Gamersledge Review – Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist (Web Series)

NeoSapian chirped in my ear that the folks who did the really cool Street Fighter: Legacy had made a full twelve-episode web series detailing the origins of Goken, Ryu, Ken and Akuma.

I thought “Hey, why not?” At 12-15 minutes each, with 12 episodes released, needless to say 144 minutes later I found myself saying things like:

“Holy crap!”

“That was awesome!”

“Why has noone done this before?”

Want to watch them all? Click the video below, and keep scrolling down for the review.

So let’s break this web series out Gamersledge.com Review Style and get our hadokens all lined up in a row:

Presentation

The art style is definitely unique. The cinematography is what immediately sets it apart from other fan fiction. The locales are well-chosen and add a fourth character (Japan!) and there isn’t a moment that I thought the actors were poorly lit, or that it was difficult to see what was going on.

The soundtrack was very good – not noticeable to get in the way, but a good companion to the scenes where it appears.

The SFX – first let’s say that we knew this was a budget attraction going in, but they carefully used every SFX dollar. There are a couple times it doesn’t look ‘quite’ right, but more often than not it looks stellar.

Story

This is where SF:AF shines. Between the story of young Ryu and Ken training under Goken, which eventually leads us to discover his origin and the origin of Akuma. The episodes give enough time for drama points and plot to progress, but are quick enough to keep you interested.

I cannot stress how well the amount of Japanese and English back and forth is handled; it’s just the *right* amount of both to keep it interesting.

Goken is truly the anchor for the story, and I’ll talk more about that in the Acting section.

There are 12 episodes, and I was glued to my seat for each of them. Hollywood has produced (much) worse scripts – this is how you do it right.

Acting

This is also where the series shines. The actor playing Goken is the emotional center of the story, and I don’t think it’s ever been told from this vantage before. Goken is a deep and rich character, and the narrative makes Ken and Ryu really more than 2D characters, as well. By the end of the 12 episodes, you feel like you’ve completed four full story arcs – Ryu, Ken, Goken and Akuma. And it doesn’t look good for the future for anyone. Akuma = badass. Each of the actors plays their part very well. Goki is obviously not the same actor as Akuma, but the Lou Ferigno swap works. Ryu is decent, but for me, Ken and Goken steal the show. I couldn’t *imagine* another actor in either role.

Final Verdict

Filled with humor, drama, action and good character motivation, this is the pinnacle of what a web series *should* be. I could easily see this being picked up on Netflix or Hulu as a true series. This is a calling card for the entire production crew and acting group — if they were looking for a way to be discovered, this was it.

9.5 out of 10 Tatsamatskifrupens