Tekken: Bloodline is an animated TV series based on the Tekken series. It was released on August 18th, 2022 and consists of six episodes, each running to about 25 minutes long.
The series begins between Tekken 2 and Tekken 3, with Jin Kazama training with his mother, Jun Kazama, on Yakushima. It approximately follows the Tekken 3 story, as Jin loses his mother and embarks on a quest for revenge against Ogre by training under his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima.
Synopsis[]
"Power is everything.” Jin Kazama learned the family self-defense arts, Kazama Style Traditional Martial Arts, from his mother at an early age. Even so, he was powerless when a monstrous evil suddenly appeared, destroying everything dear to him, changing his life forever. Angry at himself for being unable to stop it, Jin vowed revenge and sought absolute power to exact it. His quest will lead to the ultimate battle on a global stage — The King of Iron Fist Tournament.[2]
"After losing his home to a powerful enemy, a hot-tempered fighter trains under his zealous grandfather while awaiting his chance for revenge."[3]
Plot[]
The story begins on Yakushima, with Jin Kazama being attacked by bullies who tell him to stay in the forest and that he doesn’t belong in town. After initially not fighting them, Jin becomes angered by a comment about his mother, Jun Kazama, and attacks the bullies, easily defeating them. However, Jun arrives and intervenes. She tells him he has lost this fight because he could not control himself.
Jin is shown learning Kazama Ryu, with its emphasis on clear-minded focus and using an enemy’s weight against them, with self control being of utmost importance. When the drunken father of one of the bullies arrives at the Kazama property to fight Jin, Jun disarms the man and shows Jin how to use restraint to resolve conflict. Later, a demon, Ogre, attacks the Kazamas. Jun tells Jin to stay inside as she fights Ogre. Unable to watch his mother being attacked any longer, Jin rushes out to help her. He and his mother are defeated, with Ogre and Jun seemingly disappearing following a gas explosion in the house. Jin is left with no choice but to seek out his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima, whom his mother told him to go to should she not survive the fight.
Jin is initially turned away from the Mishima Zaibatsu, and, even after meeting Heihachi, his grandfather has little interest in him until Jin mentions Ogre. Heihachi then subjects Jin to a brutal training regimen that emphasizes power and anger. He tells Jin he will break him down in order to build him back up. He teaches Jin never to turn his back on anyone, never to hesitate, and always to finish his opponent.
A few years later, Heihachi calls an Iron Fist Tournament, intending to use Jin to lure out Ogre. Jin is reunited with his friend and rival Hwoarang, and his school friend Xiaoyu, whist Paul Phoenix and Nina Williams warn him against asking too many questions about the Mishima. Jin remains curious about his father’s fate, and during the course of the tournament, discovers that Heihachi killed his father. He learns from Leroy and Julia that they have both been personally wronged by Heihachi and that Heihachi is responsible for unleashing Ogre on the world in the first place.
Despite Heihachi insisting that Jin must be ruthless in his fighting, after breaking Leroy’s leg in the first round, Jin determines not to follow this path of ruthlessness. He shows compassion to Hwoarang and Xiaoyu when they lose their fights, visits Leroy when he is injured, intercedes for Julia when she attempts to attack Heihachi, and offers King II the tournament winnings for his orphanage. Heihachi is outraged by these displays of empathy, and, when Ogre still hasn’t made an appearance by the end of the finals between Jin and King, Heihachi himself takes the stage.
Jin is able to defeat Heihachi by surprising him with his Kazama Ryu and his mother's tenets, along with drawing on the power of his Devil Gene without rising to hatred. Ogre descends from the sky, apparently alerted by the power of the Devil Gene. Heihachi insists that Jin engage Ogre alone. Jin must draw more and more on the Devil Gene to match Ogre, and becomes increasingly furious. He defeats Ogre and starts to walk away from the arena, telling Heihachi he wants nothing more to do with him.
Ogre transforms into True Ogre however, and Jin must fight again. He does so this time with the aid of Paul, Hwoarang and Xiaoyu. The four are nearly defeated by Ogre, but, upon seeing Ogre attack Xiaoyu in a way reminiscent of how it attacked Jun, Jin finds the strength to finish Ogre. Heihachi, observing, comments that this is the power of the Devil. After the fight, Jin’s eyes continue to glow red, and his voice has an otherworldly resonance. Heihachi draws out a gun and shoots him. Paul, Hwoarang and Xiaoyu are horrified and claim Heihachi is a worse evil than Kazuya, and Heihachi says that may be so, but he will save the world from the Devil Gene.
However, the shots activate Jin’s Devil Gene in full. After a dreamlike conversation with his mother in the Infinite Azure, Jin apologizes to her and transforms into Devil Jin. Devil Jin starts pummeling Heihachi into the ground, and only stops when Xiaoyu and Hwoarang call to him. Devil Jin then springs into the night and flies away.
Characters[]
- Ancient Ogre
- Devil Jin
- Doctor Bosconovitch
- Ganryu
- Heihachi Mishima
- Hwoarang
- Jin Kazama
- Julia Chang
- Jun Kazama
- Kazuya Mishima
- King II
- Leroy Smith
- Ling Xiaoyu
- Nina Williams
- Paul Phoenix
- Sugar
- True Ogre
Cameo Appearances:
- Anna Williams
- Baek Doo San
- Craig Marduk
- Feng Wei
- Marshall Law
- King
- Kuma II
- Lee Chaolan
- Lei Wulong
- Mokujin
- Steve Fox
- Wang Jinrei
- Yoshimitsu
New Characters:
Credits[]
Japanese Voice Cast[]
- Jin Kazama - Isshin Chiba[4]
- Jun Kazama - Mamiko Noto[4]
- Heihachi Mishima - Taiten Kusunoki[4]
- Kazuya Mishima - Masanori Shinohara[4]
- Hwoarang - Toshiyuki Morikawa[4]
- Ling Xiaoyu - Maaya Sakamoto[4]
- Paul Phoenix - Hōchū Ōtsuka[4]
- Julia Chang - Seiko Yoshida[4]
- Nina Williams - Yumi Tōma[4]
- Ganryu - Hidenari Ugaki[4]
- Leroy Smith - Yasuhiro Kikuchi
- King - Masayuki Hirai
- Ancient Ogre - TBA
- Doctor Bosconovitch - TBA
- Akiko Miura - Mariya Ise
English Voice Cast[]
- Jin Kazama - Kaiji Tang
- Jun Kazama - Vivian Lu
- Heihachi Mishima - S. Hiroshi Watanabe
- Kazuya Mishima - Eliot
- Hwoarang - Todd Haberkorn
- Ling Xiaoyu - Faye Mata
- Paul Phoenix - Jamieson Price
- Julia Chang - Jeannie Tirado
- Nina Williams - Erika Harlacher
- Ganryu - Earl Baylon
- Leroy Smith - Krizz Kaliko
- King - Leandro Cano
- Ancient Ogre - Bill Butts
- Doctor Bosconovitch - Jamieson Price
- Miss Miura - Judy Alice Lee
Production Team[]
- Directed by Yoshikazu Miyao (BARNSTORM・DESIGN LABO)
- Written by Gavin Hignight
- Music by Rei Kondoh Animation by STUDIO HIBARI, LARX ENTERTAINMENT
- Producers: Yuji Miyazaki, Takafumi Fujisawa
- Character Designers: HEART, Satoshi Yuri (BARNSTORM・DESIGN LABO)
- Total Drawing Director: Mayumi Watanabe Martial
- Arts Director: Jun-ichi Hayama
- Effect Animation Director:v Takashi Hashimoto
- Art Designer: Hiroyuki Ohyama (BARNSTORM・DESIGN LABO)
- Art Directors: Yumiko Kuga (STUDIO JACK), Yuko Sugiyama (STUDIO KAIMU)
- Color Designers: Hiroki Sugiyama, Naoya Imamura
- Director of Cinematography: Sena Nakagawa
- Editor: Masanori Sakamoto
- Sound Director: Takafumi Fujisawa
- Sound Production: T's MUSIC
- Martial Arts Demonstration: Hide Miyoshi (HIDE'S KICK!), Tetsuya Kondo (REDSHARK)
- Battle Scene Supervisors: TeamYAMASA Yuu, TeamYAMASA NOBI
- Lead CGI Animator: Ryota Fukushima[5]
Episode List[]
| # | Runtime | Episode Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 minutes | Fighter-in-training Jin lives with his mother in their secluded home - until an abrupt encounter forces Jin to seek out his mysterious grandfather. |
| 2 | 27 minutes | Jin begins his grueling tutelage under his grandfather, Heihachi. Missing fighters and a strange artifact raise Heihachi's curiosity. |
| 3 | 25 minutes | After years of preparation, Jin and a roster of fighters assemble for the King of Iron Fist Tournament. Jin learns about his family's dark history. |
| 4 | 23 minutes | Jin struggles to control his rage while in the ring. Ling Xiaoyu goes toe-to-toe with a cold-blooded assassin. |
| 5 | 29 minutes | Jin discovers the truth behind Heihachi and Ogre. As the tournament winds down, a surprising fighter decides to enter the ring. |
| 6 | 22 minutes | With the opportunity for vengeance finally within his reach, Jin unleashes a hellish rage against his final opponent. But at what cost? |
Videos[]
Gallery[]
- Main article: Tekken: Bloodline/Gallery
Official Art[]
Trivia[]
- Though the series is based primarily on the events of Tekken 3, Leroy Smith, Feng Wei, Craig Marduk and Steve Fox are participants despite making their first appearances in games after Tekken 3.
- Whilst some Tekken 3 characters use their original outfits from this game, Heihachi, Kazuya, Nina, and King II use their Tekken 5 Player One outfits, whilst Xiaoyu uses her Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Player One outfit, and Julia uses her Tekken 7: Fated Retribution Player One outfit. Hwoarang appears in both his Tekken 3 Player One outfit and an alternately colored version of his Tekken 5 Player One outfit, with the Tekken 3 outfit only being seen briefly in a montage.
- Jun and Ancient Ogre use their default Tekken Tag Tournament 2 stances when they fight.
- Aside from Heihachi's Japanese voice actor being replaced due to the passing of Unshō Ishizuka, Paul is the only character not to retain a Japanese voice actor either from the home series or from Street Fighter X Tekken.
- Not counting Jin, whose voice actor, Isshin Chiba, has returned to reprise his role in all Tekken-related media since his debut, Nina and Hwoarang are the only characters to retain their original Japanese voice actors from their debut games.
- Yumi Tōma last voiced Nina and Anna Williams in Tekken Tag Tournament. Tōma also voiced Xiaoyu from her debut game until Street Fighter X Tekken.
- Toshiyuki Morikawa last voiced Hwoarang in the Japanese release of Tekken 4.
- Jinpachi Mishima is mentioned in the series, with Heihachi stating that Jinpachi set up two exquisitely carved stone lanterns on the Mishima Estate and broke one with his bare hands to demonstrate the Mishima power to create and destroy.
- Baek Doo San, Wang Jinrei, King I, and Lee Chaolan make a brief appearance on Miss Miura's tablet screen as fighters that have gone missing in episode 2.
- During episode one, Jin is seen playing a handheld console. The audio snippets of the game suggest it is a Tekken game, with grunts identifiable as likely belonging to Jun and a Jack or Prototype Jack.
- During episode two, when Jin first meets Hwoarang, silhouettes of boxing kangaroos can be seen on the walls behind them as they fight.
- Jin's English voice actor, Kaiji Tang previously voiced Lee Chaolan in the English dub of Tekken: Blood Vengeance and Violet in his gameplay intros and ending in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
- Paul's Italian voice actor, Diego Baldoin previously voiced Claudio Serafino in Tekken 7.
References[]
- ^ Also dubbed into Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, French, European Spanish, Czech, German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, and Thai.
- ^ Tekken: Bloodline | Official Teaser | Netflix
- ^ Official synopsis on Netflix.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j NetflixJP_Anime Tweet, July 19, 2022.
- ^ Netflix Anime Youtube