Street Fighter episode 17
The World's
Greatest Warrior
Street Fighter episode 17 |
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For a detailed overview of this episode, click here.
Having mastered the raging demon, Akuma challenges Ken and Ryu.
Original USA broadcast date: October 12th, 1996
Contents
1) Synopsis
2) Notes
3) Errors
Synopsis
Akuma visits his brother Gouken, and reveals that he has mastered the raging demon. He uses the move on Gouken, and steals his chi. Nearby, Ken is fighting the village champion when Akuma drops Gouken's body from above. Ryu saves Gouken, but gets accidentally kicked in the arm by Ken. Akuma appears before Ken and Ryu, and tells them he intends to take their chi. He decides to give them until dawn to prepare for their final combat.
Ken and Ryu take Gouken back to his dojo, and then start sparring. Ken blames himself for messing around so much, but Ryu tells him not to feel that way. Ryu's arm is hurt, making it difficult for him to fight. Akuma appears and fights Ryu, but because of his arm injury, Ryu can't fight that well, and is defeated. Akuma takes his chi, and then fights Ken.
Akuma is winning, but Ken tells him that their martial arts tradition teaches that fighters should encompass two sides, and Akuma has turned his back on his other side. Whilst he himself is no angel, he tells Akuma he is all bad. He fulfils their tradition, whilst Akuma doesn't. Ken's body glows with a blue aura, as he says it feels like the chi of the whole world is flowing through him. Akuma attempts to use the raging demon, but Ken doesn't give him the time to use it, and then hits him with a new move of his own: the flaming dragon punch.
Akuma is defeated, resulting in the chi he had stolen being released. Gouken and Ryu are revived, as Akuma tells Ken he has made a terrible enemy today. He tells him he will steal more chi, and teleports away before Ken can stop him. Ryu and Gouken find Ken, and Ryu calls Ken the world's greatest warrior. Gouken asks Ken if he sees the difference within himself, and Ken says he feels different. He feels more powerful, and will have to think about it... later. Ken then changes the conversation by asking Ryu if he still has his winnings from last night, as he wants to get back to town. He's feeling so stoked right now, and he hates to think of those poor babes being deprived of him this way! Ryu tells Ken he'll never change, but Ken tells him you never know.
-This is the first episode not to feature Guile in it.
-This episode also marked the first time Gouken ever appeared in animated media. His design was based on the version of Gouken featured in Masaomi Kanzaki's Street Fighter II manga. This manga has originally been published in 1993 and 1994, in Japan. Gouken had appeared in Akuma's ending in Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams, which was released in 1995. I don't know why the cartoon used the manga version as reference for Gouken, instead of the game.
-Unlike last time, Akuma is only voiced by one person in this episode: David Kaye.
-The game's storyline had Akuma kill Gouken with the raging demon, but in this episode Gouken survives. The games would later retcon this by bringing Gouken back to life for Street Fighter IV, a game which was released 12 years after this episode was aired.
-The cartoon's version of the raging demon has Akuma seemingly do a super punch to his opponent. This is different to the games, where he grabs his opponent, the screen goes white, the opponent is then hit 15 times, and then things return to normal.
-During the flashback with Ken and Ryu, Ken has a pony tail, which is something he had in the Street Fighter Alpha games.
-Also during the flashback with Ken and Ryu, Ken does a game-accurate dragon punch for the first and only time in an episode (outside of the intro). In fact, the way he hits Ryu with his left fist to raise him up into the air, then do the dragon punch with his other fist, is somewhat similar to Ryu's metsu shoryuken ultra combo, from Super Street Fighter IV. Ken does not say "shoryuken" when using the move.
-When Ken runs towards Akuma, Akuma raises his fist, then strikes the ground, creating an aura around him. This technique looks somewhat similar to the kongou kokretsuzan, a move first shown in his Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact ending (which was released just under a year after this episode aired) and was usable in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.
-After Akuma jump kicks Ken, he's seen landing on a platform. During this shot, and for this shot only, 天 can be seen on the back of his gi. This means "heaven" and is usually seen in the games for one of his win poses, or after hitting the opponent with the raging demon.
-The "flaming dragon punch" Ken uses seems is a two hit punch combo, and doesn't look like the traditional dragon punch from the games. In the games, Ken has had a flaming dragon punch since Super Street Fighter II, although it's not really meant to compare to what the raging demon can do storyline wise.
-Despite the ending, Akuma doesn't appear in the series again.
-The title card states "WORLDS" instead of "WORLD'S".
-When Akuma's eyes first glow, they glow red, but are then colored purple every time after this.
-When Ryu says "watch and learn", his mouth doesn't move.
-When Ryu throws a hadouken at Akuma, it's Ken's voice saying "hadouken!".
-Akuma overlaps Ryu for a frame during the part where Ryu hurts his arm.
