is a Japanese anime television series based on the ''Virtua Fighter'' series of video games made by

Sega-AM2 previously known as is a video game development team within the Japanese multinational video game developer Sega. Yu Suzuki, who had previously developed arcade games for Sega including ''Hang-On'' and ''Out Run'', was the first manager of t ...

. Produced by

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

, Yomiko Advertising and

TMS Entertainment , formerly known as the , also known as or , is a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946. TMS is one of the oldest and most famous anime studios in Japan, best known for numerous anime franchises such as '' Lupin the Third' ...

, it was directed by Hideki Tonokatsu, with Tsutomu Kamishiro handling series scripts, Ryō Tanaka designing the characters, Satoshi Katō serving as sound director and Kaoru Ōhori composing the music. Targeted towards children aged 6 to 15 years old, the series originally aired on TV Tokyo from October 2, 1995 to June 27, 1996. The episodes take place before the first game in the series, and accordingly portray the characters as slightly younger than they are in the games. A video game based on the series, '' Virtua Fighter Animation'', was released in 1996.

Plot

The series follows

Akira Yuki Akira Yuki is a fictional character in the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game franchise by Sega. As the series' main protagonist and mascot, Akira appears in every ''Virtua Fighter'' game as a playable character, and is usually shown on the games ...

and his quest to see the eight stars of heaven after he had gotten overconfident in his

Bajiquan Bajiquan () is a Chinese martial art that features explosive, short-range power and is famous for its elbow and shoulder strikes. Its full name is kaimen ba ji quan (). Origins Baji quan was originally called bazi quan ( or ) or "rake fist" ...

skills from his days training with his grandfather. Initially traveling to figure out how to see those stars again, he learns that Sarah Bryant was kidnapped by

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

Eva Durix as part of Eva's quest to create the "Perfect Soldier." Akira joins up with other characters in his journey such as

Pai Chan The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well ...

Jacky Bryant The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well as ...

Lion Rafale The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well ...

Kage-Maru The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well ...

and Shun Di to save Sarah.

Characters

Some of the following characters who appear in the show are based on those in ''

Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original '' Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' ga ...

'' and ''

Virtua Fighter 2 is a 1994 fighting video game developed by Sega. It is the sequel to 1993's ''Virtua Fighter'' and the second game in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series. It was created by Sega's Yu Suzuki-headed AM2 and was released for the arcades in 1994. Ports ...

'', while some were created solely for the show. :Unlike his video game counterpart, Akira enjoys overeating and slacking off. Akira fights only when he sees people getting into trouble, but often gets into minor problems, such as when he accidentally touches Sarah Bryant's breast or when he gives

a kiss (which results in a beating). :Initially meeting with Akira after an encounter in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Chinatown district, she joins up with him so as to avoid being hunted down by renegade Koenkan fighters, her estranged father,

Lau Chan The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well ...

and her supposed fiancée, Liu Kowloon. In the series, Pai gets along with Akira despite his everlasting appetite, then eventually develop feelings for him. According to her (unlike her video game counterpart), she learned Ensei-ken forcibly by her father when she was a little girl, rather than by his kind persuasion. Her mother, never shown in the games themselves, was instead shown in the anime, having died of an illness when she was little as opposed to Pai's mother dying when she was 16. :Pai's estranged father, Lau wanted her to marry Liu Kowloon so that there would be a successor to the Koenkan. He later helps Pai, Akira and the others to defeat Eva's

Dural Dural is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills District ...

robot. :Like his game counterpart, Jacky still has the role of a known

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

(in the game he is referred to be an IndyCar race driver). He travels along with his sister, Sarah Bryant and her pet flying squirrel in a RV whenever he is not doing any

racing. Jacky tends to be protective of Sarah. There are suggestions throughout the series that he and Sarah belong to an American upper class family. (This was later ported into the games when ''

Virtua Fighter 5 is the fifth installment in Sega's ''Virtua Fighter'' series of arcade fighting games. The original version was released on the Sega Lindbergh arcade system board. The first location tests took place on November 26, 2005 leading to the officia ...

'' was released.) *First appears in Episode 3, "The Gorgeous Sibling Fighters" :Sarah is kind and gentle in the anime. She has a flying squirrel named Alexander for a pet and travels with

in their RV. Whenever Jacky participates in any

contest, Sarah helps out by doing racing queen duties. She is later kidnapped by Eva Durix to be used as a basis for creating a "Perfect Soldier",

. In the series, she has a crush on Akira but later has feelings for Kage. *First appears in Episode 3, "The Gorgeous Sibling Fighters" :Kage is first portrayed as a

mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any ...

who kidnaps Sarah under the orders of Eva Durix and initially clashes with Akira. While Kage is with Sarah they begin to have feelings for each other. In the middle of the series, Kage decides to assist Akira, Pai and their allies after he had a case of guilty conscience over what he had done that resulted in the creation of

. He had also left his Hagakure clan village to hunt down Oni-Maru after most of his people had been massacred by him, who had wanted to kill Kage in order to gain the position as the head of the Hagakure clan. *First appears in Episode 5, "In Search of the Stars" :A wrestler that originally worked for Clive Maroni in a Casino. *First appears in Episode 13, "Arena of Darkness" *First appears in Episode 16, "The Sea Warrior" :A young teenage boy, the only son of a rather

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...

French family. Like his counterpart in the games, he is a practitioner of Tourou-ken. *First appears in Episode 17, "Here Comes the Prince" *First appears in Episode 21, "A Wizard and a Master" :A rising martial arts practitioner in the Koenkan, he had plotted to use his upcoming marriage to Pai in order to become the next successor to

as the next head of the Koenkan. Akira, Jacky and Sarah rescued Pai in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, foiling his plot. :A former member of the Hagakure clan, he had been expelled by the village elders due to his plot to kill off Kage-Maru in order to become the clan's head. Enraged, Oni leaves to train himself and perfect his skills. He later orchestrates a massacre of his village kin, leading Kage to hunt him down in order to exact revenge for the deaths of the Hagakure clan. Voiced by:

Kaneto Shiozawa Toshikazu Shiozawa ( ja, 塩沢敏一, Shiozawa Toshikazu, January 28, 1954 – May 10, 2000), better known by the stage name Kaneto Shiozawa ( ja, 塩沢兼人, Shiozawa Kaneto), was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo. At the ...

A monk that is a loyal follower and disciple of Oni-Maru. Although fighting at the side of the villains, Gaô has a mature, polite and respectful nature, and seems to follow a moral code of the fighter. Nio Voiced by: Unknown One of the Oni-Maru lackeys. :A

who had wanted to create the "Perfect Soldier". She had assisted Liu in brainwashing Pai so as to "marry" her without any pressure. The brainwashing fails, and after Akira, Sarah and Jacky rescued Pai from Liu and the rest of the Koenkan, Eva seeks the backing of the Rafale Corporation. She employed the

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.Kawakami, pp. 2 ...

Kage-Maru to kidnap Sarah to use her for the basis of

. *First appears in Episode 5, "In Search of the Stars" :Dural's origins are very different here from in the game versions; it had been created by

Eva Durix through the backing of the Koenkan and later, the Rafale Corporation after Eva had a fallout with the Koenkan.

Episode list

Licensing

''Virtua Fighter'' had been aired in various television stations in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and the Arabic part of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, dubbed in their national languages. The series had been licensed for distribution in North America by

Anime Works Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...

. Due to falling sales, Anime Works had ended its distribution of the ''Virtua Fighter'' anime after dubbing 24 of the 35 episodes, and no other licensor would pick up the series until 2022 when Discotek Media announced they picked up the rights for the anime and will release it on Blu-Ray. This will include the first 24 episode that have the English dub while the rest will have Japanese translations. RetroCrush announced that the first season would be streamed with English subtitles provided.

Reception

Hanami Gumi had praised the Virtua Fighter anime series, calling it "one of the best among those anime series that had fighting-game origins".Virtua Fighter.
Retrieved on February 5, 2008. The review said that the show had a clear, non-confusing plot, along with good characterization and background music. ''Asian Stuff'' has praised the series for its plot, saying "the fights don't drag on and that it doesn't resort to repetitive tournament crap". An ''EX'' review had commented highly on Ryo Tanaka's character designs in the series, as they are "simple yet very effective in revealing the nature of the characters."
Retrieved on February 5, 2008.

References

External links