Street Fighter: Generations

Summary: >

Years ago, Gouki fought his old martial arts master and killed him. Every year Ryu visits the grave of his former master, but this year he and Gouki are destined to meet. It appears that both Ryu and Gouki share the same heritage, but will Ryu be able to resist the lust for greater power which would sacrifice his humanity?

Thoughts: >

I watch anime with an open mind, and I'm willing to give a title a chance no matter how bad I think it's going to be. I knew I'd hate Street Fighter Alpha: Generations because the street fighter franchise is a lost cause, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. I wonder if they day will come when I can say I finally did see an anime based off of a fighting game that isn't completely terrible. After watching this anime, I can say that day has yet to arrive.

The story: I'm not sure why they even bothered. It's obvious that the only thing provided in this anime is a scaffolding for fighting. They would have been better off not making one at all. There's the opening fight scene which is the ominous past of the master's death. Things move forward to the fight between Ryu and another mysterious old guy. The guy defeats Ryu and of course they become acquaintances with that typical "that was a good fight lets be buddies, and why don't you marry my sister/daughter/granddaughter while you're at it" garbage you see in bad martial arts movies. I guess after this point it was decided that there weren't enough fights, or they needed to pad the time allotment with another fight, so they decide to insert another Street Fighter character into the story. They choose school girl Sakura. As soon as I saw her show up I walked over to my desk and started banging my head against it. I get the martial arts ethic, and the desire to become a superior fighter sure, but the way it's presented in these shows is unbelievably dumb. Sakura challenges Ryu to a duel and the two fight it out... just because.

Finally Ryu has a fight with Gouki who killed his former master. Ryu's comrade Ken shows up during this, but the old guy instead beats up Ken and then explains the contrived plot that's supposed to hold it all together. After a fight which devolves into the Ryu and Gouki shooting fireballs at each other, they part ways.

the end ... yeah

I've played Street Fighter Alpha, it's not a bad game, but the most interesting characters are the NEW ones. The only character that approached being decent here was the woman not involved with the game at all, but unfortunately she never moves past being an action movie peripheral. Which is just as well for her, because I wouldn't want to be associated with this franchise either and being forgettable is a plus. The Generations anime is bent on sticking to the old favorite characters, but has no idea how to invent a story to back them up. The wandering fighter Ryu story was never interesting to begin with, was never told well in an anime or the game, and has already been done. What's the point of this anime? Fighting.

The fight scenes are choreographed well, and the animation is fluid and compliments it nicely. For an action fighting title, it at least got that right. It's also coupled with the worst character designs I've ever seen in anime. The good looking characters look bad, and the rest look hideous to the point of being painful to watch. This should have been called Street Fighter Alpha: Aliens.

End verdict: bad. Bad bad bad.

Screen Caps: >