Follow TV Tropes

Following

Anime / Tekken: Blood Vengeance

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blaaadvenjunnnssshhh_5493.png
Not pictured: the panda.

What happens when a video game developer gets angry enough with the adaptation of their video game?

They make the adaptation themselves, of course.

Tekken: Blood Vengeance is a CGI film based on the Fighting Game series Tekken. It is produced by Digital Frontier and written by Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop). The film was directed by Youichi Mouri, the same person who directed the Tekken 5 and Tekken 6: Blood Rebellion opening cinematics. The soundtrack is composed by Basiscape. Unlike the live-action movie that came out in 2010, this one was more directly supervised by Namco themselves.

The plot follows Ling Xiaoyu as she is tasked by the G Corporation to infiltrate an international school in Kyoto to gather information on a mysterious student named Shin Kamiya. Not so long after that she makes friends with Alisa Bosconovitch while Shin gets kidnapped by an unknown assailant. Now it's up to Xiaoyu and Alisa to find Shin and solve the mystery behind him.

The film was released on a special Tekken Hybrid Blu-ray Disc in November 2011. The Blu-ray also includes an HD remake of the original Tekken Tag Tournament which can be run on PlayStation 3 along with a special demo version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Nintendo 3DS owners also got to join in the fun, as Namco included Blood Vengeance in the same package as Tekken 3D as part of the Tekken 3D: Prime Edition bundle.


Tekken: Blood Vengeance provides example of the following tropes:

  • Action Girl: Every single one of the female characters.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Anna is far more ruthless than she is in the games.
  • All There in the Manual: People who watch this movie without playing the games might be a little lost on the relationship of these characters as the movie never dwells on their backstories.
  • Anti-Villain:
    • Kazuya Mishima (Type I), which is pretty ironic since in games, he'd be the villain while Heihachi is more the occasional Anti-Villain. Perhaps because in the movie, at least, his concern was beating the crap out of Jin rather than the tortures committed to Shin (and he's at least shown not to be a Bad Boss to Anna). Doesn't quite excuse him for some Kick the Dog moments, though (poor Alisa).
    • Moreso with Jin (Type III), if his parting words to Xiaoyu are any indicator. Xiaoyu herself falls under Type IV during her stint as a Villain Protagonist in the first half.
  • Artistic License – Martial Arts: Of course, the video game it's based on already revolves around this trope.
  • Batman Gambit: Shin deliberately let himself get captured so he can lure the one who mutated him, Heihachi, out of hiding. It works...except it ends up leading to his death at Heihachi's hands since he was using him to lure out Jin and Kazuya.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Xiaoyu's skill at martial arts allows her to be kicked through a concrete wall, fall three stories, and have a robot's head explode in her hands, all without a bruise.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Panda always seems to conveniently step in just as Xiaoyu is in mortal danger.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Mishima Clan, full stop. Nina and Anna Williams are a close second.
  • Big "NO!": Xiaoyu in the dub after Shin is killed.
  • Bilingual Dialogue: Unlike the main Tekken games, characters do not seamlessly speak to each other in different languages, as the movie has English and Japanese language tracks. This, along with Street Fighter X Tekken, is one of the only times one can hear the Williams sisters speak Japanese, or the Mishimas, Xiaoyu and Alisa speak English.
  • Call-Back: In the ending, Xiaoyu reveals to Alisa that she wants to make the world into one big amusement park so everyone can smile and be happy. This was her original goal for entering The King of Iron Fist Tournament in the first place, as seen in Tekken 3.
  • Calling Your Attacks: After watching a certain show, Alisa insists that each of her and Xiaoyu's attacks should be named, like Rocket Fist or Skyrocket Super Punch, the latter which is used against the True Final Boss.
  • The Cameo:
    • Various other Tekken characters (Bob, Bruce, Lili, King, and Raven among others) were seen in a list of possible spies for the G Corporation before Anna settles in on Xiaoyu. Makes sense, as it wouldn't be the best idea to send a Masked Luchador to capture a supposedly-immortal high-school student.
    • Lei Wulong also sent an phone message to Ling at one point.
  • Chainsaw Good: Alisa, who else?
  • Can't Catch Up: Xiaoyu and possibly the rest of the characters against the Mishima family. They can fly and shoot Wave Motion Guns from their eyes, and the Devils' physical strength is enough to crush Alisa to half simply by stepping on her. Even Heihachi, who has no superpower, has an Eleventh Hour One-Winged Angel mode here.
  • Car Fu: Anna attempts to ambush Nina by running her over with a truck!
  • Character Catchphrase: Lee's "Excellent!", of course.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Alisa
  • Combining Mecha: Mokujin Megazord sequence, initiate! Heihachi's way of keeping up with Kazuya and Jin's devil forms is to call on the spirits of the Mokujin, combining all of them into a giant demon-looking version of himself.
  • Continuity Snarl: Despite taking place between 5 and 6, several events seem to disregard pre-existing canon.
  • Cool Old Guy: Heihachi. The guy is in his 70s, yet he can hold his own against Kazuya and Jin.
  • Cool Teacher: Lee Chaolan, without a doubt. For starters, how many teachers let you spend the night in their Big Fancy House?
  • Covers Always Lie: Although the scene on the cover does happen in the movie, Alisa's lower body is not intact by that moment.
  • Decoy Protagonists: Xiaoyu and Alisa. Though the odd thing is that they carry half the movie before the Mishima clan show up near the end of it.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Xiaoyu nearly crossed it after failing to stop the Mishima family feud, costing both Shin and Alisa, swearing off that humanity is better off disappearing if all they do is fight note . Luckily for her, Alisa wakes up and managed to set her straight, as well as Jin's final words that maybe humanity has a hope if they're the one to fix themselves.
  • Disney Death: Alisa, twice, both in the very same scene. Shin wasn't as lucky...
  • Drives Like Crazy: Well, Rides Like Crazy... How we are introduced to Ling Xiaoyu and Panda in the movie.
  • Dying as Yourself: Though he got killed, Shin accepts his death as a normal human as his cells dissolve from his body.
  • Enhance Button: Alisa has one built in and can determine any hidden contents of a photo just by looking at it.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: The Mishimas, who else? Especially Jin Kazama, and he's not as evil as Dad and Grandpa.
  • Fanservice: Including Leg Focus, Modesty Towel, and Shower Scene.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Lee's blackboard drawings foreshadow the final battle.
    • Also, the mentions of the Mokujin exhibit throughout the movie.
    • While at Lee's mansion, Alisa decides to mimic an attack from a TV show which involves shooting her arms like missiles. She ends up using said attack for real against Heihachi in the final battle.
  • Genre Blindness: Jin, did you really think that Heihachi and Kazuya would die just by falling from a very high place? Though to be fair, Jin swears off killing Heihachi since Tekken 4 due to Jun's teachings.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Though "good" is a relative thing, Jin's perfected Devil form has wings that are more feathery than Devil Kazuya's batlike ones.
  • Half the Man He Used to Be: Alisa, courtesy of Kazuya.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Unwilling Villain Protagonist Xiaoyu is gangpressed into the service of G Corp by Anna and is only in it because she likes her target, Shin. Then, when Alisa, who's supposed to be her enemy, saves her life, Xiaoyu is eager to repay her and is upset at Anna and the G Corp's dismissal treatment of Alisa, severing ties with G Corp for good and team up with Alisa to investigate on their own why their superiors are targeting Shin.
  • Hero Antagonist: Alisa is revealed to be this after Shin gets kidnapped. She later drops the "antagonist" part and sides with Xiaoyu so they can start their own investigation of what their superiors want with Shin.
  • Just a Machine: Anna and Kazuya's opinion of Alisa. Xiaoyu does not take this well, choosing to help Alisa and stand by her even if it'd make her G Corp's enemy.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • Heihachi doesn't only experiment on Shin and his classmates, killing them except Shin, he also murders Shin in cold-blood once his purpose is fulfilled.
    • After Jin orders Alisa into standby mode, Kazuya, in Devil form, responds to his coaching her in such a manner by taking the opportunity to stomp her in half.
  • Kung-Fu Sonic Boom: When Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin slam their fists together, it creates a big-ass shockwave that both wipes out the top of the castle and blows Xiaoyu clean out the window.
  • Kung-Shui: Better hope that castle's insured. Three generations of Mishimas together for a family reunion will not end well.
  • Leg Focus: The film clearly loves to focus on the ladies' legs.
  • Masquerade: A variation: Ganryu expels Xiaoyu from Mishima Polytechnic and transfers her to KIS. When Anna reveals herself and assigns Xiaoyu her mission immediately afterwards, it becomes clear that the whole "expulsion for property damage, bad grades, and a really crappy attitude" thing was just a cover for Xiaoyu's new assignment.
  • Mêlée à Trois: The three-way battle between Kazuya, Heihachi, and Jin.
  • The Mole: Xiaoyu and Alisa, both for opposing evil corporations. They soon go on their own together to find out what their superiors are really up to.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Nina Williams' Spy Catsuit is unzipped so low it raches her abdomen.
  • Neutral Female: Xiaoyu turns into one at the end.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Alisa has a moment of this about Shin, when she and Xiaoyu find out that he also has a sort of unusual body.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Xiaoyu, during her fight with Alisa, once she finds out that her opponent is a robot.
    • Shin, when Heihachi shrugs off his punch and proceeds to murder him.
  • Pet the Dog: Lee offering shelter to Xiaoyu, Alisa and Panda. Later, he just brushes off the severe property damage Nina and Anna inflicted on his mansion while fighting. He and Anna even have a friendly conversation in the aftermath.
  • Pinball Protagonist: Both Xiaoyu and Alisa have little to no impact to the story, and whatever impact they had was all a Red Herring to set up a three-way brawl.
  • Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Shin attempts to lay Heihachi out with a powered-up punch to the gut. Heihachi No Sells it and is not amused.
  • Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Heihachi is not quite dead. He is most definitely hard to kill.
    Heihachi: It feels good to be back. Hiding in the shadows after faking your own death is a bore. In fact, it's downright tedious.
    Kazuya: I thought I've thrown you into the depths of Hell.
    Heihachi: Ha! If you thought that was enough to kill me, you are gravely mistaken.
  • Rule of Cool: Quite possibly sets the bar for future Rule of Cool entries. All sorts of insanity from start to finish, though then the three Mishimas start going at it (Heihachi actually pulls off a juggle combo during the battle)... and then it gets even crazier once Kazuya and Jin start tapping into the Devil Gene's power.
  • Saved by Canon: No one from the game is dead per se. But since we know that most characters will survive in Tekken 6, it might be jarring by how much Genre Blindness Jin (and Xiaoyu to some extent) has.
  • Say My Name: Xiaoyu in the original after Shin is killed.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: Shin ends up not mattering all that much, simply being bait to lure the Mishimas so that Heihachi could kill them all, on top of being killed when he fulfills that, rendering Xiaoyu and Alisa's efforts moot.
  • Shout-Out: Contains several to various action movies.
    • To The Matrix: The first scene is set on a highway with high walls like the car chase scene of The Matrix Reloaded, the first character we see is a woman dressed like Trinity, who rides a motorbike like she did in said scene, and who jumps off the motorbike like Trinity did in the first scene of The Matrix Reloaded.
    • To Total Recall (1990): Xiaoyu kicks Alisa in the head after discovering her to be a robot. Alisa's head lands in Xiaoyu's hands, says something and then it explodes.
    • To the Transformers Film Series: The truck we see in the first scene looks like and has the same paint job as Optimus Prime.
    • A guy named Shin tries to kill himself by throwing himself from a great height. The difference being the other Shin's suicide attempt succeeded.
  • Shower Scene: Courtesy of Xiaoyu and Shin.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: For nearly much of the movie, the story follows Xiaoyu and Alisa as they try to keep tabs on Shin with occasional run ins with Lee and the Williams sisters. Then for the last final act, Heihachi, Kazuya and Jin, who have barely even been in the movie take over by that point for the climax.
  • Spy Catsuit: Nina's costume of choice.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Alisa, though she might have lied about that to cover the fact that she was gathering intel as well.
  • Super Mode: Naturally, Jin and Kazuya's devil forms; both of whom have been redesigned to represent their true power (also noteworthy for being the first appearance of Jin in control of his devil form). Heihachi also has one, using the power of the Mokujin spirits under the Kyoto castle to transform himself into a giant demon-looking version of himself. He is however held back by said spirits, who are impressed by the bonds between humans (read: Alisa and Xiaoyu), and is defeated by Devil Jin and a wounded Alisa.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Anna. She's always been a bitch, but this time around, it's like Nina is nicer than her.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Xiaoyu was manipulated by Anna.
  • Villain Protagonist: Xiaoyu at first, though not by her own volition (she never was with Anna from the start).
  • Version-Exclusive Content: The demo for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 included in Tekken Hybrid contains the schoolgirl uniforms for Xiaoyu and Alisa, and the true devil forms for Kazuya and Devil Jin, from this movie. Surprisingly enough, none of these costumes were ever ported into the actual console release for the main game itself.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Anna, who is more extremist than well-intentioned. Her sister Nina is more well-intentioned than extremist and definitely more heroic than her sister, who orders her men to kill Xiaoyu and Alisa in their sleep only to discover that Nina had indirectly helped them flee. And let's not go into the Mishima family's problem with the patriarch.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Holy hell, Heihachi. Torture Rack on Shin. And he adds a German Suplex to his repertoire when he uses it on Jin as well as bringing back his old Power Bomb throw.

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

Juggle counter

Heihachi was able to get Jin down. But Kazuya was trying to get a jump on him.

Heihachi saw it and does a mid-air juggle.

Admit it. When was the last time you see that kind of attack outside of Tekken games?

How well does it match the trope?

5 (4 votes)

Example of:

Main / RuleOfCool

Media sources:

Report