.
 * Ryu and Ken's tactic of defeating Bison with a combined Hadoken is similar to Goku and his family combining their Kamehameha waves into a more powerful one to defeat the villain in several Dragon Ball Z movies in the late '80s and early '90s. Of note, the Hadoken itself is renowned for its striking similarities to the Kamehameha wave.