Despite Streets of fire’s effect on a beloved portion of the anime scene, it was just a too different “cool” for audiences at the time.

At least the soundtrack is great!

We were in the universe of the teenage movie. Teenage reality. So we said here’s what’s going to be weird about the world of our movie: No one’s going to be over 30. The world is a high school, essentially. And Tom Cody will be the football hero. And Willem Dafoe is the greaser. 

Larry Gross

This quote shows why the film did not do well.

It was a movie filled with childhood coolness.

Think back to what you thought was cool when you were a teen. Now just think about how a movie based on those things would be like.

Is it cringy? Please comment and tell me what that movie would be!

Streets of Fire was a weird combination of modern 1984 elements but with dialog and character traits of 1950 villains.

Roger Ebert gives it three stars and says

More Studebakers , please.

Roger Ebert

The movie seamed oddly juvenile in tone, and also corny.

It also looked very serious, the musical performances littered throughout really confused audiences on what this movie was trying to be.

Not to mention that 1984 was a year of some really popular movies.

Ghostbusters, Beverly Hill Cop, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, and The Karate Kid. They all came out in 1984.

Many of these movies got sequels and then remakes in recent years.

This combination of things led to the film being a commercial failure.

Not to mention they were not allowed to film in the films setting of Chicago due to studio interference. So they had to recreate Chicago landmarks instead.

This led to a very large budget.

This would have been the end for this movie if it were not for Japanese animation.

The anime scene was effected an odd amount by the movie.

In fact I learned about Streets of Fire from the anime Bubble Gum Crisis.

The main character and soundtrack were heavily inspired by Streets of Fire.

The first scene of the anime is almost a copy of Streets of Fire’s musical opening.

And that is just one example.

In the Anime Megazone 23 the first scene they walk past the poster for the Streets of Fire.

Talk about a cameo.

The campy and juvenile tones of Streets of Fire, while not popular with reviewers and a more adult movie going audience, worked perfectly as inspiration for Shonen anime!

Its proto-cyberpunk themes and style is just a jumping point of imagination for animation!

So do yourself a favor listen to the Streets of Fire soundtrack and after that listen to the Bubble Gum Crisis soundtrack.

Then if you like the sound, watch the shows that go with it.