Ask John: How Much Street Fighter Anime Exists?

Question:
I’ve been looking at Street Fighter recently, because I just watched Alpha and I am waiting for Alpha: Generations. So far, I’ve found Street Fighter II V: The Series,and the three movies: Street Fighter II: The Movie, SF Alpha, and SF Alpha: Generations. Is this all the Street Fighter anime? I am especially interested in the series. Is SFII V the only SF series?

Answer:
Coming as a bit of a surprise, although Street Fighter is now more than 15 years old and is arguably the most famous and influential fighting game franchise in the history of video games, there’s actually not that much Street Fighter anime, and nearly all of what exists is available in America. The Street Fighter II anime motion picture was released exactly seven years after the debut of the first Street Fighter arcade game. The movie was released in America edited. Its original music was replaced, and several minutes of violence and nudity were removed. The next Street Fighter anime to appear was the 1995 Street Fighter II V television series. This series has been released in America by Manga Entertainment, with its original opening animation sequence replaced by an American one and all of its original Japanese music replaced.

On March 15, 1996 Capcom released a game for the Japanese Sega Saturn game console titled “Street Fighter II Movie.” This game was half an interactive version of the 1994 Street Fighter II anime movie, and half a traditional Street Fighter game. This Japanese exclusive release included a brief and unspectacular original anime opening sequence that introduced the characters, along with some very minor incidental animation within the game.

The two episodes in the Street Fighter Zero the Animation series were released in Japan on April 24, 2000, and June 24, 2000. The American release was re-titled “Street Fighter Alpha” to match the domestic name of the Street Fighter Zero video game series.

On March 31, 2004, Capcom released a Street Fighter manga boxed set titled “Street Fighter II Ryu vs. Yomigaeru Fujiwara Kyou.” This set contained the entire 1992 Street Fighter manga series by Masaomi Kanzaki and a 23 minute long anime OAV in which Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and E. Honda get teleported back in time for a short tour of ancient China(?) This virtually unknown Street Fighter anime may be an interesting novelty to Street Fighter die-hards, but probably isn’t very appealing for average viewers because it doesn’t contain any action or fighting.

So while Japan has one exclusive full length Street Fighter anime, apparently America does also. The American release of the 45 minute long Street Fighter Alpha Generations OAV is bilingual, but appears to be a North American exclusive release. I can’t find any sign that this anime has ever been released in Japan, nor any evidence of a planned future Japanese release. On the positive side, for the first time ever in America, the Street Fighter Alpha Generations DVD uses the original Japanese character name “Gouki” instead of the American name “Akuma” used in all prior anime and video game releases. Unfortunately not breaking with American tradition, the Street Fighter Alpha Generations DVD is flawed by the inclusion of a useless, terribly mis-timed subtitle track. So, regrettably, every Street Fighter anime ever released in America has been improperly or poorly localized.

So in conclusion, Street Fighter II V is the only lengthy Street Fighter anime series. Beside a few seconds of marginal animation in an obscure video game and cut from the motion picture, there’s only one 23 minute long Street Fighter anime not available in America. And America seems to have one 45 minute long Street Fighter anime that’s not officially available in Japan. This question and answer seem particularly appropriate right now seeing as Clear Channel Communications has declared October “Street Fighter Month.” But perhaps ironically appropriate considering the fact that no Street Fighter anime has ever been released in America in an ideal version, the American October 2005 Street Fighter Month promotion actually lasts from October 17th until November 13th.