Iron Fist is a hugely popular series: the latest game in the series has surpassed 9 million sales in its lifetime as evidenced by it. But while the series is popular today, there is something about the early games in the fighting game franchise – Tekken 2 and Tekken 3in particular – has left its mark on cultural consciousness in a completely different way.
For many, their first exposure to Bandai Namco’s 3D fighter was in Tekken 2 – but thanks to the popularity of the Demo One disc and the platinum game on the original PlayStation, I’d wager more will eventually get it (and spend more time with) Tekken 3. It’s much better than Tekken 2 in every way — and the style, music, story, and entire aesthetic are all ’90s. It’s not just a game. It has become a container of nostalgia.
So it’s fitting that Netflix’s latest video game adaptation revolves primarily around Tekken 3. Tekken: BloodlinesThe story takes us back to the eve of the third Tekken Tournament; we see a young Jin Kazama being taught by his mother, Jun, to channel his rage and strength — and to use only his martial arts prowess. Tragedy befalls the family, and Jin is ordered to find his grandfather: Heihachi Mishima. One of the richest and most evil people in Japan.
From here, several anime tropes come into play; the angry, rebellious teenager trains under his harsh and abusive mentor, then grows up and is used as a pawn in a larger game of 4D chess. You might write it yourself. But the fun in the Tekken animation doesn’t come from predicting the highly telegraphed plot twist, no – it comes from pointing at the screen when your main character shows up and saying ‘oh, I wonder if they’ll use that move I like !
The Tekken anime is based on Tekken 3 – the whole process revolves around hosting a tournament to lure ogres out of hiding – and in doing so, it ends up being a well-crafted, well-written love letter to One of the biggest companies in gaming is fighting games. Whether you want to see Kim and Charyu having a good time in their pseudo-iconic school uniforms or Paul Phoenix talking about the odds of him fighting a bloody full-size grizzly bear, There are many moments in the show that perfectly mimic and represent the thought process we went through some 23 years ago.
And then, anyway, how engaging and interesting the whole thing is. The production value is great, and the visuals are really impressive if you can get over the weird shadow triangles that darken each character’s head. If you’ve turned your back on anime because of its infamous dub, you’ll be happy to know that Tekken: Bloodlines bucks the trend: the English dub is good and never breaks immersion, while the Japanese VO is as good as anything else at the moment (maybe Except for Demon Slayer — but that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so).
The balance between absurd, exaggerated fight scenes and plot development is pleasing and rhythmic – for example, for every tense confrontation between a Chinese schoolgirl and a British assassin, the character development of Heihachi, Ganryu, and the Mishima zaibatsu It’s good that many people do indescribable things in order to make the head of the family the throat of society.
One of my favorite shows on the show is how it dives deep into the lore of the series: as a nerd who’s done all the endings in Tekken 3, seeing people like Julia Chang riding a JACK contraption, wondering why a Random scientists in space want to nuke her with a laser, and this show answers those questions to some extent. We see the mysterious secret character, Dr. Bosconovich, team up with the bloodline of the ogre, and see how he’s better involved in the story of it all, rather than being “doing weird things and using robots” The doctor who made the daughter”. We see that Julia Chang actually got some development, not just “also a Native American environmental activist”.
Complementing it all, of course, are the fight scenes. If you know a little about Tekken, you’ll know these moves: you’ll know Heihachi’s double palms, you’ll know Xia Yu’s dodge pose, you’ll know the king’s giant swing (this one really makes him look like a beast). There were some undeniably hype moments in this show, and when I watched the last episode, I found myself almost hypnotized to install Tekken 7 on my computer. oops.
Given that Netflix gets a lot of support for its interpretation and execution of classic game franchises – looking at you, Resi – it’s great to see Tekken handle it so well. I really wish we could do a few more seasons; I’d love to see how the show handles Kazuya’s return, how it all moves forward with Demon Gene, how Netflix will animate the absolutely gorgeous Tekken 5 intro (if we can go to that step).
Given that we’re about to launch Tekken 8 (or something) – a lot of people want it to do the Mortal Kombat thing and add a proper story – I think the stage is set for the good, longevity of the Tekken anime Get Ready. The timing is perfect for it, and as the game gets more and more ridiculous, this will be a great way to keep people in the loop. Let’s just hope Netflix doesn’t make “Classic Netflix” and cancel it, one season.
