Set between "Street Fighter" and "Street Fighter 2," "Street Fighter Alpha" follows a separate story line from "SF: The Animated Movie." Ryu, one of the 'good guy' street fighters from previous movies, and his American friend, Ken Masters, are reunited under sad circumstances - the mysterious death of their master, Gouken. At their master's grave a young boy named Shun arrives on the scene claiming to be Ryu's little brother. Harboring reservations about the boy's authenticity, Ryu and Ken soon have bigger problems to keep them occupied.

Ryu begins to manifest the power of the Dark Hadou, a powerful but evil force that he struggles to keep under control. Ken is gravely concerned about Ryu and the effects the Dark Hadou will have on him. They both have witnessed Akuma, Gouken's brother, acquire this power at the price of his humanity. Rose, a mysterious figure who comes to Ryu in visions, counsels him about the Hadou, but he doesn't know what to make of her archaic advice, or whether she can even be trusted.

Ryu observes Shun manifesting the Dark Hadou during a street fight, but before he can ask his 'little brother' too many questions, members of Shadowlaw kidnap the child. Ryu's quest for the truth leads him to the evil Dr. Sadler.

"Street Fighter Alpha," or "Street Fighter Zero" as it's known in Japan, has a dark theme for an action film based on a video game series - power and the price one must pay to attain it - that keeps the narrative exciting when other aspects of the work start to fray.

The compelling storyline features an age-old battle between good and evil unfolding over the film's 90 minutes. Scriptwriter Reiko Yoshida, however, has an unnerving tendency to drift from the main plot when he follows the slapstick actions of Sakura, a young female wanna-be street fighter who appears in the story only to please younger anime enthusiasts. But as pervasive as this 'something for everyone' practice is among producers and marketers, director Shigeyasu Yamauchi doesn't allow it to usurp the intensity in "Street Fighter Alpha." Thankfully, Sakura represents the one exception. Guy, Sodom, Birdy, Dan, Zangief, Vega and other familiar faces from the video games also make appearances in "Street Fighter Alpha," but their appearances are brief and, more importantly, flow with the story.

Yoshida could have utilized a continuity check to excise some of the weaknesses that invade this otherwise engrossing narrative. The direction of the story becomes lost too many times in this movie as crowd-pleasing events occur for no apparent reason or cause. The end of the film demands, also for no particular reason, sitting through nearly two minutes of footage already run during the middle of the anime, which proves annoying to say the least. But a double check of the script and a few additional lines of narration here and there could have easily fixed these flaws.

The action sequences make up for the amorphous parts of the story, though. Animation director Masashi Sato engineers fast and flawless motion augmented by art directors Yuji Shimada, Kazuki Higashizi and Akira Ito's detailed images. Character faces are particularly expressive when exhaustion sets in after a battle scene. Character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi renders his evil characters with aplomb, all of which are ominous beings, exuding menace and general bad-assness to the world. The fight scenes usually involve numerous street fighters, which challenges "Street Fighter Alpha's" animators to contrast each fighter's style with the others. And Sato's battles come off bloody without being gory. The sound effects during these sequences, some taken straight from the video games, are exceptionally effectual.

Overall, this is one of the better action genre anime, marked by an absorbing plot, - Ryu's fight to control his rage and his inner struggle with the Dark Hadou - frightening evil characters and amazing action sequences. Definitely worth watching, the hype about the release of "Street Fighter Alpha" has turned out to be more than just words.