An anime based on the fighting game franchise Tekken, specifically the first two games. Originally released as a two-part OVA, the parts were edited together for the western release as a movie.
Multi-billionaire Heihachi Mishima is having a fighting tournament on the island which is the base of his operations. This attracts many fighters, including Jun Kazama who has come to investigate Heihachi's suspected illegal activities and Heihachi's son Kazuya, who wants revenge for being left for dead in the past by him.
This anime has examples of:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Michelle in the games just wanted revenge on Heihachi for killing her father in the first game, and kidnapping her mother in the second. Here, he also burned her village to the ground.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: While this is meant to portray the events of the first Tekken, Jun Kazama and Lei Wulong, who debuted in Tekken 2, play a significant role to the plot. Jun's early appearance here may factor why Kazuya isn't as evil as he is in the games, as in the canon game, she only appeared after Kazuya established himself as a cruel villain.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Kazuya is much nicer (in as much) and heroic in this motion picture.
- He is still determined to kill his father Heihachi for dropping him off a cliff when he was a kid. Jun manages to convince him to give up his desire for revenge, and after sparing Heihachi, he rescues the unconscious Jun before leaving the self-destructing island.
- The reason why he got thrown into the cliff by Heihachi turns out not out of rage of Heihachi murdering his mother (though that is established way later in the series), but because Heihachi saw him trying to comfort Jun over her dying pet and declares that this is why Kazuya was weak and deserve to be thrown to a cliff.
- Adaptational Villainy: Lee, who acts as The Dragon, and later tries to be The Starscream for his adoptive father Heihachi, and plots to use the army of invisible dinosaur clones to take over the world. He also triggers the island's self-destruct mechanism after Heihachi declares him out of the game, intent on leaving no winner alive.
- Also both Nina and Anna, who are employed as assassins by Lee to kill Kazuya. In this story, the tournament is a composite of both the first and second tournaments from the first two games (Heihachi is the tournament host as in the first game, but there are many competitors introduced in the second game, such as Jun, Lei and Bruce). In the first game Nina tried to assassinate Heihachi (who was then the tournament host) and Anna opposed her, but in the second game it was the opposite way, which means Anna was acting as a Bodyguard Babe employed by Kazuya, who was the host of the second tournament.
- Alex in the games was created as a prototype bioweapon by Bosconovitch on Kazuya's orders, but he had a goofy personality which kept him from being the vicious killer bioweapon Kazuya wanted, and in the end he became nothing but a dinosaur counterpart to Roger, a "boxing raptor". Here, Bosconovitch (at the behest of either Heihachi, Lee, or both) has cloned "Alex" into several dinosaur clones, and has given them the ability to be invisible (apparently a sort of chameleon-like active camouflage) and they all are big and nasty predators.
- Adapted Out: Angel from Tekken 2. Also, while many other characters from the second game do make cameos and minor appearances, Wang and Kunimitsu aren't seen anywhere.
- Ambiguous Situation: During their confrontation, Nina accuses Anna of killing their father because he favored Nina over her. Despite Anna's furious reaction, she doesn't outright deny it, leaving it vague as to whether she really did kill him.
- Artistic License – Biology: Jun express shock at the existence of a multi-gene life form. In reality, virtually all life (including humans) has multiple genes. Though Jun's shock could be that that the Mishima Zaibatsu perfected an artificially-created multi-gene lifeform.
- Anti-Hero: Kazuya as expected. There are numerous times where he gives into the evil growing inside of him, such as attempting to kill Michelle or tearing apart an Alex clone in a bloody manner, however he's still ultimately the lesser of two evils between himself and Heihachi.
- Babies Ever After: Jun and presumably Kazuya have a son (who fans will recognize as Jin) at the end.
- Big Bad: Heihachi, with Lee acting as The Dragon for him.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Members of the Mishima family have some ridiculously huge eyebrows.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Than the games, which tend not to have Mortal Kombat-style copious amounts of blood. This anime has it aplenty.
- Catapult Nightmare: Jun wakes up from one after A Minor Kidroduction.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Lava flows that are setting the whole island on fire? Just a minor inconvenience to those of martial arts!
- Deal with the Devil: How Kazuya survived his fall sixteen years ago.
- Death by Adaptation:
- The storyline follows the first game, with some characters from the second. Nina and Anna's father Richard died shortly before the events of the second. He's already dead when the story starts.
- Michelle's mother is said to have been "left to die" in the wilderness after their village burned down. In the second game, Heihachi merely kidnapped her.
- Anna gets eaten alive by one of the Alex clones, Lee commits suicide by setting off the tower's self-destruct while he's still inside, and Jack-2 performs a Heroic Sacrifice by holding up a closing steel door so that Lei, Jane and Dr. Boskonovitch can escape the doomed island — which crushes him afterward.
- Demoted to Extra: Plenty of fighters from the second game, like Paul and King, have only stationary appearances in the background. Others, like Prototype Jack and Alex, actually appear as mass-produced enemy robots and dinosaur clones respectively.
- Depending on the Writer: Jun in this movie is decidedly less pleasant than Tekken 2 might have you believe. Tag 2, however, shows signs of her portrayal in this movie (although entwined with Jun's original depiction in T2 and Tag).
- Designated Girl Fight: Nina and Anna, unsurprisingly. Michelle however fights both Kazuya and Ganryu in the tournament.
- Determinator: Jun is set on saving Kazuya from being consumed by his desire for revenge and the darkness in his own heart. This is because she met him as a gentle and caring boy during their childhood, and she had the misfortune of witnessing him being dropped to his apparent death by his father Heihachi, and being a little girl at the time she was powerless and impotent to save Kazuya back then.
- Kazuya is initially just as determined to kill his father for revenge, but he relents after being convinced by Jun to spare Hei.
- Distant Finale: Ends "some time later" with Jun and her son Jin.
- Eaten Alive: While she's monologing during her fight with Nina, one of the Alex clones sneaks up on Anna. By the time Anna notices, it's too late and Alex devours her right in front of Nina.
- Everyone Has Standards: Nina may hate her sister but she's horrified at her being eaten by an Alex clone.
- Fanservice: Anna is first seen having a shower, completely uncensored.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Anna's death is this. We only hear the screaming.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jack-2, who dies stopping a falling door to allow Lei, Doctor Bosconovitch and Jane to escape out of the self-destroying island. As soon as they get past the door, it crushes Jack.
- Inconsistent Dub: Anna's name is pronounced "Ah-na" by most of the characters but as "An-ah" by Lee's employees.
- Manipulative Bastard: Lee seduces both Williams sisters and feigns affection for them in order to manipulate them into doing his dirty work. To Anna's credit, she does recognise that Lee is two-timing them but she believes that Lee prefers her over Nina. Unfortunately for her, both sisters were equally expendable in Lee's eyes once he sics the Alex clones on the fighters, them included.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The film opens with Kazuya and Jun as kids, just before Heihachi throws Kazuya down from a cliff.
- Motive Rant: As Jun presses Heihachi about his tumultuous relationship with his son and his ambitions and actions taken against the world at large through his conglomerate, Heihachi waxes about Mankind's need to justify and excuse its compulsion towards violence through ideals and platitudes, to the point that said excuses and higher ideals overtake necessary violence. Well, lets have him explain it:
- Noodle Incident: The Interpol boss offhandedly mentions an "unexpected alien invasion" the month before while filling Jun in on her mission.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Michelle tries to kill Heihachi by throwing an axe at him. He catches it with his teeth and bites it apart.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Nina, along with the other fighters (Paul, Law, King, Armor King, and Yoshimitsu), managing to survive the Alex clones just as they appeared to be saved by Lei and Bosconovich. It's clear the fighters had to eliminate the dinosaurs set to kill them earlier (with Law, King, Armor King, and Nina limping to show for it). Only Paul came out unscathed, having managed to save Michelle too.
- Pet the Dog: Played straight at first when after listening to why she wants Heihachi dead and pummeling her, Kazuya promises Michelle that he will kill Heihachi for her sake too. This is subverted as he attempted to kill her until Jun interfered.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Anna and Lee have a relationship in this.
- The Protagonist: Jun. She is the central character in this version of the story.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: When Lee realizes that he will never inherit Mishima Conglomerate, he starts up one.
- Shower Scene: Provided by Anna Williams.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Kazuya survives the tournament (which is basically a composite of both the first and second tournament from the games — in the second game's tournament he is knocked out and dropped into a volcano by Heihachi, resulting in his death up until his resurrection in Tekken 4), rescuing the unconscious Jun and carrying her out of the collapsing island, but does not stay with her after she gives birth to their son Jin.
- Speed Stripes: Used on many fight scenes.
- Title: The Adaptation: Even used by the alternate title Tekken: The Animation.
- Use Your Head: Kazuya and Heihachi butt their heads together during the climactic fight.
- Villainous Breakdown: Lee, when he realizes Heihachi will not let him inherit the Zaibatsu and literally knocks him off the tournament. He sets off the island's self destruction sequence, intent on killing all competitors, but he doesn't try to escape and dies regretting it all when his base in the pagoda explodes.
- Visible Invisibility: Used to show the experimental dinosaur bio-weapons.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never saw Baek Doo San and Ganryu after they were respectively defeated by Kazuya and Michelle, especially if they were attacked by Alexes or not.
- Would Hit a Girl: Kazuya to Nina (twice), Michelle and Jun.
