DVD
Street Fighter Alpha Generations

Starring (voice): Yasuyuki Kase, Yuri Amand, Eiji Hanawa and Mao Kawasaki
Manga Entertainment UK
RRP: £10.99
MANG2092
Certificate: 15
Available 24 October 2005


Ryu returns to pay homage to his deceased mentor, but is tormented by disturbing memories of his master's killer. In a quest to become a true martial arts master, Ryu sets out to hone his street fighting skills and to deliver himself from the haunting legacy of the Dark Hadou. But the ultimate test of his new power can only be accomplished through one last fateful confrontation with his arch-nemesis, Gouki...

Street Fighter Alpha Generations is a 45 minute animated feature that examines the origins of some of Capcom's video game characters. In fact, it was specifically created to give an insight into why Street Fighter's most intriguing and arcane characters became who they are, exploring their histories and how they became inextricably linked to each other.

This film was the directorial debut of Ikuo Kuwana and is a pretty impressive first movie. The animation is slick, and fans of the original arcade game (as well as numerous console offerings) will find Ryu's origins to be fascinating. Also, get ready for some schoolboy sniggering, one of the female characters is called Fuka (pronounced "Foo-ka").

By far the funniest character is that of the grandfather, who trains Ryu for his fight. He's strong, funny and a bit of a perv.

Extras include Inside the Voice Actors Studio (a 12 minute interview with the four main Japanese voice artists); Inside Scoop: Interview with Kaoru Mfaume, Producer (a four minute interview with the producer of the movie); Soundtrack (Nine minutes of isolated music from the film); We are Anime (a two minute video of various anime clips set to music); and Manga Trailers (a six minute featurette that starts similar to We are Anime, and then shows a few trailers for other Manga releases).

The subtitles are not as good as on some of the previous Manga releases and for this reason alone you're better of switching to the English dub.

While this release is only £10.99, I couldn't help feeling a little short changed. This is one movie that you'll probably only want to watch once. You're probably better off renting it.

Pete Boomer

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£8.24 (Amazon.co.uk)
   
£9.98 (Foxy.co.uk)
   
£8.99 (Moviemail-online.co.uk)

All prices correct at time of going to press.