Plot: What’s it about?
As if the adventures shown in a few animated movies, a live action feature film, and a slew of video games weren’t enough, now you can check out more action from the Street Fighter characters. This series is made up of half hour episodes, each of which is packed with new and old faces, all in search of elements to make them the best. Of course, the series goes down many different paths, but the main focus seems to be on Ryu and Ken, as they trek across the lands to improve their skills and learn from those willing to teach them. As you can imagine, the two often bicker with each other and various others, which means some butt kicking is always bound to surface. But the action never ceases here, from fights, to difficult journeys, to mystical forces, it seems as though time stops for no man, even in a cartoon series. This is the third disc, which means episodes 15-21 are presented are and my opinion, the series continues to improve. The episodes included here are Clash of the Titans, The Unveiled Ruler, The Despot’s Commander, The Beautiful Assassin, Special Orders To The Iron Men, Unknown Explosive Force, and Compulsion Toward Violence.
I had heard good things about this series, but until this series of DVD releases, I had not been able to check it out for myself. But I have seen many episodes now and with this third installment, I knew I was in for more of the same excitement. I think the storylines are pretty good, given the nature and length of each episode, plus it was nice to see a wide variance between episodes as well. I was also pleased to find some very cool characters introduced, even though some old favorites are still absent from the series thus far. The animation is on the same level as most morning cartoons, which means decent enough, but by no means dazzling to the eyes either. I also like the treatment given to this series by Manga, which includes both English & Japanese language tracks, as well as a total of seven episodes. Not much in terms of extras to be seen, but with three and a half hours of content, you have to be pretty pleased in the end. I know this series has hooked me and I look forward to more episodes, so I am giving this release a solid recommendation, especially for fans of Street Fighter who need a quick fix.
Video: How does it look?
As was the case on the prior volume I had looked over, the image is presented in full frame form, which is how it was shown on television. I am once again very pleased here, as the visuals look terrific and show minimal errors, much better presentation than you’d expect from a cartoon series on television. The colors look bold and bright, contrast is always well balanced, and I detected no compression flaws, very good work indeed. A few minor issues do surface, but they are indeed minor and as such, I won’t knock the score much here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included stereo tracks seem comparable to what you’d expect from a television broadcast, which is more than adequate. Of course, a little more sharpness is found here and that’s always welcome. The sound effects seem in order, even if the presentation lacks the impact it needs at time. But given the nature of the material, I could find little to fuss over and the music sounds terrific, much better than I had expected. The dialogue is also crisp, clean, and at a proper volume and as such, no problems in the least surface on that end. This disc houses both Japanese and English language options, as well as English subtitles and as such, all bases should covered in the audio realm, at least we hope so.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The usual Manga extras are present, such as weblinks, fanclub information, and previews, but this disc also includes a remix of the theme song, which is cool.
