REVIEW: ‘Tekken Bloodline,’ Season 1 – Delivers Authentic Fighting Action

Tekken Bloodline Season 1 is an action anime produced by Studio Hibari and LARX Entertainment on Netflix. While living a quiet existence on a tropical island with his mom wasn’t exactly what he wanted from life, Jin Kazama couldn’t complain. Training, studying, and sunny days were his. Until a monster named Ogre murdered his mom and set him on the road to revenge. But can he avenge his mother without becoming everything she would hate?

As one of the classic fighting game franchises, Tekken has a look and design that will be familiar to many gaming fans. This brand awareness helps garner interest, but also creates an expectation of what the series will deliver. Fighting games are filled with fast, hard-hitting action as the characters deliver over-the-top combos. The best thing about Tekken Bloodline Season 1 is just how faithfully the series recreates the essence of fighting games and their unique brand of action while augmenting how it showcases it through its non-interactive medium. Combos that see fighters juggled in mid-air, defying every law of gravity there is blends together with furious kicks, punches, and throws that see the combatants abused in ways only a video game character could survive.

These hard-hitting fight scenes are liberally peppered through Tekken Bloodline Season 1‘s six episodes, highlighting a perfectly functional story. Jin’s quest for revenge and his training at the hands of his brutal grandfather, Heihachi Mishima, competently delivers well-handled, if predictable story beats. A couple of episodes in the series’ middle take a few moments to expand upon some of the other fighters, but little to no time is spent with them. And while this may disappoint some fans when their series favorite is given little time on screen, given the show’s extremely short episode count, it is for the best.

Much like the combat design, the visuals in Tekken Bloodline Season 1 lean into the source materials of the franchise with abandon. The monstrously sized limbs of the over-muscled fighters are delivered in all their glory, and even characters like King, whose Jaguar head looks as ridiculous here as it does anywhere else, is never shied away from. But while how true the design keeps the characters is commendable, the visuals’ greatest strength is the cinematography during its high-octane fight scenes.

To truly create the high-impact, no holds barred battles, and pull the viewer right into their midst, the camera work during every major fight scene in Tekken Bloodline Season 1 uses placement and motion to craft some of the most visually intense fighting moments I’ve seen in a while. Side-splitting kicks see the camera shoot along the same trajectory, helping the viewer feel the momentum and force of the blow. Combination attacks that start low and end high see the camera willing to bounce from above to below with quick, but clear cuts, allowing the viewer to always have the best vantage point of the action.

This kinetically-infused camera work does a great job of alleviating the show’s greatest visual weakness, the stiffness of some of the character motions. While the sequences of attacks are always cool as they harken back to the trademarks from the games, the way the characters employ them often feels less fluid than I’d like. This is far more noticeable during practice sequences and other times when the camera isn’t dancing around the fighters. Thankfully, when this problem would hurt the show the most, during its key fight sequences, is when it is least noticeable.

The only other major complaint I have with how Tekken Bloodline Season 1 is the bizarre choice to have every character constantly dropped in the same, triangle-shaped shadow. Why it is constantly there is completely beyond me, but its presence defies all logic. Characters can be lit from all sides and the shadow will be present. A moment can see the camera angle go from front to side to back and the shadow will shift to constantly drape over the person, always angled directly toward the camera. It is one of the most minor, yet maddeningly annoying visual design quirks I’ve ever experienced.

Tekken Bloodline Season 1 delivers the exact blend of furious combat and passable storytelling fighting games fans would expect. And even if you aren’t a long-time fan of the franchise, if you are looking for a fun way to kill a couple of hours, you can let yourself slip away into this hard-hitting power fantasy.

Tekken Bloodline Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.