Review 11: Lupin III: The First

 It's bittersweet, to be brief, to finally see Lupin III: The First. Because that same year, a tragedy happened that may have marked the end of our gentleman thief, unless someone picks up the pieces. The movie is essentially a CGI work that was made as recently as 2019, and it would be a year prior that I was even aware of it. The series itself is quite lengthy, with manga, anime, and a few movies under their belt, even crossing over with the likes of Detective Conan, as if to compliment the thief/detective combo.

The long and short of it is that Arsene Lupin III is a gentleman thief of an ancestral line, if not a bit of a sleaze... but even among thieves he has an honor system that crosses with more sinister criminals, and is constantly pursued by one Koichi Zenigata, an inspector of Interpol that has it in for Lupin. He is sometimes aided (and sometimes not) by Daiskue Jigen, a sharpshooter and best friend of Lupin's; Goemon Ishikawa XIII, an ancestral samurai of his renegade ancestor of the same name eland experienced with his sword Zantetsuken; and Fujiko Mine, a diva who utilizes her sex appeal to accomplish her objectives, often to the chagrin of the other members, including Lupin.

In the movie, an event in someone's past leads her, under the instruction or coercion of her grandfather, to swipe a treasure possibly connected to the supposed resurgence of Adolf Hitler, centeres around an artifact Professor Bresson obtained prior to his passing. This, however, is also the target of Lupin and his gang, which leads to a race to uncover what that treasure is, and that this unwilling thief and Lupin may have more in common than they thing as they reluctantly work together.

Made entirely in CGI, this movie captures well the antics and zaniness the series is well known for, and didn't lose a step in the transition, but has yet to receive a dubbing, despite being okay'd for North American release via GKIDS, with help of Fathom Events last year, with supposed redistribution later this year via GKIDS and Shout! Factory. The movie, subtitled, is also available via Netflix, though it's uncertain if this is a region-locked matter.

I call it bittersweet, because that same year, Kazuhiko Kato, the brains behind the series who was more well known as Monkey Punch, fell to pneumonia on April 11th, months prior to the initial December 9th release in Japan. With the brains behind it buried, it is unlikely we will see any more of him unless an understudy exists who can take the mantle proper. It is unclear who will voice who in the dubbed version of this film, which was teased some time back that same year, but it's ironic, albeit sad, that a film called The First was for the series possibly its last. The only critique I have is that the subbing may have been... off-kilter to be nicr, but even then I understood the gist of what they were saying... though this is also likely not the official translation I watched.

While not perfect, the film did damn well from beginning to end, earning a solid 9 of 10 from me. I only hope this isn't the end for Lupin III, even if they should resort to being occasional crossover characters with TMS Entertainment sibling Detective Conan.

Review 10: Witchblade

The first one I've seen since the creation of my original blog was Witchblade. Kinda spicy for my tastes, but I loved it. It did leave me at a loss for words the first time I saw it, though. Looking at the show the first time, I was like, "WTH", based on what I saw late in the 1st episode; there were certain characters that I couldn't stand (which reminded me of people like them in real life, I won't say who for either) and the ending made me kinda mad. Still it was as good as a friend put it, so I thank her for recommending it to me.

Based on the comic book, the Witchblade anime deals with Masane Amaba, the new chosen wielder of the Witchblade. Masane means well, but in terms of household  duties, she's a bit of a klutz. After the Great Quake ravaged Tokyo some years ago, she is found unscathed at ground zero with a child in her arms. Masane came out of it alive, but at the cost of her memory. Six years pass, and Masane plans to have a peaceful life with the child Rihiko, who she believe is hers. However, from the jump, she is caught in the power struggle between a government agency NWSF (she deals with this group's Child Welfare Division early in the anime) and a huge corporation, not to mention that as the host of the Witchblade, she gains abilities to fight, but it gradually eats away at her life force. Such is the downside of the artifact, and with Masane as a temporary host, she must do whatever is possible to secure a future for Rihiko... even though Masane herself may not be part of that future.

Licensed for the US under Funimation, the anime lasts for 24 episodes made in the Gonzo studio. On TV, the series is rated TV-MA, so it's not advisable for the young to see it. Even so, there is a bit of a difference between the TV and DVD versions. Because the original design showed too much skin, they darkened these areas, and returned it to the original form in the DVD release. Another difference is that compared to the American comic, the cast and setup of the anime were entirely original. The comic book and TV series protagonist was a NYPD homocide investigator, Sara Pezzini, who happened to come in contact with it. In the anime, Masane has it without any backstory to how she came in contact with it. All this combined with other factors, some may consider it to be nearly completely unaffiliated with the Top Cow comic. In a way, it's the inverse, albeit similar to Mirai Nikki, and the live action Mirai Nikki - ANOTHER:WORLD... save that the Witchblade anime, name aside, as little in relation to the work it's loosely based from at all, where as one could make comparisons with Mirai Nikki.

Witchblade got an 8 of 10 from me, but I didn't post it before since my Wolf Scale was made on the second post. I say that it's worth checking out, but there are others by the same title worth noting as well, though the storyline for the other media differed from the anime. It has a bit of a raunchy feel to it, so if that's not your cup of tea, then don't force yourself to see it.

Review 9: Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution

Everyone remembers Pokémon the First Movie, right? It was a 1998 classic that saw many a promotion, notable among them were golden collectible "cards" as a fast food toy, as well as the official Mew trading card if they went to the theater day one of it's release. But I'm not talking about that per say, as this was remade as a Netflix exclusive.

To those who made have saw it before, the premise is nothing new, but for those new to the series' works or too lazy to look back on the 90s classic, I got you covered. The film centers around what was back then the final 2 entries of the Pokedex roster. The first among them was the mysterious #151 - Mew: a nimble and playful Psychic-type Pokemon that's even more of a wild card that Eevee, with the uncanny ability to learn every TM and HM (Technical and Hidden Machine) moves at least for that generation. After pursuing this creature, Professor Fuji found a sample and extracted it, creating a clone of it which became its own entity: #150 - Mewtwo. Technically, it IS of anime canon, and the movie opened insight as two why, and its connection to not only the overall demeanor of Mewtwo, but more specifically its relation to the movie's plot.

Here's some small trivia: in the anime's Indigo League (or Kanto League) arc, Gary faced Giovanni for the Earth Badge, but his cockiness getting the better of him, he was handed the loss by Giovanni, who was not only the evasive Viridian City Gym Leader, but also the leader of the terrorist organization Team Rocket. At his command was an armored creature impossible to get a reading on. THAT was Mewtwo's canonical appearance in the anime, as after Fuji's team created it, but its disdain from being seen as only a project and not its own entity, Mewtwo rains carnage to both the lab and the scientists in it. The power shown stokes the interest of Giovanni, and under the guise of helping Mewtwo control its psychic powers, it donned the armor that instead made Mewtwo a tool for him. Fed up with the betrayals and deceptions, born from anger is a war launched to gain vengeance of humanity, and using New Island, the place of its birth, he invites trainer after trainer for a chance to battle the "world's greatest Pokemon trainer", one such invitation reaching the hands of Ash Ketchum. What seems to be a battle for the best is instead a means to extract revenge against the humans that made it, and ultimately, a battle for its own existence, to rise above a mere clone of Mew!

The film was done in entirely CGI this time around, likely borrowing a few elements from the current design style of the Generation 8 games. Despite this, it was done by OLM, Inc. Not only were they the studio behind the original Mewtwo Strikes Back, but also many other movies in the franchise as well as the anime itself (under 3 different teams). Not everything is the same, however,  as given the many yeas it's been between the two, there are different vocals despite much of the dialogue being intact. While Veronica Taylor voiced Ash Ketchum in the first 8 seasons, plus the first movie and others, MSB: Evolution saw this role done by current voice of Ash,  Sara Natochenny. In the anime, not much is under her belt beyonf Pokemon and two spots under the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, but she has also lent her voice to ash in a number of series- related movies, beginning from 2006's The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon DVD Redub. Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the all-too-familiar Dan Green, who voiced both the titular hero Yugi and his ancient spirit turned alter ego in the series, lent his voice for Mewtwo in 2000 with the direct sequel Mewtwo Returns, and reprises his role that also replaced the original VA Jay Goede, who was credited as Philip Bartlett back then.

The film was made and released theatrically in 2019 overseas, but we didn't get it until the following year here in the states, sneak viewing in LA side. What's more, this became one of those direct to digital releases, appearing as a Netflix Original, and only appearing there officially. It was also done in good timing for Pokemon Day 2020 (February 27th), though this was also, sadly, a month after COVID-19 swept the states, likely prompting this release method. The remake was teased at the end of 2018's feature Pokemon: The Power of Us. It marks the first time the Pokemon Company made a movie release on the streaming service themselves, as by that time, they already had Pokemon TV, and both Indigo League and Sun & Moon series were both on Netflix after their anime TV runs.

While I didn't expect much to change, I do love the delivery by Dan Green in here. Compared to Jay Goede, Green's Mewtwo comes of as a tad more sinister, even if his lines are Yami Yugi-esque, only more maniacal. The animations for the moves, in particular Mew's and Mewtwo's, are also a notch up from before, even if in Mewtwo's case, it comes off as a slightly edited version of a Shadow Ball, a Generation 2 Ghost-type move that Mewtwo uses in the Super Smash Bros. series of games. The execution is also similar in that regard. As I mentioned before, design elements may have been taken from the current generation of games, but to be more accurate, after looking at the models of Jessie, James, Misty and Brock, it's more apt to say that the design was taken from what was done for Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. The movie is a little over 1 1/2 hours long, and unlike the original, there is no feature before or after the film. But it wasn't exempt from goodies outside of it, as over in Japan, the theatrical release was commemorated by an event Mewtwo for the current games, Pokemon Sun and Shield, and in global presence, in the augmented reality game Pokemon Go, a Tier 5 raid was launched with the Team Rocket-armored Mewtwo as the target.

Why they felt the need to call it Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION is a head scratcher, as despite the very subtle differences, it's essentially a copy and paste of the original, just 3D this time... but I suppose that in itself isn't a bad thing. I'll give it a 7 of 10, as it was just as enjoyable as before... maybe SLIGHTLY better,

Review 8: Astro Boy (2009 movie)

When it comes to adaptations, it's usually hit-or-miss when it goes to film.... ESPECIALLY when the United States does it. This time, the US tried it again with the 2009 film Astro Boy. Bear with me, because this will be my first review in a good long while...

To those needing a history recap, Astro Boy, also known as Mighty Atom, was conceived as a manga in the year 1952, with the anime debuting on New Years Day: January 1st, 1963 (roughly 11 years later) as the first anime ever in Japan. This android boy was created by Osamu Tezuka, a legendary illustrator and author that only had a few works, but is widely revered as the "God of Manga", "Father of Anime", and Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney. He would inspire other manga artists in the trade, among which being Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame. In chronology, Astro Boy would be the first robotic super boy, predating Keiji Inafune's Mega Man by 35 years, with the anime being as old as Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go, the first mecha anime to ever exist, though to us in the states, we would know it as Gigantor. That tidbit is a little funny, considering Tezuka inspired Yokoyama, with Gigantor's manga being made in 1956, 4 years after Astro Boy's. The manga would see 5 different adaptations after the original 1963 title, consisting of a 1987 American comic, 3 anime series, and today's topic: the 2009 film.

In the movie, Toby Tenma is a 13 year old prodigy after his dad, scientist Bill Tenma. But while testing the Peacekeeper robot with one of 2 experimental energies, Toby is locked on the opposing side of a barrier that has the Peacekeeper, gone AWOL, inside. With a disappearance that pretty much

Astro and Dr. Bill Tenma

equates death, as Toby is never found again, a distraught Tenma works to fill that hole with a robot in his son's likeness, hoping to make thins up to him as a father. But when this new "Toby" proves to not be the same as his old self, Bill grows distant, whereas Dr. O'Shay, his colleague, tries to bridge things, yet ultimately fails as he runs off. Now "Toby" or as one would call him Astro Boy, must come to terms with what he is, and for Bill to somehow accept that Toby can never be replicated thoroughly... but the robot he made is still like family to him... of course, there would be troubles from the outside, part of which involving his core...

The film takes some licenses from the original work, as Dr. Tenma outright abandons him ans sells him off, with Professor Ochiamizu, known as Elefun in a few adaptations and as Dr. O'Shay in the movie, being the parental figure in Tenma's stead. While I can accept the robotic family never appearing, the mother is also omitted from the film as well, though there are a few unique characters that come into play. In addition, the setting of the film takes liberty from the 2003 anime, although different in appearance. Where as the anime had it based off of Modern Day Tokyo as a part of Earth, albeit advanced, the 2009 film went further with it. Almost like taking cues from other futuristic works, Metro City is more isolated ans separated from the Earth. There is also a bit of elitism going on, as while Metro City aims for the result of human kind and robots cooperating in tandem, the fact that the rich and wealthy are allowed there while the rest remain on Earth implies some Class segregation was incorporated. It's fully animated in CGI, like other films I may have touched on like Tekken: Blood Vengeance. The studio responsible was Imagi Animation Studio, a Hong Kong-based animation company that closed its doors a year later. It featured the voices of Nicholas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson Kristen Bell, and Freddie Highmore as Toby/Astro. Unfortunately, Astro Boy was a hefty bust in the box office; of the worldwide budget of $65 Million, it only garnered $44.1 million in film gross. Only in China was the film received very positively, breaking their CGI box office record. It also cost Imagi $23 million, as some could credit the failure of the movie as the end of Imagi Animation Studio, taking out with it a few planned movies also adapted from anime legends.

While not completely faithful to the source, I like how they retained the character designs, even if we Alita: Battle Angel (2019), which grossed out at $404.1 million in the first weekend overall.

Cora, one of the original characters in the film

don't really see the iconic outfit (or lack thereof) as much in the film. And it kept some elements in tact concerning Astro's development, including the robot circus, albeit the change to how he got there. My dislike comes in where they had him run away as opposed to full on abandonment like in the manga, but give a nod as the attempt of redemption late in the film from Dr. Tenma, but the plot overall was just too... campy and generic in theme. I won't lie to you: seeing it the first time, I liked it... but not enough to look past its flaws, and looking at it again recently, they were elephants in the room from a geek standpoint. in terms of visuals, the film was impressive enough, but would pale in comparison to Alita: Battle Angel (2019).

The film was a failure in revenue, certainly... but in terms of content... I have a slightly better outlook of it, putting this in the 6 out of 10 bracket. A pity that Astro Boy, being the first and the origin of the anime genre, had such an abysmal grossing film... but knowing this place, I HAVE seen worse...

Review 7: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Remember feeling like you wanted to be like Spider-Man? Shooting webs and fighting bad guys with comic wit? What if you kind of had no say in becoming like him... but a bit more? This animated masterpiece by Sony pretty much tells that story through the prospective of an unexpected newcomer.

Hailing from Brooklyn, Miles Morales is a kid that had it rough, going to a boarding school, and as a new kid, first impressions is hard... but it gets worse when he comes bitten by a radioactive spider. Nevermind the social aspects becoming even more hellacious, he is burdened with powers he has no control over. Like every hero's beginning, it has a tragic origin. And this is joined with the demise of Peter Parker. At least, that's how things WOULD have ended. But thanks to a project gone awry at the command of Kingpin, other people with similar powers to the late Peter Parker, from different timelines, suddenly come to Miles' Brooklyn. It'll take loss, doubt, and a serious crash course in being the spider, but to succeed his late Peter Parker and return the stranded Spider heroes to their times, Miles has to step up and not become the Spider-Man he knows... but carry on the name as his own.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is comic-esque in design,  in a way that is visually dynamic, yet faithful to the comic series we know too well. And because it's the multiverse, expect action from Spiders you may know if you are a devout follower of the comics, like the 1930s version Spider-Man Noir, a female version born of Gwen Stacy, who survives instead of Peter, and a comical pig with Spider powers that make looking down on his cartoon appearance a painful mistake. It's one of the few movies in the series Miles is mentioned, but as of now, the only sole work with him as the focal character. This fin was released in December of last year, following the demise of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, both of whom were the brains behind the original Peter Parker, and this film, in addition to having one of the last Lee cameos, was .are in both as a memoir to Lee and Ditko, but also shows a way of passing the torch to someone of African-American/Puerto Rican descent, similar to Steve Rogers as Captain America being succeeded by Sam Wilson/Falcon. Just shy of two hours in length, the movie has voices like Nicholas Cage as Parker/Noir, John Mulaney as Porker/Spider-Ham, Jake Johnson as the alternate Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man, and the titular newbie, Morales, voiced by Shamiek Moore, a rapper who is also in the Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga, portraying Wu-Tang Clan artist Raekwon.

Distributed by Sony Animations Releasing, this film, despite Marvel being involved in production, isn't part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, compared to the live action entries Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Morales was mentioned in Homecoming, but the only link between the two films comes from his uncle, Aaron Davis. After getting great acclaim and winning Best Animated Feature in two different occasions, a sequel and spin-off was rumored to happen, and even with the instability of the MCU's Spider-Man (played by Tom Holland), though this is expanded on. Following a 5-year deal with Sony, a TV series based on the film is possible.

The CGI animation allows people to do much more with action scenes that live-action can pull off as hit-or-miss scenarios. But for what it's worth, Into The Spider-Verse was a great twist to a familiar tale, and I hope thenromors become reality so that the adventures of Miles Morales continue. The film gets a full 10 of 10 from me personally, and as far as animated superhero films go, VERY difficult to top.

Review 6: Invader! Squid Girl

Perhaps the more random of the "Alien entity trying to assimilate Earth" titles, Invader! Squid Girl, aka Shinryaku! Ika Musume is what happens when you take a marine animal and make it revolt against humanity... and comically mess it up. It's not the first to do that, and it's e rude to scale which would be the funniest of this type of anime, but I guess the humorous charm is to take what everyone would normally fear, and make it fail what it was set out to do. This... is not so different. The plot for this is more close to home... and I mean CLOSE to home.

The sea is quite fed up. The continuous pollution of the waters on Earth made the inhabitants quite irate at humanity. Seeking to make the humans atone for their sins by enslavement, an emissary was sent to the surface in the form of Squid Girl, with the intent of invasion. That all comes to a halt when in a pathetic display, the Lemon Beach Shack, the place she wanted to be foe base of her assault, gets a hole in the wall due to her actions. Forced to do so by the owners of the place, Chizuru and Eko Aizawa, Squid Girl is now stuck working there to pay off the damage she caused, forcing her invasion on indefinite pause. However, it also serves as an opportunity to study Earth and its people... at least as far as the surrounding area of the Beach House.

Lasting 2 seasons, this title has a total of 24 episodes, with 3 original video animations to its name. While the character herself isn't from outer space, it's similar to other tiles I see like it in theme, like Sgt. Frog.  The title in question is a slice of life comedy, with nothing really off the rails beyond her existence, for the most part. Being an old anime, like 8 years old, it did have a change in US licensing. Media Blasters initially had the reigns for the series, however, only the first anime was dubbed for the states until the year of its supposed dissolution. Three years ago, its floating status was later changed, as Sentai Filmworks, successor to A.D. Vision, picked it up. With a new dubbing cast, the last 12 episodes and the 3 OVAs were dubbed and released stateside. Having been on streaming platforms like Netflix and Crunchyroll, this title made its rounds. The cast this times feature mostly names I'm nnot quite familiar with, save for Christina Vee, who I often hear from other anime titles, and certain video games like the Shantae series, which she plays the protagonist of. The lead character is done by Christine Marie Cabanos who can be heard in titles such as Sailor Moon Crystal as well as some of the Fire Emblem games among many others, and she would retain her role in both dubbings. The rest did a bit of a shakeup between the 2 dubbings, though, like (or example) Takeru Aizawa, little brother of the sisters. Season 1 saw him voiced by Amanda C. Miller, who also voices Boruto Uzumaki in his anime Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, while Season 2 replaced her with Greg Ayres, brother of Christopher Ayres, and known for roles like Negi Springfield of the Negima! anime, and Frost (universal parallel of Frieza, which his brother voices) in Dragon Ball Super.

Initially, I couldn't make heads or tails of this, but as it progressed, I started to come to terms with it a bit more. And it's definitely a bit more upbeat, compared to normal slice of life titles, and a huge plus over the dramatic ones. An interesting thing to note here: in the raw/subbed versions, she stresses the "ika" term and usually ends her sentences with "de geso". In the dub, these are dropped, being replaced by dialogue with squid-based puns. What charms me about the latter is that some of the puns are positioned in a way that it can be considered unintentionally censored, as in, for example, "Are you squidding me!?" can be seen as a humorous, roundabout way of the more profane "Are you sh***ing me!?" My only criticism is that the change in voices were difficult to deal with at first, but it's not the only title to do so. Two of my favorite series, Slayers and Ranma 1/2, are guilty of this as well, but at least with the latter, I could understand, since the character sounded slightly older between seasons 3 and 4. With Slayers, it saw a similar gap Invader! Squid Girl did, but much older in comparison.

Invader! Squid Girl was entertaining, but not to the point where I'd stop everything to watch it again out of boredom. Make no mistake, save that one criticism, there was hardly anything to turn me away from it, but it didn't offer much to keep me as a fan either. I reviewed it before in the older blog, but giving it a second look, I downgrade my score to a 6 of 10, which isn't much of a drop from the first time. Still worth a look if you are into slice of life, but want your dose of comedy with it. I can say at the very least, this anime achieves that.

Review 5: Tekken: Blood Vengeance

As a diehard fan since the sequel Tekken 2 for the Sony PlayStation console (and eventually the series overall), Tekken has been my love as far as fighting games. Sure, other franchises precede it, like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Killer Instinct. and like Tekken, there were films made from most of them. Some I reviewed already before this blog. As a fan (and sort of loyalist), I got excited when I leaned there were films of this. To my chagrin, however, the Tekken motion picture was mediocre, despite animated, and the two live action ones were... well, let's just say a raging demon and devil beam to both would be doing them a favor. Then we have Tekken: Blood Vengeance, a fully CGI film directed by the ones behind the openings for Tekken 5, 6, and Tag Tournament 2. This one had a one-night-only showing here in the states, but has since reached release via Blu-Ray, digital, and even part of a game card... I'll explain later.

Taking after what we knew of Tekken 5 and Tekken 6, the movie opens up with the ever familiar rivalry between the assassin sisters: Nina and Anna Williams. But following the plot, each are employed to a respective side fighting the was going on around this time, those sides being the Mishima Zaibatsu (now ran by Jin Kazama following his victory in Tekken 5) and the militarized G Corporation (headed by Jin's father, Kazuya Mishima, after infiltrating it and dealing with whoever turned on him in the group). For Ling Xiaoyu, save for her worries for Jin, the skirmish would mean nothing... if not for the fact that Anna decided to use her in the purpose of finding plot anchor Shin Kamiya. A subject of a certain type research, Shin is a student with a bulls-eye on his back, targeted by both Kazuya and Jin, and because of this, her life as a Mishima Polytechnic High student is over, though half of which was also her (un)doing, as well. Now, thanks to Anna as her "counselor", she  becomes a student of a prestigious International School in Kyoto, crossing hairs with the android Alisa Bosconovitch. As for Shin, there is more about him than a mere cute face, as he has connections similar to Xiao and Jin. Whatever it is, Jin, Kazuya, and Heihachi Mishima wants him, and Shin... has an agenda of his own concerning them. With much at stake, who is walking away from the battle the victor? There may be no tournament going on, but when a fight calls, fighters answer. And a fight among the Mishima bloodline was long overdue!

The movies plot coincides with the events of Tekken 5 and Tekken 6. At this time, the latter's arcade cabinet update, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, was 3 years old, and the console game was years in play across Japan, Europe, and the North America. Under the direction of Youichi Mouri, the visuals were made the studio Digital Frontier, who had a hand in many CGI animations, including the TV anime Infini-T Force, and CG films Gantz-0 and Summer Wars. They also did a catalog of video game CG as well, with the likes of the recent 2 Super Smash Bros. titles (for Wii U /3DS and Ultimate), many of the Yakuza series games, and did the CG for Tekken 5 all the way to the latest installment: last year's Tekken 7. Aside from the aforementioned figures, the movie also involved Xiao's pet Panda, the doll Mokujin, and fellow Tekken veterans Ganryu and Lee Chaolan. So roster-wise, don't expect a lot of cameos. And they put the fights in as only they can, and with CG, it's not impossible to go ridiculous with the content, granted this was before Namco Bandai made use of the Unreal Engine 4. While it may not have as much characters, they do sport familiar moves adapted from the games, and the characters/outfits are easily recognizable. It also marked a first as far as English voices for characters you don't normally hear from, as was the case at the time for Ganryu, Kazuya, Heihachi, and Jin. With their respective Seiyuus, here are the cast, excluding Shin Kamiya:

Ling Xiaoyu: Carrie Keranen/ Maaya Sakamoto
Alisa Bosconovich: Christina Vee/ Yuki Matsuoka
Jin Kazama: Patrick Seitz (cred: Darren Daniels)/ Isshin Chiba
Kazuya Mishima: Kyle Hebert/ Masanori Shinohara
Heihachi Mishima: Jamieson Price/ Unsho Ishizuka
Ganryu: Paul St. Peter/ Hidenari Ugaki
Lee Chaolan: Kaiji Tand/ Ryotaro Okiayu
Anna Williams: Tara Platt/ Akeno Watanabe
Nina Williams: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn/ Atsuko Tanaka


Truly follows that "third time's the charm" scenario, as this was more worthy than both Tekken: The Motion Picture, and Tekken live action. I had my doubts, but I'm calling this an 8.1 of 10, seeing as how it bounced back from its other two movie mishaps. Great job, Namco Bandai!