Tekken, Namco’s classic fighting tournament video game franchise, is coming to Netflix in the form of a new anime series.
A teaser trailer for Tekken: Bloodline was revealed on Netflix’s YouTube channel, giving fans a glimpse of the story and characters that the series will follow. The main protagonist is the series mainstay Jin Kazama, who is searching for his grandfather, the legendary Heihachi. The trailer begins with Jin’s martial arts training, but the mystical side of the series’ universe soon surfaces with the emergence of demons and deadly superpowers.
The official synopsis for Tekken: Bloodline is as follows:
“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.
Jin’s quest is suggested through a tagline that appears between shots: “When destiny calls, a dark hero will rise.” Although the plot of the anime seems to focus mainly on Jin and his family, there are several other recognizable characters from the video games featured, such as King and Paul, mostly appearing in flashes in a sequence at the end of the trailer.
Debuting in 1994, Tekken is one of the most popular and successful fighting video games of all time and has received more than one adaptation in other media. With nearly 20 titles spanning almost three decades, the franchise has introduced an enormous number of characters and subplots, many of which intertwine and carry over from title to title. The game play focuses on hand-to-hand combat, giving each different character a unique set of moves based on real-world styles of fighting in addition to the backstory and personal details assigned to the varied playable individuals.
Tekken: Bloodline will premiere exclusively on Netflix in 2022; at this time no more specific release window has been announced. The upcoming series joins a growing collection of Netflix-produced anime titles, covering all genres and interests.
