- "Enter a new dimension!"
- —Ryu
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 Sutorīto Faitā Zero?, Street Fighter Zero) and also known as Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie on the home video packaging, is an original video animation (OVA) film released in 2000. This spin-off film is based on both Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2. It was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, with character designs by Yoshihiko Umakoshi. An English dub was produced by Manga Entertainment and released in 2001. The film is not a prequel or sequel to either Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie or Street Fighter II V, but an independent installment, although a handful of voice actors from previous adaptations reprised their roles for the English version of the movie.
Story
Prologue
Set before the events of the film, a Japanese martial artist named Ryu and his best friend, rival and former training partner, Ken Masters have both participated in the Street Fighter Tournament hosted by a Muay Thai master named Sagat. Ryu gets ahead of Ken on the tournament ladder and starts to gains recognition by defeating nine competing fighters including Birdie and Adon, Ryu makes it onto the finals with Sagat and defeats him with a blow so strong that it knocked the eye-patch off of Sagat's face. Ryu then disappears from his championship mysteriously to better his skills and potential, while Ken flies back to Japan to tell his sensei Gouken the good news that Ryu won the Street Fighter Tournament. But Akuma confronts Gouken's dojo and fought him in battle once again, using the Shun Goku Satsu on him. Ken saw the flash of the attack while running to his old dojo, but arrived only to find Gouken on the floor and in a pool of blood. Knowing who was behind this, Ken confronted Akuma in the woods and fought him, only to be easily defeated. After defeating Ken, Akuma disappeared without a trace.
Part I
The movie begins as Ryu contemplates the death of his master, Gouken after discovering this when Ken warned him about this tragedy. As he's thinking about this, a shootout is taking place nearby. Chun-Li, an officer of Interpol with her pistol-carrying American partner Wallace, both engage in combat with several thugs from the Shadaloo 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 far from the area, and uses his fighting techniques on the criminals. Chun-Li and Sakura are in awe of his skill as they watch him fight with grace.
Ryu returns to the temple and goes 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 inner darkness. This vision is interrupted, however, when Ryu encounters Ken once again. As they place flowers on the tomb, and Ken leaves to get some water for them, Ryu is suddenly overcome by the energy of the Satsui no Hadō for a short time, with images of Akuma flashing through his mind. As Ken rushes back up to Ryu, he witnesses a large release of energy from his general area. He sees Ryu lying unconscious on the ground, and a young boy standing near him.
The boy reveals himself to be Shun, Ryu's younger brother, though both Ryu and Ken have doubts about him. Regardless, they let him train and live with them for a while. One night, though, the Satsui no Hadō swells within him again. After Ken calms him down, Ryu tells him to kill him if the Satsui no Hadō ever completely overtakes him. Later, a Second Street Fighter Tournament is announced at an underground location. Ken and Shun are both prepared to enter, but Ryu decides to stay out, for fear of the Satsui no Hadō taking him over and putting others in danger.
While 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 goes too far by showing a streak of sadism, almost strangling one to death unknowingly and then attempting to beat him to death, until Ryu forces him to stop. They are located by Chun-Li, who requests Ryu's help in tracking down Shadaloo. As they finally enter the building where the Second Street Fighter Tournament is held, they witness a rather brutal battle between Dan and Vega, in which Dan is almost killed.
Meanwhile, Ken runs into Sakura, who's being harassed by a gang of thugs in a bar. Ken easily takes them out with swift kicks, and 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 for him to sign up. Instead, he decides to go watch the fight already occurring. At this point, the next match features Shun up against Zangief. Shun holds his own for a while, displaying the same raw brutality that he did in the previous fight. However, when Zangief turns the tables on Shun and gives him a brutal beating, Ryu decides to intervene.
At that point, the power of the Satsui no Hadō begins to corrupt his spirit once again, and Ryu fires off a Metsu Hadoken, but not before Ken interrupts him and brings him back to his senses. As a result, the attack barely misses Zangief and insteads smashes through a wall, causing parts of the building to start collapsing. Zangief ends up falling through the crumbling floor. Dr. Sadler, the sponsor of the tournament, is impressed by Ryu's destructive power, and plans to harness it.
Ryu asks Shun where he learned the power of the Satsui no Hadō. Shun explains that he learned it from his father, who possessed the power as well. Ryu suspects Shun's father to be Akuma, as he is the only one besides himself and Shun to possess the Satsui no Hadō, but is uncertain. Suddenly, the two are approached by Dr. Sadler's gigantic cyborg, Rosanov, who attacks Ryu. Ryu battles Rosanov, but is unable to harm him. Chun-Li jumps into the fight, but she is unable to stand against him, and is kicked to the side. Just as Rosanov is about to blast Ryu, Shun gets in the way and takes the shot for him. As he holds Shun tightly, the Satsui no Hadō overtakes Ryu in a burst of rage, and he destroys the cyborg with a Metsu Hadoken. Shun is then carried away by Shadaloo agents in a helicopter. Meanwhile, Ken carries Sakura, whose leg was broken by a piece of falling concrete, to the Tama Hospital in Tamagotchi Town. He later visits Sakura in the hospital, telling her only to continue fighting if she's ready for it, because it's also a road to pain.
Part II
After the destruction of the Second Street Fighter Tournament, Ryu is seen being beaten to a pulp by a group of street thugs; he has completely lost the will to fight and is very depressed because he could not rescue Shun. Suddenly, Ryu has another vision from Rose, who tells him to save Shun from both Dr. Sadler and himself. Ryu eventually decides that he's going to rescue Shun, but first has to see somebody.
Ryu and Chun-Li venture out to a mountainous area, filled with what appears to hundreds of wooden dolls. Akuma's voice is 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 Hadō as Akuma's energy is awakening Ryu's. He then asks Akuma if he has a son, referring to Shun. Akuma wanders off, telling him that where he walks and fights, he does so alone.
Ryu is later confronted by Ken, who wants to remind him that he can be strong without resorting to the Satsui no Hadō. 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 Hadō completely consumes him. Ken reluctantly nods.
Later, Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li decide to fly out to Sadler's laboratory via cargo plane, traveling along with both newcomer and veteran tournament competitors such as a recovered Dan, Guy, Rolento, Dhalsim, as well as Birdie and Adon who were both not happy to see Ryu and Ken once again for losing to the two dougi-clad karatekas in Sagat's tournament. Upon their landing, they also run into Sodom who traveled via cargo truck.
The ten various competitors duke it out in Sadler's arena continuing the Second Street Fighter Tournament, while Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li investigate. Birdie, being the first winner after defeating Dan, is led to a room by Sadler's men, where he is gassed and imprisoned. Later, Ken and Chun-Li freed the street fighters from a holding cell and Dan told them where Birdie is being kept so they can free him to.
Ryu wanders off and finds a garden filled with brainwashed little boys in white robes. Ryu sees a boy that looks like Shun from behind, but the boy turns around and has blue eyes with freckles on his face, and as he stares soullessly at Ryu, he suddenly crumbles to the ground and starts convulsing, apologizing to Sadler.
As Ken and Chun-Li carry away a weakened Birdie from stamina-draining laboratory equipment, they are attacked by what seems to be a repaired Rosanov, the same gigantic cyborg that Ryu destroyed during the tournament building. It makes quick work of Birdie and knocks him outside, and Ken tells Chun-Li to leave with Birdie while he fights off Rosanov. Rosanov fires a blast of energy at Ken, and then captures Birdie and tries to carry him off. Birdie wakes up and tries to sneak attack the cyborg, but he gets killed by getting strangled to death. Chun-Li tries to take him down too, but he severely injures her.
Ken returns and faces off against Rosanov, who wears him down, but Ken attempts to stand 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. Rosanov tells Ryu that, if he doesn't use the Satsui no Hadō, Ken will die.
Ryu refuses and attempts to take Rosanov down with his own power, 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 continues to taunt him. Ryu becomes enraged as Rosanov proceeds to use a Hadoken on Ken, who has collapsed due to his injuries. Chun-Li re-enters the fight and tries to damage Rosanov, but is easily subdued and slammed into the ground. Meanwhile, Ken recovers and temporarily breaks his vows of not fighting to kill, deciding to kill Rosanov once and for all. He then unleashes a powerful Shoryuken on the cyborg, dislocating his jaw before collapsing once more, unable to continue fighting. However, Rosanov snaps his jaw back into place, and Ryu is the last fighter left standing.
A combination of desperation, pity for Shun, and hatred for Sadler causes the Satsui no Hadō to take over Ryu once more. As he tries to maintain control, he is overcome, and fires a larger Metsu Hadoken at Rosanov, who fires back with a Hadoken of his own. Ryu proves to be more powerful and blasts through Rosanov's abdomen, finally defeating him, and freeing Shun from his body.
As a result of Ryu using the Satsui no Hadō to defeat Rosanov, Sadler becomes greatly empowered by the energy, becoming stronger and more insane. He then emerges from his lab, with his now-deformed body powered by the Satsui no Hadō, and attacks Ryu with a barrage of punches, kicks and headbutts. The Satsui no Hadō still drives Ryu. Meanwhile, Sadler prepare a Metsu Hadoken to finish off Ryu, who prepares a Metsu Hadoken of his own.
Just as Ryu is about to attack, Rose appears, informing him that he "hasn't drawn the death card yet". Ryu's friends, as well as Shun, tell him not to give into the Satsui no Hadō's corrupting influence. Sadler then fires his Hadoken which overwhelms Ryu. However, Ryu suddenly returns to normal, the Satsui no Hadō gone from his Hadoken, which is soon replaced with a brilliant light. Now free of the Satsui no Hadō's grasp, Ryu fires an immensely powerful Shinku Hadoken at Sadler that destroys both of the mad doctor's arms. Sadler openly wonders how Ryu was able to surpass him before his body completely disintegrates into ashes.
With the battle finally over, a weakened 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 that he'll never use the Satsui no Hadō again. After that, Shun finally succumbs to the injuries inflicted by Sadler's draining and dies. For a moment, Ryu almost gets emotional and angry. He puts Shun's corpse down, and is driven by a greater desire to never use the Satsui no Hadō again.
Epilogue
The movie ends with the street fighters returning to their normal lives where they claim personal victories of certain goals.
- Chun Li starts cleaning up crime in the same corrupted downtown city where Ryu and his friends fought street gang members as she finishes fighting all the rest of them, while Wallace arrests every last one of them.
- Kei watches Sakura train some more, as she finally finishes practicing all of her punches and kicks, she makes a second search quest to find Ryu on her journey and challenge him to her first one-on-one street fight.
- Ken becomes the only competing veteran to continue to participate in the Second Street Fighter Tournament that got postponed twice from the disasters caused by Evil Ryu and Rosanov's dark powers, and Ken champions the tournament by finishing off an unknown opponent with a rising uppercut blow.
- Lastly Ryu, however, has sought out a sparring match between him and Akuma to prove that he is truly nothing like him and never will be. Ryu and Akuma jump at each other and Ryu releases a triumphant shout as he prepares for battle.
Cast
Original Japanese version
| Character | Voice Actor |
|---|---|
| Ryu | Kane Kosugi |
| Ken | Kazuya Ichijou |
| Chun-Li | Yumi Touma |
| Gouki | Tomomichi Nishimura |
| Rose | Ai Orikasa |
| Sakura | Chiaki Osawa |
| Shun | Reiko Kiuchi |
| Wallace | Bin Shimada |
| Kei Chitose | Miki Nagasawa |
| Gouken | Ken Yamaguchi |
| Sadler | Daiki Nakamura |
| Rosanov | Hisao Egawa |
| Balrog | Kazuyuki Ishikawa |
| Zangief | Hidenari Ugaki |
| Dan | Kazuyuki Ishikawa |
| Birdie | Ryuzaburo Otomo |
| Adon | Wataru Takagi |
| Rolento | Katsuhiro Harasawa |
| Sodom | Sadao Nunome |
| Monk | Sadao Nunome |
| Kid | Kokoro Shindo |
| Man | Katsuhiro Harasawa |
| Boy | Kumiko Yokote |
English dub
| Character | Voice Actor (pseudonyms in brackets) |
|---|---|
| ??? | Matthew Austin |
| Ken | Steve Blum (David Lucas) |
| Akuma | Keith Burgess |
| Vega | Richard Cansino (Richard Hayworth) |
| ??? | Kim Mai Guest (Kim Nguyen) |
| ??? | Casey Hart |
| Rose | Carolyn Hennesy (Ramona Lee) |
| Adon, Street Thug, Sodom, Redhead Burnout | Robert Martin Klein (Bob Marx) |
| Monk | William Frederick Knight |
| Guard | Lex Lang |
| Sadler | Peter Lurie (Chuck Farley) |
| Kei Chitose | Sherry Lynn (Katie Ashley) |
| Shun | Mona Marshall |
| Birdie | Michael McCarty (Michael Devon) |
| ??? | Matthew Mercer (Masamune Miller) |
| Dan, Street Thug | Bob Papenbrook (John Smallberries) |
| Gouken | Simon Prescott (Simon Isaacson) |
| Zangief | Joe Romersa |
| Sakura | Michelle Ruff (Georgette Rose) |
| ??? | Adam Sadler |
| Chun-Li | Lia Sargent |
| ??? | Adam Sholder |
| Little Boy | Brianne Siddall (Ian Hawk) |
| Ryu | Skip Stellrecht (Henry Douglas Grey) |
| Bar Thug | Dan Woren (Jackson Daniels) |
| Rosanov, Street Thug | Tom Wyner (Abe Lasser) |
Characters
Heroes
Villains
OVA & Game Differences
- This story is a sub-sequel that takes place between the plots of both Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2 at the time, mainly because of its depictions of the origin stories of Alpha 2's newcomers such as both Sakura and Evil Ryu. Like all films, shows, and comics, and any manga that are based on video games, this OVA is not considered canon by Capcom.
- In the tournament scenes, both Birdie and Zangief switched roles in this OVA. Zangief is a member of Shadowlaw (alongside Vega) much like how he was in most other Street Fighter adaptations in the 1990s, in which the only canon affiliation he had was for his own nation of Russia. Birdie on the other hand teams up with Ken and Chun-Li to fight off and fall victim to Rosanov, despite the English punker being a one-sided member of Shadowlaw in the games. Unfortunately, both of these bulking street fighters get killed off the film during their dramatic and torturous fight scenes which involve Shun.
- In the games, Vega doesn't make his chronological debut until Street Fighter Alpha 3, the first time he ever fought in a tournament was in Street Fighter II.
- M. Bison, Charlie, Gen, and Sagat are characters who are also from Street Fighter Alpha 2 who are never seen in the movie. Bison's role as the main antagonist is taken up by Sadler and Rosanov who resembles Hugo, Sagat, and M. Bison, Wallace who replaces Charlie Nash, and Shun just to give Ryu a melodramatic but tragic backstory.
- The movie features a martial arts tournament plot element (also being the first SF film to do so), while Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie had more of a unique action-adventure story. The original in-game plots were vice-versa in both the Street Fighter II iterations and the Alpha series which both films were based on.
- Chun Li, Dan, and Ken are the only street fighters throughout the entire movie to shout at least one signature move of their own by name. In the games, the street fighters do this frequently, even others such as Ryu, Adon, Dhalsim, Sakura, Zangief, Rose, and Akuma.
- Chun Li's color schemes in this animated movie are ruby, emerald, gold, and onyx. In the games, Chun Li's original colors are sapphire, turquoise, gold, and onyx. Chun Li is the only canon street fighter in this OVA with a non-canon color scheme.
- She does however wear her standard blue and yellow colors in the opening sequence.
- Only the street fighters who harness the Satsui no Hadou are the strongest martial artists in the movie, while the rest of the characters aren't a match for Dark Hadou users enough to destroy Rosanov and Sadler. In the games however, all street fighters are equally matched and balanced, while the ones who use the Satsui no Hadou (particularly Shin Akuma) are powerhouse-type characters with the most moves that take away chunks of health.
- In the games, Ryu and Ken have three signature moves: the Hadoken, the Shoryuken, and the Tatsumaki. But in this OVA, Ryu only knows the Hadoken, and Ken only knows the Shoryuken.
- Ken's Shoryuken resembles Ryu's Shin Shoryuken from the games, which appears to be engulfed by a field of ki-force to unleash an impactful rising uppercut on Rosanov. This implies that Ryu would later take up this super combo in the next chapter (most likely Street Fighter Alpha 3) after learning it from Ken. Ken's in-game Shoryuken however is only a special move where his arm is engulfed in fiery ki-force for a quick rising uppercut that does a fair amount of damage.
Trivia
- In the hospital scene, Sakura is playing the handheld port of Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, she is fighting as Chun-Li with her CPU opponent being Ibuki. The game was later released on the Capcom Play System 2 compilation for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox titled Street Fighter Alpha Anthology.
- The movie was in development while Street Fighter Alpha 3 was being ported to Sega's Saturn and Dreamcast consoles.
- The street fighters that have roles in the film are: Ryu, Ken Masters, Chun Li, Sakura Kasugano, Rose, Zangief, Dan Hibiki, Birdie and Akuma.
- The cameo extras are Adon, Guy, Dhalsim, Rolento F. Schugerg and Sodom.
- There are three other canon characters from the main trilogy that are cameos such as: Street Fighter I's Sagat who was only mentioned twice by both Chun Li and Shun.
- Street Fighter II's Vega whom Dan loses to during the Second Street Fighter Tournament.
- Street Fighter III's Ibuki who appears as a 16-bit sprite in Sakura's WonderSwan handheld.
- Although the events in the movie are non-canon, it's highly likely that, during the final battle between the Satsui no Hadō-empowered Sadler and Ryu, there was a glimpse of the Power of Nothingness, or at least a very early concept of it. In a split second, Ryu went from charging a Metsu Hadoken to charging a Shinku Hadoken instead. The type of damage done by the Shinku Hadoken to Sadler's Satsui no Hadō-empowered body (disintegrating into ashes) is also consistent with the Power of Nothingness' effects on those with evil ki.
- It's the second time that a Street Fighter animation does use the same voice actor from the old games to voice the same character in the anime (In this case, Akuma, voiced by Tomomichi Nishimura, who actually voices him also from Street Fighter Alpha to Capcom VS. SNK 2).
- The screenplay was written by Reiko Yoshida who would later go onto write for the anime K-On! (2009 - 2010) and is the co-creator of the seven manga volumes of Tokyo Mew Mew (2000 - 2003) (AKA Mew Mew Power).
External Links
- Wikipedia article
- Capcom Database article
- Review of Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation at Street Fighter RPG Brazil (Portuguese-English-Spanish)
- Recap of Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation by Rage Quitter 87