Introduction

The VIRTUA FIGHTER franchise has found success in arcades, partially due to its appealing characters and fighting styles based on real life Kempo. So it seemed to be a natural progression to create an animated TV show based on the game. This has been a decade which has seen many games crossover into the animation domain, but I feel that none have been so well done as the VIRTUA FIGHTER series. Yet it has not received the attention or the praise that it deserves.
Akira Yuki, the token Japanese protagonist, sets out in search of "The Eight Stars". He practices a rather unique type of Kempo: Hakkyoku-ken (Eight-Way Punch). Meant to be used in close quarters, it contains many moves which can deliver massive amounts of damage to opponents when used correctly. Of course, to maintain this level of power requires much energy, and Akira is a voracious eater. His insatiable appetite is a running gag and often serves as an important plot element as well.
Pai Chen is the daughter of Lau Chen, founder of the Koenken school of martial arts. Pai is a typical teenage girl, with typical teenage dreams. Unfortunately, however, she thinks her father let her mother die and will never forgive him. And now she's being forced to marry the most ambitious man in her father's organization. What's an En-Sei-Ken girl to do?
Jacky Bryant, son of the wealthy Bryant family, loves his sister, hates his father, and wants to become a Formula-1 Race Car Driver. He's also a master of Jeet Kun Do, the touted fighting style created by Bruce Lee. When he first meets Akira, he is not very fond of him.
Sarah Bryant, daughter of the wealthy Bryant family. Loves her brother, loves her parents, and doesn't know what she wants to be. She develops a serious crush on Akira early in the series. Sarah is also a master of Jeet Kun Do, but she focuses more on the kicks of that style. Sarah also owns a pet 'momonga' named Alexander.
Fans of the Virtua Fighter video game may be disappointed to learn that not all the characters are given equal screen time. The four main characters (Akira, Pai, Jacky, and Sarah) are the focus of the story, while other characters may appear only in a single episode or two. Kagemaru, the ninja, is the only Virtua Fighter character to appear in more than six episodes. He is a noble soul, who is repentant after kidnaping Sarah Bryant, and spends the rest of the series atoning for his actions.

The Story

The plots main message is a rather altruistic one. "Follow your dream" is the theme that is developed throughout the series. Each character begins the series with a dream that in some way, shape, or form conflicts with the reality of their existence. Jacky is pressured to take over his father's corporation, but he aspires to be a race car driver. Sarah hopes to find a dream to follow under the overprotective shadow of her brother. Pai wishes to lead a normal life and find love on her own, yet her father has arranged a marriage with his best pupil.
Akira's main purpose in life is to see the eight stars again. When he was younger, his mind was clear and pure enough so that he could see the eight stars of legend which only the truly strong could see. In his later life, he became corrupted by feelings of overconfidence and arrogance which impaired his ability to see the stars. Now he wanders hoping to become worthy enough to see the stars again. Often, when he is hit on the head, he is heard to remark "I can see stars!".
The four main characters meet early in the series. Sarah is kidnaped by a scientist from the evil Koenkan organization to use as a test subject for a mind control experiment. Jacky, Pai, and Akira go all over the world chasing down leads to find her. Along the way, they meet and befriend many of the secondary characters from the game. Somewhere along the line, Pai realizes that she loves Akira, and vice versa. The series reaches its dramatic conclusion after they save Sarah only to lose Pai to the Koenkan. Lau Chen and Shun Di join in the efforts as the scientist who kidnaped Sarah reveals her ultimate experiment: Dural. Dural is a robot who has analyzed many fighting styles and can learn from anyone she fights. The Virtua Fighters must take her down in the final ultimate battle. [In the video game, Dural is the "Bonus Stage", and you get to fight her only after defeating all the other characters.]
Character designs by Tanaka Ryo are simple yet very effective in revealing the nature of the characters. I especially like the treatment of some of the hairstyles in the game. Jacky's spike-filled hair is dealt with subtly and artistically. Characters are very similar to their video game counterparts, and Virtua Fighter fans should keep a look out for the character's uniforms, which pop up from time to time.
Virtua Fighter puts a lot of attention on the different fighting styles of the characters. It is also much more lighthearted than other series, and has a playful air about it which makes it all that more enjoyable. The love-hate relationship that Jacky and Akira have is quite entertaining. No matter how much you hate Akira's weird techniques and his bottomless stomach, you'll love his style. Instead of the normal "Be a man and fight" he lectures a smaller kid to "Turn tail and run". But it is all for a reason, as you'll see if you get a chance to see this surprisingly good series.
In Virtua Fighter, every time a character performs a new move that is a special attack of the fighting style, the viewers are given a short lesson. There will be a slow motion wire frame replay of the attack with the name of the move given, followed by a short description of the move's special abilities. Some of the descriptions can be rather humorous, too. This is made even more enjoyable by the narrator, who is voiced by Chiba Shigeru (Yotsuya in MAISON IKKOKU, Kuwabara in YUYU HAKUSHO).
This series is definitely worth watching if you can get it. With such a mixed bag of fighting game-based TV series of late, it's good to see that there are some gems in the bunch.

VIRTUA FIGHTER
T.V. SERIES
SEASON ONE
24 EPISODES