Tekken: The Motion Picture

Tekken: The Motion Picture Logo.

Introduction

Tekken: The Motion Picture is an anime film based on the Tekken series, created in 1997 and released in January 1998. Its plot is an amalgamation of the first two games, Tekken and Tekken 2. Originally released in Japan as an OVA (Original Animated Video) and released as two separate volumes simply titled Tekken.

Plot Synopsis

Tournament Fighters

The film begins with a young Jun Kazama crying over a dead rabbit. Kazuya Mishima, who is also young here, meets Jun and offers to fight the bobcat. Jun tells Kazuya not to, since the bobcat only killed the rabbit because it needed food. Kazuya's father, Heihachi Mishima, then comes in and takes Kazuya away, calling him weak (especially for wearing his mother's necklace). Heihachi walks over to the edge of a cliff, holding Kazuya by his clothing. Heihachi then tells Kazuya that lions would throw their cubs off a cliff and raise the ones that climbed back up. Kazuya, realizing Heihachi's intentions, pleads with him not to throw him off. Jun also attempts to stop the madness, as she runs over to Kazuya and Heihachi. Unfortunately, Jun is too late and Kazuya is thrown off the cliff.

This entire scene has turned out to be a dream. Jun Kazama wakes up in her room breathing heavily. She walks over to a drawer and takes out the same necklace Heihachi ripped off of Kazuya's neck so long ago.

The next day, Jun is at the WWWC headquarters speaking to her boss. Her boss shows her a photograph of a special-lifeform that was found by fishermen quite sometime ago, and states that it has a significant connection to Heihachi Mishima and the Mishima Zaibatsu. Upon seeing Heihachi's face, Jun remembers the incident from when she was a child. Her boss then tells her that she must fight in the Tournament, giving her an invitation addressed to her.

Jun is standing out by the shore where there are many seagulls flying around. One lands in her hand, but when it senses her discomfort, it flies away. Jun is very reluctant to participate in the Tournament, stating "Kazama-ryu wasn't meant for show." All of a sudden, a stranger attacks Jun from behind. Jun manages to throw the attacker off and prepares to fight. The attacker than reveals himself to be Lei Wulong, who is here to assist Jun. Jun insults Lei by saying that she doesn't need a partner with such horrible skill.

In the next scene, a young Kazuya climbs back up the mountain, all bloodied up. He states that he can't die, since he must succeed in killing Heihachi for what he did. Floating over head (as flashing colors), Devil agrees with Kazuya and continues to say that Kazuya must also survive for the sake of their own fate.

Kazuya wakes up. Looking at the scar on his chest, Kazuya realizes that "something sinister is brewing inside him." Then, Nina Williams (who was hired by Lee), attacks Kazuya (by shooting at him from the window. Nina enters the hotel room to see if Kazuya is dead. The two engage in a short battle. Nina then is kicked out of the room and throws a grenade at Kazuya. The two fall in the water down below. Kazuya says to tell Heihachi to clean his neck while he's waiting for him, and then Nina, disappears under the water.

Meanwhile, Lei is showing Jun the interior of the island where the Tournament will be held. He tells her about the laboratory under the island, which they will have to infiltrate during the Tournament.

The day before the Tournament, Jun and Lei are preparing to board the boat to the island. Before they enter, they notice a rather tall man with his little girl trying to get on the boat. The two try to help him; instead, Lee Chaolan says that he will allow them on the boat if he could defeat his bodyguard, Bruce Irvin. Bruce is easily taken down, since Jack-2's arms are made of metal. The two are allowed on.

As the boat goes through, Jun sees Michelle Chang, who is looking very sad. Jun then senses something evil approaching; it is revealed to be Kazuya, who managed to get on the boat by jumping off a bridge. Jun feels discomfort from the cold, evil aura she feels from Kazuya.

The following night, Kazuya is in a gym punching a punching-bag. Upon imagining Heihachi's face on the punching bag, Kazuya tears open the bag, causing the sand to pour out. Kazuya then hunches over in pain, clutching the scar and his chest while having flashbacks of what his father did. Then he notices Jun standing by the doorway. Jun comes in and tells him that she has the necklace that Heihachi forced Kazuya to get rid of. Angered, Kazuya slaps it out of her hand. Upset, Jun begins to tell Kazuya about how she tried so hard to find him on that day. Kazuya then tells Jun that he willingly sold his soul to Devil just to make sure that he could kill Heihachi, and Jun tells him that living his life just to get revenge was wrong. Kazuya puts up his fists and asks Jun if she's ready to defend her beliefs with her fists. The two are ready to fight, when Nina tries to assassinate Kazuya again (via hanging). Jun, thinking quickly, grabs the necklace and throws it at the rope cutting it. Kazuya then kicks Nina, sending her flying. Anna Williams then comes in and interrupts, saying that Nina has failed for the last time. Anna then fires her rocket-launcher, which Nina, Jun and Kazuya manage to dodge (by jumping out the window). Anna comes over to finish them off, but doesn't since people began coming to see what all the commotion was about.

The Tournament officially starts on the next day. All the fighters (including the minor characters) are gathered around a tour somewhere on the island. Lei catches up with Jun and asks if she was part of the comotion yesterday. She answers yes. Lee is currently explaining the rules, when Heihachi steps out to see the competition. An enraged Michelle then jumps up and throws a hatchet at Heihachi to no avail-- Heihachi catches the hatchet with his teeth and breaks it. His guards prepare to open fire, but Heihachi stops them, saying that he will deal with her if she makes it far enough to face him.

The Tournament commences, and Jun and Lei go off to tend to their own issues-- Jun goes to find Kazuya while Lei tries to find a way into the underground lab.

Meanwhile, Heihachi is waiting in the battle tower (where he will face the last fighter standing) when Lee steps in from the shadows, saying that the experiment is ready to begin. Heihachi then states that if Kazuya is defeated by one of Lee's "toys" then he is nothing better than a toy. Lee, disgruntled, leaves the room and commences the experiment. Two of the female operators then notify Lee that some of the fighters (Jun, Lei and Jack-2) aren't in the field.

Several fights are shown. Michelle Chang is facing off against Ganryu. She lands a hit that seems incapable for hurting Ganryu, but causes him to spit blood and fall to the ground unconcious. Kazuya is also shown fighting and easily defeating Baek Doo San.

As the Tournament goes on, Lei tries to find a way into the underground lab. He is spotted by some guards, who do not believe that he merely ended up by the entrance because he got lost. Fortunately, Jack-2 (who was hiding underwater) came and saved Lei (as repayment for helping him earlier). Lei then asks if he was sent to investigate the Mishima Zaibatsu, but gets no answer; instead, Jack-2 opens the door by hacking into the system, making Lei ask more questions.

Inside the lab, a group of Prototype Jacks come in to try and stop them from going any further. Jack easily beats them; however, the last one has managed to cut him, revealing to Lei that Jack-2 is not human.

Going in further, Lei and Jack enter a room where new lifeforms are being created. Lei encounters Roger, and when they meet Doctor Boskonovitch he asks "What the hell is that?!" Jack then explains to the doctor that Jane is in serious need of care. Doctor Boskonovitch then tries to do all he can to help.

Back on the surface, the Tournament continues. Michelle has met up with Kazuya, and is now being beaten by him. Michelle then confesses to Kazuya of how Heihachi killed her family and that the memory of their dead bodies will not stop haunting her until he is dead. Kazuya then reassures her that he will kill Heihachi for her, with the exception that she will have to wait in heaven. Jun then comes and stops Kazuya from killing her. The two prepare to fight each other until Jun senses something ferocious coming by. A couple of Alexs come by and the two team up to fight them off. Jun is disgusted at the sight of Kazuya happy as he slaughters most of the Alexs. The rest, frightened, turn invisible and run away.

On a side note, Nina and Anna are also fighting each other. Anna tells Nina about how Lee really liked her more all along. Nina, noticing the Alex behind Anna, cries: "Oh no." Anna only takes Nina's cry as one of jealousy, which, ultimately, leads to her downfall.

Kazuya finds his way to the tower where Heihachi is waiting, only to be greeted personally by Lee, who is ready to challenge him. Heihachi then comes and interrupts the fight, throwing Lee aside. Just when Kazuya and Heihachi prepare to fight, Jun tries to stop it, but to no avail.

Lee kills all the operators in the tower and decides that if "he couldn't have Mishima Zaibatsu then no one could," setting off the self-destruct mechanism on the island. Lee is the first one to go, as the tower explodes right after self-destruction was activated.

Doctor Boskonovitch, who is trying his best to help Jane, notifies Lei and Jack-2 of this and tells them that they get out of there as soon as possible. As they try to escape, a metal door leading to the outside is closing, too fast for the others to escape. Making the ultimate sacrifice Jack-2 holds the door while the others escape, which crushes him in the end.

As the island slowly breaks apart, Kazuya and Heihachi continue their gruesome battle. Kazuya is ready to finish Heihachi off; fortunately, Jun is able to talk him out of it, saying that it wasn't worth it. Kazuya, Jun and all the other fighters escape the island via boat; Heihachi himself is picked up by one of his pilots and flies away. The island explodes, and the Tournament is over.

Some years later Jun Kazama is shown sitting out in the forest, knitting peacefully. A young boy is then seen running to her. It is revealed that this boy is a young Jin Kazama, he has come to see if his mother will read him "the story from yesterday." Before saying yes, Jun notices a slight change in the wind (possibly signifying the coming of Ogre). Jun dismisses this feeling and begins walking home with Jin. The movie ends after this scene.

Characters

• Yoshimitsu

• Nina

• Law

• Kazuya

• Paul

• Jack-2

• 

  King

• Michelle

• Heihachi

• Ganryu

• Anna

• Lee

• 

  Kuma

• Prototype Jack

• Armor King

• Jun

• Lei

• Bruce

• Doctor Bosconovitch

• Jane

• Jin

• Alex

• 

  Devil

• Baek

• 

  Roger

Notable differences from game to film

The Tekken motion picture takes several liberties with its source material. Along with combining events from the first two games in the series, it also rewrites important events and appearance of some of the characters:

• Jun and Kazuya meet for the very first time as children. There is no evidence of this in the series.
• Anna Williams is given a rather gruesome death, but she remains alive and well rest of the series.
• Jack-2 is stated as the prototype while the Prototype Jacks are shown as the final version. Also, there are three Prototype Jacks.
• There are packs of Alex's instead of one. Also, they don't wear blue boxing gloves and possess teleportation.
• At the conclusion of the tournament, Kazuya was not killed.
• Devil does not actually appear, but makes a couple of short cameos as a light of evil and Jun is able sense it around Kazuya. (Angel is also missing, but seems to be replaced by Jun Kazama).
• Doctor Abel does not appear in the film, despite being an important character in Jack-2's storyline.
• Jack-2 gets destroyed by a closing door instead of Doctor Abel disabling him with a laser via satellite.
• Bruce, Anna, and Ganryu are Lee's bodyguards instead of being Kazuya's bodyguards.
• Lee's blue tank-top and black pants do not appear and he is killed at the end of the tournament in the movie whereas he has been in every Tekken game except for Tekken 3.
• Bruce's blue trunks do not appear.
• Nobody seems to have won the tournament.
• Ganryu doesn't show feelings for Michelle; however, they are instead shown fighting each other.
• Many of the characters had minor alterations to hair color/style, as well as the outfits they wore at the tournament.
• The King Of Iron Fist Tournament was on a island instead of all around the world.
• Several characters in Tekken 2 are shown in the film.
• Lee Chaolan's skin tone is tan instead of white.
• Lee and Anna are implied to be in a sexual relationship, this isn't present in the games.
• Anna's hair starts as brown and changes to blue/black in the film, it is brown in the games.
• Jun's hair is brown in the film and black in the games.
• In Tekken 2, Dr. Boskonovitch is rescued by Yoshimitsu. In the movie, Lei rescues Dr. Boskonovitch.

Aside from its quality as an adaptation, Tekken: The Motion Picture is generally seen as a cult film or guilty pleasure to its relatively small group of supporters. Some fans also use the film to help explain how Kazuya and Jun conceived their son Jin, who would go on to become the lead protagonist of the video games in Tekken 3, since the video games have remained rather ambiguous on those details. Because of the number of liberties that the film takes with the storyline, the film cannot be considered completely canon, but the possibility that Jun and Kazuya's storyline as depicted in the film may share parallels with the video games remains open.

Image Gallery

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• Promotional
• DVD Box Art.

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  VHS Cover.

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  Japanese volume 1 VHS cover.

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  Japanese volume 2 VHS cover.

Trivia

• Some characters appeared in the opening sequence but not in the actual movie. They are: Wang Jinrei, Kunimitsu, Hwoarang, Ling Xiaoyu, Eddy Gordo, and Forest Law.
• Kuma made a short cameo on a tree.
• Jin Kazama appears as a child in the film's ending. His appearance is similar to Kazuya as a child. Jin is shown as an adult in the film's opening.
• Gon is in the background of the laboratory.
• The invitation card given to Jun is spelled "wellcome" instead of "welcome".
• Some parts of the film showed some what the games did not show.( e.g: Jun, Jin & Kazuya's childhood )
• It should be noted that some of moves in the fight scenes are actually from the game, but they are either performed wrong or not shown completely. One of them is Kazuya's (or Heihachi's) dragon uppercut (he used his right hand instead of the left when he counter attacked Nina Williams).
• It should also be noted that Kazumi Mishima (Kazuya's mother) had not yet been seen in a Tekken game at the time of the film's production.
• During the time that Anna Williams is taking a shower, there is a brief moment where her breasts are fully visible. However there is mist.
• In the English version, when the WWWC Chief gives Jun her invitation, he calls her Kazima Jun
• A similar situation happened when Lei introduced Bruce to Jun, calling him Bruce Arvin