I learned my lesson from watching Teen Titans Go! It wasn’t my cup of tea from the original cartoon, but it had its own personality. Tekken! Cartoon gives off that same feel, which makes me wonder who the demographic audience for this new adaptation is. Let’s be for real as kids today don’t have cartoons as we had 30 years ago. Nothing like a Saturday morning to look forward to with your favorite breakfast and enjoy cartoons before the afternoon. Then we were kicked outside, or some of us introverted only children played video games. This is not the first time we have had Tekken in animated form or live action, but we are not going to talk about the live-action versions…for the love of Ogre NO!
Tekken The Motion Picture 1998:
That one Friday, going to my local video store and seeing this new arrival while I was in High School, and this was the first animated movie for Tekken. It was weird; the animation was, eh, compared to Street Fighter II the animated movie and the Fatal Fury movie series. It focused on the story of Young Kazuya and his challenge to go through the King of Iron Fist Tournament. It had almost everyone known in the series, but ended on a cliffhanger, introducing Jin Kazama as a boy continuing the legacy. 1997 was a cool year for the release of Tekken 3 and the new character who has been a fan favorite.
2011’s Tekken: Blood Vengeance:
Hmmm, not sure how I felt about this one. This journey focused on Ling Xiaoyu, who is undercover for the G Corporation to investigate a student named Shin. However, the Mishima Zabatsu also has their own agent, Alisa, who is an android whom she befriends in the long run. Long story short, both Jin and his father Kazuya want the student who holds the M Gene for eternal life. That is the simple version of the plot. It was intriguing, not my favorite, and being that it was CGI animated during that time, not too bad. Based on the Tekken 6 story where Jin almost caused World War 3 was nuts as it is.
Tekken Bloodline 2022
Better animation, but the main focus is a deeper story on Jin Kazama and him trying to face the Ogre that took his mother and deal with his father Kazuya. This time around, they have Ling Xiaoyu fully focused on her friend Jin and following his journey right after his mother Jun confronts the Ogre. We also get a treat seeing how he developed his fighting style first by seeing his grandfather Heihachi Mishima. Still waiting on a season 2, though.
Final Takeaway for Tekken Cartoon:
Taking a step back from the hardcore art and story, we get a laid-back pop culture style animation. Hopefully it will have the right dark humor that fighting fans will be accustom too and enjoy. The Tekken! Cartoon will air on July 10th, which is Friday this week. Come back for our full first impressions of the first episode! However, what are your feelings about this new adaptation of the famed Tekken series? – Beast Out –