One of the most popular fighting game franchises in the entire world is Tekken, which has been around since 1994 and has continued to evolve since then. Due to its popularity, the Tekken story has seen its fair share of adaptations over the years, regardless of how good or bad the adaptations may be. However, it has been announced that there will be a Tekken anime adaptation called Tekken: Bloodline. So, when will Tekken: Bloodline be released?
There is no official release date for the Tekken: Bloodline anime as of this writing. However, when it was announced, the anime’s tentative release date is 2022. As such, it might be possible that we will be able to see Tekken: Bloodline in the middle to the latter portion of 2022 on Netflix.
It is amazing how a lot of video games are now getting adapted in live-action or animated formats. That said, Tekken is the newest video game adaptation that Netflix announced. It has only been announced recently, and that’s why the details about this anime aren’t clear yet. Still, let’s look at what we know about the upcoming Tekken: Bloodline anime.
Tekken: Bloodline Release Date
Notable actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt once said that video games are the future of storytelling, and that means that more and more great stories are being told in video games nowadays. However, it also isn’t rare that video game stories are getting adapted into live-action or animated movies or series. And we have seen our fair share of different shows and movies that have been adapted.
For one, Netflix has become one of the most popular platforms for video game adaptations, as we’ve seen the likes of Castlevania getting adapted by the streaming giant. We also saw how Netflix handled The Witcher, which was adapted from its novels but is still notable for being a video game series. Of course, games such as DOTA and League of Legends have also become successful.
In line with that, fans are going to get excited to find out that one of the most popular fighting games in the world is going to get its own anime adaptation. Tekken, which has been around since 1994 and has a total of seven mainline games, is going to be the newest video game that’s going to get released by Netflix. The anime is going to be called Tekken: Bloodline (not to be confused with the Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion game).
So, when is Tekken: Bloodline going to get released?
When Netflix made the announcement about adapting Tekken into its own animated show, it also announced that it would be getting a 2022 release date. However, it was not revealed when exactly in 2022 Tekken: Bloodline will get released. All we know is that it will be released in 2022.
It could be possible that Tekken: Bloodline will get a release that’s sometime during the summer of 2022 or around the middle of the year. It could also be possible that it might get released closer to the end of the year during the Fall months or during the beginning of winter. Considering that this is going to be an anime, it might be seeing a release date that is in line with the other seasonal anime.
However, those are mere speculations on our part as we are not privy to when Netflix will decide to release Tekken: Bloodline. But if Netflix is going to push through, the series will be released in 2022.
Tekken: Bloodline Trailer
For those who want to see what’s in store for them in Tekken: Bloodline, here is the trailer that Netflix officially released:
Tekken: Bloodline Plot
As of now, the exact plot of Tekken: Bloodline is unclear, given the fact that it has only been announced recently. However, here is the official synopsis of the anime when the trailer was released:
“‘Power is everything.’ Jin Kazama learned the family self-defense arts, Kazama-Style Traditional Martial Arts, from his mother at an early age. Even so, he was powerless when a monstrous evil suddenly appeared, destroying everything dear to him, changing his life forever. Angry at himself for being unable to stop it, Jin vowed revenge and sought absolute power to exact it. His quest will lead to the ultimate battle on a global stage—The King of Iron Fist Tournament.”
From there, we can make the assumption that the series will revolve around one of the main characters of the Tekken video game series. And we are talking about Jin Kazama, who was introduced in Tekken 3 and has since become one of the most important central figures in the entire Tekken storyline, along with Heihachi Mishima and Kazuya Mishima.
We can also tell from the synopsis that Jin practiced his entire life in the Kazama martial arts, which was his introduction to the world of martial arts after his mother, Jun, taught him how to fight at an early age. However, the synopsis and the trailer also suggest that a monster will attack him and his family, and that monster might be Ogre, who was the main villain of Tekken 3.
Considering that Jin has ties with the Mishima family because he is Kazuya’s son, he might also train under Heihachi, as the trailer suggests. That means that everything in his life will change from then on as he trains under one of the strongest fighters in the world to defeat the monster that took everything dear to him. And his quest for vengeance against Ogre will take him to The King of Iron First Tournament, otherwise known as the Tekken tournament.
Tekken: Bloodline Cast
As of this writing, the official cast for Tekken: Bloodline is yet to be announced. However, we do know from the trailer that it will feature several characters from the Tekken video game series, such as:
- Jin Kazama
- Heihachi Mishima
- Ogre
- Paul Phoenix
- King
- Jun Kazama
- Leroy Smith
- Kazuya Mishima
- Ganryu
Considering that Tekken is a game that has a large roster of characters, it is possible that we will end up seeing a lot more than what the trailer showed. There is a chance that some of the notable characters in Jin’s life, such as Hwoarang, Xiaoyu, and Asuka, will also appear in the series.
How Many Seasons Will Tekken: Bloodline Anime Have?
As of this writing, there has been no announcement regarding how many seasons Tekken: Bloodline will have. It could be possible that it will only have one season at first until Netflix decides to either renew it or cancel it, depending on how well it performs. After all, Netflix has been known to renew shows on a seasonal basis, and that means that Tekken: Bloodline could also get the same treatment.
Is Netflix’s Tekken: Bloodline Connected To The Games?
It is notable to mention that this isn’t the first time that Tekken was adapted. It had a 1998 anime movie that’s primarily based on the events of Tekken 2 but shows a lot of changes in the story of the game. Meanwhile, live-action movies (not connected to one another) entitled Tekken and Tekken: Kazuya’s Revenge were released in 2009 and 2014, respectively, but did not perform up to par. And in 2011, a 3D-animated movie entitled Tekken: Blood Vengeance was released.
All of those movies were not actually connected to the Tekken games but were merely adaptations of their storylines. That means that it could be possible that Tekken: Bloodline could follow the same route as well.
It appears that Tekken: Bloodline is going to adapt the events before and during Tekken 3 and will begin to proceed from there. Tekken 3 is the game wherein Jin Kazama was introduced as the main character of the series, following the events of Tekken 2, which happened 19 years prior.
This means that it could be possible that the events of Tekken: Bloodline are going to be adapted directly from the games but with a few changes here and there, especially when you consider that Leroy is in the trailer even though he wasn’t introduced until Tekken 7.
In that regard, Tekken: Bloodline might not be connected to the Tekken games because it appears that it’s going to use the games as its main source material and will probably stay as true to the story of the games as possible, and that’s not something that the other adaptations could say.
Where Can You Watch Tekken: Bloodline?
Considering that Tekken: Bloodline is a Netflix original anime series, it is more than likely that it will only be available for streaming on Netflix. But this may depend on certain partnerships with other streaming services. Still, it is looking like Netflix will exclusively stream this series.
