Soul Calibur IV Japanese Box Art

So here’s what the US box art for the two versions of Soul Calibur IV looks like.

Now here’s the Japanese box art:

I’m always fascinated by the differences between American and Japanese box art because it gives a certain amount of insight into each culture. My biggest gripe with these covers is that NONE of them are thrilling me. The American “light vs. dark” thing comes across as cliche. But the Japanese ones aren’t that thrilling, either. Oh well.  At least they’ve got conflict and fighting in them, so they look alive.  The US ones are horribly sterile.