Tekken: The Motion Picture

Tekken: The Motion Picture
Since the beginning of history, people have fought in the name of God, bending to the invented demands of their fickle deity, and screaming for righteousness, they wantonly spill the blood of their enemies, as well as their own. The purpose behind this bloodshed, however, goes beyond simple explanations of religion or notions of justice. The truth is buried deep within those who wage the wars. Since the birth of this planet, a memory has become deeply engraved onto the genes of all living things. A memory of aggression as a means of survival, a memory of fighting. Humans seek to defend their actions in the name of truth. The act of fighting is itself a true act. Without this truth, the fighter will perish. To learn the way, ask your own flesh and blood, because one's flesh is the door to the truth. To master the way, ask your own ken, or fist, because complete knowledge of one's flesh, blood and fist is what creates one's Tekken. And Tekken is the key to life!
Genre: Action Martial art Science fiction Directed By: Kunihisa Sugishima Mitsuki Nakamura Produced By: Akira Saigoku Yoshimasa Mori Yumiko Masujima Written By/Screenplay: Ryōta Yamaguchi Based On: Tekken by Namco Starring: Yumi Tōma Daisuke Gōri Minami Takayama Kazuhiro Yamaji Shin-ichiro Miki Distributed By: ADV Films Release Date: January 21, 1998 (as a first part of OAV) February 21, 1998 (as a second part of OAV) Runtime: 60 minutes Country: Japan Language: Japan Franchise: Tekken

Tekken: The Motion Picture (鉄拳 -TEKKEN-) is a Japanese 1998 anime film based on the Namco's video game franchise of the same name. It was originally released in Japan as a two-episode OVA in 1998, and as a full-length feature for Western releases.

Plot

The film begins a flashback, where's Jun Kazama (as a child) was crying because the bunny was dead after the bobcat killed him, Kazuya tried to help her but Heihachi caught him and rips the locket of Kazumi (Kazuya's mom), Kazuya gets sad and Heihachi throws him into deep ravine, Kazuya screams falling but him survives due his Devil Gene. Sixteen years later, Jun is a agent who wants to investigate the Mishima Zaibatsu due his crimminals while Kazuya has hatred and wants to defeat Heihachi.

Bad Qualities

1. The grasp of source on the movie is terrible:
   • Bruce Irvin, Nina and Anna Williams are a bodyguards of Lee Chaolan instead of a Kazuya's bodyguards.
   • Lee in the games, is alive but in that film, he's commits suicide by setting the island's self-destruction.
   • Instead to be a one, Alex is a pack of dinosaurs and they don't wear blue boxing gloves.
   • Anna is killed by Alex-like dinosaurs, even though she's alive in the games.
2. Related to BQ#1, the plot is the mixture of Tekken and Tekken 2, which can make some fans of the franchise (as well people who never played the games) confused.
3. The fight scenes while good, they are minimal and short (except the Kazuya vs Heihachi fight).
   • Also, the character development for the characters (save for Kazuya, Jun, Jack and Heihachi) is very short.
4. Paul Phoenix, King, Armor King, Kuma, Wang Jinrei (only appears in the opening's cameo), Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu (same as Wang) don't have any screen time and they just appears in the background characters.
   • That film also included Tekken 3 characters as a cameo in the opening, even the plot is based on the first two games and they not appear (except Jin Kazama (as a child) and Doctor Boskonovitch) in the film's plot.
   • Bruce Irvin, despite him being part of the film's plot, does not have enough screen time and gets punched fastly by Jack-2.
5. There is a plot hole: Jane has a disease but it's never explained how she had that disease.
   • Another plot hole: What happened to Kazuya after the end of the film? He was involved in the self destruction?
6. On the epilogue after the events of that film, Jin Kazama runs to Jun Kazama because he wants to her mom telling the rest of the story she was telling on the previous day, Jun Kazama wanted to tell the rest but she senses the changes of wind, baiting a sequel based on the events of Tekken 3 but it never happened.
7. Even if the original (Japanese) voice acting is good, none of the people who acted in the original games except Daisuke Gōri and Takashi Nagasako, who reprised their as Heihachi Mishima and Ganryu.
   • For some reason, Yumi Tōma (the voice actor of Nina and Anna Williams in the games) didn't reprise her roles, and instead, she voiced Jun Kazama.
8. Jun intentionally gets in the way of Kazuya's revenge on Heihachi (a dangerous man who ruined the lives of many), allowing him to live.

Good Qualities

1. The animation was good back then.
2. As mentioned before, The fight scenes are good despite being short.
3. The character designs look nice.
4. Nice voice acting both on English and Japanese versions.
5. The Soundtrack isn't bad.
   • The film also included songs: "The Meaning of Life" by The Offspring, "Save Yourself" by Stabbing Westward, "Clean My Wounds" by Corrosion of Conformity, "Straight to Hell" by The Urge, and "Bonecrusher" by Soulhat (only in the English version).
6. The flashbacks of Kazuya and Jun's childhood are emotional, and even the film not being canon, it explains the relationship between Kazuya and Jun and why Heihachi throwed Kazuya (before of Tekken 7).
   • Also the Jack-2 sacrifice scene is sad because of Jack-2 wanted to the door open so Lei Wulong, Doctor Boskonovitch and Jane could escape from the laboratory.

Reception

Tekken: The Motion Picture received a mixed reviews, and was seen by many as an unsuccessful attempt to replicate the previous success of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. IMDb gave the film a score 5.3 out of 10

Trivia

• The animation of the film is also used on both Ling Xiaoyu endings of Tekken 3 and Tekken 5.

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