The anime, Tekken: Bloodline, finally released on August 18, giving us a 6-episode, action-packed first season that lives up to all the hype.
Veteran fans of Tekken, the video game series, are of the opinion that the show is true to the insane, violent energy of the games, although some disagree on the inevitable powerscaling of its characters.
Tekken: Bloodline is based on the story of the Tekken 2 ending and Tekken 3, following the journey of protagonist Jin Kazama, his backstory involving his mother, Jun, his martial arts training, and his ultimate battle with Ogre.
In this article, I’m going to list down the top 10 strongest characters from the Tekken: Bloodline anime according to me.
Note: I’ll mention the characters’ video-game counterparts and discuss their abilities lore-wise, but my ranking is based purely on the anime.
10 Nina Williams
Nina Williams, the cold-blooded assassin, is one of the competitors in the King of Iron Fist Tournament. She has years of experience and has participated in previous versions of the tournament as well.
Although fans thought Nina would have had more of a presence in the show given her trailer appearance, Nina actually doesn’t end up defeating anyone – at least in the anime.
The fact is, Nina wasn’t allowed to kill, so she was obviously holding back. She is actually one of the OGs in the game, and definitely deserves better. The second season better see Nina returning with a bang.
9Leroy Smith
Leroy is actually a character from Tekken 7, and since the anime is based on Tekken 3, his character shouldn’t even exist in Tekken: Bloodline in the first place.
However, Leroy’s on-screen fight is perhaps one of the best ones in the show, where he goes up against Jin, who breaks his leg in the bout.
Leroy practices Wing Chun, a martial arts style that is big on defense. Leroy is hugely determined and puts up a good fight against Jin. Even Hwoarang, Jin’s rival, is thoroughly impressed with Leroy.
8Julia Chang and Anna Williams
Julia’s win happens off-screen: she defeats Marshall Law, who was mentioned by Paul to be his friend and trainer.
I’m not entirely sure how this happened, but it did. A lot of fans find the fact that Julia defeated Law ridiculous, and since the fight wasn’t shown to us, we have no idea of how it actually went down.
I suspect Tekken: Bloodline uses Tekken 7 Julia instead of Tekken 3, which is how she’s so strong. She is later defeated by Paul.
Anna Williams, who is Nina’s sister, has just a small appearance in the anime, but we do know that she is at least at Julia’s level. Anna defeated Yoshimitsu off-screen and is later beaten by Hwoarang.
7Ling Xiaoyu
Xiaoyu is Jin Kazama’s classmate and enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament in the hopes of winning the cash prize.
She’s nowhere even on Nina’s level if we consider the video game lore, but she still ends up clapping Nina in the anime.
She is defeated in the quarter finals by King II but after Ancient Ogre transforms into True Ogre, Xiaoyu, along with Hwoarang and Paul, fly to aid Jin. She is also able to stop Devil Jin from killing his grandfather, Heihachi.
6Hwoarang
Hwoarang is protagonist Jin Kazama’s rival and is among the participants in the King of Iron Fist Tournament.
Hwoarang defeats Steve Fox and Anna Williams in off-screen battles and faces Jin in the semi-finals.
He is able to deflect Jin’s blows but is eventually defeated by him. He also pushes Jin into surpassing his limits by urging him to fight again, right after his match with King II.
5Paul Phoenix
We don’t see much of Paul Phoenix during the tournament apart from his match with King II in which he is defeated.
Again, some fans can’t comprehend how and why Paul is washed by King, especially when he’s strong enough to intervene when True Ogre attacks Jin. Paul was sold as being almost as strong as Kazuya, Jin’s dad and previous winner of the King of Iron Fist.
For him to lose to King in his first tournament was a huge downer for Paul fans – though not more than the fact that Paul vs. Kuma was off-screened.
Paul didn’t get to showcase most of his abilities in this season, but I’m hoping the writers make it up to him in the next one.
4King II
King II trained under the original King, who fought the Ogre itself. King II has the most impressive wins in Tekken: Bloodline, having defeated Marduk, Xiaoyu, and even the fan-favorite, Paul.
King has a lot of fans himself, though. For most of the show, King is a beast who goes around beating up people, albeit without his signature roar.
King’s backstory works as a wonderful parallel to his personality. He is Jin Kazama’s final opponent in the tournament, and after a close and brilliant match, is defeated.
3Heihachi Mishima and Jun Kazama
Most people would be surprised to see Heihachi, everyone’s favorite antagonist grandpa, and Jun, the protagonist’s mother-mentor, on the same rank.
Heihachi and Jun have entirely different combat ideologies and techniques, but they are equally powerful in their own right.
Going by the game, Heihachi is definitely stronger than Jun, because in Tekken 3, he’s shown to be capable of taking down Ancient Ogre.
Heihachi has the power of brute strength and pure skill – without the help of any devil gene. In his prime, Heihachi defeated and attempted to kill his own son, Kazuya, who possessed the devil gene.
On the other hand, Jun Kazama, is the one who has actually taught Jin, who in turn defeated Heihachi.
Jun fought valiantly against Ancient Ogre, putting herself in a fatal situation to help her son escape. She was able to hold off the Ogre long enough so the house fire consumed them both.
2Ogre
Both Ancient Ogre and True Ogre are manifestations of crazy power. Ancient Ogre is the base form of Ogre while True Ogre is its final form.
This green monster is responsible for Jun Kazama’s disappearance and serves as the primary motivation for Jin to get strong enough to be able to defeat it.
Ancient Ogre reappears in episode 6 after Jin defeats Heihachi, and is ultimately beaten by Jin. This is when he transforms into True Ogre.
True Ogre requires Jin to fight with reinforcements – Paul, Xiaoyu, and Hwoarang come to help, and Jin draws from his latent genetic power of the devil gene to defeat True Ogre.
1 Jin Kazama
Jin Kazama, the protagonist of Tekken: Bloodline, is the strongest character in the anime. Even without transforming into Devil Jin, he is able to win the Iron Fist Tournament, slam Heihachi, and take down Ancient Ogre. He also defeats True Ogre with the help of his devil gene.
After Heihachi shoots Jin with the intention of killing him, Jin’s devil gene is activated completely and he transforms into Devil Jin. Devil Jin essentially brings Jin back from the dead.
Jin is easily the most powerful character, not just in the show, but in the series.
Honorary Mention
I would like to mention Kazuya Mishima here. Even though he’s not on my list, Kazuya, Jin’s dad and also a devil gene holder, is incredibly strong. Were it not for the fact that Kazuya is only shown in the form of flashbacks, he’d be in the top 3.
About Tekken: Bloodline
Tekken: Bloodline is an upcoming anime based on the Tekken video games. It will be available to watch on Netflix later this year.
The story will star Jin Kuzama, who studies martial arts under his mother’s tutelage. When a monstrous demon strikes and he loses everything, Jin trains with his grandfather so he can obtain absolute power and seek vengeance.
The first season will see Jin’s origin story and his quest to win The King of Iron Fist Tournament.
The Tekken main series games have 7 official installments, plus additional editions. It was one of the first fighting games to use 3D animation when it was first released in 1994.
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