Tekken: Blood Vengeance

Writer Dai Satō was chosen by Katsuhiro Harada for his experience in his career and was given freedom in regards to how to expand the franchise.

When the project began, Harada originally wanted all the characters to make an appearance. However, due to need of screentime, the movie would have lacked any coherent narrative as a result. This led to the usage of fewer characters.[15] In the games Harada says the story primarily focuses on the rivalries in the Mishima clan. However, Satō's usage faces Xiaoyu and Alisa Bosconovitch the heroines of the story was a new point of view that Harada had not thought of and thus find the result very interesting to follow.[10] Satō said in 2011 that he had chosen her as one of the two lead characters because he felt Alisa is "the face of the franchise's future". Meanwhile, Xiaoyu "symbolize[d] the older Tekken games".[18] Alisa and Xiaoyu were inspired by heroines movies in common in Hollywood. The family drama between the Mishimas and the Williams was noted to be the highlight of the franchise who the heroines explore.[19] Satō always wanted the story to be set around the conflict between the Mishimas though explored from another point of view. In order to make it more unique, the story was given a school feeling based on Satō's preferences as well as how relatable it can be.[20]

Satō had been a fan of the Tekken games and played the arcade version of the third installment as part of research. As he discussed the handling of these leads with Harada, Satō claims he wanted to use these characters since they come across as weak, something which he believes films require in order to undergo a character arc, common in coming-of-age story stories. Alisa in particular apppealed to him because of how different she made the franchise from other fighting game series. A new character named Shin Kamiya appears in the movie in order to provide a reason to feature Heihachi Mishima and further explore the lore behind the Devil Gene. Shin was written to die early in the movie on purpose to show the dangers of the Gene as it could only be used by Jin and Kazuya. Heihachi's transformation into a giant monster was also an idea written by Satō to produce something unique. The Williams sisters and Kazuya and Jin were added more in the fashion of eye-candy in contrast to the main characters.[21] Mizushima says that he also wanted to give the story a suspense tone through Shin's side.[7]

The team worked to provide several elements including action, comedy, drama among others. Satō described it as a "female buddy film" as he wanted to have more characters than just the Mishima conflict from the games. Additionally, the writer wanted it to be accessible. Xiaoyu was written to be relatable to the audience and balance the more supernatural elements in the process. Xiaoyu's relationship with Alisa was made so that the latter develops a "soul" as the film progresses. This surprised her own voice actress not only due to her design but how much of a bigger role she had. In regards to the Mishima feud, Satō describes them as horrible people but wanted to give Jin's characterization a different take from his relatives. Meanwhile, according to Satō, Kazuya represents the "core" of the franchise, finding his antagonism and strength as a charm for the plot. Kazuya's actor also liked how his character stands up as a villain. In contrast to the games, the film uses more facial expressions as it helps them humanize.[17] In the final scenes, the sight of Alisa, bruised and wrecked, summoning her final strength was influenced by Terminator 2 and Alien 2. This scene was storyboarded by Shinji Higuchi much to Satō's joy as it was his favorite.[22]

The music of the film was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto alongside fellow composers from Basiscape. As the staff felt that Tekken feels more like a live action film rather than an anime, composer Hitoshi Sakimoto was requested to make the music Hollywood-like. Orchestral pieces were used for the soundtrack. Despite the heavy focus on violence, Sakimoto was asked by the director to make the music more fitting for Xiaoyu and Alisa's friendship which led to a lighter tone. Harada was surprised by the final product due to his changed impression of the two heroines as they came across filled with more emotions.[17] Basiscape includes other composers such as Yoshimi Kudo, Masaharu Iwata, Kimihiro Abe among others. The official soundtrack was released on July 27, 2011 on the Namco Sounds label for the Digital Edition and Basiscape Records for the CD Edition.[23]

Tekken: Blood Vengeance has received mixed reviews with many comparing it to Tekken: The Motion Picture and the 2009 live-action film.[33][34][35] IGN's Steven Hooper claimed that despite pacing issues, the plot is benefitted from appealing fight sequences and stylish CGI.[36] The fight scenes were generally praised by critics.[33] PALGN's agreed, also enjoying the story.[34] Engadget's Eric Kaoili found the film "pleasing" felt the video player was "garbage".[37] Capsule Monsters praised its campy humor like Shin talking about his body while being naked or Alisa's crush but felt the ending was too forced as the two protagonists are overshadowed by Jin, Kazuya and Heihachi.[38] Spong felt that the fight between the Mishimas was hilarious due to how brutal it was while other elements of the movie made it enjoyable to see for the unintentionally comedy caused by the film's attempt to write generate drama.[39]

The two leads and Shin were the subject of mixed responses as being unimportant in comparison to the Mishima crudge.[40][41] Capsule Monsters criticized how Xiaoyu loses importance in the movie in the climax when the Mishimas start fighting. Nevertheless, he still found earlier scenes about her search for Shin Kamiya alongside Alisa to be hilarious in an accidental way.[42] Spong was more negative, criticizing her adventure which started Alisa's character arc which came across as fanservice such as one where Xiaoyu is nearly naked in company of her.[39] In a more general overview, Cheat Code Central felt the entire movie was fanservice as the subplot of the Mishima family has no impact in the series.[33] Dread Central also criticized the subplot involving the two Williams sisters, claiming there was little focus on them and there is no solution to their rivalry similar to the Mishimas.[40] Dread Central criticized the overuse of the Devil Gene subplot, while comparing Jin and Kazuya's transformations to the series Devilman which leads to a Godzilla-like fight scene in the climax when Heihachi combines with the Mokujins.[40]

The Japanese Committee of the International 3D Society honored Tekken: Blood Vengeance along with Always Sanchōme no Yūhi '64, Kaibutsu-kun and Sadako 3D at the second annual International 3D Awards Lumiere Japan, where all four films won the Movie Award.[43] The film also won the International Jury Prize (Japan) at the International 3D Society's fourth annual 3D Creative Arts Awards.[44]

According to Anime News Network, the film has been popular in the United Kingdom based on sales from 2012, taking third place behind Arrietty and Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys.[45]

Shin was one of the proposed character concepts as a playable character in Tekken Revolution. The developer found it difficult to make him as a playable character due to his lack of knowledge in martial arts and the fact that he died in the film he appeared in, although there was an idea to make him an immortal character.[46]

In retrospect, Harada believes the film lives up to the requests fans used to make about the series.[9] Should a sequel be done, Satō expressed a desire to use Asuka Kazama and Lili as the new leading duo especially because the latter comes across as "versatile".[21]

Digital Frontier got more experienced with the handling of the visuals with Blood Vengeance which led to an easier development for Resident Evil Damnation.[47]