'Street Fighter' Movie Reveals Hand-Drawn Anime Flashbacks for Ryu and Ken, and They Look Like a Pure Retro Throwback

Live-action video game adaptations rarely get to surprise audiences anymore, but the upcoming ‘Street Fighter’ movie just found a way. Behind the scenes, the filmmakers have been quietly building something that looks very different from the rest of the film. Now the first look at the ‘Street Fighter’ movie’s 2D animation has arrived, and it feels like a love letter to the era that made the franchise famous.

The film has been in the spotlight for months thanks to its huge ensemble and a release date that is now only days away. What fans did not know is that the movie has an entirely separate visual layer hiding inside it. That secret has finally been revealed.

Exclusive first images for 2D animated sequences from the ‘STREET FIGHTER’ movie. All of Ryu & Ken’s flashbacks throughout the film are told through hand-drawn 2D animation by Titmouse. https://t.co/IjoB9rgCLj
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 9, 2026

Director Kitao Sakurai worked with animation studio Titmouse on hand-drawn animated sequences for the live-action movie, according to DiscussingFilm, which published the exclusive first images. The sequences had been kept out of the marketing until now. In the newly released stills, Ken is shown in a fiery, golden-lit frame with his hand outstretched, while Ryu stands in a white gi and black belt.

The animated segments are flashbacks that tell the backstories of Ryu and Ken, including their training and how it ultimately drove them apart. They also introduce Akuma, though he appears only briefly. All of the flashbacks throughout the film are told through the hand-drawn 2D style.

The animated characters are modeled on the live-action cast, who also voice their roles. Andrew Koji voices Ryu, Noah Centineo voices Ken and Roman Reigns voices Akuma. That approach keeps the animated and live-action portions closely connected.

Sakurai draws on his upbringing in Japan, the cultural legacy of ‘Street Fighter’ and 1990s anime such as ‘Akira’ and ‘Ghost in the Shell’. The approach has been compared to the animated sequence in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’. The thick linework, saturated light and dramatic poses in the new images certainly fit that influence.

A behind-the-scenes featurette has also been released, showing how Titmouse created the segments frame by frame. It offers the first real glimpse of the craft behind the sequences. Omelete reports that the clip shows excerpts of the animation for the first time.

For fans who grew up on the classic games and animated films, that process is part of the appeal. It suggests the filmmakers wanted the animation to feel handmade rather than polished into something generic. It also gives the movie a distinctive identity in a crowded field of game adaptations.

The animated flashbacks are not meant to be a novelty. According to the exclusive, they feed into the conflicts and relationships of the live-action story, and the shift in Ryu and Ken’s relationship carries into the live-action scenes. That makes the animation a storytelling tool rather than a decorative extra.

The main story is set in 1993, following the fighters after Chun-Li, played by Callina Liang, recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament. It becomes a deadly conspiracy tied to their pasts. The flashbacks therefore matter, since the characters’ history is at the heart of the plot.

PERFECT! Watch the New Trailer for Street Fighter, hitting theaters everywhere October 16. https://t.co/jAAPf1k9jf
— Street Fighter Movie (@Street_Fighter) September 1, 2026

Beyond Koji, Centineo, Liang and Reigns, the cast includes David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Cody Rhodes as Guile and Andrew Schulz as Dan Hibiki. Eric Andre plays Don Sauvage, Vidyut Jammwal plays Dhalsim and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson plays Balrog. Jason Momoa plays Blanka, Olivier Richters plays Zangief, Orville Peck plays Vega and Hirooki Goto plays E. Honda.

Sakurai’s previous credits include the Netflix film ‘Bad Trip’, ‘The Eric Andre Show’, four episodes of ‘Twisted Metal’, ‘Dave’ and ‘The Premise’. The screenplay is by T.J. Fixman and Sakurai, from a story by Dalan Musson and Gary Dauberman. The movie is based on the Capcom game and produced by Legendary Pictures and Capcom.

Paramount Pictures will release the film in theaters on Oct. 16. It is rated PG-13 and runs 120 minutes. With that date approaching, the newly revealed animation gives fans another reason to buy a ticket.

Whether the hand-drawn flashbacks end up as the film’s secret weapon remains to be seen. For now, the images suggest a bold creative swing from a franchise that has never been afraid of one.