Ranked #2594

Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf

Well, this story is your typical “you killed my father and you must pay” kind of old school martial arts story, but brought more into a modern day context. After all, the story is a descent adaptation of the original material which the Street Fighter Zero anime fails to do and that’s what made that anime bad. I think the personalities of the characters that were previously featured in the games are well adapted as well. Terry despite his strength is a laid back kind of guy. While his brother Andy is more hot blooded. Joe is a party animal. So you really don’t need any familiarity with the games to get into this anime because the story of at least the first game is also told in this one.

Other featured characters are Geese’s henchmen like the staff master Billy Kane and the masked pro wrestler, Raiden and they are transitioned faithfully themselves. On one hand, it’s a faithful interpretation, but the story in terms of being a martial arts flick is a little too cliché.

The character design is by Masami Obari. He has a real distinct style of drawing character faces and bodies. Like Joe Higashi’s built is really like a true Muay Thai fighter’s built being all lean. The clothing of the characters is of course well faithful to the gaming design originally done by Shinkiro. I also like how he gave Terry’s hat a steel plate to it. Makes me wish I want a hat like that because I think it’s pretty cool. Some notable exemptions are of course Andy’s hair color being silver in this one though the sequels will change it to blonde. In common trait to his other works, he does tend to use lots of colors which brings out the resolution and it gave me a feeling of being alert to a lot of details with the characters. Of course other traits of Obari will be well built women but the only featured female character is Lily and she happens to wear something like a Victorian dress but you never see any body parts exposed.

The fights also well utilize the character’s signature moves. It tends to be based more on the games rather than realistic fighting which was the Street Fighter II animated movie approach was. Like Terry will use his burn knuckle and rising tackle. Geese will have his raging storm and reppuken. And so on and so forth. The fights translate very well but the problem is being a 45 minute feature, the fights tend to be a bit short. Though the fights are short, they are still exciting and plenty of action.

First, I would like to talk about the Japanese voice acting and compare it to the dub. I will admit it. These are the rare kinds of anime that I prefer the English dub over the Japanese track. The Japanese voice actors were ok, but they did not have the same passion or intensity as their English counter parts. The voice of Joe from the Japanese version is a famous world champion kickboxer, Masaaki Satake. I have seen his fights and granted he’s a great fighter, but as a voice actor, he sucks. He made Joe who is supposed to be in his early 20s sound twice his age. He sounded like an old man and the voice didn’t really reflect his prankster personality that he has in the games. While Jason Gray-Stanford who plays him in the English version does a great job of making a voice for him that really reflects his usual childish qualities. I also liked Geese’s dub voice because he really sounded intimidating and evil. I really liked Mark Hildreth as Terry because he made him sound like the passionate person that the anime also made him portray. Usually if I ever want to watch this anime, these are the rare occasions I will put this anime in English rather than Japanese.

The music is also pretty cool itself. It has a modern day Hong Kong kung fu flick feel to it. It has a lot of guitars but not necessarily sounding Eastern but still something you’d feel a little Asian. The ending song Fly Away is pretty good. Not really intense but it really helps reflect the ending of the story and what really happens and tells things in the point of view of Lily and Terry.

Well, if you’re a fan of the games or want to watch an action anime, then this anime is for you. It’s not the best, but still far from being the worst. I wouldn’t call this anime in the same league of something as Street Fighter II V or the animated movie, but is still worth a shot for the martial arts anime fan or fans of the video game series. It’s an anime with some stand out flaws and there are sequals which later correct it as they go along the way. And if you’re a person that really prefers dubs, then this anime is perfect for you. read more

Being someone who likes the personaøity of the characters from the game king of fighters i thought it would be cool to se an anime about them. I expected alot of fighting since its based on a fighting game. Guess again. THeir arent really that many fights and the figth scenes are really short. THe story could have been much better if they just took the time the present various scenes with other characters. If you are a fatal fury fan its ok to watch but their are better animes out there:)