Netflix is giving another game the anime treatment. In a new announcement from the streaming service, the company revealed Tekken: Bloodline launches worldwide in 2022.
Taking us back to what looks like some of Jin Kazama’s earlier years, the Tekken animated series follows Jin’s story through learning his family’s Kazama-Style martial arts and eventual participation in the games’ big brawl, The King of Iron Fist Tournament. I’m assuming the woman in the beginning is momma Kazama, Jun, and we know from some of the older games her son sees her attacked by an ogre.
The Tekken anime trailer lists off a few other roster familiars in quick sucession, too. There’s frames of Heihachi Mishima, Paul Phoenix, Leroy Smith, King, Ganryu, Orgre, and Kazuya. At least at first glance, it looks like the Netflix Tekken is at least sticking close to whatever weird vague story Tekken had going on there.
Anyway, here’s the full synopsis from Netflix:
“‘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.”
To my dismay, I’ve watched this in slow motion a million times and did not even a small hint of Hwoarang. I’m assuming he’ll be there, along with my other favorite I was always horrible with, Yoshimitsu. I reckon this Netflix stuff is pretty hit or miss, but I’ve gotta admit, the spooky, learing “Kazama,” Heihachi says towards the end got me sitting up straight and pumped. I’ll remain cautiously optimistic, slowly drifting into more irritated the longer we go without Hwoarang.
