Tekken The Movie Review By Rashad Moore
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	Audience:	16+
	Genre:	Fighting
	Usual Running Time:	60 min.
	Contains:	Animated Violence
	Rating:	C-

In the midst of highly average fighting game animes,(Battle Arena Toshinden, Street Fighter 2 Movie, Darkstalkers) Tekken doesen't seem to change that legacy. It starts with only a few minutes of a good anime and soon starts to roll downhill, but fans of the game are sure to eat this up.

The anime mostly concentrates on Jun and Kazuya. The opening presents the two when they were children. After a young Kazuya (who wants to become a great fighter, of course) comforts Jun, The sinister Heihachi Mishima(Kazuya's

dad) pushes his son to the dark side by throwing him off a cliff, expecting him to climb back up. This works perfectly, and Kazuya, extremely wounded, makes it back up, vowing revenge against his father. Jun is an only witness, and the incident haunts her constantly. She fears Kazuya's thirst for revenge may turn him into something inhuman. And of course there are the other character's with small side plots (Jack and his origins, Nina and her maniacal sister Anna, and a pissed-off Michelle Chang also after Heihachi's head.)

Only a 60-minute movie(The japanese seem to have a thing for making their anime movies short.) Much more effort should have been spent on the animation, the character designs are good anime counterparts of the game but the backgrounds, (which were added on using computer) look extremely shoddy. (Can anyone say time and budget problems?) The music is a much better effort, but it's not a knockout. The anime has a very classical and dramatic score which matches key scenes. There are also some songs thrown in from popular rock bands such as Corrosion of Conformity and The Offspring which matches the action well, but seems more like a add-on to get further sales, in which the anime could have lived with or without.

Overall is Tekken worth seeing? Only if your a hardcore fan of the game. If your'e an anime fan who's not into Tekken much, this is not really worth your time. This anime somewhat explains the relationship between Jun and Kazuya, a few more characters are added, but other characters are pretty much put to the side. An effort that can hopefully only get better in the future.

Review by Rashad Moore. Aug 99.