Created by Yu Suzuki. Starring the voice talent of Austin Tindle and Natalie Rial. Based on the hit Dreamcast game. Shenmue the animation tells the story of Ryo Hazuki as he seeks revenge for his father’s murder at the hands of Lan Di.
Back in my review of Shenmue 3, I spoke about the upcoming anime of Shenmue. Well, it’s finally here and has been for a while. Shenmue originally appeared on Dreamcast and was the most expensive game ever developed at the time. The sequel also appeared on the Dreamcast and original Xbox before the Dreamcast was discontinued leaving the series up in the air. A massive kickstarted campaign went ahead and finally, 18 years later a 3rd game was released on current platforms as well as the originals being re-released.
Shenmue the animation is 13-part animation which covers the first 2 games in the series. It’s pretty much a scene-for-scene retelling of the game. So, anybody that doesn’t feel like playing the first 2 games for whatever reason and wants to play the 3rd can be right up to date watching the anime with all characters.
There’s a bit more to the anime story-wise as it shows a bit more of Ryo Hazuki before his father’s death and his relationship with his father. Of course, we have the mystical intro dialogue with Shenhua. A girl in a village recites her village’s prophecy about her meeting a stranger from a faraway land who has a hidden potential which can either save or destroy him. The anime flashes to Shenhua quite a lot with her father and her village. None of this was shown until the 3rd game.
The 1st episode starts with Ryo leaving his house to fight in a martial arts tournament. His father wishes him well and gives him some last-minute cryptic advice being the wise old master he is. Of course, Ryo owns the tournament and, on his way, home he sees his classmate Nozomi getting harassed by some thugs. Nozomi has a massive crush on Ryo by the way. He takes the thugs out and then heads home.
This is where familiar territory takes part and the intro of the first game starts. Ryo sees some black cars parked out front of his house and his mum is laying on the grass. He ventures into the dojo to find his father Iwao Hazuki having a standoff with Lan Di, one of the leaders of the Chi You Men, a criminal organisation. Lan Di is an evil and deadly martial arts master. Lan Di is asking for the location of a mirror, we later find out this is the dragon mirror. Iwao refuses, attacks Lan Di and gets taken out with ease. Ryo then attacks Lan Di and also gets taken out with ease. Lan Di retrieves the mirror and delivers the final death blow to Iwao.
This is where the game starts and sets Ryo on his path to find Lan Di, find out why his father was killed and get revenge.
Anyone that’s played the games knows this involved Ryo going about town and asking people 
if they have any information on the black cars and who was in them. Yes, I know what you thinking. Ryo going around asking where sailors hang out. Well, thankfully that’s passed over pretty quickly. In fact, people might be thinking it’s all pretty fast-paced as it’s shooting through game parts that had you stuck for hours. By the 3rd episode, Ryo has already met Master Chen, Guizhang and fought Chai twice. The crazy little bald dude. The difference from the game is he beats Chai both times with relative ease. In the game, you can beat him but it’s a very hard fight you are supposed to lose, this makes the end fight with Chai more interesting. Not so much in the anime as he’s already beat him twice. Also, don’t forget this series covers the first two games, so there is a lot of ground to cover.
Just like the game Ryo travels to China, meets up with Ren and Lishao Tao. Has many fights along the way and he eventually encounters Dou Niu. The behemoth leader of the Yellow Heads. It covers all the classic parts from the games from Ryo driving around in a forklift to him being hand-cuffed to Ren trying to escape the Yellow Head stronghold. But unlike the game, Ryo does catch up with Lan Di on the yellow head stronghold rooftop and takes him on. If you wanna know how that pans out. you’ll have to watch it.
In Conclusion, Shenmue The Animation does a decent job of translating the beloved game into animation. All the characters are there. Austin Tindle does a better job than the game’s character actor and plays a more laid-back Ryo and less robotic. Nozomi looks nothing like her game counterpart and I wasn’t sure who she even was a first. The main downside is the fights. Anyone that’s read my stuff before knows I love a long epic fight. Ryo dispatches most opponents with one blow, even boss characters from the game. Realistic yes and his moves look awesome but this is no Kegan Ashura.
In terms of a second season, I’m not sure where they go from here. Maybe covering the entire 3rd game which was already severely padded out. Going by the same pace as this one, they could probably bang the entire game out in 4 episodes. Unless they venture into Game of Thrones territory and go it alone without the source material getting advised by Yu Suzuki along the way. Only time will tell.
Shenmue: The Animation is available on Crunchyroll now.
Rating 3.5/5 belts
