Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-10-08 (updated 2012-09-26)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

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 characters aren't terribly well fleshed out, but they get the job done, and the plot is functional if entirely unoriginal. The things that distinguish it most from similar series are the mercifully small number of pointless side characters and a fairly down-to-earth action style--there's the occasional battle aura when it's really important, but it's largely realistic. Sadly, the animation is weak, so the action is largely unimpressive.

If you like the Fatal Fury games or are a big fan of martial arts action flicks, you'll probably enjoy Legend of the Hungry Wolf, but it doesn't come highly recommended. Unless, that is, you follow through with the other two parts of the series, which are much better.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-10-08 (updated 2012-09-26)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

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 is 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 a 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 Legend of the Hungry Wolf offers a reasonably satisfying conclusion, there are two sequels that add quite a bit of depth and breadth to the characters and their world. Both, notably, are significantly better than this opener.

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 adaptation 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, but nowhere near as distinctive as some fighting-game anime character designs. The animation is rather weak, particularly when you consider that its main draw is watching people duke it out. There are a couple of good fights, 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 games, 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.

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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.