Julien Neaves, Editor
As I continue my journey into retro anime (70s-90s) and my side quest into adaptations of video games, my next challenger is the Samurai Shodown franchise. As I had mentioned in previous articles, Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat have always been my top fighting game franchises. But I did play a bit of Samurai Shodown back in the day (much more than Fatal Fury), and I loved that the fighters all had different weapons, enjoyed the cool-looking and varied character sprites, and was tickled pink by the fact that a few of them had animal companions you could use in battle. And there was also blood, which was a nice bonus.
So, I was excited when I learned that the SNK fighting game had been adapted into an anime, twice in fact. But do they live up to the source material? And which of the two rules the blood-soaked ring? Let's find out as we have a showdown between Samurai Shodown: The Motion Picture (Samurai Spirits: Haten Gōma no Shō in Japan) and the two-episode OVA Samurai Spirits 2: Asura Zanmaden.
Samurai Shodown: The Motion Picture (1994)
Angry run activated!
Plot: Six holy warriors are reincarnated a century later in Japan to battle the traitor that killed them and prevent the return of the dark god, Ambrosia.
Review: This one is a pretty decent watch. The focus is on cocky samurai Haohmaru who must overcome his anger and quest for vengeance to achieve his destiny as a holy warrior. He is likeable enough as a lead and gets the most action sequences. But fans of the game would be pleased that the film fits in several other characters as well, including the popular nature-loving shrine maiden Nakoruru and her hawk sidekick Mamahaha, lighthearted Western ninja Galford and his pet husky Poppy, brave French fencer Charlotte, and shadowy ninja Hattori Hanzo who has an awesome, resonant voice in the anime.
It's us, your Superfriends
There are also villainous characters in the form of the massive Earthquake, creepy green-skinned Genan and the film's big bad, the vigorously over-the-top Amakusa, who is surprisingly given some level of depth. Other than Haohmaru and Amakusa the characters don't get a lot to do, but at least each are given at least one scene to shine and show off a special move. The action is okay, feeling very much like a Saturday morning cartoon except for characters getting killed. The blood is replaced by a white light which I presume was to make it more marketable to younger audiences. I don't think it works though, because people are still getting killed left, right and centre and one dude is literally cut in two.
The story is some overblown cartoonish ridiculousness, the music is forgettable, and the animation is quite rough, though at least the character designs are recognisable. And it would have been interesting to see more character matchups in the battles rather Haohmaru 90 per cent of the time and the other fighters pummeling mind-controlled cannon fodder ninjas. But The Motion Picture is quickly paced at just over an hour and entertaining enough, giving fans a taste of the game and intriguing non-fans to learn more about the franchise. And I presume that was what the creators were hoping for.
Editor Jules' Score: 6.5 out of 10
Samurai Spirits 2: Asura Zanmaden (1999)
Oh great. Shenanigans. Yay?
Plot: Humanistic warrior Nakoruru seeks to protect Shiki, the confused former servant of the Yuga the Destroyer, from her fellow warriors Haohmaru and Galford and the dark and powerful Asura.
Review: Are you confused by the above plot description? Yeah, I was too. The two-episode OVA spends no time explaining what is happening with these characters but assumes the viewer has knowledge of who they are and their histories. The story itself is based on the franchise sequel of the same name (known as Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage in the West) and is unrelated to The Motion Picture. The plot is the OVA's biggest downfall. It wastes a lot of time with Haohmaru and Nakoruru's younger sister Rimururu engaged in hijinks, Haohmaru and Galford talking, and Nakoruru and her alter ego Rera talking. This is Samurai Shodown, not Samurai talk down. Geez!
That's not a weapon. This is a weapon
There are positives, though. The animation is vastly improved over The Motion Picture including the character designs, and the music is very good. The characters (the few that there are) are voiced by the game actors, which is welcome touch, and they all do a solid job. And speaking of characters, Asura is super cool and is easily the best thing about the OVA. His opening fight with bloodthirsty ronin Genjuro actually got me very excited to see what would happen next. Unfortunately, I had seen the best the OVA had to offer.
Despite the two episodes featuring actual blood the fights here are nothing to write home about. They are neither very long, frequent or well-choreographed. We spend most of our time with either hijinks or scenes of talking, talking, talking. The OVA was never released in the US, and I don't think fans were missing out on that much. Other than diehard franchise fans, I don't see viewers getting much value from this one.
Editor Jules' Score: 4 out of 10
In Conclusion
You though Samurai Spirits 2 was going to win? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
After three rounds The Motion Picture comes out on top by two and a half points. While Asura Zanmaden had it beat in terms of visuals and music, the older film delivered the coup de grace with its much more entertaining and easily digestible story as well it's superior action. It's not a great anime film by any means, but it's worth taking a look.
Have you seen the two Samurai Showdown/Samurai Spirits anime adaptations? Which do you prefer? And you can check out more fighting game anime adaptations below:
WE HAVE AN OLD CHALLENGER! STREET FIGHTER II: THE ANIMATED MOVIE REVISITED
FATAL FURY ANIME TRILOGY RETRO REVIEW
NIGHT WARRIORS: DARKSTALKERS' REVENGE RETRO REVIEW
Julien "Editor Jules" Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an award-winning author. I say things like "13 flavours of awesome sauce". Read more.
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