Street Fighter II V

Street Fighter II V (Japanese: ストリートファイターⅡ V, Hepburn: SutorÄ«to Faitā Daburu Bui), is an anime series based on the fighting game Street Fighter II. Directed by Gisaburo Sugii (who also directed the previous movie version), the series first aired in Japan in 1995, from April 10 to November 27, on YTV. An English adaptation of the series was produced by the dubbing group Animaze and Manga Entertainment in 1996, and was released in Australia and the USA on VHS in 1997âˆ'1998. In 1997, ADV Films produced an English dub exclusively for the UK market and was released on VHS. The Animaze/Manga dub had a DVD release on April 29, 2003 in a four disc set in North America and was then released on DVD in Australia.

Premise

The show is a loose adaptation of the Street Fighter II games, taking several liberties with the established storyline and characters from the games. The show follows the adventures of young Ryu and Ken, as they venture forth to improve their martial arts skills after they experience brutal defeat at the hands of Guile. During the course of the series, Ryu and Ken become acquainted with other Street Fighter characters such as Chun-Li, Fei Long, Sagat and Dhalsim. Eventually, the duo find themselves involved with the criminal syndicate Shadowlaw, led by M. Bison, after defeating one of their subordinate organizations (Ashura).

Out of the seventeen characters featured in the Street Fighter II series, Blanka, Dee Jay, E. Honda, and T. Hawk are the only ones who don't appear in Street Fighter II V. T. Hawk does appear in the second Japanese opening, but never during the series itself. Akuma makes several cameo appearances during crowd scenes.

Characters

• Ryu
  • Voiced by Kouji Tsujitani in Japan, Brett Weaver the 1st voice in the English ADV dub, Tommy Drake the 2nd voice in the English ADV dub and Skip Stellrecht in the English Animaze dub.

Ryu is the main character. He is 17 and very dedicated to his martial arts and is always trying to better his own skills. He was raised in the Japanese countryside, and is as such a sort of country bumpkin. He and his best friend, Ken, have been training together in the same dojo since they were little kids. During their travels, he learns how to use a ki-based power called Hadō in the form of the Hadouken. Ryu does not wear a headband and sparring gloves throughout the series. Instead, he wears prayer beads on his left hand, and has short spiky hair. Rather than the stern and stoic personality he exhibits in the games, he is here portrayed as somewhat giddy, simple-minded but always on the lookout for a good challenge, very similar to Goku from Dragon Ball.

• Ken
  • Voiced by Kenji Haga in Japan, Jason Douglas in the English ADV dub and Stephen Apostolina in the English Animaze dub.

Ryu's best friend is of the same age. He is the only son of the extremely rich Masters family. He lives in San Francisco with his parents in a very large mansion âˆ' it takes twenty minutes to drive from the front yard to the main house. He too spends a lot of time training as well, but not as much as Ryu. Ken also rides a motorcycle. His mother is Japanese. Ken also learns to use the power of Hadō later on while being held captive by Shadoloo. Only Ryu knows the Hadoken, while both he and Ken know the Shoryuken. Ken later upgrades the Shoryuken to the Hadou Shoryuken, and then shortens it to the Hadou Shoryu. Interestingly, in the English dub Ken still called the move Shoryuken while Ryu called it by its English translation: Rising Dragon Punch.

• Guile
  • Voiced by Tesshō Genda in Japan, Rob Mungle in the English ADV dub and Kirk Thornton in the English Animaze dub.

Guile is a Sergeant in the United States Air Force, based in San Francisco. He has pride in both the Air Force and his men, and frequently goes out drinking with them whenever they can. He and his partner, Nash, have served together for many years in various missions and military conflicts. As a military person he is regularly found working out and lifting weights. He has won at least one boxing tournament and probably others not mentioned in the show. His martial art style that he uses in combat is loosely based on US Military Combatives, the official martial arts styles that the US military teaches to its soldiers.

• Chun-Li
  • Voiced by Chisa Yokoyama in Japan, Junie Hoang 1st voice in the English ADV dub, Tamara Lo 2nd voice in the English ADV dub and Lia Sargent in the English Animaze dub.

Chun-Li first appears as a tour guide hired by Ken and Ryu upon their arrival in Hong Kong. The 15 year old girl is soon revealed to be the daughter of the top inspector for the Hong Kong police. Her father trains her in the art of kung fu both as self-defence and as a part of her rearing. She accompanies Ken and Ryu throughout most of their journeys across Asia and Europe, but rarely engages herself in combat unless personally attacked or threatened. In the series, Ken becomes smitten with her to the point where he takes her on a shopping spree and buys her a ring and clothes from many of today's fashion houses such as Chanel, Hermes, Gucci, and jewellery from Tiffany's. Chun-Li is not seen in her blue mini-qipao and white boots until the final episodes, where she is captive at Bison's base. Also, changes to this outfit include the absence of her hair-bun covers as well as her pantyhose being replaced with kneepads.

• Inspector Dorai (銅昴 Dōrai)
  • Voiced by Rokuro Naya in Japan, John Swasey in the English ADV dub and Michael Forest in the English Animaze dub.

Chun-Li's father. His principle occupation is as the Vice Squad Captain for the Hong Kong Police Department, and is routinely engaged in drug busts, sting operations, and various other police activities, and is no stranger to the risks of his work. His residence also doubles as a temple and training ground where he teaches his daughter and several other students. Shortly after a successful bust of a large cocaine-smuggling operation, as well the subsequent arrest of the Ashura kingpin behind it, Inspector Dorai is called to Barcelona to attend an Interpol conference concerning the investigation of the mysterious organisation called "Shadowlaw". During the investigation, Dorai is nearly killed by Cammy at the order of a Shadowlaw infiltrator, but his survival was kept secret by the Chief of Interpol until the person who ordered the hit could be identified. Unlike in the games, Dorai survives in the show.

• Fei-Long
  • Voiced by Kazuki Yao in Japan, Andrew Klimko in the English ADV dub and Peter Doyle in the English Animaze dub.

One of Dorai's best students, he is now an up-and-coming martial arts movie star whose insistence on "making the fight real" rapidly becomes detrimental to production, due mainly to damaged props and public property as well as injuries to the stunt doubles. Ken Masters briefly volunteers to be his opposite in a fight scene while touring Hong Kong with Ryu and Chun-Li, but the destruction caused by the fight forced the director to halt the filming and cut the scene completely. Later, upon learning of his Master's supposed "death", he becomes distraught with grief and seeks to avenge him. While visiting the hospital where Dorai was taken, the Chief of Interpol informs Fei-Long of the charade. Later still, Fei-Long with the assistance of Cammy (after a brief fight with her in Dorai's hospital quarters) identifies Balrog as the Shadowlaw operative who ordered the hit on Dorai.

• Sagat
  • Voiced by Banjō Ginga in Japan, (ADV dub ?) and Peter Spellos in the English Animaze dub.

Sagat was the "King of Muay Thai", which is infamous as one of the most vicious forms of martial arts in the world. When he fought professionally, he was the champion of Thailand and everyone simply called him "Champ", but after refusing to throw a match for the Ashura syndicate, he was framed for selling drugs and was both imprisoned and disgraced. The Ashura syndicate's vendetta against Dorai, Ken and Ryu was carried out in a very poor manner by one of their men by planting heroin in Ryu's luggage at the airport in Bangkok, after which Ryu was imprisoned in the same prison with Sagat. The two of them gained each other's respect and were able to learn more about the Ashura from their experiences. After the Ashura kingpin was arrested, evidence of Sagat's innocence was "discovered" by the Thai police and he was released from prison. As Street Fighter II V takes place before the first Street Fighter tournament, he does not have his trademark scar on his chest nor does he wear an eyepatch. His rivalry with Ryu is more of a respectable one in the show.

• Dhalsim
  • Voiced by Shōzō Iizuka in Japan, (ADV dub ?) and Steve Blum in the English Animaze dub.

Dhalsim is a monk who lives in a remote village in India. Sagat had earlier instructed Ryu to seek Dhalsim for advice about the Ways of Hadou. Sagat had been turned down years before when he sought Dhalsim's wisdom, but had figured that Ryu might be found more worthy. Dhalsim is a practitioner of yoga and has some psychic abilities, and although he knows much about Hadou, he was unable to train Ryu to use the Hadouken, which was inadvertently triggered in Ryu's body during a lesson.

• Vega (Balrog in Japan)
  • Voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa in Japan, Vic Mignogna in the English ADV dub and Richard Cansino in the English Animaze dub.

His surname on the show is Fabio La Cerda. Vega is the popular 18-year-old bullfighter residing in Barcelona with a lust for blood and no value for life. He also moonlights as a cage fighter for rich socialites. During a bullfight attended by Ken, Ryu, and Chun-Li, Vega develops an obsession for Chun-Li, and plots to kill Ryu and Ken, whom he sees as rivals for her affections. He uses a strange "love potion" drug to induce a trance in her. While in the trance, she watches Vega and Ken fight each other in a steel cage at a secretive ball they were invited to attend. Vega was defeated, despite having stabbed both of Ken's feet and elsewise having the advantage of dropping down from above with his signature attack. The fate of Vega is not clearly known, but was last seen being carried out of the steel cage on a stretcher after having hung from the cage ceiling unconscious and then diving downward in a "final attack" where Ken caught him on his shoulders, instead of finishing him off.

• Balrog (M. Bison in Japan)
  • Voiced by Tomomichi Nishimura in Japan, Werner Richmond in the English ADV dub and Joe Romersa in the English Amimaze dub.

Balrog is an executive officer of Interpol, but unbeknownst to the other members of Interpol he works for Shadowlaw as an informant. Suspicions had been raised when Inspector Dorai's failed assassination suggested that only a senior officer of Interpol would have been aware of his investigations into the Shadowlaw organization. Ultimately, Balrog's secret is discovered by Fei-Long and Cammy after his cover story's inconsistencies were compared. Before being placed under arrest, Cammy took revenge against Balrog for giving her fraudulent reason's for the assassination. Balrog isn't portrayed as a fighter in the show and only shows up in his boxing gear during the second opening credits.

• Cammy White
  • Voiced by Yōko Sasaki in Japan, Carol Matthews 1st voice in the English ADV dub, Shawn Taylor 2nd voice in the English ADV dub and Debra Jean Rogers in the English Animaze dub.

Cammy White is a former agent of MI6 who now makes her living as a mercenary assassin. Being a devout Roman Catholic, she always prays for forgiveness before and after each hit. She takes much pride in the quality of her work, and believes when she's hired for a job, the death of her target must come from her hand and not as an accident or incidental occurrence, such is to the extend that she will even protect her target from harm until she is ready to strike. Also as a matter of pride, she refuses to act on false pretexts for employment. Cammy's costume design is radically different compared to any other appearance. She wears a black halter top, black spandex tights, and a choker decorated with a crucifix which she uses to conceal a deadly, retractable, metal wire to assassinate her victims. Her original costume with a beret and pigtails is briefly seen when she is seen during her introduction in episode 17. Despite being English, Cammy speaks with an American accent.

• Nash
  • Voiced by Ryōichi Tanaka in Japan, Jay Hickman in the English ADV dub and Dean Elliott in the English Animaze dub.

Guile's best friend, who has served alongside of him in several combat situations. Nash dies during the mission to rescue Ken from Bison's fortress. Since the show was produced before the development of Street Fighter Alpha, he does not resemble his in-game counterpart at all. In the show, he holds an impressive similar appearance to Jean Reno. While Nash is known as "Charlie" in the English localization of the games, Nash retains his Japanese name for the English dub of the show (except in one scene where Guile calls him "Charlie", implying that his full name is Charlie Nash).

• Zangief
  • Voiced by Yasuro Tanaka in Japan, (ADV dub ?) and Michael Sorich in the English Animaze dub.

He is a Russian bear wrestler who frequently works as one of Shadowlaw's strong-men. He does not seem to have any particular desire or inclination to injure or kill anyone, but he's not above using his strength in full against someone should his orders require him to. Zangief can be seen wearing a loincloth-like shirt, whereas in the games he appears topless. He also works for Shadowlaw, despite the fact that he is unaffiliated with them in the games.

• M. Bison (Vega in Japan)
  • Voiced by Kenji Utsumi in Japan, Markham Anderson 1st voice in the ADV English dub, Mike Kleinhenz 2nd voice in the ADV English dub and Tom Wyner in the English Animaze dub.

Very little is known about Bison, except that he is the enigmatic head of Shadowlaw. In contrast to Ken and Ryu's Hadou (which is based in ki), Bison's powers are based in his rage and hatred, and are referred to as his "Psycho Power". Usage of his "Psycho Power" usually causes him to lose his ability to reason, and in one instance nearly strangles Chun-Li while enraged only to regret his actions for a moment when he resumed his previous cognitive state... the only scene in which he ever shows a capacity for human emotion. As the leader of the secretive Shadowlaw, his only known goal is world domination, and most of his activities are financed through a variety of underground operations such as the Ashura syndicate. For all of Bison's power and ambition, it is suggested that much of his work may be the result of semi-telepathic influence originating from a silver idol in the form of an eagle's head, which is shown on at least two occasions to "communicate" with him. Unlike in the games, where Bison's sole base is in Thailand, Bison is shown to have a variety of bases throughout the world, and the final battle against him takes place in Barcelona.

Episodes

Themes

Japanese

• Opening Themes

1. "Kaze Fuiteru" by Yuki Kuroda (eps 1-19)
2. "Ima, ashita no tame ni" by Shuji Honda (eps 20-29)

• Ending Themes

1. "Cry" by Yuki Kuroda (eps 1-19)
2. "Lonely Baby" by Shuji Honda (eps. 20-29)

The American and Australian release of the Manga/Animaze English dub uses an untitled instrumental theme music by Mike Egan composed specifically for the dub. The ADV Films version kept the original Japanese intro and outro themes.

Notes

External links

• Street Fighter II V project
• Street Fighter II V at the Internet Movie Database
• Street Fighter II V (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia