Battle Spirits: Ryuuko no Ken (Art of Fighting)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Battle Spirits: Dragon Tiger Fist, Battle Spirits: Ryoko no Ken

Japanese: バトルスピリッツ　龍虎の拳

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Information

Type: TV Special

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Dec 23, 1993

Producers: Starchild Records, Studio Comet, Nihon Ad Systems, Fuji TV

Licensors: Central Park Media

Studios: None found, add some

Source: Game

Genres: Action, Comedy

Theme: Martial Arts

Duration: 48 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 4.92¹ (scored by 1,965 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #12797²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #9205

Members: 3,889

Favorites: 8

Resources

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Synopsis

While trying to rescue a cat, martial artist Ryo Sakazaki and his playboy best friend Robert Garcia unwittingly break into a jewel thief's apartment. Moments after entering, they witness the thief being murdered by a group of thugs. Despite fighting their way out and escaping, things go from bad to worse when Ryo and Robert learn that the thugs were working for Mr. Big, the biggest crime boss in South Town.

Not only does Mr. Big believe that the two have stolen the "Eye of Sirius," a priceless diamond, but he has also kidnapped Ryo's younger sister Yuri, and is holding her hostage. Without the diamond and out of options, Ryo and Robert must fight their way past Mr. Big's men and save Yuri before it's too late.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Ryuuko no Ken, Ryuuko no Ken
Spin-off:	The King of Fighters: Destiny

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Garcia, Robert

Main

Ikeda, Masanori
Japanese

Sakazaki, Ryo

Main

Bessho, Tetsuya
Japanese

Sakazaki, Yuri

Main

Hamasaki, Ayumi
Japanese

King

Supporting

Katsuki, Masako
Japanese

Mr. Big

Supporting

Kayumi, Iemasa
Japanese

Sakazaki, Takuma

Supporting

Todou, Ryuhaku

Supporting

Aono, Takeshi
Japanese

Crawley, John

Supporting

Shiozawa, Kaneto
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Haigney, Michael

Producer, Script

Fukutomi, Hiroshi

Director

Tanaka, Kazuya

Sound Director

Kuzuya, Naoyuki

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

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Ending Theme

"Yasei no Kaze (野生の風)" by J★POP

Reviews

Aug 29, 2014

vigorousjammer

Recommended

Battle Spirits: Ryuuko no Ken is an animated spin-off based in the universe of the classic 90's arcade game "Art of Fighting". It has some good parts and some not quite as good parts, but I enjoyed it overall. Let's go over the different aspects of this OVA.

Story: 6/10

The story is a pretty standard buddy cop action movie tale. The two main characters, Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia get themselves into a jam when they're mistakenly accused of taking a gem from a crimelord named Mr. Big, despite being entirely innocent. Luckily, they both know martial arts, so they're able to fight their way out, ... but things soon get more complicated and they have to face off against the gang some more. The story is mostly an excuse for the action to happen, but I didn't really mind it that much. It tells a simple tale, but it's not a bad one by any means. There are some well presented scenes, and some pretty decent humor mixed in there, to really give it that classic 80's action movie feel.

Art: 7/10 (Art Style: 8/10, Animation: 7/10)

The artstyle is pretty decent, but feels a bit dated considering the time period this came out in. It looks about on par with late 80's TV anime, but this came out as an OVA in 1993, making it much less impressive. Still, I didn't hate the look of it, and it fit the story and the characters pretty well.

The animation itself is a mixed bag. Consisting mostly of low budget shots that look like they were made for TV. However, there are a few moments here & there that I thought looked really cool, and there was a noticeable improvement in quality during these shots. The animation isn't horrible, but I'm guessing it would have likely felt a bit dated, even in 1993.

Sound 8/10 (Music: 7/10, SFX: 6/10, Voice: 9/10)

The music isn't anything special, but it does a good job of setting the tone for each of the scenes. It's a pretty basic soundtrack, but I didn't have any problems with it. The ending theme bumps my score for the music up a bit, as that was pretty great, and really nailed that classic 80's action movie vibe.

The sound effects were fine. Nothing special or incredible, but not noticeably bad or dated, everything was mixed pretty well.

Voice acting was pretty great. I watched it in Japanese, and the actors all portrayed their characters perfectly. Some of the acting might sound a bit cheesy here and there, but I feel like that is somewhat intentional and adds to the fun of the film, and the fun of the characters.

Characters: 7/10

Speaking of the characters, I feel like they're well represented. We have a handful of the roster from Art of Fighting, and their personalities really shine through well. The two main characters are fun to watch, and they riff on each other pretty well throughout. The supporting cast is perhaps a bit weaker, but I still thought they were all pretty decent. King and Ryuhaku Todou are probably the two standout characters in the supporting cast; however, in King's case, I feel even though she's interesting, they tend to not really do much with her. Still, though... definitely a solid, if somewhat simplistic cast of characters.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. It's got a handful of flaws, but I feel like it's positive elements tend to outweigh them, making them rather easy to ignore. If you're a fan of classic 80's action movies, or a fan of Art of Fighting or even KoF, I'd recommend you check out this OVA. It'll be time well spent, for sure.

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Gift

Apr 14, 2017

Sidewinder51

Mixed Feelings

Rate a 6
English dubbed
Genre: action, comedy

Story
Make sure you pay attention to detail for you never know when the story will use it on. The word choices at some moments are comical. Introduction and conclusion both had their 'explosive kick starts' (inside joke). No important questions remain.

Art
No complaints. If you are looking for blood and gore there is only a tiny amount in a brief moment.

...

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Gift

Mar 29, 2015

Luquillo

Not Recommended

Video game to anime, especially fighting based has never really been anything above average. Usually, these types of movies will mostly appeal to fans of the franchise and give nothing to the non fans. But could it actually be possible to create a video game to anime that appeals to absolutely no one? Well, after watching Art of Fighting, the answer is yes. Surprisingly, it does have a cult following but only for mocking reasons. However, I wouldn't recommend it even for that. I've seen my fair share of train wrecks, and I can say without any doubt that Art of Fighting is the worst ... anime I have ever seen.

Directed by Hiroshi Fukutomi, Art of Fighting is based on the Neo Geo fighting game of the same name. It was one of the arcade fighters competing with Street Fighter II for arcade supremacy, and with the exception of the anime featuring the characters of the game. The movie has absolutely nothing to do with the game at all.

When watching an anime based on a video game. I don't think it's very important to follow the source material to the very last detail. Especially, when the video game doesn't have a great story to begin with; but there's one key element that should never be neglected and it's characterization. In regards to fighting games, there will always be a character with at least a handful of fans. Therefore, fans will be looking for someone specific.

I have to beat on the characterization. The two heroes come off as total dimwits, and I couldn't find a single reason to care about them. They had no charisma, they weren't funny, there was nothing cool about them at all. There also isn't a single interesting villain either. Everyone is completely one dimensional, very corny, and just plain boring.

When these types of movies are released fans want to see their favorite characters going at it with special moves included. Something Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and even Fatal Fury 2 did a pretty good job at. Art of Fighting doesn't even deliver there. The battles are completely unimaginative with the poorest choreography I have seen in an anime since Voogies Angel, and the characters don't pull off any of their special moves, which is a no-no on the highest level. That's like watching a XXX porno with no sex.

I doubt anyone is expecting high art when coming into a martial arts anime, especially when it's based on a game; but the plot really doesn't have anything going for it besides a few non entertaining fights with incredibly bad dialogue to boot, and I'm almost lost for words when trying to describe the horrendous production values. Art of Fighting isn't even good to look at. The animation is choppy and very poor on its delivery. The artwork and character designs are also just as bad despite the characters being somewhat faithful to their video game counterparts. Except for Ryo, whom for some reason is sporting black hair instead of blond. Fatal Fury which is also a Neo Geo release turned anime makes a similar mistake, yet it's nowhere near as awful as this on any level.

The soundtrack is non engaging and uninspiring with bad voice acting to top it off. The movie is seriously bad on every level one can think of and good grief that ending. Ryo uses a diving board to leap about 30 feet into the air in order to pursue an escaping helicopter, which explodes for a reason I still haven't caught.

Art of Fighting accomplished the impossible by doing everything wrong. Unlike other really bad anime titles that could have been a lot worse; Art of Fighting really couldn't be any worst. I do not recommend this to anyone. I still do not think I'm qualified to put together a top 10 best or worst list because there's still more things I need to see, but I'm definitely sure this will still be sitting comfortably at number 1 on the worst, since its still been there for over a decade.

Whenever I get through a very bad anime I always say to myself, "well it's not Art of Fighting". This golden turkey is a 46 minute long waste of time. Give this a try if you love to waste money and time, or love to search for some type of enjoyment in very bad movies. Me, I'll just try to forget its very existence but the alcohol has been failing.

Highs: What kind of animal is that?

Lows: They are in very large supply here.