Netflix has published a new video for their forthcoming 3D animated series Tekken: Bloodline, which will feature the King of Iron Fist Tournament. Additionally, the new Tekken adaptation’s release date has been established, which will be August 18, 2022, when it premieres on Netflix. Fans of the series’ original protagonist and poster boy, Kazuya Mishima, will recognise Jin Kazama as the son of Jin Kazama in this new video, which was initially unveiled in March 2022. Jun Kazama’s death at the hands of Ogre is depicted in the teaser as Jin’s constant reminder of his mother’s tragic demise.
After finding his grandpa, the all-powerful and all-violent Heihachi Mishima, the young man sets out to learn the martial arts so that he might exact revenge on Jin. Heihachi’s goal is to undo Jin’s mother’s teachings and draw forth the repressed Mishima blood that is inside him. “Kazama. Remember how powerless you felt when Ogre killed your mother, don’t you think? “In a voice-over, Heihachi asks. “Kazama’s pacifism must be extinguished, and Mishima’s zeal must be rekindled in order to overcome him. I’m going to utterly demolish you, and then I’m going to rebuild you. As a result of your actions, your body will serve as a weapon.
No one else can do it like Mishima. The new King of the Iron Fist Tournament begins in the teaser, after years of training. Leroy Smith, Paul Phoenix, and King, all of whom appeared in the show’s announcement video, make an appearance here. Characters including Julia Chang, Nina Williams, Ling Xiaoyu, and Hwoarang all play a role in the film. Many characters, including Nina, tell Jin to avoid the Mishima family or to make it a secret that he is connected to them.
The teaser features a montage of battle scenes, replete with game-accurate hit sparks, that captures the spirit of the original content well. Jin says, “Challenge Accepted,” as the trailer concludes. The plot of Tekken: Bloodline appears to be largely influenced by the events of Tekken 3, the first game in which Jin made an appearance and in which Ogre emerged as a prominent adversary. Some distinctions exist, such as Leroy Smith’s involvement in Tekken 8, but they feel more like cameos for aficionados of the genre than significant story beats or plot points that will be more closely tied to Tekken 3 than to Tekken 7.
Bloodline joins a long lineage of animated Tekken games that have been reimagined for the big screen. Both Tekken: The Motion Picture (1998; two OVA episodes) and Tekken: Blood Vengeance (2011; full-length CGI animation) have been adapted into films. Comic books and live-action film adaptations of the series have also been produced. In addition to Castlevania and Arcane, Netflix’s increasing library of video game franchise adaptations includes this new series.
Adaptations of their original works as well as great stand-alone shows, both series have received high praise from critics and fans alike. In 1994, the first game in the Tekken fighting game series was released. Since its inception in 1989, Tekken has been one of the most popular fighting games in the world, with the most recent mainstream release being 2015’s Tekken 7. Most of the series’ plot centres around the internal strife of the Mishima family as they and other fighters participate in different King of Iron Fist Tournaments organised by the Mishima Zaibatsu, a company run by the family. Tournament participants came from all corners of the globe, with subsequent entrants putting the whole Zaibatsu’s leadership up for grabs. It’s no surprise that Tekken got the adaption treatment, what with the addition of magic and supernatural abilities, as well as vicious family strife.
On August 18, Netflix will air Tekken: Bloodline.