Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf

Original Title: バトルファイターズ 餓狼伝説
Romanized: Battle Fighters Garou Densetsu
Literal: Battle Fighters - Legend of the Hungry Wolf

Plot Synopsis

Two brothers, Terry and Andy Bogard, witness the brutal murder of their own father, killed by a crime boss for the scrolls that hold the secrets to his family's martial arts abilities. The boys are told by their mentor to travel the world and hone their skills, preparing for the day when they will be taught the ultimate technique, one so secret it was never written down. Ten years later, Terry has returned to Japan, where he befriends Joe Higashi, an old brawling companion of Andy. He also becomes involved with Lily, a beautiful woman taken in by the man responsible for the murder of the brothers' father ten years back. As it turns out, the aging crime lord now controls a corrupt martial arts tournament from behind the scenes. Both brothers and Joe join the tournament as a way to get to the man at the top, but the tournament is less than honest. And even if they can find the man responsible for the destruction of their family, will they be able to beat him?

Review

Rating: 2 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2000-10-08

Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf: Yet more fighting game-based anime. Not being a fan of this particular game, I can't say how true the characters or plot are to the button-masher, but fortunately familiarity isn't a prerequisite. The story starts from the beginning and supplies enough basic detail that it functions as a stand-alone piece of anime, albeit a relatively generic action-based one.

The plot isn't anything special--basic "join fighting tournament for revenge" stuff. Still, it has a respectable amount of drama, and does manage to serve up some twists. It qualifies as "decent action movie plot," meaning you're not going to watch it for the story, but it's good enough to pay attention to. Interestingly, while it offers a reasonably satisfying conclusion, there are two sequels--both of which are significantly better than this opener--that add quite a bit of depth and breadth to the characters and their world.

The main characters are lean on detail, but they do manage to stand on more than just their fighting ability. Even the bad guys have some personality, although I can't say that's a surprise in fighting-game-based anime. What is a bit of a surprise, and a pleasant departure from many video game conversions, is that there aren't a huge glut of "just there for face time" folks--the cast is mercifully compact.

The other thing that sets this fist-centric OAV apart from your average fighting game-spawn is reasonable abilities. There are no random street brawlers capable of leveling buildings with a fiery punch, and nobody can shoot laser beams from their eyes or steroid beams from their meaty palms. This isn't to say that it's completely devoid of supernatural abilities, but that stuff is reserved for the really impressive moments.

That's about as far as it deviates from the norm, unfortunately; artistically, it's rather average. The art and character designs are acceptable, although they're nowhere near as distinctive as some fighting-game anime character designs. The animation, however, is rather weak, particularly when you consider that it's an action movie whose main draw is watching people duke it out. There are a couple of good action scenes, but it's nowhere near the level of most OAVs with a similar heritage.

I can't speak for the original Japanese, but the dub is generally quite good. It sure starts out on the wrong foot, though--for some reason the opening scene is very poorly acted, and the "little girl" sounds way too much like her adult self. After that, I have no complaints about the casting, and there's an unusual accent or two thrown in for good measure. The acting holds up pretty well, particularly in the dramatic scenes.

Although I wouldn't highly recommend Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf, if you're a fan of the video game or just like martial arts action flicks, you'll probably enjoy it, and if you follow through with the rest of the series it does get much better.

Related Recommendations

As you'd better expect, this is in the same general genre of every other fighting game based anime. The most similar are probably Art of Fighting and the Street Fighter II series.

US DVD Review

Available on a joint VIZ-Pioneer DVD together with the second OAV (New Battle); the disc includes character bios and both English and Japanese language tracks.

Content Guide

Some relatively intense violence makes it about 13-up.

Violence: 3 - Some relatively bloody fights, but nothing really graphic.

Nudity: 1 - Nothing significant.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - One romantic scene.

Language: 1 - Not noteworthy.

Notes and Trivia

Based on the series of Fatal Fury 2-D fighting games by SNK, released for the Neo Geo throughout the '90s. Later, there were several adaptations for various home consoles.

Note that the Fatal Fury series is essentially a trilogy with an ongoing story; Legend of the Hungry Wolf starts it, is followed by The New Battle, and the story is wrapped up by The Motion Picture.

In the Japanese language version of this OAV, Joe Higashi is voiced by Masaaki Satake, a real-life kickboxer who was reasonably successful in the Japanese K-1 kickboxing league during the '90s. More recently he has moved to the "anything goes" mixed-style martial arts circuit PRIDE. This was Satake's only anime role; Joe Higashi was voiced by a different (professional) actor in both the second OAV and the movie.

Availability

Available in the US from VIZ on hybrid DVD (a joint production with Pioneer which also includes the sequel OAV). Was previously available on dubbed VHS, first on its own and later combined with the sequel OAV on dubbed VHS ("One Two Punch").

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