Web Video / Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist

A new origin.

Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist is a web video series based on the fighting game series, Street Fighter. It depicts the training of Ryu and Ken, the franchise's original protagonists, as they uncover the past of their master, Gouken, and learn the dark secrets of their martial art, Ansatsuken.

The full series, which was produced with the help of Capcom themselves, debuted on Machinima on May 23, 2014, and can be found here.

A related sequel, titled Street Fighter: Resurrection, premiered on March 15, 2016.

The sequel, Street Fighter: World Warriors, was announced to be in production in 2018, but was eventually confirmed by Joey Ansah to have been canceled for the time being.

---

Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist provides examples of:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: Gouken, who doesn't resemble the mountain of muscle and beard depicted in Street Fighter IV.
• Afraid of Their Own Strength: Ryu takes to the Hadoken technique quickly, but refuses to fire it and goes to train alone. He concentrates and fires off his first one, which accidentally hits Ken. Had Gouken not acted quickly, Ken would've died from that single blast.
• And the Adventure Continues: The DVD ending has Ryu and Ken arriving in America, shortly before the events of the very first game.
• Awful Truth: Gouki discovers that since Ansatsuken is an assassination art, he and Gouken have been raised to carry on a legacy that can only have one master, and the two of them will have to fight for it at some point.
• Badass Back: How Akuma is introduced in the current setting. Ryu even notices the iconic kanji on his outfit.
• Bait-and-Switch: Early on, a throw-away line seems to set up Goutetsu's brother, mentioned to have gone insane from abuse of Satsui no Hado, as Akuma, and Gouken refers to both Goutetsu and Gouki as dead. It rapidly becomes clear that Gouki becomes Akuma, and that Gouken merely meant that Gouki as he once was is no more.
• Big Brother Mentor: After discovering Ryu's Satsui no Hadou potential, Gouken chooses Ken over Ryu as the more stable of his two students, and requests that he take care of the other once they've left the dojo. He even tells him that "you're the big brother now."
• Cain and Abel: Gouken and Gouki, as a result of the latter's use of Satsui no Hado. When things start getting bloody, Goutetsu immediately banishes Gouki from the dojo, stating that he'd be considered an enemy if he returned.
• The Cameo: Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono shows up in Episode 4 as the organizer of the barfight event in the bar.
• Character Development: Ken starts off brash and impatient, already considering leaving the dojo. A few episodes in, and he decides to stay and finish his training, refusing his father's offer to come home and take over the company. He ends up as a much more mentally and emotionally balanced person in the long run, even more than Ryu.
• Chick Magnet: When they go to the club, Ken immediately gets comfortable with a group of women. Ryu is too distracted and uncomfortable to realize the ladies are eyeing him as well.
• Cliffhanger:
  • An implied one. The series ends with Ryu and Ken completing their training and leaving the dojo, but it's clear that the long-awaited showdown between Gouken and Akuma is close at hand.
  • Much more direct in the new extended epilogue, which shows Akuma finding the dojo and challenging Gouken, but the scene cuts to black just before the fight begins.
• Continuity Nod: The series is a love letter to various Street Fighter animated media.
  • Street Fighter Alpha: Generations: The series may be considered a live-action adaptation of this OVA. The Ship Tease between Gouki and Sayaka is enough to parallel that Ryu is actually their son as in the anime, referencing Ryu's abrupt Satsui no Hado vulnerability.
  • Street Fighter II V: Gouken's way of charging up a Hadoken is winding both arms in a Yin-Yang motion, similar to how Master Yo Sen Kai taught Ryu in the anime.
  • Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie: The origin of Ryu's signature red headband is faithfully recreated. Ryu and Ken's climactic sparring through the greenery ended up with Ryu being injured. Ken wraps his ponytail headband around Ryu's head to suppress the bleeding.
  • Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter: Gouma, the kooky old fisherman, mocks Ken's fireball not being long-ranged as Ryu's, which is taken straight from the VS games from MSHvsSF onward. Ryu's fireballs were full range there, whereas Ken's were short range but slightly more powerful and could be aimed downward in midair.
  • Street Fighter II: In Super SF II Turbo, Akuma assumes his Satsui no Hado pose (squat while standing at your toes) before releasing his fireball. In the series, Ken assumes the same stance when reading Gouki's notebook to charge ki quickly.
  • Street Fighter Alpha:
    • The promotional poster, used as the main image for this page, has Ken and Ryu in the exact same pose as the original promotional poster for the first Street Fighter Alpha◊ game.
    • The mountain island cave that Gouki trained in before he became Akuma resembles the Gokuentou island caves, his stages from Alpha 2 and 3, particularly more resembling the 3rd game's cave.
  • Street Fighter IV: In one flashback, Gouken is seen training and at one point performs a fireball throwing motion that looks exactly like his in-game counterpart's low punch Hadouken throwing animation.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Ryu. An old man found him wandering in the woods as a small child, and brought him to Gouken.
• Cool Old Guy:
  • Gouken, even if he doesn't look that old.
  • Ken's father, who returns to offer Ken his company, and gives both students some hands-on boxing training.
  • Goutetsu, who is actually much kinder and more perceptive than he lets on.
• The Corruption: Satsui no Hado is incredibly dangerous both physically and mentally, and it doesn't take long for it to affect Gouki. When Gouken finds out that Ken used Gouki's notebook to learn the Hadoken, he immediately confronts him and forbids him from ever using it again.
• Cursed with Awesome: The Satsui no Hado grants you immense power, but takes a severe mental and physical toll, even leading to madness or death if not properly handled.
• A Day in the Limelight: Episodes 7 and 8 are shown from Gouki's perspective, covering two years after he starts training on his own.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Gouki walks out on Sayaka, and Sayaka eventually walks out on Gouken after being traumatized from witnessing Goutetsu's violent death at Gouki/Akuma's hands.
• Disappeared Dad: Ken's father, who left him with Gouken while he saved his company in the States. He comes back in after four episodes, asking Ken to come back and take over the company. Ken is noticeably upset, but hears him out. Ken eventually turns him down, opting instead to finish his training.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ken, who has his Alpha ponytail. He even gets mocked for it by a local fisherman.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Gouki becomes addicted to the Satsui no Hadou, slowly changing him into Akuma.
• Dub Name Change: Referenced; both Akuma's English name and his Japanese name (Gouki) are used in this series. Here, Gouki is his birth name, while Akuma is used to describe what he becomes (a person consumed by the Satsui no Hadou).
• Dysfunctional Family: Goutetsu, Sayaka, Gouken, and Gouki lived peacefully at the dojo until Gouki started using Satsui no Hado.
• Elemental Punch: In the final battle between Ken and Ryu, Ken performs his flaming Shoryuken, landing the final blow to Ryu and knocking him out of the Satsui no Hadou. Gouken witnesses this and initially assumes that Ken was the one with the Satsui no Hadou until Ryu admits that it was him.
• Empathic Environment: The fight between Goutetsu and Akuma happens in the middle of a storm. Akuma's heaven symbol even appears in the clouds afterwards. The latter also acts as a Shout-Out to the OVA Street Fighter Alpha: Generations, where the same thing happens.
• Everyone Can See It: Between Gouki and Sayaka.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Justified. Goutetsu explains that the Satsui no Hado takes a tremendous, deforming toll on the body, and that the Ansatsuken masters of ancient times usually lived to be 40 at most. The only reason he survived so long is because he developed a more balanced style. When Gouki sees his monstrous face in a reflection, he's shocked for a few moments.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Gouki, true to form.
• Eye Scream: Goutetsu, a nasty result of being on the receiving end of a Shun Goku Satsu.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: We get a quick, but gruesome shot of how Goutetsu died. This version of the Shun Goku Satsu doesn't just send the victim's soul to hell; it melts the face off the victim in the process.
• Fight Clubbing: Ken talks Ryu into going to a bar, where they discover a street fighting competition between local soldiers. Needless to say, it doesn't last long.
• Flat "What": Gouken's reaction when he's tasked with becoming Ryu's Parental Substitute.
• Foregone Conclusion: Anybody with even a vague knowledge about the lore behind Gouken and Akuma will know that Akuma is Gouken's brother, masters the Satsui no Hado, loses to Gouken in their climactic battle, and ambushes him just before Ken and Ryu return from their Musha Shugyo many years later, putting him in a ten year long coma. The whole series is essentially a long setup for this.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Ryu and Ken play this straight; Ryu is quieter and more mindful of Gouken, while Ken is quick-tempered and more rebellious. By the end, however, Ken develops into a more responsible and emotionally/mentally balanced person, while Ryu still bottles everything up and inadvertently taps into Satsui no Hado. Gouken notices how far Ken has come and privately asks him to take care of Ryu after they've left the dojo.
• Friendly Rivalry: Ryu and Ken, who grew up together at the dojo.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Gouki learns about the history of Satsui no Hado practitioners, and that Goutetsu intentionally hid it from him and Gouken. He stops meditating to clear his mind of the Satsui no Hado’s influence against Goutetsu's instructions and keeps the misconduct to himself until he becomes so unstable that he nearly murders Gouken and gets kicked out of the dojo.
• Hangover Sensitivity: After their victory in the club fight, Ryu and Ken have some drinks. The next morning, they're in no condition to train.
• Heir to the Dojo: Goutetsu took over the family dojo after returning from World War II.
• How Do I Shot Web?: The series focuses on Ryu and Ken before they learned how to do all of their iconic attacks. Gouken even breaks down the Hadoken into the individual hand motions and stances.
• How We Got Here: The first episode, "Alpha", shows Ryu and Ken's climactic fight. The rest of the series serve as buildup towards this moment and the last two episodes show the fight in full and its conclusion.
• Hurricane Kick: It's a main component of Ansatsuken. Appropriately, Ken is the first of the two students to pull it off in a fight.
• Iconic Item: The series itself also serves as an origin story for the various things each character wears or sports.
  • After murdering Goutetsu with the Raging Demon, Akuma proceeds to wear his master's prayer beads as his "successor". The "Ten" (Heaven) kanji on his back is partly influenced by his love interest Sayaka, as its design came from a memento she gave him when he left Goutetsu's dojo: a piece of paper with the kanji written by her.
  • Ryu's red headband is given to him by Ken after their climactic fight. Ryu went berserk with Satsui no Hado, and Ken stopped him with a flaming Shoryuken. The resulting blow cracked Ryu's head open, and Ken quickly tied the headband to stop the bleeding.
  • Ryu and Ken start off with their red and yellow gloves respectively as with the Alpha games. After their training is completed, Gouken gives them the brown Hado-resistant Ansatsuken gloves from Street Fighter 2 (where what appear to be the user's hands can be seen within the fireball).
  • Gouken also gives Ryu his signature black belt with the Furinkazan markings evident in Ryu's Street Fighter 2 artwork.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: What the fight between Ryu and Ken briefly boils down to when Ryu triggers the Satsui no Hado and loses control of himself.
• Important Haircut: Ken gives himself one to mark the end of his training.
• In Medias Res: The series starts with Ryu and Ken, but skips back to their training and other flashbacks. The series doesn't return to the same scene until the end of episode 11.
• It Always Rains at Funerals: It starts raining when Goutetsu dies. And it's also raining in his funeral proper.
• I Was Quite a Looker:
  • Gouken, judging by the flashbacks. Not that he's half bad now.
  • Gouki as well, before becoming Akuma.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: When Gouki takes the exact wording of the Ansatsuken art to heart, Goutetsu quickly points out that it was developed in times of warfare and can be interpreted differently now. He points out how foolish Gouki is for thinking he understands such things, and that the Satsui no Hado is already destroying his body.
• Kamehame Hadoken: It wouldn't be Street Fighter without it. However, the series focuses on Ryu and Ken actually learning to perform it; when Gouken demonstrates it for the first time, they react how people would in Real Life. It also requires more concentration and is less flashy than the video game versions.
• Killing Intent: The Satsui no Hadou, as usual, which Gouki used to turn himself into an Akuma. And following the franchise storyline, Ryu has a surprising innate potential. He nearly succumbs to it and murders Ken, but luckily Ken manages to knock him out with his signature flaming Shoryuken. As a result, Gouken asks Ken to watch over Ryu.
• Ki Manipulation: As expected, given how the Hadoken is an essential part of Ansatsuken.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Prior to Ryu and Ken's climactic fight, Gouken takes them aside individually and gives them strategic advice. His words accurately describe the tactics used by the characters in the video game.
• Leitmotif:
  • The neighbor from across the lake returns in episode 10 and performs a song he wrote for Ryu on his flute: Ryu's stage theme from Street Fighter II.
  • Ken's theme plays on a radio during their workout session shortly afterward. Ken's theme also plays at the end of episode 4, when he and Ryu have a training session with Ken's dad, who had taken up boxing.
  • Their themes are all over the place: at the start of episode 11, during their Training Montage before their final duel before the end of their training, a slow, operatic version of Ken's theme plays. And in the final episode, when Gouken, Ryu and Ken perform their last kata together, Ryu's theme, in a similar version, plays.
• Let's You and Him Fight: As the final part of Ryu and Ken's training, they have to spend 3 days in the wilderness in preparation for a fight against each other. The fight also circles back to the first scene in the series, thus letting the audience know they've seen how they've gotten to that point.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Ken. When his mother died, he got into lots of fights and was kicked out of school, one of them even involving the police. His father needed to focus on saving the Masters Foundation, so he left Ken with Gouken.
• Long Haired Prettyboy: Ken, as usual. Also doubles as a Barbarian Longhair when it's loose.
• Meaningful Name: Gouken compares Ryu's latent power to that of a rising dragon, and Ryu means dragon in Japanese.
• Missing Mom:
  • Ken's mother died when he was just a child.
  • Ryu was found wandering alone in the woods as a child.
• Mundane Utility: At one point, Gouki uses a Gou Hadouken to fish. As in he fires it at a lake and collects the dead fish from there.
• Mythology Gag:
  • There's a board in the dojo that lists all the students that have trained there. One of them is Dan.
  • The same board also lists Sheng Long as a former master, alluding to the old EGM April Fools joke.
  • Gouken mentions to Ryu and Ken his story of how he met, fought, and exchanged knowledge with Gen during his warrior's pilgrimage. In canon, they both survived the Shun Goku Satsu by emptying their minds.
  • Ken and Ryu get their distinctive fighting stance from Ken's father, who shows up to add some boxing pointers to their repertoire.
  • One episode has Ryu and Ken barhopping and picking a fight with soldiers, much like in the first two episodes of Street Fighter II V. As an added bonus, Ryu is wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, which was his casual outfit in that series.
• Nonviolent Initial Confrontation: When Gouken and Gouki meet again in the present. However the situation is clearly getting more and more tense by the second.
• Not Me This Time: After Ryu and Ken's fight, Gouken immediately assumes Ken tapped into the Satsui no Hado again. Turns out it was Ryu this time.
• Not So Above It All: As their training winds down, Ryu and Ken get a NES and a copy of Mega Man 2. Gouken peeks in, and it looks like he's going to reprimand them, especially considering that they had ditched him moments before to play it…but then he asks if it's any good. And when Ken offers Gouken a try at the game, Gouken wryly smiles and claims he'd probably put them both to shame.
• Obviously Evil: Gouki, who is clearly obsessed with Satsui no Hado even early on.
• Oh, Crap!: When Gouken realizes that Ken learned the Hadoken via Gouki's Satsui no Hado notes. He immediately confronts him and forbids him from using the evil energy.
• Older Than They Look: Gouken, who was not quite a teenager after World War II ended.
• Old Master: Gouken. Flashbacks reveal his old master, Goutetsu.
• Old Retainer: Senzo.
• The One That Got Away: Sayaka for Gouki and Gouken. The former when he was banished from the dojo, and the latter in the aftermath of Goutetsu's death.
• Parental Neglect: Ken thought his father was doing this, until he realizes his father was focusing on building the company for his sake.
• Parental Substitute: Gouken for both protagonists, and Goutetsu for him.
• Passing the Torch: Goutetsu knows how things are playing out and make sure that Gouken inherits all of the teachings and scrolls of Ansatsuken before confronting Akuma in a fight to the death.
• Physical Fitness Punishment: Mouthing off to Gouken earns you 50 push-ups.
• Playing with Fire:
  • Gouken, most notably burning Gouki's notebook by just holding it in his hand and staring.
  • Ken manages to pull off his signature flaming Shoryuken near the end.
• Poor Communication Kills: Goutetsu has very good reason for keeping his students Locked Out of the Loop with regards to the Satsui no Hado, but Gouki discovered it anyway. Gouken desperately wants to make sure the same doesn't happen with Ryu and Ken.
• Power Incontinence: Once Gouki learns more about the Satsui no Hado, it quickly becomes obvious he's becoming consumed by it. Gouken desperately wants to make sure the same doesn't happen to Ryu and Ken.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  Gouki: [in Japanese] Prepare youself... one thousand strikes! [cue Raging Demon on Goutetsu]
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Gouki seemed like a good enough kid, but that all changed once he got a look at the Satsui no Hado scrolls.
• Purple Is Powerful: Akuma's flames turn purple after he's completed his training.
• Race Lift: Averted. While Joey Ansah who plays Akuma is of mixed Caucasian-African descent, Akuma/Gouki is still Japanese in the story. The look is simply explained as the effects of the Satsui no Hadou corrupting Gouki. It also helps that Joey as Akuma looks pretty much like he does in the video games.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Ken's father is much faster than he looks, even in business causal attire.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Akuma shows up to kill Goutetsu, the first thing you see are his glowing eyes.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ryu is blue and Ken is red, like usual. It's even alluded to when they're describing their energy flows; Ryu's feels cool, and Ken's is warm.
• Sanity Slippage: Gouki learns the Satsui no Hado, making him much stronger but also more aggressive, delusional, and dangerously unstable.
• Shirtless Scene: Both characters get them in early episodes.
• Shoryuken: Wouldn't be Street Fighter without it. Gouken can jump much higher than his students, leading Ken to wonder when they're going to learn it. The series also ends on Ken mastering this technique to a level never seen before in the story, according to Gouken, as he initially assumed that his signature flaming Shoryuken was a product of Satsui no Hadou. It's never mentioned, but it appears to actually work on the same chi-focusing principle of the Hadoken, simply applied to one's fist.
• Sibling Triangle: Gouken and Gouki vie for Sayaka's attention, culminating in Sayaka blocking Gouki with her body and talking Gouken out of killing him with a Hadoken. It's later revealed she chose Gouki, and was heartbroken when he walked out on the dojo. She later gets closer to Gouken, but ends up walking out on him and the dojo.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Ken's got quite the potty mouth.
• Sitting on the Roof: Ryu and Ken share a meal on the dojo roof while discussing Ken's decision between going home and taking care of the company, or staying and finishing his training.
• So Proud of You: Goutetsu tells Gouken this almost verbatim once the latter has finished his training.
• Supporting Protagonist: Ryu is the main character of the franchise in general, but Ken goes through more Character Development overall.
• Start of Darkness: Gouki really took to Goutetsu's teachings, to the point of secretly copying his Satsui no Hado scrolls. After he attempts to kill Gouken in a sparring match, Goutetsu figures out what's going on and promptly banishes him.
• The Stoic: Ryu, as usual.
• Tame His Anger: Part of the reason Ken is left at the dojo.
• Tender Tears: Sayaka, once she realizes that the family is damaged beyond repair once Gouki has been banished.
• There Can Be Only One: Gouki snaps when he realizes that truly mastering the arts he devoted himself to learning requires that he be the only master.
• Took a Level in Badass: A level? Gouki took several in his Dark Hadou training.
• Training from Hell: Ryu and Ken, as per the discipline needed for their martial art. Flashbacks show that, compared to Goutetsu's training regime, Gouken is going relatively easy on them.
• Tragic Keepsake:
  • The iconic symbol on Akuma's back is the kanji for "heaven". Sayaka drew the symbol on a piece of calligraphy paper, serving as a reminder of both her and his ultimate goal of immortal glory. He ends up burning the calligraphy, but keeps the symbol.
  • Akuma obtained his prayer bead necklace by challenging and killing Goutetsu.
• Truer to the Text: Compared to the two live-action films, Street Fighter and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, this series hues closer to the games, with Ryu and Ken, the original main characters, getting full focus rather than being sidelined or Adapted Out, and shown using their staple attacks, the Hadoken and Shoryuken.
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: The DVD version's extended ending cuts off right before Akuma and Gouken battle. According to older information, their first battle, which Gouken wins, levels a mountain range!
• Unperson: Goutetsu tries to make everyone forget about Gouki after he's been banished, but it doesn't work.
• We Used to Be Friends: Gouken and Gouki. Even after Gouki tried to kill him and got banished from the dojo, Gouken begged him to stay and said he'd try to get Goutetsu to reconsider. He fails, and they part ways.
• We Will Meet Again: Gouki says this almost verbatim to Gouken after crossing paths in the present.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Satsui no Hado is extremely dangerous. Knowing what happened to his brother, Gouken desperately tries to keep it out of Ryu and Ken's training.
• Younger Than They Look:
  • When Ken drags him to the bar, Ryu protests by saying they're not even old enough to drink. Gouma the fisherman ends up catching them and nearly rats them out.
  • This is also a case of Dawson Casting, both the actors for Ryu and Ken are in their late 20s.

---