Mane Street Ruins Adam Conover
Oh, Adam Conover, you with the Twitch stream with 40 viewers. You who did voices for Dorkly and skits for College Humor. You with the very popular show that people like, even if the facts are sometimes muddled up. Now, I know you ruined everything on that show, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called….
No, no. This show had three words.
No, there was a lot of collaboration….
Oh, forget it. Anyway, that show you did was really awesome. But here’s the thing: in all of your geekiness and all of your everything ruining, you seemed to have left out something. You have pokéd the mons and have participated in the mortalest of kombats, but you haven’t been on the streetest of fighters.
OK, MAYBE NOT THAT STREET….
It’s ok, Adam Conover. I am here to help you. As I have been screaming for the last few weeks, STREET FIGHTER IS MORE THAN II, but you’re a different case. You’re a guy who likes the more adventurous games, like PUBG, Fortnite, and Sekiro. You want the full exploration feel to whatever you’re playing. Alright, then I have the perfect Street Fighter character for you.
Ibuki on the scene!
While she’s of the most frustrating and gimmicky characters in Street Fighter history, Ibuki has nonetheless been thoroughly explored by gamers. Her outgoing demeanor, dangerous vortex, and overwhelming cuteness has made her a beloved recurring character since her debut in the Street Fighter III series.
It’s not just her personality and gameplay traits that make her such an exceptional character, though. Her background is one of the best in Street Fighter as well. She’s a kunoichi, a female ninja from the Glade of Ninjas (that’s actually their name). However, when she isn’t at ninja school doing ninja things, she’s at regular school trying to be a regular girl.
However, whether it’s ninja school or high school, Ibuki doesn’t care very much for her studies, as what she TRULY wants to do is meet up with cute boys and have fun. Ibuki wants to see the world outside of the life that’s already planned for her.
Adam, you’re a facts ninja, and like Ibuki, you go outside the boundaries that have been set for you (and 328 million Americans) to find your fun: accurate, life-changing information. Sure, you and her have your differences, since you love knowledge and she loves partying, but it’s an interesting mix: you would be the brain and she would be the brawn, even if she is the second smallest fighter in the game.
Actually…
It’s even more than that, though. Ibuki has her own sense of mystery being a ninja. Udon Comics did a wonderful mini-series fleshing out Ibuki’s background, and although it isn’t canon, it’s well worth the read. Capcom loved what Udon did with it, and so did I, and makes me wish that Capcom would adopt this story as canon.
I’m getting ahead of myself though. Adam, you can play your open world games, but I want you to understand this. When it comes to lore, the games you play have like, what, 50 hours of it? 100 hours of it? Street Fighter has 30 years of it. There’s enough there that you could do a whole TV series with multiple seasons, just talking about each character, making theories on each character, and really digging into what makes each character who they are. I should know – that’s exactly what I do.
You wouldn’t be ruining anything, Adam. You’d be making it better.
(Steven Mane is a voice actor and Street Fighter fanatic who writes Street Fighter lore theories in his spare time. Check out all of his theories at Mane Street and make sure you follow him on Twitter at @StevenManeVox).
