Director Joey Ansah is following up his popular short film Street Fighter: Legacy with Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, a live action web series about the origin of the main characters Ryu (Mike Moh) and Ken (Christian Howard).
The martial arts rivals were both taught by Ryu’s father Gouken (Akira Koieyama), who has his own rivalry with his brother Goki over what’s essentially the dark side of martial arts. The series will feature a young Gouken (Shogen) and Goki (Gaku Space) training under their master, Goutetsu (Togo Igawa). The two split ways when Goki is corrupted by his use of a special technique that transforms him into the demonic Akuma (Joey Ansah), who in turn tries to corrupt Ryu. Akuma’s origin will be more nuanced than some of his previous portrayals that suggest he’s simply evil, Ansah explained in a Facebook Q&A.
ANIME CLIFFNOTES: Street Fighter Alpha Generations
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The film has been delayed several years rather than accept funding with strings attached. A kickstarter campaign was launched but it was cancelled after an unnamed source provided several million dollars worth of funding. Most of the money will go to improved special effects and locations not the actors, who are working below scale noted Ansah.
The 2 hour long web series will be released on the Machinima YouTube channel this Summer. The hope is that it will lead into a feature film, Street Fighter: World Warrior, or at the very least convince Capcom to make Goutetsu playable in Street Fight V.
