CHUN-LI versus BLANKABattle 03: Recall (Tokuma)
Where: Street Fighter II #2 When: August 1994
Why: Masaomi Kanzaki How: Masaomi Kanzaki
The Story So Far...
The crime-riddled island of Shad is a modern metropolis that plays host to some of the greatest fighters in the world. The best among them will meet in the Third Annual Grand Fight, advancing to the stadium stage by proving themselves under the rule of street fights.
Where: Street Fighter II #2 When: August 1994
Why: Masaomi Kanzaki How: Masaomi Kanzaki
The Story So Far...
The crime-riddled island of Shad is a modern metropolis that plays host to some of the greatest fighters in the world. The best among them will meet in the Third Annual Grand Fight, advancing to the stadium stage by proving themselves under the rule of street fights.
Only in the stadium will they face the reigning champion: M. Bison -- a man without a history, nation, or known fighting style. He is the rumored master behind the criminal organization Shadowlaw, responsible for flooding the streets with a pain-suppressing designer drug called "Doll".
Undercover Interpol agents work to thwart the scourge of Shadowlaw, but their ranks continue to disappear. Now one of their daughters, Chun-Li, fights to find answers, and with the boxer Balrog embarrassed by another newcomer, upheaval within the ranks of the Shadowlaw Lords could deliver her the man she seeks!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Blanka 4 (Enhanced)Intelligence: Chun-Li 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Draw 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Blanka 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Chun-Li 4 (GYmnast)
Fighting: Chun-Li 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Draw 3 (Explosives)
Total: Chun-Li 25 (Champion)
Chun-Li is the self-described "Strongest Woman in the World", but she'll find a physical match in the mutated Brazilian man-beast that is Blanka.
An outlier as the first "freak" of the Street Fighter franchise; Blanka is best characterized by his hunched muscular physique, wild hair, and typically bright green skin - a characteristic owed to his upbringing subsisting on skin-tinting plant chlorophyll, and maybe even radioactive materials, in the jungles of Brazil.
As the victim of a plane crash that left him to fend for himself in the wilderness, Blanka is a little bit like Tarzan, but his unusual appearance isn't the only product of his strange mutation. He also learned to imitate the techniques of electric eels, generating a shocking natural voltage that electrifies his opponents on contact!
As the victim of a plane crash that left him to fend for himself in the wilderness, Blanka is a little bit like Tarzan, but his unusual appearance isn't the only product of his strange mutation. He also learned to imitate the techniques of electric eels, generating a shocking natural voltage that electrifies his opponents on contact!
Gamers will also know that his animalistic fighting style is complimented by an ability to launch himself like a cannonball into a fast-moving, flipping attack. The same kind of tumble you'd see Mortal Kombat's Kano utilize, but arguably with even more spectacular results.
That's a lot for Chun-Li to contend with, but the studious Chinese Interpol agent comes with extensive expertise in kung fu, and a fitness regime that keeps her incredibly fast, agile, and mobile, with an emphasis on powerful kicks and leaps.
Her lightning fast Hyakuretsu Kyaku kicks were on full display in the previous issue of the Tokuma Shoten series, and when she matched the physically imposing Birdie in Street Fighter Alpha Vol. 1.
Her powerful legs are also famous for delivering the inverted flying Spinning Bird Kick -- an attack similar to Ryu's Tatsumaki dragon hurricane kick. Like Ryu, Chun-Li can also harness her chi into a kiko-ken energy ball, helping her to defeat the blood-thirsty Vega later in the Shoten Street Fighter II series.
Her lightning fast Hyakuretsu Kyaku kicks were on full display in the previous issue of the Tokuma Shoten series, and when she matched the physically imposing Birdie in Street Fighter Alpha Vol. 1.
Her powerful legs are also famous for delivering the inverted flying Spinning Bird Kick -- an attack similar to Ryu's Tatsumaki dragon hurricane kick. Like Ryu, Chun-Li can also harness her chi into a kiko-ken energy ball, helping her to defeat the blood-thirsty Vega later in the Shoten Street Fighter II series.
Despite his ferocious appearance, Blanka has fallen into a cuddly, comedic role later in the series, but in the 1994 Tokuma adaptation, he is a brutal enforcer for Bison's "Shadowlaw", with aspirations of replacing the defeated Balrog within the ranks of the Four Lords. Will he earn his place? Let's find out!
The Tape: Chun-Li Ranking: Chun-Li (#126)
What Went Down...
Face-to-face with the man-beast claiming to have killed Interpol Investigators that included her father -- Chun-Li begins to give in to furious emotions!
Her only desire is to defeat Blanka and make him talk -- and for a moment it seems as if that might be enough, but not everyone is convinced. From the audience, a mysterious Dhalsim notes that without Ryu's advice - she will lose.
The young agent launches into a furious barrage of kicks, getting her first inkling of doubt as Blanka blocks them all with powerful forearms.
Her leg blazes across the target to no avail, and as anger fuels her continued assault, Blanka's fanged mouth stretches to let out a tiny chuckle.
His goal is to gain the approval of Bison to become a new Lord of Shadowlaw and the energy it gives him is electrifying!
1200 volts super-charge the air and send Chun-Li jolting away from the buzzing body of Blanka as he unleashes a technique learned from observing electric eels!
He presses the advantage, reaching out with lightning fast punches Chun-Li can just barely block.
Blood begins to obscure her sight as Blanka closes in for a knockout blow that launches Chun-Li into the air!
She drifts between the reality of the fight and a fantasy of fighting crime side by side with her father. The vision urges her to stay strong. Cutting through the twilight is the voice of Ryu, who beckons from the crowd, "Concentrate on who you're fighting! Don't fight your memories! Your enemy is right in front of you!"
Her eyes widen with steely resolve as she fully awakens in freefall before her opponent -- and reaches for the ground with tensing wrists.
Blanka is baffled as Chun-Li's hands brace against the floor and she twists her body from a handstand press into a devastating whirlwind kick!
Her feet collide repeatedly against Blanka's face as her legs spin overhead!
Fanged teeth crack and break as Blanka falls to his back.
Chun-Li closes in quickly, delivering a furious punch to an already tenderized face, and as she reloads for another -- a friendly hand catches her wrist. It's Ryu. The fight is over. The crowd goes wild. Chun-Li is on track to make the Grand Fight.
The Hammer...
Even in 1994 you could tell the details were just a little bit off...
Parsing video game storylines sometimes took a bit of extra study back in those days. Obtaining information from fighting games, in particular, required playing multiple times to see character quotes and ending sequences, and sifting through various resources, such as magazines and trading cards, to find official sources describing additional details, biographies, and important backstory.
Street Fighter II came to arcades in 1991 rich with implied subtext in everything from sprite animation to backgrounds, and the subtleties of how characters moved and fought in gameplay.
Returning boss fighter, Sagat, implied an entire story with his fresh chest scar and the addition of the Tiger Uppercut move, which quickly became enduring pillars of the Street Fighter mythos, and storied rivalry between Sagat and Ryu.
Parsing video game storylines sometimes took a bit of extra study back in those days. Obtaining information from fighting games, in particular, required playing multiple times to see character quotes and ending sequences, and sifting through various resources, such as magazines and trading cards, to find official sources describing additional details, biographies, and important backstory.
Street Fighter II came to arcades in 1991 rich with implied subtext in everything from sprite animation to backgrounds, and the subtleties of how characters moved and fought in gameplay.
Returning boss fighter, Sagat, implied an entire story with his fresh chest scar and the addition of the Tiger Uppercut move, which quickly became enduring pillars of the Street Fighter mythos, and storied rivalry between Sagat and Ryu.
Yet Street Fighter II was lacking in the basic forthcoming details of the following year's Mortal Kombat, which boasted immediately available in-game character bios, in addition to more informative character endings that fleshed out the world.
This meant 1994 would be a crash course in the good, bad, and ugly of multimedia adaptations, with Street Fighter receiving a dubious live-action movie, more beloved animated feature, and collected comic book series from Tokuma Shoten's American branch.
Malibu Comics had already attempted a truly awful American adaptation in late 1993, famed for its bizarre murder and scalping of Ken. Tokuma's Street Fighter II comics had the rub of being authentically Japanese, originally serialized in issues of Family Computer Magazine, but the translated & localized issues that rearrange, censor, and colour the artwork carry with them their own peculiarities inherent to one of the earliest serious adaptations of the game.
Writer/artist Masaomi Kanzaki makes an admirable attempt to consolidate details from the games into the unique world of the fictional island state of Shad -- one of the biggest apparent changes from the games to manga.
This crime-riddled modern Asian capital, reminiscent of Marvel's Madripoor and modern Hong Kong, serves as a practical means to anchor the action to a single location, but immediately strips the series of some of its globe-trotting appeal.
This crime-riddled modern Asian capital, reminiscent of Marvel's Madripoor and modern Hong Kong, serves as a practical means to anchor the action to a single location, but immediately strips the series of some of its globe-trotting appeal.
The name "Shad" appears to draw reference from recently identified primary antagonist -- Bison's international crime syndicate Shadaloo, frequently localized as "Shadowlaw" for English translations of the time. I find that name conceptually appropriate, but prefer the authentic originality of Shadaloo.
The complete "Shadaloo" name remained intact for the live-action movie, which may have adapted its war-torn South-East Asian country from the city-state of the manga, but it's difficult to be sure exactly how much the manga is an influence on subsequent aspects of games & adaptations, and how much it is itself a living document of what was intended to be fabric of the games' canon.
Shad is described as having been "built by an international consortium", which belies the difficulty Interpol's had in gaining traction to oppose the underground trafficking of Shadowlaw's synthetic drug - "Doll".
If you finished the game with Chun-Li, you already knew she was out to avenge the murder of her father by stopping Bison's drug trade. Subsequent editions, starting with Super Street Fighter II in late '93, modified her "life of a young, single girl" ending with two post-script options, one of which established the more familiar characterization of a committed Interpol detective.
The Tokuma manga, contemporaneous to the amended game, reflects both the shojo-tinged youthful heroine, and the aspiring Interpol agent, presenting her as a little inexperienced, but generally capable and determined. It isn't the definitive Chun-Li, but it's an understandable presentation within its place in time.
New, and ultimately unique to unofficial media, is Blanka's status as an enforcer for Shadowlaw. The SFII games never establish any connection between Blanka and the group, but various adaptations will take the convenience of the vast criminal organization to incorporate loose characters into their feature story.
It's honestly not a terrible way for Blanka to be better integrated into the main plot, but the implication of making him the one who murdered Chun-Li's father is a change that's just too dramatic. It alters both characters and their positions within the series wildly, and as a dyed in the wool fan, it's the kind of thing I hate.
The ensemble of fighting games is one of my favourite aspects, and storytelling within this genre is at its best when it's focused on the motivations and rivalries of individual characters, rather than connecting them all via a conventional narrative, and central villain. This is sometimes misunderstood as being insubstantial, but should be a familiar conceit to superhero comic book readers.
Blanka is difficult to justify in a lot of contexts, but I would generally rather see him drift to the periphery, as in the Street Fighter II animated movie, than occupy a misplaced position.
The ensemble of fighting games is one of my favourite aspects, and storytelling within this genre is at its best when it's focused on the motivations and rivalries of individual characters, rather than connecting them all via a conventional narrative, and central villain. This is sometimes misunderstood as being insubstantial, but should be a familiar conceit to superhero comic book readers.
Blanka is difficult to justify in a lot of contexts, but I would generally rather see him drift to the periphery, as in the Street Fighter II animated movie, than occupy a misplaced position.
Details like this unravel the authenticity of the Street Fighter II manga, but I accept there wasn't a lot of opportunity to tell a story about a bizarre, bestial survivor of a plane crash, who is reconnected with his mother after competing in a world martial arts tournament. Not in this eight issue format at least, despite the characters' unusual popularity amongst young gamers at the time.
This is our first time documenting Blanka, who is now appearing with Chun-Li in the latest installment in the long-running fighting game franchise: Street Fighter 6. As a tenured fan, and gamer, I am incredibly excited about the way its honoring the past, while taking steps to intuitively go into a bold new future.
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Winner: Chun-Li
#74 (+52) Chun-Li
#1007 (new) Blanka
#74 (+52) Chun-Li
#1007 (new) Blanka
