I liked the character designs (Done by Umakoshi who also did the Character Designs for the Animated Versions of Fist of the North Star, Grappler Baki and Berserk) and the Soundtrack. And Sho Kusugi’s son (I forget his name) did the best Ryu voice ever. I liked the fght scenes in SF2 the Animated Movie a lot better, though. The SFZ Anime being a side story didn’t really bother me because it was originally released as an OVA and OVAs tend to be side story-ish, take continuity lightly or ignore it. It’s funny in the US version on the back of the box it states that it’s a sequel to SF2V.
The SFZ Anime came out because Manga Video made so much money with SF2V in the states, they approached Capcom of Japan for some kind of sequel and backed the Anime financially. (No way would Capcom allow a sequel for SF2V since it was received really badly in Japan, and they said on more than one occasion that they will never make a direct sequel to the SF2 Animated Movie, as in a second SF2 Animated Movie) The same thing is happening with this new sequel as Manga Video is backing it as well.
For the longest time, Manga Video has had this Fan Artsy drawing of Sakura and Gouki on there website. It reads “Street Fighter Alpha 2”
http://www.manga.com/index.php
I liked all the SF Animes for different reasons. The USA SF cartoon sucked but had some bright spots like the Final Fight Episode and the episode with Sakura where Ryu beat Sagat again.