Amazing Series. So much potential for the future! Give them more money now!!!
An absolutely brilliant series, and a great achievement that from the start of the first episode, enthralled and captivated me. As a long time Street Fighter fan and huge fan of the (incredible) anime from back in the 90s, I was blown away by the attention to detail in every aspect of the series.Although there are some weaker moments, and the odd bad line, even a non street fighter fan would find it hard to be anything but positive in review of Street Fighter AF.
The beginning of the series sets a nice tone and pace, and does more than enough to get you interested in the plot. As the series goes on, I felt it move from strength to strength as acting performances and action explodes into the epic finale, before ultimately leaving you thirsty (and slightly desperate) for more!
I thought all of the actors were great, but for me, Akira Koieyama was the stand out performer. He literally blew me away - he was intensely powerful, dramatic, funny and exactly what Goken should have been! He made you empathize and like him from the moment he was introduced.
Togo Igawa and Christian Howard, as Gotetsu and Ken respectively, were a close second. I knew Togo would be amazing as he always is, but Christian really surprised me. As the series goes on, he really goes from strength to strength and by episode 3/4 he was my favourite character (well, alongside Akira as Goken).
And the fight scenes... simply amazing. Absolute perfection. Not only did they nail the Ansatsuken fighting stlye (Ken & Ryu's martial lineage), they were able to reflect the personalities of the characters in their fights and choices of moves, whilst combining excellently choreographed scenes, with all of the moves from almost every Street Fighter game, which is an immensely difficult job!
Joey Ansah did a brilliant job as director, allowing characters to explore boundaries of their personas, whilst staying true to the series, with beautiful homages to the anime move, anime series, games and so on. My personal highlight was Ken & Ryu running through the forest at the start and tying up the series so fantastically with them doing it again at the end! And to top it all off, the DoP did an incredible job, it looked immaculate and the finale (final few episodes) particularly was sublime.
And finally, the music! Although there are some poorer parts of the main composition (mainly the emotional scene music), it was great and the addition of Ryan Ansah's incredible guitar re-work of classic Street Fighter 2 level theme music (Ken & Ryu's) was just pure class!
The fact that they did all of this on a tiny, tiny little budget, and released it for free, fills my heart with excitement for what the future holds for Street Fighter, and particularly this crew! I look forward to the future!
I could go on, as I am sure I have missed some of the other great aspects of the series, but I will leave it there! Because when you have finished watching this series, just think about the sheer potential this crew has to go on and create even more incredible entertainment!
score 9/10
bsw209 2 June 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3026941/14983
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