Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls’ public beta begins this weekend. In advance of that,developer Arc System Works has released the game’s opening movie and it is straight up an anime OP. Though there are probably some comic-book purists who don’t like seeing Marvel lean hard into other styles, after years of seeing Marvel superheroes looking bland and often greenscreened into their environments, any time I see these characters pop in a new style, especially one as expressive as anime styles tend to be, all set to an emotional rock anthem? You got me.
The OP gives everyone in Tōkon’s starting roster a moment to shine, but it definitely has a few favorites in Captain America, Spider-Man, and Iron Man. I guess they are faces of the franchise at this point. Gah, the way the music swells as everyone gets a cool hero moment is plucked right out of your favorite shonen anime. It’s peak.
The last time Marvel did something that really hit me like this was Marvel Rivals’ launch trailer, which had the same vibes. I still listen to the song, “Rivals ‘Til The End,” all the time.
I’m looking forward to getting some extended time with Tōkon this weekend when the beta comes to PC and PS5.