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Thanks to streaming services like Crunchyroll and Netflix, anime has never been as easily accessible to western audiences as it is today, nor has it ever been quite as popular outside of its home country. A big part of this is down to how varied the medium can be, with just about every conceivable topic covered in some way, shape, or form.

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Among the plethora of options are countless anime series based on video games, with more and more franchises being developed with each passing year. Perhaps due to their simplified storylines, there are surprisingly few anime based on fighting game series, though that's not to say that there aren't still one or two good ones for those who know where to look.

Street Fighter II V

The Street Fighter II V anime

Director

Gisaburō Sugii

Studio

Group TAC

Original Run

April 1995 - November 1995

Number of Episodes

29

Streaming Availability

Netflix

Street Fighter has received numerous adaptations over the years, though not all of them have been good; particularly those which originated in the west. The live-action movies are considered by many to be among the worst video game adaptations of all time, and Street Fighter: The Animated Series also failed to wow critics when it aired on the USA Network in late '95.

Thankfully, there have been a few decent anime adaptations of Street Fighter over the years, the best of which is arguably Street Fighter II V. Produced by the now-defunct studio, Group TAC, the series is loosely based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which had hit Japanese arcades just the previous year.

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The three-part series follows Ryu and Ken as they travel around the world to improve their skills after being easily defeated by Guile. Along the way, they encounter the likes of Chun Li, Dhalsim, and Zangief and also draw some unwanted attention from M. Bison's evil Shadowlaw syndicate.

In addition to Street Fighter II V, there have also been three animated movies as well as an OVA inspired by Street Fighter Alpha. Most consider II V to be the pick of the bunch, though they're all pretty good in their own different ways and are considerably better than any of the adaptations to come out of the west thus far.

Virtua Fighter

The Virtua Fighter anime

Director

Hideki Tonokatsu

Studio

Tokyo Movie Shinsha

Original Run

October 1995 - June 1996

Number of Episodes

35

Streaming Availability

Amazon Prime Video

When Yu Suzuki's Virtua Fighter first hit arcades in late 1993, it helped to revolutionize the fighting game genre. Being the very first 3D fighting game, it laid the foundations onto which several other popular series were built, including the likes of Tekken and SoulCalibur. This was only the beginning, however, with Suzuki going on to use military-grade hardware to make the game's sequel even better.

Given the popularity of the series in both Japan and the rest of the world, it didn't take long for an anime adaptation based on the hugely influential fighting game franchise to be greenlit. Virtua Fighter was produced by TMS Entertainment, the studio behind the Akira and Golgo 13 movies as well as the hugely popular and long-running anime series, Detective Conan.

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The story follows series protagonist and face of the franchise Akira Yuki as he embarks upon a quest to see the seven stars of heaven. While on his travels, he learns that Sarah Bryant has been kidnapped by an evil scientist and must team up with various other Virtua Fighter characters in order to save her.

Interestingly, a video game based specifically on the 35-episode anime series was also developed. Virtua Fighter Animation was available on the Sega Game Gear (and, due to the console's popularity in South America, the Master System in Brazil) and loosely followed the story of the anime. This meant forcing players to control certain characters at certain points, however, which didn't go down too well with some players.

Shenmue the Animation

Ryo lands Counter Elbow Assault on Don Niu Shenmue anime

Director

Chikara Sakurai

Studio

Telecom Animation Film

Original Run

February 2022 - May 2022

Number of Episodes

13

Streaming Availability

Crunchyroll

Following the fairly underwhelming performance of Shenmue 3, Shenmue the Animation came as something of a surprise to many, including longtime fans of the embattled franchise. More surprising, however, was what a fantastic job Chikara Sakurai and his talented team did of adapting the franchise's first two installments into a single 13-episode cour.

Though the pacing of Shenmue the Animation can at times be a little inconsistent, leading to certain sections of the story feeling a little rushed, the anime covers all of the narrative's pertinent moments, and even adds in a few new story beats and scenes that failed to make it into the games. As such, most fans were delighted with how it turned out.

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Unsurprisingly, perhaps, fight scenes make up some of the series' best moments, but the attention to detail and the extra emphasis placed on some of the series' many side characters also deserve a lot of praise. The likes of Joy, Wong, and Nozomi all feel much more fleshed out as a result of the team's diligence, while the main protagonist, Ryo Hazuki, also comes across as being a lot less one-dimensional than he does in the games.

Whether or not a second season of the anime ever happens remains to be seen, but, with the first one having managed an average weekly viewership of more than 240 thousand on Toonami, it's difficult to see the decision-makers at Crunchy Roll and Toonami calling time on this fledgling anime series just yet.

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