*That* Shinkiro Illustration...

BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
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Whats up n-g.com. SNK has been really active in recent years and there’s been a lot of new interest in SNK, Neo Geo, etc. It’s an awesome time to be a fan and I also see twitter posts, reddit threads, and youtube channels attempting to answer old questions and present new info on old materials. One which keeps resurfacing is the mystique around this particular illustration by Toshiaki Mori (aka Shinkiro)...

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I’ve seen recent theories stating that it is from a canceled prequel Fatal Fury game but this (sadly) isn’t true.

The illustration appears in an old SNK Illustrations Mook and has a caption simply stating that the illustration was created for a Fatal Fury short story that sadly never saw the light of day (though 2 mangas focusing on Geese Howard were released after this illustration was created).

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“An illustration drawn for a Fatal Fury novel (or short story). Geese’s early life and Yamada Jubei’s younger days. Was really interesting but...when will it be released?”.

The caption doesn’t give us any indication of who is in the illustration, but eagle-eyed fans can take guesses as to who might have been involved in such a short story:

Geese, Jubei, Joe’s father?! (**see below), Terry, Andy, a younger Tung Fu Rue, and perhaps a young Mr. Big (aka young James who fought alongside John Crawley from AOF2), and...

...the mysterious nun character.

Geese’s mother? A lover? Given the nature of character short novels and audio dramas, this likely would have simply been an original character for this story. For example, the Fatal Fury Dengeki Bunko audio dramas all take liberties with the events in the games and add original characters who would never debut in the actual games or any other official materials.

Either way, the story possibilities would have been pretty cool but they sadly weren’t meant to be.

Bonus Round:
**Joe’s dad:
Have a look at one of Joe’s win quotes from Fatal Fury 1:

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SouthtownKid

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Seems like the guy you think is Takuma could be Jubei, especially since he is mentioned specifically in the text. His younger days.
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
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thanks B-N, quality content as usual!

Thanks massi! :buttrock:

Seems like the guy you think is Takuma could be Jubei, especially since he is mentioned specifically in the text. His younger days.

D’oh most definitely. I went through all that at 1am and still typed Takuma in the damn write-up AND left out Geese lol

Fixed. lol

I need some sleep.
 
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TLKrauser

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It does not advance the debate but I find the illustration very nice.
I had never seen it before.
The colors are pretty well chosen. This illustration could have made the cover of a game!
on the other hand, is it me or joe higashi went to the hairdresser?
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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It does not advance the debate but I find the illustration very nice.
I had never seen it before.
The colors are pretty well chosen. This illustration could have made the cover of a game!
on the other hand, is it me or joe higashi went to the hairdresser?

Whats up TLKrauser. I don’t think the “canceled game” theory has any real merit though. The caption specifically mentions what project the art was intended for in this case, a novel/short story (“小説”).

The book also dates the illustration at April of 1995. That sets it just prior to the “Geese Howard Gaiden” manga that was eventually published by Gamest Comics the following year in 1996.

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Shinkiro produced fantastic cover quality promo art for all sorts of projects outside of the game series themselves. The Fatal Fury Motion Picture exclusive characters also received this treatment :buttrock::

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yagamikun

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Oh damn, I've the "mysterious art" before, but I've never seen the Shinkiro FF Movie art! Thanks!
 

Atro

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Saw that pic some time ago in the NGFL Facebook page while I still had an account.

The drawing leaves a lot to be discussed/wondered. And Shinkiro rocks btw.
 

evil wasabi

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Thanks for sharing these blackanese. Never saw them. Glad I stuck around.
 

Karou

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I thought blue haired chicks proportions were modern reterded because of dudes shoulder and that she was topless like for a second, I like that one. Way to go Ninja.
 

2D_mastur

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Ummm... who is the nun? Maybe she gave Terry and Andy to Jeff?
 

TLKrauser

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today I learned something in the book neogeo anthologie (in french).
did you know that shinkiro was not a fan of video games but as a designer, he accepted the job only because SNK's head office was close to his home.
Serendipity!
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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...is it me or joe higashi went to the hairdresser?

After more thought and looking at how prominent he is compared to Terry and Andy behind Geese along with the other de-aged characters...I think this was actually intended to be Joe’s dad! :eek:

Have a look at one of Joe’s win quotes from Fatal Fury 1:

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The reference to his dad (“親父”) is also present in the original japanese line as well:

EE6D4699-43CB-4612-B64E-E386F9917599.jpeg
 
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Heinz

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:snack: keep it coming!
 

[OCEAN]

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Love these! How I wish there was a new entry in the FF series, I loved the emphasis SNK put on the character story and development in comparison to other fighting series.
 

Taiso

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I always guessed the nun was just someone that looked after the Bogard kids since Jeff was off fighting and getting killed eventually. Somebody had to look after orphans and it's a common trope in western modern fiction that nuns and other spiritual figures provided guidance and support to kids in these situations.

Also, if that's Mr. Big creeping behind Andy, he's giving off pedo vibes. Definitely a future kidnapper of young children.
 

SouthtownKid

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Just putting this somewhere without starting a new thread

That video showed up in my feed, but I didn't watch it thanks to the title/thumbnail. "Fusion of anime and realism." Fucking ignorant shit. There is zero anime in Shinkiro's style. It's consciously anti-anime, if anything. There's a huge western pre-computers advertising illustration influence to his art. So I figured if the title was that far off the mark, the rest of the video was likely bullshit.
 
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