Product Description

All the lightning-fisted thrills of the world’s wildest combat video game series explodes onto DVD in this brilliantly animated, sensationally supercharged adventure, Street FighterTM II: The Animated Movie. This all new unedited and uncensored version now boasts a stunning new 5.1 surround sound mix of the equally popular soundtrack. In the not too distant future, civilization is under attack. Leading the forces of darkness is the evil mastermind Bison, who is determined to capture the minds and bodies of the world’s greatest fighters for use in his manic plan to conquer the world. The only people on Earth with the potential to stop him are Ken and Ryu, two powerful legendary martial arts warriors. Together they face the fights of all fights. The final battle of good against evil is about to begin!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8055 in DVD
• Brand: STARZ HOME ENTERTAINMENT
• Released on: 2006-07-18
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
Based on the video game, Street Fighter II: the Animated Movie (1994) is the first feature in the popular continuity that includes a second animated film, a TV series, an OAV, and a live-ction feature. With physiques that Mr. Olympia would envy and moves that would shame Bruce Lee, Ryu and Ken Masters rank as the world's greatest martial artists. They face a dire challenge when Vega (Bison in the English dub), the psychic master of the criminal syndicate Shadowloo (Shadowlaw), attempts to turn the world's top street fighters into his agents. The minimal plot exists only as a framework for the over-the-top martial arts battles. Director Gisaburo Sugii stages many of the fights at night in an effort to heighten the drama, but the results are so dark, it's difficult to see what's going on. Fans of the series complain--justifiably--that the English voices sound stiff and hokey, although the dialogue is hopelessly silly. The double-sided disc offers both the English and Japanese versions; the latter contains about two more minutes of violent fighting. (Rated PG-13, suitable for ages 17 and older: graphic violence, violence against women, nudity, alcohol use, profanity, ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Uncut,, at least on the Japanese side
First, let's get the obvious out of the way. I'm sure the main reason the majority of guys are going to buy this is because of the shower scene. Let me just make one note about it and move on. The english version has an EXTENDED version of the shower scene. There is still one shot that's missing (just to be exact). However, the Japanese side of the disc does indeed have the UNCUT version of the shower scene. So feel free to go nuts, take screen shots etc. It is in here.

Now on to the rest of the review. This release is in everyway superior to the original US release.

It has the UK version of the movie (which is vastly extended over the US version) and the Japanese (completely un-cut).

The menu system is also a vast improvement (since the original DVD didn't even HAVE a menu system). The extra's, while sparse, also make it a cut above the original release.

The only thing I could possibly fault this release with is that it's only the Japanese version that's completely un-cut, while the UK version is merely extended.

Even that's not much of a fault. I don't typically watch my anime with the Japanese track, but with this one, I'll make an exception.

Once you see the Japanese version, you'll realize just how bad the english dub is. The dubbing team had to add to the dialogue to fit the mouth-flaps. This made for a lot of (for a lack of a better word) stupid dialogue that made some scenes go on painfully too long. It killed a lot of the flow of the movie. The original Japanese dialogue fits the flow of the movie better, and the voice acting is simply better.

While I may have actually grown to like KMFDM, Alice in Chains and Korn, thanks mostly to this movie, I can't deny that losing their music is a small loss considering how much better the dialogue is in Japanese.

A few notes on the movie itself. Yes the plot is paper-thin. But the fight scenes are what the movie is all about, and in those, Street Fighter II shines. There are a few parts with bad animation (crossed eyes being my major gripe). But taken as a whole, this movie is very well put together. It's well worth the cost. Stay away from the original US release at all costs.

A great action Anime. A real fireball.
There's been many Anime's based on fighting games, including Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, Tekken, etc... But, "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie" is probably the most well made one out of the group. Exceptionally well drawn characters, incredible fight scenes, coherent story, there is a lot to like about this Anime. If there is anything that stands out, it has to be the awesome fight scenes. This Anime fully takes advantage of the fact that it is an animation, and not a real movie with real actors, and choreographs some spectacular moves together. Obviously, the reason I mention this is other Anime's have failed that simple task and churned out some real dull fight sequences. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, however, is a real eye-candy.

Finally, the True Version
I first saw this movie over 10 years ago in its original language and I've loved it ever since. Not only because I'm a Street Fighter fan, but also because it was beautifully animated and had great fight scenes.

I was disappointed to hear how they dubbed it in english. The voices ranged from decent to crappy and they didn't even take the characters' accents into consideration (Cammy's british and Dee Jay's jamaican). Not only that, but they completely changed the soundtrack to hard rock and even edited out some scenes.

In 1997, it was one of the first anime that was put on DVD in the U.S, so that might explain why they didn't add the original japanese audio track for those who didn't want to suffer the bad english dub. But Manga Entertainment re-released it in Europe in 2001 and still didn't include the original language track.

Now finally Manga gets it right. Although it still seems to have the same english audio track, it also contains the original japanese audio too... and it's uncut! I'd be happier if they re-dubbed the english track with better voice acting, but this is great for now. Thanks, Manga!