Anime Review for Street Fighter II Victory

The Japanese anime series of "Street Fighter II Victory" was released during the mid-90s in Japan before a dubbed version would be shipped to North America several years later. In a sense it's an alternative take to the Street Fighter II universe. Street Fighter II Victory's plotline revolves around Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li.

Anybody that's familiar with Capcom's fighting game titles should know who those characters are. If it wasn't for Ryu of Street Fighter II, there would be no other Karate-man fighting characters. There would be no Ryo Sakazaki from "Art of Fighting", no Eiji Shinjo from "Battle Arena Toshinden", and no Akira Yuki from "Virtua Fighter".

Ken Masters is your token millionaire playboy. If anybody is familiar with the Street Fighter franchise should know that Ken's very wealthy. Though it's not explained what Ken really does in the first place. The purpose of the Masters Foundation in the Street Fighter universe is up for debate.

The story revolves around Ryu and Ken as the main protagonists. It takes place a few years after they finish training in Japan under Master Gouken. In the Japanese versions, he is known as Shenlong. The two of them are seventeen at the moment. In a sense, it's like CW Network's Smallville but with characters from the Street Fighter franchise.

It starts out with Ryu working as a lumberjack making money on the side. He's on an island off the coast of Japan. Ryu's pretty content with his life and then he receives a letter from his best friend in San Francisco, Ken Masters. Ken buys him a plane ticket and gives him a few hundred American dollars.

Ryu wants to say but his boss said he should go. His boss talks about how rain is needed for plants to grow and that Ken is like a plant. In short, he says that Ken is simply looking for "rain". Ryu uses the ticket and flies all the way to San Francisco where he meets up with Ken.

It's the very first time that Ryu is introduced to Ken's rich lifestyle. Ryu is pretty excited about riding in the back of a limousine. They did a good job on Ryu's country-like personality. In the Street Fighter universe, Ryu is like a country bumpkin.