Tekken: Bloodline Review

[table id=8 /]

Set during the events of the 3rd Tekken game. Jin Kazama’s mother Jun is killed by Ogre. So Jin seeks the help of his grandfather Heihachi Mishima to defeat Ogre.

Netflix has been killing it with the anime as of late. I had no idea Tekken: Bloodline was even being made until I saw a trailer. Being a lover of most things Tekken going as far back as buying the first game when it was released.

For those who are not up to date. Story-wise, the original Tekken was about Kazuya Mishima fighting his way through the King of Iron Fist tournament to confront his father Heihachi Mishima. Kazuya hates Heihachi because him being a rubbish father. He Pushed and tortured Kazuya

through his Mishima-style martial arts training as he considered Kazuya soft. Evening throwing Kazuya off a cliff when he was only 5 to toughen him up. To survive this, Kazuya has something called Hachijo blood that he inherited from his mother Kazumi Mishima, an ancient bloodline of assassins that allows the devil to possess them or allows Kazuya to manifest demonic powers in later games. The cliff toss activates the gene in his blood fuelling his hatred for his father. At the end of the first tournament, Kazuya defeats Heihachi and throws him off the same cliff. Kazuya then takes over the Mishima corporation and is eviler than his father.

Heihachi being the tough old goat he is, survives the fall and trains in solitude for the sole purpose of defeating his son. Kazuya announces the king of iron fist tournament 2. Heihachi enters and confronts his son. Along the way, Kazuya encounters Jun Kazama who is trying to help him expel his evil. They grow close. This affects Kazuya’s concentration in his fight with Heihachi, he is distracted and defeated. Heihachi then throws Kazuya into a Volcano and regains control of the Mishima corporation.

Cut to Tekken 3. Where Tekken: Bloodline begins. Jun is living with her and Kazuya’s son Jin Kazama in seclusion. Heihachi has no idea he has a grandson. Jun has trained Jin in her Kazama style of martial arts. Jin is just trying to live his life, going to school and taking out would-be bullies. Much to Jun’s disapproval. She knows Jin has his father’s cursed devil gene and is doing all in her power to not activate it. One-night Ogre decides to make an appearance. His origins and motives are unknown, only that he seeks out the strongest fighters to defeat. After a brave fight, Jun falls victim to Ogre, Jin witnesses this, tries to intervene and is knocked unconscious only to awaken to find his home burning to the ground and Jun nowhere to be seen. Jin assumes she is dead, killed by Ogre. Her last words to Jun were to seek out his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima. It seems as much as she hates Mishima, she knows he’s the only one capable of making Jin strong enough to defeat Ogre.

Jin seeks out and finds Heihachi. Sceptical initially, he accepts Jin as his grandson and starts training him to defeat Ogre. Putting Jin through the same harsh training he did Kazuya, beating him senseless every day to make him stronger. But Jin always got back up. Soon Heihachi announces The King of Iron Fist tournament 3 which will attract the world’s strongest fighters to entice Ogre.
And so, the tournament begins.

We have the usual contestants from the 3rd game in the series. Paul Phoenix, Ling Xiaoyu, Nina Williams, King, Jin’s rival Hwang and Wing Chun master Leroy Smith for some reason who is a very late edition to the game, he’s only just popped up in the very latest game. Even more strange, they included Leroy but fan favourites, Eddie Gordo, Brian Fury, Lei Wulong and Jack are nowhere to be seen.
Also, a let-down is tons more fighters that are only referenced as being defeated such as Marshall Law. Paul Phoenix. One of the strongest fighters in the tournament mentions Marshall being his teacher but Law doesn’t even make it past the first round against Julia Chang! He’s one of the most popular characters in the game from the very first game. There’s no reason for him not to have a bigger part.

The fights are quite similar to the game. Lots of big powerful moves, with glowing fists and electricity flowing everywhere. Every fighter seems to have some kind of electric/flaming attack power that no one bats an eyelid to like it’s the norm. Once again, the fights are too short, there should be more back and forth. There are very strong characters getting taken out with a few moves and once again I can’t help but reference the fights in Kegan Ashura of how they should be done. There’s so much to the fight in Kegan Ashura and until the fight is done you still have no idea who’s going to win. None of the fights in Tekken: Bloodline seems to trouble Jin that much.

In conclusion. I can’t help but compare this with the original Tekken: The Motion Picture anime which focused on Kazuya and the first tournament. Yes Tekken: Bloodline is flashier with more fights but Tekken: The Motion Picture had a far deeper story than Jin avenging his mother and the other characters are just there to win the tournament. Tekken the motion picture heavily featured other characters all doing their own thing in the background, using the tournaments as a means to get close to the Mishima corporation. It told a better story in under 1 hour than what Tekken: Bloodline could do in 6 episodes. Tekken: Bloodline all felt like quite a shallow affair but in saying that I hope they make more seasons. Yes, it is better than the live-action Tekken movie and its sequel but not as good as Tekken: the motion picture or Tekken: Blood Vengeance.

Tekken: Bloodlines is on Netflix now.

Rating 3/5 belts