Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li

After witnessing the destruction of her family at the hands of the villainous M. Bison, Martial Arts prodigy Chun Li begins a mission of revenge.  It is a journey that will take her into the heart of an international conspiracy, bring her face to face with mystic arts and legends, and see her battle ferocious enemies all looking to claim her head.  At the end of this road is Bison himself.  This is where the Legend begins.

Of all the characters in the Street Fighter pantheon, Chun Li is easily one of the most obvious to build a solo movie around.  This beautiful warrior Goddess has been one of the greatest and most recognizable gaming icons in history, beloved by gamers and non gamers worldwide.  Given her rich history and extensive combat resume, the kinds of crazy adventures and fight scenes you could pull off could be amazing.  But clearly no one was thinking about any of that when it came to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.  They just thought, “Hey let’s use Chun Li” and that was it.  I may not be as up on my Street Fighter lore as I am Mortal Kombat but this is not how you should be handling a Chun Li led movie.  In fact it’s not how you should be handling any movie at all…like ever.
 

FIF#266-Street Fighter: The Animated Series

When the evil organization Shadaloo threatens world peace, that’s when they are called upon.  Led by the valiant Col. Guile, they are a hand picked group of the greatest fighters from across the globe.  Different fighting styles, different philosophies, same dedication to protecting the planet from the evil plans of Dictator M. Bison.  When the world is in danger, the world turns to them, the elite fighting peace keeping unit known as Street Fighter.

 
Back in the 90s, the new video game boom from NES to SNES to Sega meant that a new generation of animated series based on popular titles was a must.  Mario, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, there was no shortage of choices…and most of them weren’t great or at the bare minimum were simply shows for kids.  Case in point, today’s FIF on Street Fighter: The Animated Series which came out in the wake of the 94 movie.  You probably know this one from the famous M. Bison meme where he goes “YES!!!” But oh man, there’s so much more badness abound in the first episode alone.  There’s very good reasons why you don’t hear about this one talked about in the Street Fighter community.
 

T5W#582-Top 5 Biggest Takeaways from the Season 3 Premiere of The Apothecary Diaries

Well it is about damn time.  It really has felt like almost a year and a half since we last saw everyones sassy, logical and all around bad ass Apothecary, Maomao.  But the wait is finally over: Season 3 of The Apothecary Diaries has begun.  And it has wasted no time teeing up things for a bigger season that is actually going to be split in half with Part 1 airing this Fall and Part 2 airing in the Spring, with the Apothecary Diaries Movie releasing in between them at Christmas.  In the here and now, the Third Season Premiere has a lot of questions and notable status quo changes, not to mention some lingering after effects from the end of Season Two.  Today on Top 5 Wednesday, we’re gonna get into some of the Season Premeire’s finer details as we look at the Top 5 Biggest Takeaways from the Season 3 Premiere of The Apothecary Diaries.

Street Fighter (1994)

The world is in peril as Dictator M. Bison and his warriors prepare for the ultimate conquest.  Standing in their way is a team of underdog fighters from all corners of the Earth.  Each have their own unique way of fighting and each has been drawn into the war to stop Bison.  Leading them, Elite Special Forces Colonel Guile, who has his own score to settle with Bison.  The stage is set.  The players have been chosen.  The ultimate battle to save the world begins.

In the hallowed halls of Live Action Video Game Adaptations, you have your true legends like the Sonic the Hedgehog Movies and the Mortal Kombat reboot.  Then you have your bottom barrel dregs like Super Mario Bros and any Uwe Boll movie.  Street Fighter lies in a bit of a middle ground.  As an adaptation, it’s flat out terrible.  However, if you’re looking for an unintentionally hilarious action comedy, it might just hit the spot.  Because despite it’s lack of understanding of the source material, woeful misrepresentations of an iconic cast and not very well choreographed action lies a so bad its good gem that somehow overcomes its shortcomings to be a good time if youre ok with turning your brain off.
 

FIF#265-Stellvia

2356 A.D. Almost 200 years have passed since a phenomena from space devastated the Earth, wiping out over 10% of t’s population.  Shima Katase, born in the aftermath, longs to see the stars and sets off for the one place where her dreams can come true: the Foundation Space Station Stellvia.  But she’s arriving at a time when tensions are high as the chance of another interstellar calamity is nigh.  It soon falls to Shima and the next generation of young space fairing pilots to ensure the Earth survives into the future.

 
Stellvia is an interesting and rare case for a First Impression candidate.  I’d heard neither hide nor hair of this one though maybe I’d seen a visual in a magazine back in the day and just never paid any attention to it.  No this one is getting an episode today because a friend of mine used the opening theme in a random post and HOLY CRAP it sounds amazing.  It’s not the first time I’ve taken a chance on a show based on a banger of an opening and we’ll likely be looking at another in the same vein next week.  For right now, does Stellvia set itself up as a show worthy of such masterful vocal work from Angela (the group behind the theme song)?