Street Fighter Alpha : Generations

Reviewed by Norman Canseco
November 17, 2005

Director: Ikuo Kawana Genre: Animation Distributor: Manga Video Website: www.streetfighteralpha.com MPAA Rating: NR 13+ Review Rating: 5 out of 10

Street Fighter fans will finally get some background information to the Street Fighter Story line.

Manga Video brings us Street Fighter Alpha:Generations. This film focuses on the mysterious character Gouki(AKUMA). Gouki and Gouken(Ryu and Ken's teacher) are on the way to becoming the greatest warriors imaginable. Gouki is consumed with Dark Hadou, a dark form of the warrior energy which the two fighters possess. Gouki then defeats their teacher and Gouken and then disappears in the rain. As time goes on Ryu returns to the shrine where he had trained with Gouken, he has a vision of Gouki in which he is challenged to face his destiny.

Directed by Ikuo Kawana for whom was involved in such anime works as Steam Boy, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Blood: The Last Vampire, Generations brings us Street Fighting action and a stable storyline to tie-in to the current arcade-fighting game series. Unfortunately the feature is only 45 minutes. The music is a fair mix of koto drums and at sometimes urban beats. DVD features include interviews with the actors and directors.

As a fan of the Streetfighter series, I would have to say that this was not a film I was looking forward to. The art style has changed once again and the story didn't really keep my interest. For the title to contain ALPHA I would expect to see more of the cast from the ALPHA series. The only characters involved in this story were Ryu, Ken, Sakura, and Gouki(AKUMA). I think the film would be more interesting if it explained more of the other characters( Gen, Sodom, Birdie, etc.) If you are a fan of the games and the series, you'd want to see this just for some cool footage of Gouki. I would not say to avoid this movie because it is part of the official storyline, but I would recommend renting or borrowing it.