Definitely one of the better video game adaptations on the small screen. Netflix has been fairly good with their animated adaptations of video game franchises. This is no Castlevania or Arcane but is definitely better than Dota for me. So overall, a fun watch for those who want a short show with good action and story. Hope they remove the shadows if they get a second season.
97 Reviews
The only problem is they need more episodes
agatt-1222518 August 2022
Let's start off by acknowledging how often Netflix ruins video game series. Resident evil is a prime example of how terrible they can be.
This is not that. It's exactly what Tekken should be. I like this style of animation. Fight scenes are well animated. It looks like (so far) they put actual effort in and did this right.
Only issue for me is it's only 6 episodes. So far so good but it's a small sample to judge fairly.
Side note: although they do usually ruin video game adaptations, PLEASE do yourself a favour and watch Castlevania on Netflix. Easily the best video game adaptation they've ever done. Maybe Tekken in time will pass them.
Time will tell.
This is not that. It's exactly what Tekken should be. I like this style of animation. Fight scenes are well animated. It looks like (so far) they put actual effort in and did this right.
Only issue for me is it's only 6 episodes. So far so good but it's a small sample to judge fairly.
Side note: although they do usually ruin video game adaptations, PLEASE do yourself a favour and watch Castlevania on Netflix. Easily the best video game adaptation they've ever done. Maybe Tekken in time will pass them.
Time will tell.
If your not a tekken-fan it might be boring to watch
maxamar18 August 2022
The plot is the same as the game its based on : "Tekken 3". As such, the story is straight forward and can be boring to some viewers. However, if you're a tekken fan, you'll find the animation is brilliant and the moves displayed are basically the same as the one you do when you mindlessly press the button while playing Tekken.
I need to warn you though, the english dub is a massacre, just watch it with the japanese dub. The voices match the ones in-game and it feels refreshing. Furthermore, the voice-acting on the english version is mediocre to say the least.
Overall, the show is enjoyable and a real dive into the state of mind of Jin Kazama.
I need to warn you though, the english dub is a massacre, just watch it with the japanese dub. The voices match the ones in-game and it feels refreshing. Furthermore, the voice-acting on the english version is mediocre to say the least.
Overall, the show is enjoyable and a real dive into the state of mind of Jin Kazama.
A very good show with huge potential!
jpkaramanolis19 August 2022
The art style was unique and good, with very smooth animation that was mandatory especially for the fight scenes, the writing was good and gave us a closer look to the story and characters we know. I think it was a bit rushed and could use more episodes for the first season. Overall it was a very good start for a Tekken animated series and i hope we see more like this.
Could've been better, but could've been much worse.
saudicriminal18 August 2022
The pacing was too fast to develop a connection to any side character, wasted fights/action and off-screening what would've been interesting to watch.
Still, this is easily the best TEKKEN show or movie you can watch, because everything else is just terrible.
Hoping for a Season 2 with slower pacing and A LOT more focus on the side characters, frankly they're what I like the most about TEKKEN.
Still, this is easily the best TEKKEN show or movie you can watch, because everything else is just terrible.
Hoping for a Season 2 with slower pacing and A LOT more focus on the side characters, frankly they're what I like the most about TEKKEN.
Great potential
raepzone20 August 2022
If you at least know some Tekken story plot and gameplay, you'll be very pleased with this. The only thing is that they should have animated the other fights, I really wanted to see those face offs, some characters were kind of wasted with that, but I'm sure that if they add more episodes, everything should work out just well.
Infinite sunshine
mr_christer9120 August 2022
Best adaptation of Tekken
CoolGuyJ8419 August 2022
Finally, after years of terrible adaptations, Tekken finally gets it right and puts out a worthy adaptation.
Characters showcasing moves from the games, and even events which happened in Tekken 1 & 2 are explained reasonably well (that even people new to Tekken would understand).
Being one of those (several) people who used to play Tekken 3 almost religiously back in the day, I have to say I'm very happy with this first season.
The season also gets to the point and doesn't feel too dragged out.
Characters showcasing moves from the games, and even events which happened in Tekken 1 & 2 are explained reasonably well (that even people new to Tekken would understand).
Being one of those (several) people who used to play Tekken 3 almost religiously back in the day, I have to say I'm very happy with this first season.
The season also gets to the point and doesn't feel too dragged out.
Netflix wanted some easy money
ntelo00723 August 2022
Cons:
* It rushes its story-telling and it's impossible for the viewer to develop a deep connection with its characters and the Tekken world.
* It contained far too many flashbacks for a series of 6 episodes. I would use literally 0 flashbacks, since you can finish this series like watching a long movie.
* For such a legendary gaming franchise, it's a shame that we didn't watch all the side matches/fights. The real fans are interested in watching everything about every character ever existed.
* If you have ever watched an anime like One Piece, Attack on Titan and other big names of this world, you will immediately be disappointed by the animation. Characters move like robots, no naturality and the dialogs are like cliché quotes.
Pros: * I really liked the combos from the game, that gave the impression that you are playing the actual game.
* It's probably the best attempt to create a Tekken related movie so far.
* It contained far too many flashbacks for a series of 6 episodes. I would use literally 0 flashbacks, since you can finish this series like watching a long movie.
* For such a legendary gaming franchise, it's a shame that we didn't watch all the side matches/fights. The real fans are interested in watching everything about every character ever existed.
* If you have ever watched an anime like One Piece, Attack on Titan and other big names of this world, you will immediately be disappointed by the animation. Characters move like robots, no naturality and the dialogs are like cliché quotes.
Pros: * I really liked the combos from the game, that gave the impression that you are playing the actual game.
* It's probably the best attempt to create a Tekken related movie so far.
TRIANGLES
captainsilverink21 August 2022
The series itself is a good expanded retelling of Tekken 3 with some characters from later Tekkens being added in (Feng, Marduk, Steve, and the only one with more than a cameo, Leroy).
Interesting to see Leroy in his first appearance outside of his DLC character status.
Overall the series was pretty solid from the storytelling standpoint, and is very faithful to the Tekken lore.
What drags this down to a 6 for me, instead of a 7+ is the fact that I can't stop looking at these goddamn triangles. No matter the light source, day or night, inside or outside, standing or leaning, EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (animals included) has this annoying triangle on their head. Happens to their hands when they punch too. It's like they have a reverse outline, of light.
The longer the series went on, the more noticeable it became. It just looks silly most of the time. It's like someone forgot to add another layer during the animation process. It's by far the biggest flaw, because I cannot stop looking at it.
It's so distracting, that I even zoned out in a couple fights (Jin v Hworang, Xiaoyu v Nina).
Interesting to see Leroy in his first appearance outside of his DLC character status.
Overall the series was pretty solid from the storytelling standpoint, and is very faithful to the Tekken lore.
What drags this down to a 6 for me, instead of a 7+ is the fact that I can't stop looking at these goddamn triangles. No matter the light source, day or night, inside or outside, standing or leaning, EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (animals included) has this annoying triangle on their head. Happens to their hands when they punch too. It's like they have a reverse outline, of light.
The longer the series went on, the more noticeable it became. It just looks silly most of the time. It's like someone forgot to add another layer during the animation process. It's by far the biggest flaw, because I cannot stop looking at it.
It's so distracting, that I even zoned out in a couple fights (Jin v Hworang, Xiaoyu v Nina).
The best Tekken adaptation, but could be better.
hydrajenkins18 August 2022
After watching all six episodes, I can confidently say that it's definitely one of the better Tekken adaptations and better video game adaptations in general. However, I have a few issues. 1. That stupid triangle shadow. I have no idea why that thing is there and it's pretty distracting. 2. The fights were alright and the way they end is pretty climatic. Why do most of Jin's fights just end with him doing d/3+4 (the double kicks)? It would be better if he did Electric Wind God Fist. 3. THE MUSIC. This is a really big one for me. Even if your fight is mediocre, at least have some bangers playing in the back. Unfortunately, this TEKKEN anime mainly revolved around the plot of TEKKEN 3 have forgettable tracks. Why didn't the music director use Tekken 3 OST let alone remix it. 4. Too many flashbacks. This could really ruin the hype and pacing of the fight if you use flashbacks too much which they used quite a lot. We don't have dementia director. We remember what happened in a few episodes. Some other things that bother me was that Jin's English voice actor had some weak line readings, other Tekken 3 characters didn't show up like Jack, Bryan Fury, or Eddie Gordo, and no after credits where it could've shown Jin training in Australia in his Tekken 4 outfit. I would like to see a sequel to this anime. Though with all the buzz around how Netflix treats its animation studio like crap, I doubt that will happen.
Overall, it's an alright adaptation. Nothing to write home about. There are some questionable creative decisions, but I thought it was okay.
Overall, it's an alright adaptation. Nothing to write home about. There are some questionable creative decisions, but I thought it was okay.
Amazing show
fdzero18 August 2022
As a hardcore Tekken fan for years this anime totally brings justice to this legendary gaming franchise. The story is the one who we all know , the animation and VA are cool. But the thing I really liked was the combos from the game who gave the impression that your playing right now and not watching . Totally worthy.
GIVE ME MORE!!
caruanajames18 August 2022
Would have been a 7, if not for those triangle shadows
generalGib19 August 2022
Why why why ? Why triangle shadows over everyone's face? Everything else seems to get proper shadows except humans, they somehow get triangle shadows ? Plus the shadow on the face moves along with the person whose shadow it is, and no its not part of any in-story mystery.
Otherwise its alright.
Otherwise its alright.
Disappointing
jamescrean-498594 September 2022
Nothing in the story of Tekken Bloodlines is impactful after episode two. It does not know how to handle pivotal plot moments or manipulate your emotions when it is focusing on telling a bigger story and not on its characters. The first two episodes work because of their simplicity, and because of the simplicity of the story at large. As it goes on, that simplicity is forgotten, and replaced with bland characters, pointless side stories and a central narrative that feels like a distraction and nothing more. There are so many things about this show that could be fixed with an expanded episode count or by trimming the fat of its own story. Ultimately, though, this is the show we got, and it is thoroughly disappointing.
But, hey, the fights were pretty cool.
But, hey, the fights were pretty cool.
Make it interesting with better music and songs.
himanshusejwar-940021 September 2022
The animation of fight scenes and intense scenes were great but what about the background music, it was making that great animation boring. I will explain it with a refrence, that is, an anime called "God Of Highschool". Their character's animation were too basic but they put some english songs with beats and the musical words on a low volume and those fights + suspenseful scenes became way more interesting.
I personally liked that anime because of it's music.
There are also majority of people who likes any series because of it's music.
So, maybe tekken bloodline can improve its music next time.
If I can contact to the director of tekken bloodline, I would ask him/her to "re-release" the season 1 with a good music background. Lol.
I personally liked that anime because of it's music.
There are also majority of people who likes any series because of it's music.
So, maybe tekken bloodline can improve its music next time.
If I can contact to the director of tekken bloodline, I would ask him/her to "re-release" the season 1 with a good music background. Lol.
I've made a new IMDb account just because of this
aldoantonius27 August 2022
Definitely a great adaption of one of the most famous title among the tekken installment : Tekken 3
Story wise is quite accurate, adjusting the more modern pacing, fight scene is also good, too bad they didn't explore some of the side characters lore, because what makes people so attached to Tekken 3 was each and every character got their own interesting stories background
but my GOD, those triangle shadows! So annoying, the reason why i bother to write this because those shadows have irritated my eyes so much, it hurts, if anyone could give me a good reason why its there
would rate it 8 if those triangle shadows didn't exist. Because quite frankly the animation and the story quite exceed my expectation.
but my GOD, those triangle shadows! So annoying, the reason why i bother to write this because those shadows have irritated my eyes so much, it hurts, if anyone could give me a good reason why its there
would rate it 8 if those triangle shadows didn't exist. Because quite frankly the animation and the story quite exceed my expectation.
Haven't played the games
pivorock25 August 2022
The story is alright, definitely rushes through things that could use more attention. The biggest issue is the voice acting. I can't quite place it, but nearly every sentence is off. No one talks the way these characters do, English is even the main language so it's not a dubbing issue.
Way better than a lot of other NF game adaptations!
liban-3055118 August 2022
I went in with zero expectations, and boy was I surprised. If you are a fan of the tekken game series, you will love this. Especially if you have played tekken 1 to 3.
It goes straight to the point, and it is not cheesy.
Only reason I did not give this a 10/10, is because of how few episodes there are. I hope to see more of this!
It goes straight to the point, and it is not cheesy.
Only reason I did not give this a 10/10, is because of how few episodes there are. I hope to see more of this!
Short, cliche but entertaining
Nob0dy30 August 2022
This show doesn't do anything spectacular, it isn't going to blow your mind but if you want some fun short escapism ( season 1 only has 6 episodes which if you skip the ridiculously long end credits have an average run time of around 19 minutes) this is defintely worth a shot. I do like fighting games but tekken has never really been my scene, I have never played through a fully story mode in tekken so if any creative liberties were taken with the story or the characters that could upset longtime fans I can't speak on that but I can say that even with no real previous knowledge of tekken I still thoroughly enjoyed this season.
One critique I have and it may be a cultural or translation thing I do not know, but Heihachi's speech pattern is very odd. He talks.......................like this. Where every sentence has.............................................long pauses at.................................random points, for no.......................................obvious ...........................reasons.
Like I said maybe its a translation thing, I know when translating media they not only have to transcribe the scripts as direct translations often don't work but on top of that they also try to match the translated script to fit with the mouth movements as best they can, so maybe that's it, but it does make the character's dialogue very odd to sit through.
One critique I have and it may be a cultural or translation thing I do not know, but Heihachi's speech pattern is very odd. He talks.......................like this. Where every sentence has.............................................long pauses at.................................random points, for no.......................................obvious ...........................reasons.
Like I said maybe its a translation thing, I know when translating media they not only have to transcribe the scripts as direct translations often don't work but on top of that they also try to match the translated script to fit with the mouth movements as best they can, so maybe that's it, but it does make the character's dialogue very odd to sit through.
Lackluster, basic, and boring
stevenhelm-334162 September 2022
Reading the other reviews, it seems to me that the show's main redeeming feature is the fact that it is based on a beloved old video game. The positive reviews seem more inspired by nostalgia than the actual show. Being unfamiliar with Tekken the video game myself, I can say that if you are not looking at the show through nostalgia colored glasses it is not worth your time.
It honestly seems like something a fan could have created in their spare time instead of being an actual Netflix production. The story feels rushed, superficial, and is not captivating at all. The voice acting is amateuristic, and again, very superficial, with many characters having an almost robotic, monotonous delivery. All the characters are also extremely two dimensional, I feel no attachment to any of them due to how little they were actually developed. Even the graphics, although not terrible, were just kind of weird with the triangle lighting effect used on the head of every character. The show also continuously uses flashbacks (despite the fact that there's only 6 episodes of ~20 minutes) that seem to serve no meaningful purpose for either the viewer or the story. It almost seems like they were included just to fill the episodes due to the fact that the show's writers are apparently incapable of storytelling.
In conclusion, if you're not a Tekken fan looking to enjoy some nostalgia, I don't recommend this show.
It honestly seems like something a fan could have created in their spare time instead of being an actual Netflix production. The story feels rushed, superficial, and is not captivating at all. The voice acting is amateuristic, and again, very superficial, with many characters having an almost robotic, monotonous delivery. All the characters are also extremely two dimensional, I feel no attachment to any of them due to how little they were actually developed. Even the graphics, although not terrible, were just kind of weird with the triangle lighting effect used on the head of every character. The show also continuously uses flashbacks (despite the fact that there's only 6 episodes of ~20 minutes) that seem to serve no meaningful purpose for either the viewer or the story. It almost seems like they were included just to fill the episodes due to the fact that the show's writers are apparently incapable of storytelling.
In conclusion, if you're not a Tekken fan looking to enjoy some nostalgia, I don't recommend this show.
Faithful to the games, exciting and worth a watch
ddt-1718118 August 2022
I really enjoyed it! Watched it all in one sitting. It is very faithful to the games, which I think is a real positive as many video game adaptations fail to do this and I think that is to their detriment. I enjoyed watching it and hope they're gonna do another season!
Mediocre
NuclearNinja9 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
So in concept, what a great idea. Tekken 3, for a lot of the fans, was the game that got people hooked on Tekken.
The animation style was a little off for me. They did that thing where they merge CGI and drawing. Give the animators more time to make a good show. Ogre shouldn't look so obese, it was rediculous to look at. Even Heihachi was too broad, to be fair it wasn't too far from PS1 graphics.
The overall story felt very over simplified. There wasn't enough character building, in the blink of an eye Jin has gone from a young teen to taking on Heihachi and Ogre.
There are no random encounters in interesting locations, as they are in the game. Also a lot of the core roster characters from Tekken 3 were just left out or briefly shown on screen before quickly being written out. For some reason Leroy is there and gets most of an episode dedicated to him when characters like Yoshimitsu didn't even get 1 line of dialogue.
I watched with Japanese audio because the English dub was awful. The casting of the English voice actors was awful and didn't even try to sound like the original characters voices in some cases.
The fight scenes were good and incorporated move sets from the games. Although as with the rest of the show they felt a bit rushed.
The show was enjoyable and I'll watch more if Netflix decides to continue with it but it could have been a lot better.
The animation style was a little off for me. They did that thing where they merge CGI and drawing. Give the animators more time to make a good show. Ogre shouldn't look so obese, it was rediculous to look at. Even Heihachi was too broad, to be fair it wasn't too far from PS1 graphics.
The overall story felt very over simplified. There wasn't enough character building, in the blink of an eye Jin has gone from a young teen to taking on Heihachi and Ogre.
There are no random encounters in interesting locations, as they are in the game. Also a lot of the core roster characters from Tekken 3 were just left out or briefly shown on screen before quickly being written out. For some reason Leroy is there and gets most of an episode dedicated to him when characters like Yoshimitsu didn't even get 1 line of dialogue.
I watched with Japanese audio because the English dub was awful. The casting of the English voice actors was awful and didn't even try to sound like the original characters voices in some cases.
The fight scenes were good and incorporated move sets from the games. Although as with the rest of the show they felt a bit rushed.
The show was enjoyable and I'll watch more if Netflix decides to continue with it but it could have been a lot better.
Could be cool but looks like trash
ijaymckay2 September 2022
I've liked the Tekken franchise since I was a kid and thought it might be cool. The characters are all right and it more or less fleshes out the plot of the games, but Netflix once again went all in on the 3D models with cell shading psuedo anime look that has tanked so many of their promising animation properties. It looks like some kid did the animation in his basement. If your going to do a full series, at least make sure the animation is better than the cut scenes from the friggin PS1 games. Hell, render them like the PS1 games even, that would at least he a stylistic choice. Instead, we get more of the same old stuff that made Godzilla, Berserk and half the other anime on Netflix so ugly and cheap looking.
3rd Game
jack_o_hasanov_imdb22 February 2024
The "Tekken" has always been special game for me. I played a lot on Playstation 1,2 and 3 when I was a kid. I had my favorite characters. I was playing with my brother most of the time. Even though everyone loved "Mortal Kombat", I was always a fan of "Tekken". I thought the characters and story were better and more interesting. I think this short anime series (made by Netflix) should have been longer. Not bad. I watched with curiosity. They reflected the fighting style of the characters. I think it was better that it was an anime. As for the movie, there was already a bad movie, I watched it and didn't like it at all. But this series is not bad. I think it should have been longer. Yes, this is the story of the 3rd game. But then, as a second season, the story of the first game could have continued with the 3rd and then the 4th. From this perspective, it was disappointing, but it was still fun to watch. I wish there would be more episodes.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
