Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsA Great Street Fighter Product
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2008
This is the first time I have ever really, seriously enjoyed a Street Fighter manga. Most of the SF manga is fairly average but finally we have a top quality product with high production values. The art by Udon is stunning with full color frames resembling animation cells. All the characters look spot on perfect particularly Balrog and Blanka. Besides art the other thing I look for in SF manga is the fights. There is a lot of fighting and it's quite good. The only thing I would have preferred is more one on one battles but that might be nit picking.
It's in the story that most SF manga falls apart but this one is decent. It's pretty much an extension of the basic SF storyline with Cammy struggling as she discovers her disturbing past with Shadaloo, Chun Li fretting over her deceased father and Ryu and Ken being hunted by Shadaloo's top heavies, Vega and Balrog. The story isn't going to blow you away but it's more than acceptable.
I have one issue with this book and it's a biggie. The pages are printed on thick, heavy stock paper which is all well and good but unfortunately can cause the books spine to become rather delicate. I tried to be as careful as possible; opening the pages only part way but about half way through the book CRACK went the spine. I imagine most people are not as cautious as I am and with normal use readers probably end up with a handful of loose pages after a short period of time. Books printed on thin, cheap paper tend not to have this problem. It's disappointing because the book is so good I would love to keep it as a collectable but I would be afraid to read it again. The term `cracking open a book' takes on a whole new meaning.
Despite being rather fragile I was wholly impressed with the effort put in here. It's rare that you see a licensed product look this done so well. This book is just about exactly what I was looking for and I intend to buy the rest of the books in the series.
