Street Fighter Alpha - Generations (2005)

The OVA Alpha Generations serves as a prequel to the popular Street Fighter continuity that includes two movies, a TV series, and another OVA. (There's also a live-action Street Fighter based on the same video game.) Ryu returns to the mountains where he lived as a child to visit the grave of his original martial arts master: Gouken was killed by Gouki, a renegade student who embraced the "dark Hadou." Much of the back story is related by an old monk who helps Ryu in his training and explains the ancient origins of the evil Hadou that turned Gouki into a demon. The monk's wisdom and the gentle presence of his granddaughter prepare Ryu for his inevitable battle with Gouki. The minimal plot unfolds in disjointed fragments, but fans of the Street Fighter series aren't looking for compelling narratives: As four members of Japanese cast say in the special feature, "watch the fighting scenes." (Unrated, suitable for ages 15 and older: violence, grotesque imagery, brief nudity, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon Amazon.com

The Best addition to street fighter Yet.

Street Fighter Alpha Gen. Is a cool movie and even better was the story that delved into akuma. One of street fighters most mysterious and cool characters. I loved the animation and the plot was very well written. Generations is a must buy for street fighter fans and even more so to anime fans in general. September 15, 2007

Not teeken but decent

This is about the fourth street fighte movie that been made since the original game was released 20 years ago back in mid 1980s. A word of warning due to mild violence frequent super graphic and gory distubring images, in addition to occasional nudity, and drug use this movie might not be appropriate or may be questionable to kids unde the age of 14 depending on what there parent's or guardians think is appropriate for there age. This is a really short movie about 3/4 the runing time of the Tekken movie. There are some okay fighting scenes in it but there brief. Ryu in this prequel to Street Fighter Alp ryu travels back for the anniversary of the murder of his master who was killed my Gokui a student with demonic energy which also flows inside of RYU and Ken who you rarerly see in this movie. If you like this I also recommend you see street fighter Alpa and street fighter II which are also animated. There is also a live action street fighter movie which came out around the time the movie for super Mario Brothers movie was released however some of the characters like Dalsin are excluded from the movie and most of the characters except for Bison and Blanka do not have there supernatural powers or abilites at any time during the whole movie from begining to the end including the credits. Will ryu avenge his deas master March 29, 2007

Awful, awful, AWFUL

I waited five years for this piece of junk? THe sotry was nonsensical/non existent, and the animation horrid. Also, what was up with the character designs in this film?

I keep forgetting Ken was in this; he doesn't DO anything except react and make comments I'm sure are pithy in Japan.

There was so little fighting in an anime based off a fighting game. There's just NO excuse. I actually started hitting FWRD on my DVD player to see if anything actually happened!

Tekken the Movie was better than this, and read my review of THAT to see what I mean. Only Amazon's rating system prevents me from giving this NEGATIVE stars.
October 25, 2006

Extremely disappointed

Wow, was I disappointed in this movie. I really really wanted to like it, as I am a hardcore Street Fighter fan. This movie had so much potential that it never reaches... I almost feel like the creators made this movie strictly with the thought that it would do well just because of the SF name, and didn't care about the quality.

The artwork and animation is very substandard for an anime, and can't even come close to comparing to SF Alpha the movie. In fact, when I first saw Ryu, I wasn't even sure if it was Ryu that I was looking at. I quickly picked up that it was him based on his actions, but I should be able to tell who Ryu is right away, considering how much I love SF plus he is my favorite character. I don't understand why the animators changed the character design from SF Alpha the movie, especially considering that this is SF ALPHA Generations. SF Alpha the movie had very good character art, and the characters looked nearly identical to their video game counterparts. Akuma* looked much more menacing in Street Fighter Alpha the movie.

Another weakness in this anime is that it revolves nearly exclusively around Ryu and Akuma. The only other Alpha characters that are in this are Sakura and Ken. And even though Ken is a very important character in the SF universe, he has a smaller role than Sakura does... in fact, his role is so small, it might as well just be a glorified cameo appearance.

Not to give away any details, but Ryu is encountered by a mysterious old man who challenges Ryu to a fight. Ryu is defeated rather easily... and only one question comes to mind at this point, "If Ryu can't even defeat this old man, then how in the world is he supposed to take on Akuma, the most powerful character in the SF universe?" Well, Ryu supposedly trains at this old man's house, we get about 1 minute's worth of him training... and I suppose that is supposed to be enough to imply that he got stronger than the old man and can now take on Akuma.

If all else weren't bad enough, the fight between Ryu and Akuma seems mindless. They just seem to blindly throw ki attacks at each other to see who can topple who. There doesn't seem to be any real rationality in why they are doing what they are doing. Did the animators think this would make them appear to be super powerful? If they did, then they failed miserabely. Because at no point in this movie, did either Ryu or Akuma do anything to make me believe they are the two most powerful SF characters, which they are supposed to be.

The voice dubbing is pretty bad... it's not as bad as SF 2 the Animated Movie's was, but it isn't nearly as good as SF Alpha the movie's was. By the way, this anime seems very rush as it is only about 45 minutes long.

All I can say is that this movie and story had so much potential. I almost don't even want to consider it a SF movie... oh by the way, for those of you who have seen SF Alpha the movie, but not this, I want to say that this movie is NOT a continuation of that movie. I bring this up because in SF Alpha the movie, we are left with a seen of Ryu and Akuma meeting face to face, and then they are about to engage in combat before the movie end... this is not where Generations picks up... I wish it were, because anything would be better than this.

So in short: Low quality art/animation, only four Alpha characters, mindless fighting, and bad voice dubbing... and the topper for me, I couldn't even tell you who won the fight between Ryu and Akuma if I wanted to... you'll have to see the movie for yourself to know what I mean about that.

Hopefully the next time a SF anime is made, the creators will actually put in some type of effort to make it a worthwhile purchase.

*In Generations Akuma is called by his Japanese name, "Gouki". I have no idea why the English dubbers kept his Japanese name, instead of changing it to Akuma... you'd think they would since in SF Alpha they called him Akuma. Probably just another piece of evidence that they put absolutely zero thought into this movie. September 24, 2006

Waste of money

Since Im' a fan of street fighter, i bought this dvd when i first saw it at a store. It's a waste of money. At least if they had thrown in a poster it would have had some value. You see Ryu and Akuma on the cover and you think" these guys are going to fight!!Finally." That's what i thought,after of course watching the first Alpha movie and them not fighting each other. But this movie was a complete gimmick to rake in some quick dollars at the expense of all the fans who were expecting so much more. The animation itself is pretty bad. The fight scenes are pathetic for this day and age. There is nothing memeroble about this movie. The only thing I can clearly remember is the scene when Sakura and the other girl are in the bath togather, and even then you don't see much. The other thing is Akuma looks terrible. They should draw him the way he looks in Capcom vs Snk 2. And what's even more annoying is they call him by his lesser known name "Gouki" throughout the whole movie. Anyone who is a fan of the franchise will have to see it to believe it, just don't expect much and whatever you do, don't buy it. April 24, 2006

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