Tekken: Bloodline finally got released on Netflix in August of 2022, and it was a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Tekken 3. It follows Jin Kazama as he seeks to avenge his mother’s death at the hands of a war god known only as Ogre. Following her last words, he seeks out his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima, who agrees to train him in the Mishima arts. However, it’s under his care that Jin learns more about his grandfather, his father Kazuya, and his Mishima lineage than he bargained for.
For casual fans, it’s a fun if brief martial arts romp with more than enough Tekken characters to get through. But for big fans, there’s much more that catches the eye. From big beats to tiny details, here are some of the things that only Tekken fanatics will have caught while watching the Netflix series.
This list contains mild spoilers for Tekken: Bloodline.
Little Bits to Look Out For
There are a few little details lurking here and there that fans might’ve caught. Despite being an adaptation of Tekken 3, Tekken 4's Steve Fox and Craig Marduk turn up for cameos. Additionally, Tekken 7’s Leroy Smith gets lines, a fight, and many scenes with Jin, while Eddy Gordo, one of the more iconic (and notorious) Tekken 3 originals, gets reduced to a text cameo as Jin browses the internet.
More significantly, Ogre’s list of supposed victims matches those in the games, as his move set consists of techniques taken from Baek Doo San, Wang Jinrei, Lee Chaolan, and the original King. For another blast from the past, the pendant Heihachi hopes to detect Ogre with matches the one Michelle Chang held in her ending in Tekken 2. Beyond that, it mostly stayed offscreen in the games, but its use in Bloodline is canon, right down to Julia wanting it and her missing mother Michelle back.
The Games Exist in the Show Too
Heihachi and Julia explain the significance of the pendant to Jin throughout the show. What it does, where it came from, who it belongs to, etc. It’s all new to Jin, but maybe it shouldn’t be. In the first episode, Jin is playing a game on a handheld device. The viewers never see the screen, but the audio is clearly from Tekken 2. From its sounds, Jin is playing as his mother Jun, and fighting against Jack-2. It’s the only appearance from Tekken’s mechanical menace in the show thus far.
While it’s just a cute reference to the original games to break the fourth wall, it’s also a little odd. Does this mean that all of the games exist in Bloodline? Are they licensed sports games like the UFC games? Do they also have the same Arcade Mode endings? If so, Jin clearly didn’t main Michelle, or he’d have recognized the pendant. He also could’ve found out what happened to Kazuya by beating Arcade Mode with his granddad.
Dress Code
Everyone's outfits come from the games, though Bloodline picks and chooses different outfits from across the series. Julia goes for her latest attire in Tekken 7 rather than her Tekken 3 Native American gear. Xiaoyu and Nina favor their Tekken 5 clothing, and Kazuya wears the designer pants he's had since Tekken 4 as opposed to the plain white ones he had in Tekken 2. Still, other characters prefer to keep it old school. Heihachi never wore his black gi in Tekken 3, so Bloodline rectifies this by sticking the old man in it for most of the show.
Likewise, Hwoarang is in his white Tae Kwon Do gear from Tekken 3. Paul’s been wearing his red gi since 1994, so he stays with it in Bloodline. Jin earns his flame pants and studded red gloves through training. However, for an obscure touch, he and Xiaoyu can be seen wearing the Mishima Polytech uniforms from Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament in Episode 2. That outfit could even give Jin and Xiaoyu a separate ending in Tag, where Jin carries his bag the same way as he does in Bloodline.
Got the Moves
It sounds like an obvious move to make for a fighting game anime, but many of the characters use actual moves from the games against each other. Jun shows Jin her White Heron mix-ups and Cartwheel Kick, then he uses both against Heihachi towards the end of the series (not that he used the Cartwheel Kick in the games).
Heihachi does his Hell Sweeps and his Tekken 7 Rage Art. Xiaoyu lands her Back Layout in a satisfying fashion. Then King gets to show his signature throws, including some multipart combinations. There are some significant differences here and there. Ogre doesn’t run through all the moves he took from the other characters, nor do Jin’s video game uppercuts resemble the big electric pillar he uses in the show. Even so, there should be more than enough classic moves to please the crowds.
Paul the Contender
Despite being one of the game’s most powerful fighters, Paul Phoenix has largely been treated as a joke character in later entries. He challenges aliens to fights in Tekken 5 when he isn’t begging his buddy Marshall Law for tips. Then he’s joining Marshall in get-rich-quick schemes in Tekken 6 or getting chased by angry bears in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. So, it might be surprising to some to see him treated so seriously in Bloodline. It’s all canon too, for the most part.
He was the original rival character of Kazuya, just as Hwoarang is to Jin, so him fighting the malevolent Mishima to a draw is in the lore. Bloodline even goes a step further by having him see Kazuya and Heihachi's final bout live and in-person and helping Jin by attacking True Ogre, which isn't in the lore. Canonically, he missed out on winning the Tekken 2 tournament because of a traffic jam. Then he beat regular Ogre and left the scene, not knowing the creature had a second form. It's these narrow misses at victory that led to his Flanderization in subsequent games.
Recurring Roles
Over time, the Tekken games increasingly expanded their roster’s vocals. Once Tekken 5 came around, Bandai-Namco gave each character their own native tongue. It’s neat, but it led to an odd situation where everyone can understand each other fluently no matter their language. Bloodline sticks to one language overall per dub. Jamieson Price is the only English-speaking actor to reprise his role, with Erika Harlacher and Jeanne Tirado replicating their Tekken actors quite well. Conversely, the Japanese dub managed to get almost all of the actors from the games, including some deep dives.
Isshin Chiba returns as Jin Kazama, as does Masanori Shinohara as Kazuya, and Hidenari Ugaki (Goro Majima in Yakuza) as Ganryu. Toshiyuki Morikawa (Yoshikage Kira in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) voices Hwoarang, and originally did vocals for the character in Tekken 3, Tag, and Japanese versions of Tekken 4, while Nina’s VA, Yuki Tōma, originally voiced the assassin in Tekkens 1-Tag as well. She also played Xiaoyu from Tekken 3 to 2012’s Street Fighter X Tekken. After that, Xiaoyu was played by Maaya Sakamoto. So, when the two characters fight in Bloodline, die-hard fans might enjoy it as classic 1990s Nina taking on the new 2020s Xiaoyu.
Tekken: Bloodline is now available on Netflix.