Street Fighter II V may have featured the path Sagat may eventually take n the later games. I was thinking the Thailand Arc was interesting while the deviation with Sagat has gone too far. We don't have the Sagat with the chest scar (which was a result of the first Street Fighter defeat during that d*mn-awful game) or a missing eye. Sure, the Anime isn't canon and meant to operate differently. This may be because as said, a licensed non-canon adaptation could find some holes and then presto, FIX IT, to their liking. This is the Sagat arc since honestly, Sagat is the most honorable of Bison's henchmen (and he LEFT later) unlike Balrog and Vega!
The Thailand arc itself made me think of how Sagat was as a character
The game history had Sagat as the final boss of the first Street Fighter game -- a game I never played. It was said that Sagat was super hard and the game itself was already super hard. However, Sagat was missing two iconic things from the actual video game, namely the chest scar (caused by Ryu's Shoryuken during the first tournament) and the eyepatch (caused by a brawl with Go Hibiki, Dan's father). I guess it's because the Street Fighter Alpha lore wasn't completed yet!
Ryu's frame-up was caused by the Ashura Group. Was this done as some form of diversion as Ryu was in Thailand, accompanying Dorai to hunt down the Shadaloo subsidy Ashura? Apparently, Ryu was targeted because he was easy to target at that time. However, one can never underestimate what Ryu went through when Guile beat him. Guile defeating Ryu and Ken early on was like some kind of vaccine. Ryu knew how to handle the warden Nuchi, and Sagat who practically became a prison boss, eating steak even while he awaited his exoneration in jail. Sagat refused a transaction with Shadaloo. In this case, it seemed a more realistic angle to put Sagat out of Shadaloo than making him the whining (for valid reasons) middleman in the Street Fighter cartoon that came out, on the same year.
The game ignored the events of the first game. Instead, Sagat and Ryu met under different circumstances. Apparently, Sagat was a disgraced Shadaloo agent who got framed for refusing to do Shadaloo's dirty tactics. Sagat probably had no idea that Ashura was linked with Shadaloo or he was part of Shadaloo, only to realize he was conned big-time.
Pretty much, Group TAC's writers probably didn't like the idea of Sagat being part of the Shadaloo Four. Instead, they thought it might be interesting if Sagat was someone Shadaloo framed for not cooperating with them. Sagat, after all, is an honorable character. Later, Sagat gave Ryu the map of Hadou and told the latter to seek out an Indian monk named DHALSIM.
The Ashura and corrupt law enforcements
The Thailand arc featured Ashura and corrupt law enforcement. Warden Nuchi was apparently involved or was probably in Bison's payroll. The gang leader of Ashura, Zochi, is also a sick guy who collects the arms of his opponents. Talk about taking inspiration from Darkman's Robert G. Durant, who cut off the fingers of his opponents as an intimidation factor. Zochi also happens to be a cyborg who can replace his left arm with a saw. Seriously, I'd be too scared in the near-slasher area when Ryu's arm was about to become part of Zochi's collection.
Ken has some absurd powers to be able to get Ryu out on bail, due to a frame-up. What I thought was really crazy was how Shadaloo showed that it has infiltrated the law. Apparently, Warden Nuchi was on Bison's payroll. It was also revealed that a Thai cop named Soogn killed the henchman Donu. So yeah, Group TAC took so many liberties to give us villains who'd never become canon in the games. Seriously, Zochi himself feels like he could've replaced Sagat in-canon. Oh well, Zochi was always meant to stay within the Anime-only continuity.
It gets interesting how Bison is first revealed as a shadowy figure. None of the theatrics would be shown just yet. Zochi was receiving orders from Bison in a shadowy figure -- presumably to avoid total detection. Zochi is later arrested and Sagat is later cleared.
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