Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

I could remember how I previously wrote about how Scorpion in Mortal Kombat had an interesting development . What I've ignored in my blogging (due to how my relationship with Capcom has become rather stormy) is Sagat's rather cool development as an anti-villain turned anti-hero. Yes, Sagat was initially a villain for a good portion of Street Fighter until his redemption. He was once part of M. Bison's Shadaloo Kings along with Balrog and Vega. Yet, Sagat overtime became a good guy. The idea was somewhat placed in the Street Fighter movie and the failed American cartoon. The failed American cartoon had Sagat eventually defecting after finding out how M. Bison had gone "too far". The games did start to explore his role as a character manipulated by the bad guys like Scorpion was in Mortal Kombat .  Sagat did have his status as the champion of Muay Thai and the main antagonist of the underappreciated first Street Fighter game. Adon was also a character in that rather...

The Street Fighter series as a lot of interesting retcons (and bad ones such as Cammy's origins which came some time AFTER the Street Fighter II V Anime ). One of them is the addition of Evil Ryu - Ryu's variation that didn't come in until the Street Fighter Alpha series. The form made its debut in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold which was an update to the original game. Evil Ryu was basically a variation for Ryu like how Chun-Li had her Street Fighter II variation in the same game. The form of Ryu had nearly the same moves except he had a teleport, his shoryuken had more hits (which could potentially override Ken's superior flaming shoryuken), and he gains the Messatsu Gou Shoryu.  The retcon of Ryu's victory over Sagat (who was still a noble villain at that time) was changed. It turns out that Ryu himself was starting to succumb to Satsui No Hadou (Surge of Murderous Intent) which was the power Akuma had. Akuma was a bonus character in Super Street Fighter II Turbo wh...

While Ryu's Hadouken is better than Ken's -- Ken's Shoryuken is better than Ryu's. Ken was the first of the two to use a Shoryuken-based super-attack. Ken's first Shoryuken-based super was his Shoryuu Reppa and later added the Shinryuken. Ryu instead focused his energies on improving his Hadouken such as the birth of the Shinkuu Hadouken (which Ken could perform in a duo with Ryu in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter ) and the Denjin Hadouken (from the Street Fighter III series). The Street Fighter III series also introduced Ryu's first Shoryuken-based Super Move in the Shin Shoryuken. Shin Shoryuken would translate as True Rising Dragon Fist while Shinryuken would translate as True Dragon Fist.  Ryu's Shin Shoryuken was introduced in the Street Fighter III arcade games - a game series that didn't enter until the sixth-generation consoles. The variations did appear in several other games such as the Street Fighter EX series and non-canon spin-offs su...

It's no secret that Liu Kang is indeed a Bruce Lee-inspired character. It was said that Jason Scott Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee) was Bruce Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and was offered the part of Liu Kang and turned it down. The part of Liu Kang eventually went to Robin Shou (for the 1995 film) while the current film will have Ludi Lin (from that failed Power Rangers film). The character of Lee from Enter the Dragon was obviously given tribute in later films and games. There was the arcade game Yi Ar Kung Fu which had its main protagonist Lee fighting off deadly opponents. The concept also made it into Liu Kang when the low-budget hit Mortal Kombat was created.  The first game featured Liu Kang in a very Bruce Lee type of attire. Who can remember the way that Liu Kang was in the first game where he wore black pants and kung fu shoes? Lee's trademark appearance was made into Liu Kang and put into a bloody game. Interestingly, Liu Kang had nunchucks (which is obviously ac...

  Can you believe that it's been ten years since Mortal Kombat (2011) or Mortal Kombat 9 has been released? Yup, and it means that it's also five years since Mortal Kombat X was released on the 20th anniversary of the Mortal Kombat Hollywood movie. Think about it 2011 would be the 25th anniversary or the silver anniversary year. MKX clearly had references to the film for its upcoming 20th anniversary, but do we forget that MK (2011) also had references to the movie as well aside from being heavily influenced by Mortal Kombat II ?  The most obvious one is Shang Tsung's catchphrase is used in the game Before Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa reprised his role for the video game --it turned out that he was supposed to voice the sorcerer for the 2011 game. The design of Shang Tsung was really (and partly) inspired by Kabai Singh from The Phantom . The sorcerer's intro should have him say "YOUR SOUL IS MINE!" done by Andrew Kishino. Sure, Tagawa wasn't around but Andrew Kis...

  I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, Power Rangers  may have had it coming due to how people behind it have been mishandling it. Do you remember when Saban sold the franchise to Disney, Saban bought it back, and now Hasbro has it? Things have been getting from bad to worse like Disney's rushed seasons and Nickelodeon's unnecessary season split . I guess this may be a good reason why Power Rangers is leaving Netflix. It may no longer have the popularity like it used to be back when it was still hot. The digital age is pretty much the age where "Either your show does something or you're out!" Netflix has so many shows that if it sucks -- don't expect Netflix to renew their contract with you. Shows disappear from Netflix when the contract is over and the streaming services don't want to air it. The question I asked during late 2017 was whether or not Power Rangers was really going to die any time soon . It had to do with how AWFULLY STUPID Power Rangers N...

Who can remember the first time Ryu and Ken appeared? My first remembrance of them was in the  Street Fighter II series where the two characters played very much alike. They had their three basic moves namely the Hadoken, Shoryuken, and the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku with very little difference. The Street Fighter II series had me picking Ken (at first) though over time - I was more tuned in to Ryu himself. It was probably due to Ken being ore cocky. Over time, the Street Fighter II series started to evolve in both arcades and consoles. There was Super Street Fighter II and later Super Street Fighter II Turbo which started to differentiate them even more. The differences were spelled out even further in the prequel trilogy called the Street Fighter Alpha series - games that took place before Street Fighter II came to light. So, how did the differences take place? Ken was made master and more juggle-friendly. Ryu was made to be more of that heavy hitter. Ryu eventually had his focus on ...