Udon Street Fighter Comics Street Fighter Legends Ibuki # 4

By Mark Rodriguez

Our favorite ninja schoolgirl Ibuki balances life between...well... being a ninja and a schoolgirl. Her latest mission was to challenge Oro, and even though she lost the match, just being brave enough to challenge the master Street Fighter was enough to pass her test. As they head back, Ibuki, Sarai, Makoto and Elena are all captured by the Geki ninja clan!!! How will this story end?

The issue opens with Elena complaining about their dishonorable attack. The ninjas plan to take Ibuki to their boss and kill the rest. Makoto gets pissed and punches her way through the net. Ibuki tries to cut it further and then her ninja friend comes in with a bunch of Tanuki that help cut the net up completely. With the Street Fighter girls free, they all start kicking ass. The ninjas are quickly defeated, but Ibuki notices that her village is on fire and under attack and she leads the girls in for the rescue.

Ibuki and the gang arrive to help take down the ninja clan. However, one of the ninjas grabs Ibuki and they vanish into a puff of smoke before Makoto had the chance to warn her. The Geki boss, Alpha threatens Enjo, Ibuki's clan leader, and shows one of the ninjas with his blades at Ibuki's throat. Alpha explains how legendary the Geki clan was, and one day they found a baby they hoped to raise to be their perfect assassin. Enjo, a former Geki member, didn't think this was right and ran off with the baby, burning down their village and all their recipes for lethal poisons. They feel it's a shame that Ibuki grew up as a failure, tempted by modern society and emotions.

This is Ibuki if she was raised in the Geki clan. This should have been an alternate outfit for SF4 back in the day

Enjo says they choose to be killers, but Ibuki deserved to choose her own fate. He then tosses shuriken at the ninja holding her, giving her time to escape. Enjo then stabs Alpha with a claw blade of his own. Ibuki and Enjo soon return to the others. Enjo tells the Geki ninjas that their leader is gone. The Geki says they're all ninjas and should not be divided. They stop fighting and all bow to him.

Three weeks later, Ibuki tells her friend that she's now in college. Her fellow ninjas all wish her the best, and Sarai is now one of the clan. Later on, during her first day at university, she runs into the same guy that was promoting the college before (issue 2) and says she can join his club. Ibuki blushes and is swooned but then finds out that the club is post-secondary ninja training. He was the ninja that helped her out earlier (issues 1 and 3) and Ibuki sighs, realizing her ninja training will never truly be over.

Months later, Ibuki meets up with Makoto and Elena again who've missed her. Makoto assumes she won't be up for their big fight since she's probably gone soft now. Ibuki poofs into her ninja outfit and says she's ready whenever she is. Makoto gladly agrees and the big fight between her and Ibuki begins as Elena, and several hidden ninjas, now including Sarai, all watch hidden among the trees.

My opinions 

I enjoyed this issue. It was a good read overall, and it made me know and care more about Ibuki than I ever did. There's only so much you can do in the actual games and I think the funniest scenes with her are the cutscenes of when she was forced to work alongside Rolento in Street Fighter X Tekken. It's also cool having Makoto and Elena involved, and they're fighting a clan of ninjas based on a guy that was in the first Street Fighter? Awesome.

I know I did this before but it is interesting to compare the friendship between Ibuki and Sarai and the one between Sakura and Kei. While Kei sighs as she's dragged along Sakura's adventures, wishing her friend was normal... Sarai feels left out when Ibuki hangs with her Street Fighter friends and is actually a ninja-in-training by the end of the story. 

Not much more to say about the issue. The art is awesome. The fighting is great and we get to see the girls do their moves. I wouldn't mind seeing more Elena spin kicks and flips but the book is called Ibuki after all. 

I guess the part that stood out to me is when Ibuki snapped a guy's neck like it was nothing. Yeah I know it's a move in the game, but it's different seeing it in a comic (in the game the opponent will get right back up no matter how many times you snap their neck). But I guess it goes to show that Ibuki is a true ninja and if you come after her trying to kill her, she won't hesitate to return the favor.

Overall a great story and a good read. Score one more for Udon comics. I kinda wish we could see Sakura and Ibuki and their supporting cast interact. That would be fun.