By Mark Rodriguez
It's almost a tradition to get a Street Fighter comic from Free Comic Book Day and this one looks like a fun ride. We've seen Karin and her rivalry with Sakura mostly from the Alpha series, now we can see it unfold in the Street Fighter 5 timeline.
The story opens with chibi Chun Li having a showdown against chibi Morrigan in Gem Fighter. It looks like Morrigan and Lilith were about to put Chun Li away, but the Strongest Woman of the World unleashes a Diamond Crash Gem. This spells victory for Chun Li, as well as Sakura who playing the arcade. Kei shows up, angry that Sakura ignored her texts and was supposed to meet up with her as well as Natsu and Hinata. Sakura apologizes and says she was 'in the zone' since she considers fighting games to be her training.
Sakura explains that between working at the arcade, college, her training and watching over Ryu's dojo in his absence, she uses gaming as her time to train her mind as well as her body. After two weeks, Sakura finally makes it to the top place in the high score. Just then, a helicopter arrives, as Karin steps down and demands to know who beat her high score.
Karin recognizes Sakura from her high school days and says the only way she could have topped her score was if she cheated. Sakura says she earned that score fair and square and says they can settle this in the arcade, old school. Karin says this demands a grander stage and challenges her at the Captain Commando Cup in three weeks.
Karin trains in several ways, relaxing in a pool to clear her mind, training on the specifics of the game, working on her fingers and studying the game down to a science. Sakura meanwhile, plays the arcade almost nonstop, expect for junk food and energy drinks. Kei finds her and tells her the esports event is the following day. She carries off Sakura so she can shower and sleep.
The following day, Sakura arrives half an hour late, but nonetheless she is ready to game. The Super Chibi Puzzle Gem Fighter II- Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition Championship is about to begin. Sakura selects Ryu and Karin chooses Akuma and they start the fight.
Sakura takes the first round. For the second round however, Karin enters a secret code and tells Sakura that she bought the company and had them add a new update. She replaces Akuma with herself as a game character. Sakura says that can't be legal, but the judges says it's part of the official game code. Sakura is caught off guard and Karin wins the second round.
Sakura gets a barrel of Blanka brand energy drink and guzzles it down. Now totally hyper she brings the fight to Karin. As both women play the game, they actually cause it to crash due to their scores overloading the RAM. The judges declare both women to be co-champions.
A tie isn't good enough for Karin as she smacks Sakura with the trophy and then stomps on it. Sakura is ready for a real fight and both women show off their new moves. Sakura notices that the arcade restarted and she can still win this. The girls fight over who gets to the arcade first and Sakura manages to topple her rival. Sakura gets to the arcade and wins the match.
Suddenly, Karin's father, who looks a lot like Heihachi Mishima, appears on the arcade screen and yells at Karin for losing and disgracing her family. Sakura yells back, saying he can't talk to her that way. Karin says her father has always been strict with her to ensure she was worthy of carrying the Kanzuki name. Sakura says all that ever got her was to be bitter all through high school and offers to be her friend.
Karin is surprised that Sakura will be her friend after all the trouble she caused her and stands up to her father. She tells him that learning from their losses also makes them stronger. Karin's father steps out in person and says this was all a test to see if Karin can learn her final lesson. He will hand over ownership of the Kanzuki Corporation to her.
A month later Karin is waiting for Sakura to join her for a movie before Kei gets upset. Sakura is wrapping up defeating a noob before she starts her new semester. She won the match with a perfect, and thanks Karin for adding herself as a game character too. The Sakura game character defeated the other player who was using Ryu. It turns out the real Ryu was the other player and Ken says it's time that he tries a new character.
My Opinions-
A fun little story, though I kinda wish we could have seen more of Sakura and Karin fighting. I did like seeing Karin's new move in SF5 where she slips behind you and hits you in the back of the head.
It boggles the mind that now there are actual Street Fighter games within the Street Fighter universe, even if they are the chibi puzzle games. I would assume since they've been in a few public tournaments by now, sponsors have bought the rights to make merchandise off of them. Of course the ridiculously long name, Super Chibi Puzzle Gem Fighter II- Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition Championship, is a jab at almost every single Super Sequel that Street Fighter has ever had.
I do have to wonder if the characters are self aware to an extent since Chun Li and Morrigan were having and all-out conversation while they were fighting, unless that just represents Sakura and her opponent's trash talk. I also like that the videogame gives the perfect excuse to have all these characters like Akuma and Morrigan to make cameos.
I was also surprised that this was a full issue. Most of the time these Free Comic Book Day specials have a back up tale that goes along with whatever the main story is. Still, this was a fun little tale and it's always cool to see what kinda mischief Sakura and Karin get up to. The ending with Ryu was perfect. Why does Karin's father look like Heihachi?
It's almost a tradition to get a Street Fighter comic from Free Comic Book Day and this one looks like a fun ride. We've seen Karin and her rivalry with Sakura mostly from the Alpha series, now we can see it unfold in the Street Fighter 5 timeline.
The story opens with chibi Chun Li having a showdown against chibi Morrigan in Gem Fighter. It looks like Morrigan and Lilith were about to put Chun Li away, but the Strongest Woman of the World unleashes a Diamond Crash Gem. This spells victory for Chun Li, as well as Sakura who playing the arcade. Kei shows up, angry that Sakura ignored her texts and was supposed to meet up with her as well as Natsu and Hinata. Sakura apologizes and says she was 'in the zone' since she considers fighting games to be her training.
Sakura explains that between working at the arcade, college, her training and watching over Ryu's dojo in his absence, she uses gaming as her time to train her mind as well as her body. After two weeks, Sakura finally makes it to the top place in the high score. Just then, a helicopter arrives, as Karin steps down and demands to know who beat her high score.
Karin recognizes Sakura from her high school days and says the only way she could have topped her score was if she cheated. Sakura says she earned that score fair and square and says they can settle this in the arcade, old school. Karin says this demands a grander stage and challenges her at the Captain Commando Cup in three weeks.
Karin trains in several ways, relaxing in a pool to clear her mind, training on the specifics of the game, working on her fingers and studying the game down to a science. Sakura meanwhile, plays the arcade almost nonstop, expect for junk food and energy drinks. Kei finds her and tells her the esports event is the following day. She carries off Sakura so she can shower and sleep.
The following day, Sakura arrives half an hour late, but nonetheless she is ready to game. The Super Chibi Puzzle Gem Fighter II- Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition Championship is about to begin. Sakura selects Ryu and Karin chooses Akuma and they start the fight.
Sakura takes the first round. For the second round however, Karin enters a secret code and tells Sakura that she bought the company and had them add a new update. She replaces Akuma with herself as a game character. Sakura says that can't be legal, but the judges says it's part of the official game code. Sakura is caught off guard and Karin wins the second round.
Sakura gets a barrel of Blanka brand energy drink and guzzles it down. Now totally hyper she brings the fight to Karin. As both women play the game, they actually cause it to crash due to their scores overloading the RAM. The judges declare both women to be co-champions.
A tie isn't good enough for Karin as she smacks Sakura with the trophy and then stomps on it. Sakura is ready for a real fight and both women show off their new moves. Sakura notices that the arcade restarted and she can still win this. The girls fight over who gets to the arcade first and Sakura manages to topple her rival. Sakura gets to the arcade and wins the match.
Suddenly, Karin's father, who looks a lot like Heihachi Mishima, appears on the arcade screen and yells at Karin for losing and disgracing her family. Sakura yells back, saying he can't talk to her that way. Karin says her father has always been strict with her to ensure she was worthy of carrying the Kanzuki name. Sakura says all that ever got her was to be bitter all through high school and offers to be her friend.
Karin is surprised that Sakura will be her friend after all the trouble she caused her and stands up to her father. She tells him that learning from their losses also makes them stronger. Karin's father steps out in person and says this was all a test to see if Karin can learn her final lesson. He will hand over ownership of the Kanzuki Corporation to her.
A month later Karin is waiting for Sakura to join her for a movie before Kei gets upset. Sakura is wrapping up defeating a noob before she starts her new semester. She won the match with a perfect, and thanks Karin for adding herself as a game character too. The Sakura game character defeated the other player who was using Ryu. It turns out the real Ryu was the other player and Ken says it's time that he tries a new character.
My Opinions-
A fun little story, though I kinda wish we could have seen more of Sakura and Karin fighting. I did like seeing Karin's new move in SF5 where she slips behind you and hits you in the back of the head.
It boggles the mind that now there are actual Street Fighter games within the Street Fighter universe, even if they are the chibi puzzle games. I would assume since they've been in a few public tournaments by now, sponsors have bought the rights to make merchandise off of them. Of course the ridiculously long name, Super Chibi Puzzle Gem Fighter II- Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition Championship, is a jab at almost every single Super Sequel that Street Fighter has ever had.
I do have to wonder if the characters are self aware to an extent since Chun Li and Morrigan were having and all-out conversation while they were fighting, unless that just represents Sakura and her opponent's trash talk. I also like that the videogame gives the perfect excuse to have all these characters like Akuma and Morrigan to make cameos.
I was also surprised that this was a full issue. Most of the time these Free Comic Book Day specials have a back up tale that goes along with whatever the main story is. Still, this was a fun little tale and it's always cool to see what kinda mischief Sakura and Karin get up to. The ending with Ryu was perfect. Why does Karin's father look like Heihachi?
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