Ranked #3517

Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture

I really like the fresher approach this anime did. It succeeds where the Street Fighter Zero anime fails which also tried to do something different. What they both have in common is that they used completely new villains. The idea of a mad scientist was just way too cliché. Sure Street Fighter II The Animated Movie also somewhat had it with M. Bison, but having the mad scientist as the main villain just doesn’t really make sense. While with the Fatal Fury movie, it takes a mythical figure and putting him in a modern day context in which the Fatal Fury characters can physically confront. But Laocorn’s minions on the other hand were just opposite or symbolic mirror images of some of the cast. Like Jamin is more like Terry. He uses a variation to the burn knuckle and the power wave. Hauer is a pretty boy like Andy. And Panni is like Mai. Mai uses fire as her attack, while Panni is water.

Other characters that are also briefly featured are Kim Kaphwan, Jubei Yamada, the Duck King, Richard Meyer, Billy Kane, and Geese Howard.

The quality of the art and animation is more or less like the new battle, the previous OAV, but brought in a more theatrical quality with the resolution of the colors and the finer and more define details of the characters faces. Especially with Andy. Again, the costume designs are still faithful of that to the original gaming series. I think Laocorn’s design is pretty cool. He looks like a youth, but he is menacing looking and his get up really represents his acrobatic and free-flight abilities. Panni’s get up is like a spandex version to Tony’s get up from the 2nd oav. And Jamin looks somewhat like Krauser with his armor and built. And Hauer you can say in terms of personality with how he dresses to protect his good looks is like Vega from Street Fighter II mixed with some of Kefka’s clothing from Final Fantasy. But I know there is an SNK art book out there where the primary character designer, Shinkiro, has his own art work of Laocorn and his villains. My brother may have a copy. I’m sorry I couldn’t show pictures, but if I did, I would have.

Now time to talk about the action and animation. Rather than just being more of an anime being based off a game. With the new villains and original story line, it’s becoming more of an anime itself than just being related to the game. In addition to the story and characters, the presentation of the action itself takes a different approach. The action came across as more DBZ-ish and becomes more of what you see in typical shounen anime though as usual, the characters moves are still presented. But some of the action gets really explosive that isn’t really in the tradition of the games or in most fighting games in general.

The fights are again a bit too short like in the first oav. Though still somewhat exciting but the tactics are too cheap. Some of my favorite fights was when Joe fought Hwa Jai in a kickboxing match. It had some good angles to it and I liked the fast movement and thought it represented Muay Thai very well. It’s just from what I called playing the games, Hwa Jai was one of the bosses and was pretty hard. Then in the anime he was reduced to being a glass jaw villain where you can knock him out with one blow. I liked seeing Kim Kaphwan fighting again and I enjoyed that fight because there were no fire balls or any of that mumbo jumbo. But I thought it was totally cheesy that Kim use a transformation sequence to go from ripping suit to his Tae Kwon Do gi.

Then when Panni fights Lawerence Blood, she just has to result to using her water powers to win. And Terry and Jamin’s 2nd fight was just a power struggle between their burn knuckles. I mean, wasn’t Jamin supposed to be as good of a fighter as Krauser was which was a blow for blow fight in the end? Then when they get to fighting Laocorn, I think it’s cool we get to see Joe, Andy, and Terry fighting together at the same time for once, but this is where it gets really DBZ-ish. The characters are “flying,” and it’s really reliant on their special moves. Though the original oavs did provide the action with the special moves, it didn’t get too excessive that you were watching Dragon Ball Z. You were just watching an anime being faithful to the game it was being based off of. A lot of people may disagree, but that’s how I felt. Sure I thought the explosiveness was cool, but this movie in some of the fights lost the original martial arts element that was more present in the last OAV.

And yes, there is a shower scene with Mai. Apparently back when video game based oavs or anime movies came out. There always had to be a fan service shower scene with a character. Tekken had to have it with Nina. Toshinden had to have it with Sofia. And Street Fighter had to have it with Chun Li. So I hope this makes some of you happy. But I first saw this anime when I was 11, and I must say it was something I was not used to yet.

On one final note, I really liked some of the photography. I really liked the scene where Laocorn first introduces himself to Terry and Sulia on that water tower on the roof top. I liked how the moon was in the background and cast him only as a shadow. It really brought not only a villainous trait in the character, it made him look pretty cool as well symbolizing his strength and his abilities to lets say anticipate where a person may show up.

Before I would to talk about the new features with the voice acting. I would like to point out a couple of things I failed to do in my last two Fatal Fury reviews. The Japanese voice actors of Keiichi Nanba, Andy’s voice actor. And Nobuyuki Hiyama, Joe’s voice actor actually happen to play those roles in the games as well and to this day they continue those roles. So I thought I wanted to point that out. Now time to talk about the finest additions in both the Japanese and English tracks. In the Japanese track, veteran voice actors Miki Shin’ichiro who plays Takumi in Initial D and Mizuki in Naruto is casted as the main villain, Laocorn, while seiyuu veteran Kenji Utsumi who played Raoh in Hokuto no Ken plays his henchman, Jamin. While in the English version, Matt Hill who played Ryo in Ronin Warriors and Kira in Gundam SEED is casted as Laocorn, while Miriam Sirwain (I believe that’s how you say her name) plays Sulia.

Both Miki and Hill are excellent voice actors in bringing this character to life. They each have respective qualities in each country of how to express how maybe a casual teenager or a “cool” teenager may speak. So with a character like Laocorn, that is something they did an excellent job of. In the Japanese version, Laocorn came across more as maniacal and insane, while in the English version, I liked how he came across as scheming and clever. And as usual, the rest of the cast in both Japanese and English version reprise their roles and still do an excellent job.

Some of the dialogue in the English version comes across as very American. Especially in this one airplane scene and approaching Rodos island after Sulia meets the crew. I don’t know how to describe it but when you hear it. It sounds very casual in an American like way and that’s the best way to describe it. It’s a little corny, but felt natural. It has a little more swearing than usual, but it doesn’t suit the characters voices in my opinion. Because of the level of the dialogue in the English version has gone down a little bit, it doesn’t have the same sense of superiority it had over the Japanese version like the oavs had.

The music is what I call an improvement. Some of the background music from the 2nd oav is once again used in the movie. Remember the Eastern like sounding song when Terry fought Kim in the 2nd oav? Well, that song is used again when Kim fights the fat guy wearing the mask. Forgot his name, but I can say he was a playable character in the games. And the remaining soundtrack has a great variety of orchestra, techno, rock, and other eastern like songs. And yes, I really love the ending theme Oh Angel. Both played in Japanese and in English in their respective tracks. The Japanese version is sung by Terry’s voice actor and I don’t know who sung it in English. But they both do an equal job and they bring out the same meaning and feel of emotion.

Well, I thought it was a great conclusion to the trilogy, but leaves a lot open. Like Geese is shown to still be in training and it would have been cool if they made another movie or oav based on the Fatal Fury game also called Real Bout. I thought the new villains were a real great idea. It’s a shame they never made it to the games because I thought they would have worked out. But with the way the action was presented, it would make a total imbalance. I mean, the Fatal Fury games are hard enough already. We don’t need characters that can get the abilities of a god or fight a god itself for God’s sake!!! Despite being 13 years since the anime has been put on a hold, I still hope for future releases. Maybe Terry can meet Blue Mary this time. I don’t get why he was going after a school girl in this one. Man, I am still over shock that there won’t be a sequel to Mark of the Wolves, my favorite of all the Fatal Fury games. I say fans of the Fatal Fury games may not like this anime too much, not because of the new characters, but because of the presentation of the action is not in tradition of the games, but those of you who like general action anime, then this is something to give a shot though the fights are short. read more

PROLOGUE
This movie is based on the old Fatal Fury beat-them-up game, which later became part of the King Of Fighters franchise. It is also the sequel to previous OVAs. The game was medium but this adaptation into anime is really good.

ART SECTION: 7/10
Rather aged graphics and vivid colors are the trademark of the movie. The level of animation is better than in the OVAs, so the characters and their movements look even better. Still, there are several scenes where they look funny and you fell like the budget ran off or something. The action scenes are now more reminiscent of superpower series like Dragonball Z, rather old Chinese martial arts movies. The several moves from the game feel more like energy attacks rather than martial arts. Oh well, we can’t expect realism from a videogame adaptation that has to look flashier with each successful sequel, can we know?

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Decent voice acting and music variations of the those in the game. There are plenty of clished dialogues about fighting, getting stronger and avenging someone but these go with the teritory and are not tiresome for the duration of a single movie.

STORY & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 8/10
A megalomaniac youth looks for the pieces of the Armor of Mars, the God of war. His sister alarms the heroic team about his mad plan and tries to reason him. The team travels across the world in an attempt to find the pieces first and prevent the resurrection of a God.

Well, what can I say? For a shallow title it was pretty cool.
-It clearly mentions what happened in the OVAs and the aftereffects it has now. No attempts to hide them and present the movie as a stand-alone mission where past events meant nothing. Very good!
-It has all the cast from the story so far, including minor underlings and defeated arch-villains. These guys usually disappear after their defeat. But not here! Very good again!
-The story is far more grand-scaled. Traveling across the world and facing the menace of a God was a lot more epic in proportions than beating a generic strong guy.
-Several Greek myths and historical events were added to flavor the story. There is no realism around them but they do make the script feel more bound to past facts than out-of-place events.
-The battles were a lot flashier and epic as well. Breaking a wall with a fist? Try blowing up a building with an energy attack! Too bad all the battles end in very dry and anti-climactic ways.
-Mai’s dancing, perky looks and fan service moments, keep you interested for more!

Although the story is quite fake and rather typical for the genre, the smart follow-up to the previous OVAs, the amount of fighting and the fast plot are making this movie the best one, yet. It is not a masterpiece but it is not boring either.

CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10
The cast feels rather realistic and you see that they are more than brain-dead muscular guys and pretty chicks. Hell, even the villains show a sad side to themselves. They are far from great but still very well depicted for an adaptation of this sort. Most adaptations screw up big time in this part; but not here.

VALUE: 3/10
Rewatchability is low. The story is childish and the fighting scenes end in pretty anti-climactic ways.

VERDICT: 6.5 / 10
After watching the 500 episodes of the Dragonball trilogy and all its movies, my expectations in fighting anime have gotten up. This one is on the top.

SUGGESTION LIST

The following titles are awful anime series, based on famous games. It would be wise to keep as far away from them as possible.
Devil May Cry, Art of Fighting, Tekken, Samurai Showdown, Street Fighter, Battle Arena Toshinden, Virtua Fighter.

The following titles are awful movies with real actors, based on famous games. It would be wise to keep as far away from them as well.
Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive.

The Mortal Kombat movies are ok to watch.

The following titles are bearable anime series, based on famous games. You are advised to watch them without high expectations.
Jo Jo’s Bizarre Adventure, King Of Fighters: Another Day, Vampire Hunter: Dark Stalkers. read more