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Tekken: The Motion Picture is a 1998 non-canon two-part OVA series based on Namco's video game franchise Tekken. The story is an amalgamation of the first two games in the series, focusing on the first King of Iron Fist Tournament while giving a prominent role to Jun Kazama, who was introduced in Tekken 2.

The two OVA episodes were edited into one film and released on VHS and DVD in North America by ADV Films.

Plot[]

The film starts with a flashback featuring Kazuya Mishima, a child studying martial arts under his father. He meets a young girl named Jun Kazama, who is crying after seeing a bobcat kill a defenseless rabbit. When Kazuya offers to kill the bobcat, Kazuya's father, Heihachi Mishima, appears and drags Kazuya away. To make his son prove his strength, Heihachi throws Kazuya into a deep ravine, but not before ripping a locket containing a picture of Kazuya's mother from his son's neck and tossing it aside. Kazuya screams as he falls into the chasm. Jun, who tried and failed to locate Kazuya, finds the locket and keeps it with her into adulthood.

Sixteen years later, Jun is now working for WWWC, and is sent to infiltrate the upcoming King of Iron Fist Tournament, hosted by the infamous Mishima Zaibatsu, to investigate its alleged criminal activities including the smuggling of endangered species for experiments. To her horror, the sponsor of the tournament is none other than Heihachi, the man she witnessed throwing his son into the ravine. Tagging along with her is Hong Kong police detective, Lei Wulong, who is taken with her, although she does not return his affections. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Kazuya survived the fall and has grown into a bitter, vengeful man. Heihachi knows about this, and plans to meet his son at the upcoming tournament, possibly handing the Mishima Zaibatsu over to him. Heihachi's adoptive son, Lee Chaolan, opposes this, and tries many times to have Kazuya assassinated by seducing the Williams sisters, Nina Williams and Anna Williams, and using them to do his dirty work. Neither of them is aware that their feelings for Lee are unrequited. Every attempt to kill Kazuya fails.

On the day of the tournament, Jun and Lei arrive at the port to catch the boat carrying the fighters to the Mishima resort. There, they encounter Jack-2 and a little girl, demanding to be allowed on board. The guards refuse, and Lee orders his bodyguard, Bruce Irvin, to stop Jack-2. Irvin is no match for the android, and is defeated with a single punch that sends him into the water, from which he does not resurface. Lee allows Jack-2 on board, along with Jun and Lei. During the voyage, Kazuya, who knew Nina was waiting for him at the port, boards the boat by jumping off a bridge. That night, Kazuya trains alone, and is visited by Jun, who tries to return the locket to him and talk him out of taking his father's life. Kazuya, who does not recognize her, stubbornly refuses to give up, stating that he went as far as to sell his soul to Devil in order to survive the fall and take his revenge. Suddenly, Kazuya is ambushed and almost strangled by Nina, but Jun stops her. Kazuya subdues Nina, but Anna arrives with a bazooka and tries to kill them all with one blast. Kazuya, Jun, and Nina escape, and Anna vows to kill Kazuya at the tournament before fleeing.

The next day, Heihachi greets the competitors before the tournament begins, during which Michelle Chang attempts to kill Heihachi. Heihachi outsmarts Michelle and tells her, along with the others, that he will be waiting in the resort's tower for the final round. The fighters begin making their way through the jungle while Lei and Jack-2 infiltrate the underground lab. Jack-2, instead of fighting, has come to the island looking for Doctor Bosconovitch, the only man who can save the life of the dying girl with him. They are cornered by a group of P. Jacks, whom they defeat, and later Roger, a boxing humanoid kangaroo who attacks Lei until Bosconovitch appears and calls Roger off. Meanwhile, none of the fighters are aware that they are also being used as test subjects by Lee for his new experiment: revived, human-sized dinosaurs named Rex that are based on Alex, so that none of them will arrive at the tower. Eventually, Kazuya comes face to face with Michelle, who proves to be no match for him, though she refuses to give up, on the basis that she is the only one who deserves to kill Heihachi, who burned her village and killed her family and friends in the process. Kazuya feels sympathy for her, but berates her for her incompetence, eventually beating the stubborn Michelle into unconsciousness. Before he can kill her, however, Jun arrives and stops him.

Elsewhere, Nina and Anna begin their own battle to settle the rivalry between them. A T-Rex appears and devours Anna from behind in front of a horrified Nina, who flees for her life. Kazuya and Jun hear Anna's scream, and are ambushed by the dinosaurs. They viciously attack Jun and Kazuya before Kazuya defeats the dinosaurs, ripping them apart. An injured Kazuya arrives at the tower, where Lee confronts him. Kazuya defeats Lee and is then taken away by Heihachi. Heihachi explains that Lee never understood the true spirit of fighting. As Heihachi and Kazuya fight, Lee, knowing that he will not receive the Zaibatsu now, sets off the self-destruct sequence, and remains in the tower as it explodes. Hearing the alarm, Lei, Jack-2, Bosconovitch, Roger, and everyone else in the lab flee. Jack-2 sacrifices himself to keep the door open long enough for Lei and Bosconovitch to escape with the girl. Kazuya, after receiving a vicious beating, gives in to his hatred and violently overpowers Heihachi, preparing to throw him into a river of lava formed by the exploding island resort. Again, Jun stops him, and this time, Kazuya almost strangles Jun to death until he sees her crying for him, something nobody has ever done before. He begins to realize who she was and that the two had met before as children. Finally realizing the futility of his ways, Kazuya spares his father as well as Jun, and the act of good will expels the Devil's influence from his mind. Heihachi tries to knock Kazuya off the cliff, but Jun takes the blow, and the three of them fall. With the resort moments away from exploding, Lei and Bosconovitch arrive in a submarine. Jun, Kazuya, and the surviving fighters board while Heihachi escapes by a harrier jet as the island finally disappears.

In a brief epilogue, Jun is by herself knitting in a forest among the animals. Her young son, Jin Kazama, who bears a strong resemblance to Kazuya when he was a boy, runs up to her. He tells her that he wants to hear the rest of the story she was telling him the previous day. Jun then senses a change in the winds (possibly the foreshadowing of the arrival of Ogre), but denies her worries to Jin, and they walk off together.

Characters[]

Cast[]

Character Original English
Kazuya Mishima Kazuhiro Yamaji
Minami Takayama (young)
Adam Dudley
Jacob Franchek (young)
Heihachi Mishima Daisuke Gōri John Paul Shephard
Jun Kazama Yumi Tōma
Eri Sendai (young)
Edi Patterson
Lucy Faris (young)
Lei Wulong Akio Nakamura Gray Haddock
Lee Chaolan Shinichirô Miki David Stokey
Nina Williams Minami Takayama Ellie McBride
Anna Williams Kaori Yamagata Claire Hamilton
Michelle Chang Narumi Hidaka Jessica Robertson
Jack-2 Akio Ōtsuka Mark O'Brien
Jane Eri Sendai Jessica Schwartz
Doctor Boskonovitch Tamio Ōki Ken Webster
Bruce Irvin Seiji Sasaki Peter Harrell Jr.
Jin Kazama Minami Takayama Jacob Franchek
Baek Doo San Kyōsei Tsukui Lowell Bartholomee
Ganryu Takashi Nagasako


Critical Reception[]

Entertainment Weekly called The Motion Picture;"a punch-drunk, derivative Saturday morning cartoon" that "saps every atom of magic from its source".

Animeworld was somewhat kinder; "it does all the right things to try and be more than just action. Unfortunately, it is also sloppy and silly enough that it ends up being a failure from my standpoint, and unlikely any better for a fan of the game".

Trivia[]

  • The movie is not canon to the game series. Some of the most notable divergences from the Tekken are the following:
    • The movie is an amalgamation of the plot of the first two Tekken games, roughly following the story of the first game but also featuring plots and characters from the second.
    • In the movie, Heihachi's reason for throwing Kazuya down the cliff is different from the games. Heihachi reasoned that the world in which he lived was poisoned by humanity's selfishness. Therefore, he needed to plant darkness in Kazuya's heart, so that Kazuya could destroy the world, and, in turn, the world would naturally return to its original state. Tekken 7 revealed that Heihachi did this to test whether Kazuya inherited the Devil Gene from his mother or not. Heihachi's reasoning in the movie does however bear a resemblance to his reasoning in the early games, where he wished to see if Kazuya was strong enough to deserve the Mishima Zaibatsu by surviving and climbing back up the cliff.
    • Lee Chaolan's character differs significantly in the movie, where he takes on the role of a cowardly villain. In the games, he is suave and elegant, and whilst he can be manipulative and self-serving, he is usually depicted as working for a good cause and caring for others. In the movie, he is wholly selfish, bitter, and cruel, and apparently happy to condone murder and assassination.
      • In the movie, Lee has romantic relationships with both Nina and Anna, and each sister thinks he genuinely loves them and is merely using the other, while Lee is truly manipulating both of them. In the games, whilst Lee is flirtatious, he has no canonical romantic relationships.
      • In the movie, Lee commits suicide by setting off the island's self-destruction sequence and remaining in the tower when it explodes, while in the games, he is still alive. In addition to this, several other fighters are presumed dead, none of which are canonically confirmed dead. This includes Bruce after being defeated by Jack-2 and presumably drowning, and Ganryu and Baek who were not seen leaving the island as it exploded.
    • Anna is killed by an Alex-like dinosaur, though in the games, she is alive and well.
    • Jun and Kazuya meet for the very first time as children. In the games, they meet for the first time as adults, prior to the second King of Iron Fist Tournament.
    • Throughout most of the movie, Jun's hair is depicted as brown instead of black as it is in-game, with the exception of brief moments.
    • Nobody seems to have won the movie version of the tournament.
    • Ganryu has no romantic feelings for Michelle in the movie, unlike he does in the games.
    • Bruce, Anna, and Ganryu are Lee's bodyguards, instead of Kazuya's bodyguards as in Tekken 2.
    • There are packs of Alex-like dinosaurs instead of one. Also, they do not wear boxing gloves as Alex does in-game.
  • The ASPECT COMICS Tekken comic is loosely based on the film.
  • Though non-canon, Tekken: The Motion Picture is the second time Kazumi Mishima was alluded to. The first time was in Heihachi's Tekken 2 stage, and the third and last time is in Tekken 7, where she is the arcade boss and plays a central role in the story.
  • Angel is the only Tekken 2 character that did not appear in the Motion Picture from the first Tekken game. Even in the intro narration where the religious wars were mentioned, there is still no backstory given for Angel.
  • The only Tekken 3 characters who appear are Jin, Doctor Bosconovitch, Hwoarang, Eddy, Forest, Gon, and Xiaoyu. Jin and Doctor Bosconovitch appear in the movie's plot, while the rest are limited to cameos.
  • Daisuke Gōri and Takashi Nagasako are the only voice actors from the video games who reprise their roles as Heihachi Mishima and Ganryu respectively.
    • Yumi Tōma, who voiced Nina and Anna Williams in games at the time, did not reprise her roles, and instead voiced Jun Kazama.

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