Rare Street Fighter II Anime is Finally Available to Watch in English

A rare Street Fighter II anime is finally been subbed in English and is available to watch on Youtube for free.

The rare anime we are talking about here is Street Fighter II – Return to the Fujiwara Capital: The Fighters Who Leapt Through Time, a 27-minute educational anime made for an exhibition in Japan’s Nara prefecture in 1995. It was produced by Studio Pierrot in partnership with Capcom and was only released in limited quantities back at the time.

The main cast of Street Fighter II: Return to the Fujiwara Capital includes Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and E. Honda, who are some of the main characters from the Street-Fighter II game. They get swept by a mysterious vortex and get transported back to 1300 years. A major part of the story follows Ryu and Ken, as they observe different parts of Fujiwara city, which was the Japanese capital for 16 years.

They observe the architecture of the city, social hierarchy among people, different jobs people had, and even observe technological advancement like the use of water clocks to keep track of time. 

They later meet Chun-Li who was traveling along with an envoy to Tang Dynasty China and Silla (Ancient Korea). But for E. Honda things don’t go so well as he is forced into manual labor. But, just as fast as they traveled back in time they also arrive back in modern time.

The anime ends with Chun-Li reciting a famous poem from empress Jito, “Spring has passed, it seems, and now summer has arrived; For this, they say, is when robes of pure white are aired on heavenly Mount Kagu.” 

The anime was beautifully animated, and it was also released as a DVD bonus for Street-Fighter’s 15th anniversary in Japan, but remained largely anonymous to Western fans as it hadn’t been translated into English.

Until a YouTuber SFII Yomigaeru Fujiwara-kyō aka RageQuitter87 on Twitter got a DVD copy and decided to release a translated version (subbed version) of this rare Street Fighter II – Return to the Fujiwara Capital: The Fighters Who Leapt Through Time anime on Youtube with help of shmuplations.com. He describes it as a fun nod to Street Fighter II’s 30th anniversary, which you check out below with some behind-the-scenes of the characters design.