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.
 
Street Fighter TAS might as well be “Street Fighter in Name Only” because it’s easy to tell what this show wants to be from the first frames of the intro alone.  Let’s see: Guile leading a special multinational fighting unit whose sole purpose is to defend the world against Shadoloo, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world?  Sound familiar?  They might as well be playing the “Got to get tough, YO JOE” theme from that short live 90s GI Joe series over the opening credits.  It’s so shameless, why even do this?  They kind of did the same thing with Mortal Kombat around the same time but I get making such drastic changes to make MK more kid friendly.  There’s no reason to make the crew of Street Fighter a discount bottom barrel GI Joe unit to appeal to a wider market.  Let’s not even get into how save for Chun Li no one even uses physical attacks on anyone, just their signature moves. 
 
The GI Joe influence doesn’t stop there.  I love how all American hero they try to make Guile as if apologizing for how Jean Claude Van-Damme portrayed him in the movie.  And his dialogue, pure cringe.  That’s still got nothing on Ken and Ryu, who have been reduced to surfer bro tomb raiders.  Ken especially seems more interested in riches than actually being a decent human being and Ryu is simply his whiny sidekick who doesn’t do much to stop him.  Blanka and Chun Li admittedly are ok.  Blanka’s continued war with his new nature fits and Chun Li is the only one who isnt using energy attacks instead her actual martial arts and is actually the most capable of the bunch (her character design isnt bad either).  Then there’s Bison, who’s clearly trying to invoke the late Raul Julia’s portrayal from the 94 movie but he never comes close to reaching that level. 
 
When you hear “The Animated” anything with Street Fighter, hopefully someone finishes that term with “Movie” instead of “Series”.  Unless you really want some bad 90s adaptation entertainment, Street Fighter: The Animated Series is a hard pass.  It just wants to be GI Joe, pure and simple.  I guess I should be thankful Guile doesn’t try to shoe horn in some kind of poor mans “YO JOE” battle cry.