SVC VS Capcom Chaos Volume 6

 By Mark Rodriguez

The crazy story continues where various fighters from the Capcom and SNK series clash in Another World, a place one can only get there by dying. You can die up to three times in this world, with the final death being permanent. The prize is a wish to grant whatever the winner desires, who will win?

For whatever reason Volume 6 of these manga compilations was costing over 100 for a good while, which is why my reviews on this story have stopped. It finally dropped in price so I grabbed it off Amazon quickly before it would jump back up to around 60 or so. I can assume there were only very few copies of Volume 6 printed for some reason. Anyways, let's continue. 

The story continues after Kyo Kusanagi was unable to defeat Geese Howard and now finds himself in front of Goddess Athena. Athena explains to him that the world is governed by two forces, Cosmos and Chaos. These two constants have held the world in balance until now. 

Back to Geese, a different version of Ryu stands before him, wearing the blue bandana and grey gi from SF2 Champion Edition. Geese calls out that this man is not Ryu and attacks him with his Evil Shadow Smasher but has no effect. Ryu states that Geese seems to have been weakened already and hits him with a HadoKen. 

Athena tells Kyo that humanity has disrupted the balance between Chaos and Cosmos. Chaos has taken human form and helped Bison destroy most of the world. Red Arremer has sided with Chaos and has gathered all of the villains together to defeat Cosmos. Athena explains the winner will have one wish and while Cosmos has tried to play fair and square, it is time to change the rules. She tells Kyo that Geese didn't actually defeat him.

Geese is being rocked by Ryu as he hits him with a powerful HadoKen, the Hurricane Kick and the Dragon Punch back to back, giving him no time to respond. Determined not to lose, Geese fires back with a Double Reppu Ken, but Ryu is so quick to react, he not only dodges the attack but he suddenly appears right in front of him. Being only inches away from him, Ryu fires off an up-close HadoKen that destroys Geese's body.

As Geese begins to shatter from existence he warns that he will get Ryu upon his return. Ryu tells him that the reincarnation rule has been revoked. This will be Geese's first and final death. The once Sultan of South Town screams as he explodes. This mysterious Ryu says 'Mission Complete' and disappears into the heavens. This was actually Cosmos in human form because at this point, he has to bend the rules to stand a chance. Athena tells Kyo that a third mysterious power has become involved and it threatens to destroy the Parallel World.

As Violent Ken continues to fight against Goenitz, Shiki and Genjuro hold their blades up against Goenitz's neck to end the battle. They tell Ken that Goenitz has already proven his skills and will be helpful in destroying both Chaos and Cosmos.

Elsewhere, Ryo watches as the real Ryu has improved his powers thanks to Akuma, but Dan is suddenly killed by a purple flame. The culprit is the clone of Orochi Iori created by Dr Jones, that while still a clone, he still holds an intense hatred for Kyo. Ryu is angry that Dan was killed and Orochi Iori tosses a fireball at him at full speed. Ryu is able to imitate Akuma's teleport technique to dodge it. 

Ryu tosses a huge Hadoken at Orochi Iori, but the Blood Riot version of Kyo's foe manages to break through it with his Crescent Moon Crunch. In doing this, Iori's hands go through the fireball and get to Ryu. Orochi Iori then hits Ryu with the Blue Blossom Punch, nailing him with all three hits of this deadly combo. Ryu is sent sliding across the ground from the impact and Ryo tosses a fireball at Iori's back to help him. Orochi Iori turns his attention towards Ryo Sakazaki now, who is quick enough to block his Flying Swallow Gale Kick. Meanwhile, Mr. Karate warns them that another force has entered the area.

Suddenly the real Iori Yagami (sporting purple hair) attacks Ryo with a Demon Scorcher 101, treating the Orochi Iori clone as a pet. Previously, Iori was killed by Genjuro and was then killed a second time by Orochi Iori. Genjuro then proceeded to kill Orochi Iori as well. Iori and Orochi Iori crossed paths again but this time Iori killed his Blood Riot clone. 

Ryo tells Mr. Karate to leave since he hasn't recovered yet. Ryu returns to the battlefield so Iori tells his clone to fight with Ryo while he handles him. Ryu uses his Hurricane Kick and Iori is fast enough to block every kick. Iori hits Ryu with his Killer Comb Filleter, but while he is still in the air, he left himself wide open for Ryu to hit him with the Shin ShoryuKen. 

Iori spits blood, but is more determined to kill anyone working for Cosmos. He lands with a burning punch and shoves Ryu's fist aside in his attempt to use a Dragon Punch. He grabs Ryu by the face and slams him to the ground with the Crescent Moon Crunch. Ryo shoves Orochi Iori aside and jumps in to attack Iori before it's too late. Iori grabs Ryo and sends him spiraling towards his clone who proceeds to sock him in the face.

Ryu gets up and summons the Shun Goku Satsu while Iori summons his Blood Rage. Ryu and Iori's moves collide as the series of attacks are too fast to be seen. During this battle, Ryu hears an inner voice telling him to not be drawn in by evil. Ryu and Iori separate and the Street Fighter feels the effects of all of Iori's attacks and dies. Ryo sees this and gets attacked by Orochi Iori. Ryo angrily tosses the clone aside and focuses his rage on the real Iori.

Ryo fires off his Haoh Sho Koh Ken but the Orochi clone takes the hit for his master. Both Ioris intend to use their fire pillar attack to kill both Ryo and Mr. Karate. As the twin set of flame attacks head their way, Ryo takes the brunt of both of them to save his father. Ryo is caught in the flames and both Ioris kill him as Mr. Karate escapes. 

Athena tells Kyo that the battle between good and evil has ended now that a third group has formed, one not siding with either Cosmos or Chaos. Kyo only wants to return to the real world but Athena tells them that if the balance is disrupted between Cosmos and Chaos everything will come to an end. The goddess tells Kyo that they have entered Parallel World Stage 2. Athena raises her hand and sparks a celestial display of colors. She says that with the powers of Cosmos she has changed the rules, now death will be final and no one will be reborn. 

Elsewhere, Violent Ken, Goenitz, Shiki, Demitri and Genjuro all seem to feel the difference. Genjuro says Cosmos and Chaos fear them. Goenitz says to defeat Cosmos they have to defeat Goddess Athena. He creates a massive hurricane that lifts the fighters as they heads towards the heavens to confront her.

Kyo asks about his friends that died and Athena reveals she has brought back some fighters before she cancelled out the rebirth rule. Terry Bogard arrives, and so do Ryu and Ryo. Alongside Kyo, the four of them will fight to protect Cosmos. Kyo asks if they will be able to return to the real world if they win, and Athena says she only knows they will have one wish at the end. Just then Athena reveals she has another ace up her sleeve. Chun Li has joined them, though she is wearing the yellow variant of her outfit. 

Ryo and Ryu tell the others how they were killed not just by Iori but also his clone. Chun Li explains the Orochi Iori clone was created in the real world. They're concerned that it will be a problem if Iori sides with Chaos but Kyo says he's always been his target. Athena reminds them that not only must they defeat the forces of Chaos but also this third mystery group.

Athena's lion growls as they feel a strong force approaching. While everyone can feel it, this power feels the most familiar to Ryu. Suddenly Akuma appears and lifts Athena by the throat!

Chun Li tries to come to her aid but Kyo stops her. Akuma is confused by Athena, who smiles and seems unafraid. He says he can feel her power and that she can easily escape his grip. Athena summons a giant bird that attacks Akuma, making him let her go. Chun Li wants to fight him but Athena tells them to save their strength for the upcoming enemies. Athena will handle Akuma herself. 

Akuma shoot a fireball at Athena, who mounts her lion that spits out its own fireballs to overcome his. Akuma quickly dodges the massive fireballs headed his way. Athena then makes a crossbow appear and fires a golden arrow at him. A tree spirit sprouts out and holds Akuma in place as he gets skewered by the magic arrow. Everyone is surprised and confused by Athena's powers and Akuma still wishes to continue.

Athena tells Akuma if she defeats him, he will fight for Cosmos, and if he wins, he will be taken to challenge god himself. Akuma charges forth with the Shun Goku Satsu while Athena unleashes a pegasus. After a big flash of blinding light, both Akuma and Athena have vanished. Athena's voice can be heard telling them to fight for Cosmos as she leaves the fight up to them.

Ryo says he's sure Akuma can't hurt Athena. They can sense the third group of random fighters getting closer. With that, Ryu, Chun Li, Ryo Sakazaki, Terry Bogard and Kyo Kusanagi head off to face them. Goentiz's team can sense the heroes arriving and they decide to split up. The heroes feel this too and decide to do the same. Suddenly the Crystal Citadel is surrounded by an orb of energy. The heroes are unable to float and all descend to the ground below.

Ryu finds himself in a steel cage, finally coming face to face with Ken. Ryu says he never expected Ken to stray from the path of justice. Ken says he only believes in strong or weak and he is tired of being considered the weaker of the two. It's this jealousy over Ryu that made it easier for Ken to get brainwashed. Ryu says they trained in the same school and he always saw him as a brother. Both Street Fighters clash as they launch their fireballs at each other.

Elsewhere Terry Bogard finds himself face to face with Shiki. Terry asks her why she is siding with Goenitz and she draws her sword. In a sudden flash, Terry feels the blade slash across his arm. At this point he decides it's time to stop being nice and flies at her with a Burn Knuckle. Shiki uses her skills to dodge out of the way. Terry quickly uses his Rising Tackle, which she also dodges. Terry launches a Triple Power Geyser and she is still able to quickly evade the explosions. 

As Shiki warps all over the place, Terry focuses on his senses. He throws a punch when he senses her in front of him but the real Shiki appears behind him and hacks and slashes all over his back with her Harbinger of Mortality. 

Kyo finds himself facing off against Goenitz. The Orochi Heavenly King tells him that this time Kyo won't have Iori and Chizuru to help him like the last time they fought, and he has no hope to win by himself. Kyo doesn't care and tells him to bring it on. Goenitz summons a powerful wind to form into a hurricane. Kyo stays calm, knowing how important this fight is and ignites his hand with his flames. 

Akuma is sent back down to Earth as he had been defeated by Athena. She reminds him of his promise to her and tells him to get stronger for when she needs him.

Demitri sees that his opponent is Chun Li. The vampire makes a glass of champagne appear in his hands and starts hitting on her. Chun Li is not impressed by his compliments. Demitri is so overconfident he even allow her the first three strikes. Chun Li unleashes the Kikkoshou, which catches Demitri off guard. He transforms into his demon form to hold back the huge energy blast. As Chun Li lunges towards him, he knows he can't afford to hold back.

Chun Li hits Demitri with the Spinning Birf Kick before he could react. He quickly transforms into a group of bats to rematerialize away from her. Chun Li taunts him saying she will need to use all three strikes after all. Chun Li leaps in the air and attacks Demitri with her Hoyoku Sen, barraging him with rapid kicks.

Elsewhere, Genjuru Kibagami is fighting against Ryo Sakazaki, leaping over his rising uppercut. They've been fighting for a while but all Genjuru has been doing is dodging all of Ryo's attacks. Ryo finally calls him out on why he hasn't fought back. Genjuru says he feels Ryo is such a lowly fighter, he's not worthy of him drawing his blade against him. This enrages Ryo, making him push himself to his limits.

Ryu and Ken continue fighting, launching fireballs at each other, however Ken's seem to be more powerful. As Ryu is sent back by Ken's triple fireball, he is suddenly sent flying by Ken's ShoryuKen. As Ryu lands, Ken comments that by now his friends are probably dead. This enrages Ryu as he also starts to lose control. Ryu has now lost himself to the Satsui No Hado. 

My Opinions-

It felt amazing to return to this world after so long. The art is good enough and I love seeing the special moves being drawn in all sorts of ways and angles. This volume also made some clever references to the 'Player 2' colors for some of the characters. We had Cosmos take the form of Ryu, but wearing his colors from SF2 Champion Edition. Then with the surprise reveal of the two Ioris, having the real Iori have purple hair to tell them apart. I was so confused at first, but I guess they needed some way to to tell the two apart. I forgot that unlike Leona during her Bloor Riot state, Iori's hair doesn't change red cause it's already red. 

Finally we have Chun Li in her yellow outfit from one of the Super Street Fighter colors. It's been a while since I read the series but I didn't realize that since her 'death' in the real world, this has been Chun Li's first appearance in the Parallel World. Don't know why she's wearing the yellow variant though, but maybe that's the artist's favorite color?

The story is getting interesting, especially now that they removed the '3 lives' rule. I found it funny that the characters somehow noticed though. "I suddenly feel like if I die it will be for real this time". 

Somewhere during the fight with the Ioris, one of the chapters did kinda do a minor refresher pointing out all the characters. Things like how Athena represents Cosmos and Red Arremer represents Chaos and how our current team of heroes are Terry, Kyo, Ryo, Tyu and Chun Li and also listing off the people on Goenitz's side. It also listed most of the other characters as either too weak or having already reached their limits, so I take it this means that most everyone else like Mai Shiranui, Hugo, Earthquake, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, Kim Kaphwan and the rest won't be in the rest of the story as we're drawing closer to wrapping this up. 

I also like how it reminded us that the Martians from Metal Slug and Zero are still around, somewhere in other parallel worlds. I seem to recall one of the fights having faced the Martians before, but it kinda looks like Zero is drawing the short straw and will only appear in cameos and fall into the 'And Zero was there too' category. 

I already secured Volume 7 so I'll get to it soon. I also realized that this story ends with Volume 8 so I'll be trying to buy that one before it also skyrockets in price. I might get to the ending of this story yet!

One final thing I'd like to add, the Saint Seiya fan in me liked how when Athena used her pegasus attack on Akuma, it was called the Pegasus Fantasy.