SHENMUE: ADULT SWIM & CRUNCHYROLL SEEK VENGEANCE WITH NYCC TEASER FOR SEGA-INSPIRED ANIME

[Roofus]

Adult Swim and Crunchyroll set off on a warpath of vengeance with the first teaser for their Shenmue anime TV series. Based on the classic SEGA title of the same name, the upcoming show is set in 1986 and follows Ryo Hazuki, a teenage martial artist who seeks to avenge his father's murder. Armed with a strange and coveted artifact known as the Dragon Mirror, Ryo tracks down Lan Di, leader of a vast criminal organization and master of an ancient fighting style.

"In the form of an anime, it has become more accessible and can be enjoyed by small children as well," executive producer and Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki said during a pre-recorded discussion for this year's edition of New York Comic Con. "I can't wait to see the TV series go on air."

"Obviously, this had to respect Yu Suzuki's vision of the project," added producer Joseph Chou. "This is very a story-driven game [and] I thought it was perfect for an adaptation ... It's a challenge of trying to stay faithful to the game itself as well as...there are things that you need when you're trying to tell a story, especially in a long series format."



Suzuki was very hands-on with the project and even helped the production crew flesh out the narrative with "hundreds of thousands of pages of backstory" that have never made it into the games, Chou revealed. "We were able to actually build that little-by-little in the anime itself."

In addition, the team also wanted to capture some of the open world magic of the original game, whose trailblazing mechanics allowed the player to freely roam about the virtual environments and interact with NPCs of their choosing. "In the game, one can talk to different characters [and] we wanted to incorporate a bit of that in the anime too," explained the anime's director, Chikara Sakurai. "So, we made the protagonist talk to people on the street. We paid attention to create those details within the time limit. We wanted to reconstruct a bit of the atmosphere of the game."

The gaming franchise spans three separate titles. Shenmue I and II were released in 1999 and 2001, respectively (both were available to play on the SEGA Dreamcast). The third installment arrived in 2019 after raising over $6 million on Kickstarter. Adult Swim and Crunchyroll announced their intentions to adapt the series for the small screen last September.

Shenmue: The Animation will premiere on Adult Swim sometime in 2022.

Click here for SYFY WIRE’s full coverage of New York Comic Con 2021

Source: Syfy

[melancholy]

So will this continue the story past Shenmue 3? If not, it’s a complete waste of resources.

[ian]

How about they finish the fucking story before retelling it from scratch?

Let me guess... Season 1 will be Shenmue 1, season 2 will be Shenmue 2, and then it will be cancelled either before a 3rd season is made, or right after the 3rd season comes out.
Or perhaps they will one piece or naruto it and have 43,982 episodes of Ryo talking to every single random stranger just like the games and after the 43,983rd episode it will just end on a cliffhanger never to be heard of again while only 30 episodes actually have any story whatsoever.

Either way, I doubt we'll be seeing the story go further. That ship has sank.

[Skynet]

So I watched episode 1 last night. I don't know if there's a dub version or not, but I watched a subbed one. Episode 1 starts with a brief glimpse of the end of Shenmue 2, then picks up at the start of Shenmue 1.

It was actually really enjoyable and I'm definitely going to watch every episode they release.

It's weird because it has parts that are beat for beat the same as the game, but then different as well, also with some different dialogue.

[Hawq]

Theres a dub cast listed on imdb, no word on when it will air though as of yet, annoying as I need it to be able to watch & know whats going on (too many years since playing & I aint started on my PS4 version yet)

[Skynet]

I would like to hear @ian's take on this.

[ian]

I don't watch subbed anime.
If I wanted to read, I would read a book. There's only a few billion in existence.

Exact same reason I watch nothing with subtitles on. In fact I recently set them to disabled entirely in VLC because more and more people include them turned on by default... FUCK OFF.

When I can get my hands on the entire series dubbed in a language l can understand, I'll give it a watch. Maybe. Eventually.

I've been slowly plugging my way through Shenmue 3, I'd be more inclined to watch this series AND finish Shenmue 3 if this anime picked up where 3 ends... Not retelling a story I've already known for 20 years.

In fact I will wait until this either has enough story to get past the games, or ends before it has the chance.

Either way. It's very hard to be exited about, and I even came around to 3 after being fucked over pretty hard...

[Roofus]

I completely forgot about this and I'm the one who first posted it. I need to check this out.

[Skynet]

I don't watch subbed anime.
If I wanted to read, I would read a book. There's only a few billion in existence.

Exact same reason I watch nothing with subtitles on. In fact I recently set them to disabled entirely in VLC because more and more people include them turned on by default... FUCK OFF.

When I can get my hands on the entire series dubbed in a language l can understand, I'll give it a watch. Maybe. Eventually.

I've been slowly plugging my way through Shenmue 3, I'd be more inclined to watch this series AND finish Shenmue 3 if this anime picked up where 3 ends... Not retelling a story I've already known for 20 years.

In fact I will wait until this either has enough story to get past the games, or ends before it has the chance.

Either way. It's very hard to be exited about, and I even came around to 3 after being fucked over pretty hard...

Well the good news is there is a dub, as Hawq mentioned. Unsure if it's out in the wild yet. The good news is I have a Crunchy Roll trial I can use thanks to Game Pass, so maybe I'll see if they have it in English.

It seems like they will hopefully get through Shmoo 1 and 2 pretty quickly, the artwork shows Joy and Ren. No idea if it will pass 3 though. I can't bring myself to even start 3

I completely forgot about this and I'm the one who first posted it. I need to check this out.

[Calavera]

So will this continue the story past Shenmue 3? If not, it’s a complete waste of resources.

I agree. They need to just finish the damn story! I actually enjoyed Shenmue III for what it was but it was beyond fucking ridiculous that after waiting 18 years for the next game when it finally releases not only does it not finish the story but barely even continues it!

[Hawq]

just seen the Englishj dub for the first ep has surfaced so if anyones been waiting for it, like I have, now the time

[ian]

In news that didn't surprise me when I got told:

"Shenmue: The Animation, Adult Swim's co-production Shenmue anime with Crunchyroll, has been canceled. Season 2 was reportedly already in the works before the cancellation, and the news was shared Wednesday via Twitter by Jason DeMarco, the senior vice president of action and anime programming for Warner Discovery.

The anime adapting the cult classic Sega game was first announced back in September 2020, and then aired in February this year. Season 1 has already been removed from Adult Swim and other streaming sites but as of this writing will continue to be available on Crunchyroll. It's being speculated that the show unceremoniously got the ax as part of a wider purge by Warner Discovery of its properties following its merger earlier this year"


I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Was it any good?

[ian]

Not a clue. Didn't watch it. Unlike most things based on games I can confirm that it remained faithful to the games in that it hasn't got an ending.

So they nailed the production process at least.

[Skynet]

Was it any good?

I got through most of it and dropped off near the end, no idea why. I actually thought it was really good