This Week in Anime

The Boobs and Battles of Fatal Fury

Jean-Karlo
WE ARE STARTING THIS WEEK IN ANIME, FOLLOWING THE TIME-HONORED CUSTOM. THIS WEEK WE WILL ADOPT A SPECIAL GUEST, HEIDI FROM THIS WEEK IN VIDEO GAMES. THAT'S ALL... [J-K]

This is another one of those works that hits me on a deep, personal level—even though I never saw the Fatal Fury film as a kid. Latin Americans are all accustomed to seeing SNK arcade machines in the weirdest of places, such that you could count on me to always keep quarters on me on the off-chance that I find a chance to play Puzzle-Bobble or Metal Slug when I lived in Puerto Rico. So the likes of Fio Germi, Shizumaru Hisame—and yes, my boy Terry Bogard—are very beloved friends of mine. And then you've got the inimitable Masami Obari, who worked on enduring classics like Voltage Fighter Gowkaizer, Angel Blade, and my personal favorite, Tekkaman Blade. So basically, this movie hits me on a lot of fronts. Also, I basically have an excuse to throw out SNK quotes like they're candy. So, uh. Sorry not sorry.

Real ones know that Terry does not cuss. He just says "OKAY" a lot.

Just... watch this instructional video, this is what you guys are in for tonight.

So as it goes, the story begins in... Egypt, of all places. Mr. Cheng finds an ancient relic, the fabled Armor of Mars.

And how! A quartet descends upon the site, wrecking everything and stealing the armor from Cheng for their leader, Laocorn. Laocorn, you see, is seeking the six pieces of the Sagittarius Cloth Armor of Mars, which will grant him power beyond imagination.

Their names are actually Jamin, Panni and Hauer, but that works too.

We have a muay thai tournament featuring everyone's favorite, Joe Higashi! Also, Andy Bogard and Mai Shiranui are there.

Mai Shiranui has always been one of the oldest and most-beloved of fanservice-y characters, there's kinda no other way to introduce her. And her bust was inspired by one of the original chesty models in Japan, Fumie Hosokawa. There's a reason people were so quick to believe the "Nippon Ichi!" in her victory quote was her saying "Me bouncy!".

No joke. I'm getting ahead of myself, but Obari gave Mai a whole dance sequence entirely to herself later in the film, to say nothing of his typical cheeky freeze-frame bonuses. Let's just say Mai doesn't wear anything you don't already see.

But Heidi! Andy is an uncool dork!

At any rate, Andy, Joe and Mai maintain the time-honored custom of asking where Terry Bogard is whenever Terry isn't on camera. As it turns out, he's fulfilling the requisite product placement.

In short order, Terry is attacked by a trio of masked goons. Also, a blue-haired teenager falls into his arms.

I wanna underline this sequence because for a scene meant to serve as an intro to the fights in this film, it—like the other fights—is also really fast. Something like the Street Fighter movie would have made the fight an entire showstopper. Here, the fights are quick and dirty. Terry shatters a few bones from the goons without so much as an "ARE YOU OKAY?!", and it's pretty clear that while he has Main Character Plot Armor, his opponents are not above going for the pink squishy bits.

Sure enough, when Mai and her two friends—as well as Andy and Joe—get jumped, Fatal Fury regular Kim gets wrecked.

So, why the fuss? Because of this girl: Sulia. She flew all the way to Japan to meet Terry Bogard, because she's got problems and only Terry's roaring fists can solve them.

Sulia explains to the cast that she is Laocorn's twin sister, and she's currently trying to stop Laocorn from gathering the Armor of Mars. It turns out, it belonged to their ancestor, the warrior Gaudeamus, a man so powerful he gave Alexander the Great pause. His rage lives on in his armor after a group of warriors slew him.

Artists like Shinkiro did a phenomenal job of drawing SNK's characters in streetwear or otherwise palling around, breathing life into these characters whose existences were defined by beating each other bloody. I can't say these swimsuits do them justice, but they are swimsuits.

Yeah. This is anime-only stuff, by the way, but this OVA explains that the stronger moves from previous Fatal Fury baddies like Krauser come from Gaudeamus, in an attempt at linking to prior canon.

It doesn't mean much, because none of the games carried over the story from this film, but it's a nice wink-wink-nudge-nudge to people who have emotional scars from fighting Krauser.

The team splits up: Joe, Mai and Andy go to Baghdad, and Sulia and Terry go to Turkey. We get some more anime-only character stuff, introducing the character Lily as a belated long-lost love for Terry. Again, no basis in the games—Terry's reason for fighting Geese Howard was because Geese killed Terry's father—but the film establishes that Geese had Lily murdered.

There was also a shower scene, but we can't show that here.

Similar to how many old pixel-based games depended on the lines in CRT televisions to flesh out sprites, I'm betting Obari was depending on the fuzziness of then-current visual media standards to slightly obfuscate his "flourishes".

There isn't much time to delve into Terry's love life, because Jamin attacks, and Terry has to step up.

And he does the thing

It's a shame Terry wasn't voiced by his typical and most-popular VA, Satoshi Hashimoto—nobody can shout "Burn Knuckle!!!" like he can. But oh well. And again, the fight is quick and dirty. Once Terry knows he can't really make much of a dent in Jamin, he and Sulia book it.

They could have given us a bloated slugfest, but I appreciate how they keep these fights no-nonsense. Terry's a musclehead, but he knows better than to trade blows with something that doesn't go down faster than he can.

I'm getting ahead of myself, but the movie itself takes pains to point out that Sulia is a teenager. Specifically, her SNK Wiki entry lists her as 17. That puts a damper on the romance.

While Laocorn has Gaudeamus's rage and power, Sulia inherited his healing and, for some reason, telepathy. As you do.

It's so bizarre how Obari goes from "artful monochrome piece" to "no, seriously, the nudity is symbolic!". But that's Obari for ya.

Meanwhile, Andy and Mai go clubbing in Japan!

Because Gaudeamus's armor inspired his martial arts style, the two go off to find Master Jubei (who is not related to the Samurai Shodown guy) to see if they can find a lead. Also, Duck King and Nakoruru are there!

Billy Kane, lackey of the most devious SNK boss outside of General Mordred! This doesn't really support the movie much, it's just another fun tie-in to the games to show that, yeah, the other SNK dudes are around and maybe they'll show up in a new game sometime soon if you're a good boy and dump your quarters into the arcade machines.

Gotta hand it to Mai, she ain't havin' it.

I don't like the phrase "equal opportunity fanservice", because it often just means "Yeah, women like guys who are built like gorillas, right?" But Obari's brain is in another dimension, so men also wear outfits that are equally as skimpy as the women. Only Obari would be willing to dress men like the female cast of Agent Aika, which he would soon use to full extent in Gowkaizer.

Geeeeese~!

Again, this doesn't have much of a bearing on the film. This is the last we see of Geese Howard. And in a way, I kinda appreciate that. This movie could have been another build-up to another brawl between Terry and Geese, leading to another clash between the two. Geese and Terry fighting on top of a building and Geese plummeting to his alleged demise for the umpteenth time would have enraptured SNK fans, it's what they're here for. But, in Geese's words, that would have been "PREDICTABLE".

And again, this is tying into the games: Geese is still recovering from the last time Terry tossed him off a building.

Let's disagree, then—Terry is a good boy. He'll raise Geese's son Rock for him, but he won't dirty his hands with the guy. I mean, Geese probably doesn't even like hot dogs.

This is another time where I gotta give Obari some visual credit. The Armor of Mars turing from ancient Macedonian strap-wear into pseudo-mecha armor as it's placed on Laocorn's body is awesome.

It's all a pretense for Mai to really give fans the ol' Razzle Dazzle, that being the ol' "Nippon Ichi!" pose.

... For about fifteen seconds.

This is another bit that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Like, sure, Mai's moneymakers gotta be in here somehow, but later on Mai and Sulia talk about how Mai let this happen to make Andy jealous.

Mai. Sweetie. In the words of your brother-in-law, "GET SERIOUS". You're the best in Japan. If Andy isn't on your level, find someone who is. This is the SNK Universe, there's no lack of hunks you can get. I know Iori hadn't been introduced into the Fatal Fury/King of Fighters universe at this point, but come on...

Andy and Mai's defeat leads to yet another tie-in to the game's story. We see Panni sneaking up on Laurence Blood, servant to Krauser from Fatal Fury 2. Blood is still reeling from his master's death, while Panni notes that Krauser's chestplate was part of Mars's set. Again: nice way of tying the game's lore into the movie, even if Blood ultimately doesn't have any greater significance to the movie.

I mean, we could appreciate Laocorn's armored booba.

The team is able to discern that the final piece of the armor is in the Dead Sea, by the way.

I'd like to take a moment to point out that Joe is voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama, the voice of everyone's favorite iteration of Link from Ocarina of Time. PS: Mai's VA is Kotono "Sailor Moon" Mitsuishi, and Lily is voiced by Kikuko "Eternally-17 Belldandy" Inoue. This voice cast is 90s as hell.

Anyway, because Sulia and Laocorn are telepathically linked, Sulia learning the piece's final location means he learns it too. Both teams regroup to prepare for their final battle. Mai and Sulia set women's rights back a few decades, Andy hits a tree, and Joe and Terry talk about Sulia.

Again: Sulia is 17.

Oh hey, Obari's patented single shadowed laser eye! My favorite Obari-ism!

Andy and Mai both get some good hits in, for a change. Definitely a great escalation, and Obari definitely keeps up his A-game. The fights are still quick and dirty, no moves wasted. These folks aren't fancy flying show-offs: they're martial artists who've mastered the... "Art of Fighting", perhaps?

So, moral of the story: don't bring a pretty face to a fistfight.

Good, Andy! You look sort of cool!

I appreciate that the cast still calls out their moves, if only because Terry is Doing His Thing™️ and shouting his English attack names, goofy as they are. Again: a shame it's not Satoshi Hashimoto calling out those "CRACK SHOOT"s, but I'll take what I can get.

Images You Can Hear Dot Jaypeg.

Meanwhile, Sulia tries talking sense into Laocorn, to no avail.


And Obari brings his full A-Game for this sequence. Terry busting in, Laocorn finally donning the whole armor, and interspaced shots of Gaudeamus's statue...

Only Obari has the courage to dress a guy up in what can only be called the male equivalent to Agent Aika's magic bikini, complete with a crotch shot.

You know Terry is boned because Laocorn does like Geese and just techs Terry's Rising Tackle.

"TOO EASY", indeed.

I know I keep saying this, but Obari keeping these clashes short and punchy feels so good; no wasted time with flashy flying, these hits are brutal. But hey, what is an SNK boss if not unendingly cheap?

Meanwhile, Terry goes to hit-confirm with a Burn Knuckle, a very daring attempt, and manages to not only defeat Laocorn but beat the literal armor out of him. Laocorn falls to his knees and the weight of his actions settles upon him, as Sulia breathes her last.

You really cannot fault Obari for not knowing how to make an emotional scene.

Like I said, cheap SNK bosses. Doesn't matter if you beat the first round with only a pixel of health left, you now have to beat the even cheaper, realer Final Boss with that same health bar. And you ran out of quarters.

It's a shame that Retrocrush doesn't have this movie in HD, because Terry using his Love Love Power Buster Wolf (my name, not official) is a thing of beauty, as is Mars' fury dissipating.

And the world is saved! Terry's heart has been broken, but his tibbies are out and the world is safe. Letters inviting Terry to King of Fighter tournaments and Smash Brothers reveals can continue to be mailed.

... And they gotta spoil it all because while Terry does The Thing™️ and throws his hat in triumph, he doesn't say "Are you okay?!"

I mean, the ending song is pretty kickass. I've been humming "Whoa-oa-oa, Angel" since I finished watching this movie. Helps ease the sting of Terry not asking if I'm okay.

The tiny shout-outs to actual Fatal Fury baddies—like Geese—can be frustratingly sparse, but yeah. Obari knows how to hit that Id, and when he decides to get artsy he can really nail the vibe. Obari's weirdo cheesecake precedes his reputation for good reason, but it's important to remember that Obari also gave us D-Boy's tragic bittersweet victory against the Radam.

Being a motion picture with such an artistically-driven man like Obari at the helm means that even when this movie doesn't look it's best it's still eye-catching and memorably stylized. Compared to stuff like the freaking Street Fighter cartoon, or the Darkstalkers cartoon, or—shudder—the Mortal Kombat cartoon.

SNK has always prided itself on the phenomenal art of its cast—I'm surprised SNK hasn't tried bringing Obari back sooner, frankly. Obari's designs for this film are painfully 90s, but they're memorable. An entire generation of artists grew up on Mai Shiranui's design in this film, for better or worse.

For anime fans who didn't grow up in the 90s, this is a great glimpse of 1990s anime if you're curious. For older fans, this is great nostalgia-fodder. For Latin Americans: you know the siren song of that old SNK chime calls your name.

So, in Terry's words, I guess you could say that Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture is...

OKAY.