Street Fighter: The Novel: Where Strength Lies

I've been an avid street fighter fan for the past 30 years. This book did nothing but help move that along and for the moment at least quench the desire for a new anime or live action movie. The only reason I didn't give this book a full five star rating were its many typos and grammatical errors throughout. This book was obviously rushed through the editing process. The quality of the hardcover and art throughout was delightful although there is so much more fan made art out there that could have been used as a basis for style to project that real image of these characters in our minds. Real fans don't see these characters as cartoons but real people in their minds eye, that realism could have been brought out more. The battle sequences were excellent although Takashi could have taken some notes from the writers/ directors of "assassins fist" on describing some of the fight sequences. If you really weren't familiar with some of the move sets for a particular character such as Elena you could have gotten lost in the fight a bit. Overall an excellent read for street fighter fans. Please keep them coming Takashi-San! Arigato Gozaimas!

Those other reviews are right. It's a great book except that Round 6 occurs twice and Round 7 is totally left out. Part of Round 8 is also missing. I'm willing to change it to 5 stars if I could get a replacement copy that doesn't have those flaws.As you can see in the photo, Round 8 comes directly after Round 6. There is nothing in between.UPDATE: I contacted the folks at Udon Entertainment and they sent me a replacement copy free of charge. Thank you.Now about the story itself, I thought it was pretty good. The artwork in each chapter looks really nice. Each chapter is comprised of a fight between two characters. This book seems like it would mostly captivate hardcore Street Fighter players so I think I can understand why non Street Fighter players wouldn't be interested. It gives you detailed description of their appearances as if you don't already know how they look like and it describes the moves they do in great detail. When a move is described, you realize what move it is and you say to yourself, "Hey! He's doing his Ultra Combo I." It actually goes deeper than just the moves the fighters perform. For example, during Gouken's fight with Evil Ryu, he reminisces about his past where he first met Ryu and started teaching him martial arts and the Ryu he is now fighting is a lot different than the Ryu that he remembers. It describes the whole concept of being strong and seeking strength and how one must overcome their obstacles and keep moving forward. Sometimes the strategy the fighters use against each other mirrors the strategy those pro players use in tournaments. For example, E. Honda baits Guile's Flash Kick then attempts to punish but then gets caught off guard by his second Flash Kick which is pretty much how those good Guile players play.There are some typos and grammatical errors in a very few places as if this book was rushed but it doesn't really make the book unreadable so I'll overlook that flaw. My only gripe with this book is that most of the times there would be dialogues in between paragraphs (other than the name of the special move they perform) with no indication of who is saying that particular dialogue and it tends to get confusing.So overall, if you're a hardcore Street Fighter fan and you enjoy reading, then this book is for you.

Honestly even alongside the errors of rushed editing in the writing and the complaints of missing chapters, the writing itself just isn't good. They have one of the greatest manga artists (in my opinion) and they intercut it with this weird, almost kind of flat writing style. They should've just hired him to illustrate posters or a short manga story rather than intercut these beautiful drawing with what feels like street fighter fan fictionIf you're a hard core fan of Yusuke Murata, then i'd say this is an okay buy. You get a poster and the pages / cover are beautiful, but its stuck to this really boring and lame writing piece.TLDR: Shouldn't have been a novel

I've been a long time Street Fighter fan, starting with playing SF2: Champion Edition in the arcades and expanding my love for the series in all its available comics and other releases that expand the story lines of some of my favorite characters. I was looking forward to reading this book, but found its writing extremely flat and predictable. Maybe its because we've experienced Ryu VS Akuma so many times that there isn't really anything left to explore between these two; but even the book's later chapters don't deliver anything ground breaking. If you're extremely new to the Street Fighter Universe, this book may be a great way to start; but long time fans can get a better Street Fighter story elsewhere.

I'm not sure about the repeating chapters and missing chapters I got a perfect copy. Don't believe all of the false reviews. The book was written by a long time fan of the series and I enjoyed it.

It was in great condition. The novel mixes the beautiful story telling with amazing manga art work. You’ll love it whether a street fighter fan or not

Book and art are amazing. However, chapter 6 repeats and chapter 7 is missing. I love street fighter and the people behind this novel, just a bit of a disappointment.

Only one thing, the end of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 repeat themselves and Chapter 7 is missing.

A very cool and good comic style novel. I am a huge Street Fighter fan and Ryu has always been my favorite character. To me the game has been (and should be) about his journey. I loved the cover and some parts of the book are excellent but for me there was just something missing. I fully accept that it might have been my expectations were too high going into this book, but what can I say for a long time this game was my life, I was exactly like the author says he was in the afterword.The book is a great progressive story for the most part. I think more could have been made of Guile’s part in the book. The story is told from a different first person perspective in every story. Really making me appreciate the characters and the own fighting philosophies. This is the thing that is done superbly in the book, the mental aspect of fighting and martial arts, but the physical fight are not so good. In fairness they did get better at the book went along. What I mean about the fights is any martial artist knows whatever you favorite technique is, in the case of the game characters their signature/special moves, you need a bridge or a setup to hit them right. In the first few fight the characters just seemed to go from signature move to move. As much as love fireballs, dragon punches, and raging demons nobody is just going to throw this and hope it hits, even in the game itself this is not possible.I love what Udon did with the street fighter franchise in the comics, but that was the comics, novels have a slightly different flavor and the two don’t always mix. I like that way the stories connect to both the main story and the games (Street Fighter IV and an intro to V). The characters motivations and fighting spirits really shine through in this book. If you are or have been a Street Fighter II fan this is a must have. Slight spoiler the book starts with a fight between Ryu and Akuma if that does not get you read it you were never a fan!!!

This is a great book to add to your street fighter collection. SF the novel consist of 251 pages divided into eight chapters. Each chapter narrates a fight between 2 popular characters. It starts of with Ryu against Akuma, Chunli VS Elena, Ehonda vs Guile, Ryu vs Ken, Dhalsim vs Hakkan, Dudley Vs Balrog, Sagat against Bison and Ryu slugging it out with Gouken.Literature wise, the book is an easy read especially if you are a huge SF fan and have a vast knowledge of all the characters and their signature moves. Unfortunately, if you are NOT a fan of the street fighter universe, you will struggle with an understanding of the fights. It is written only to the understanding of the hardcore fans. The unique thing about this novel is that some of the pages are littered with manga/comic book style illustrations showcasing the fights.This to me, this is where the book shines.Overall, Street fighter the novel is a good novel to read...especially if you are a fan!I'm out!!!

Great for childen

esperava mais na verdade...mas o material e interessante e bem feito e tem algumas paginas com a arte do murata,que na minha opiniao deveria fazer uma hq completa de street fighter qualquer hora

Eu pensei que era uma HQ.E fiquei indignado por não ser...E são pouquissimas ilustrações.Mesmo assim, eu li o texto e achei RUUUUUUUUIM demais.Textos horriveis e sem inspiração