Shenmue The Animation Announced

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So does this mean that Corey and Brianna "I am Shenhua's first voice actress" Knickerbocker are on board if this gets an English dub?

Im OK with Corey and Brianna but I hope that for the love of God, whatever they do, they will not cast the guy who voiced Lan Di in S3. That must have been the most terrible miscast in video game history. I'm not taking shots at the guy here, mind you, I think he's probably a good voice actor in his own right but his voice just doesn't suit Lan Di at all. S3 Lan Di's voice was an abomination. If they could get Paul Lucas again, we're golden.

I mean if they get Matsukaze as Ryo, Fujioka as Iwao, Sakurai as Lan Di and Ren and Shenhua's S3 voice actors for the Japanese dub, we're golden too. Unfortunately S2 Ren's Jap voice actor has retired from the industry iirc, but Jap S3 Ren was fine as well.
 
Further details are expected to be announced during the Expo's stage presentation (Sat, Sep 5, 2020 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM PT).
https://expo.crunchyroll.com/New-Cr...panel-name=Crunchyroll-Virtual-Industry-Panel

Let's keep an eye out!
Nice one Switch! I spent about an hour at 2am looking around their site trying to find this :p I thought it had happened already as per IGN's article (was using past tense lol) so was trying to find the VOD...
Will 100% be tuning in for this with fingers crossed! 8PM for those in the UK I believe?
 
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So does this mean that Corey and Brianna "I am Shenhua's first voice actress" Knickerbocker are on board if this gets an English dub?

Im OK with Corey and Brianna but I hope that for the love of God, whatever they do, they will not cast the guy who voiced Lan Di in S3. That must have been the most terrible miscast in video game history. I'm not taking shots at the guy here, mind you, I think he's probably a good voice actor in his own right but his voice just doesn't suit Lan Di at all. S3 Lan Di's voice was an abomination. If they could get Paul Lucas again, we're golden.

I mean if they get Matsukaze as Ryo, Fujioka as Iwao, Sakurai as Lan Di and Ren and Shenhua's S3 voice actors for the Japanese dub, we're golden too. Unfortunately S2 Ren's Jap voice actor has retired from the industry iirc, but Jap S3 Ren was fine as well.
The more I think about it the more I’d like them to keep the original cast where possible. If they do, I just hope they bring in a decent director. Corey has a lot more range than he’s given credit for and whilst it shines through in places in the games, I do think if given the right direction he could really nail it. Yu will probably push for Corey’s return too.

That said, I’d understand if they recast. Rightly or wrongly, a lot of people have Shenmue down as a series with bad voice acting - and bringing back the same voice actors could lead to people writing the anime off as also being portly dubbed even before they’ve watched it. In that sense, a clean slate might be better.

If they were to recast, it could create an interesting situation when it comes to casting for S4 (assuming it ever happens). If a new voice actor absolutely nails Ryo in the anime, would they replace Corey with him or would we have an anime Ryo and a VG Ryo?
 
Cool tidbit from Cedric:-

Kinda disappointed that he’s not involved in the project. He was one of the few people in the industry that really supported Shenmue when the chips were down and that they didn’t allow him some involvement in this project (especially considering it’s probably more in line with what he does than video games is) make me a little sad.
 
It doesn't have a direct impact on Shenmue IV but inderectly it can boost Shenmue HD and Shenmue 3 sales wich increases the potential for Shenmue 4 becoming a reality.
 
It doesn't have a direct impact on Shenmue IV but inderectly it can boost Shenmue HD and Shenmue 3 sales wich increases the potential for Shenmue 4 becoming a reality.

It's unclear exactly what he meant since he's not a native English speaker, but I wonder if by saying "There is no impact on a potential Shenmue IV game", he means what Golem said in that the anime's story won't cross into Shenmue IV territory?
 
It will be interesting to see which direction the anime takes for the optional events in the games. Will Ryo lose to Chai at the arcade? Will Ren stab Ryo?

I'm also looking forward to seeing what they do with Shenhua and the mystical elements of the games.

I think this anime could clear up a lot of things in Shenmue 3. For example, when Yanglang talks about the group that ordered him to raid Bailu village, we might get to see just exactly who ordered him to do this. Chai's story might be pieced together better, too. Hopefully!
 
Very interesting food for thought, @tomboz. I think for the Japanese dub it's a no-brainer since people like Matsukaze and Sakurai seem to do more anime than video games if I'm not mistaken.

But if they recast completely, I'd be open for some fresh voices, tbh. And when /if S4 gets announced, I'd say "may the best actors win." If someone does a better Ryo, Ren or Shenhua than the game voice actors why not keep them on board for a fourth and /or fifth game?

Although I can't imagine anyone ever pulling off a better English Lan Di and Chai than Paul Lucas. They really need to bring him back.
 
Haters hate seeing others happy, especially online. Never forget that.
You’re absolutely right. We should all pretend to be miserable so that the haters don’t hate. Got any tips, @GhostTrick?


Very interesting food for thought, @tomboz. I think for the Japanese dub it's a no-brainer since people like Matsukaze and Sakurai seem to do more anime than video games if I'm not mistaken.

But if they recast completely, I'd be open for some fresh voices, tbh. And when /if S4 gets announced, I'd say "may the best actors win." If someone does a better Ryo, Ren or Shenhua than the game voice actors why not keep them on board for a fourth and /or fifth game?

Although I can't imagine anyone ever pulling off a better English Lan Di and Chai than Paul Lucas. They really need to bring him back.
You’d think so, but experience voice actors like Masaya come at a premium. He’s also 43 now, which might be a bit old for playing an 18 year old.

I’d like to see Corey and co at least given the chance to audition, but we’ll have to wait and see.

As with Cedric, I’d be disappointed if Corey’s not involved in some way. Maybe they could cast him as Iwao? 😅
 
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I just awoke and such good news. Great day to be a Shenmue fan.

I just caught with the 12 pages. Let me summarize what I understood in case I missed something:
  • Teaser got earlier because our rabid fanbase forced them
  • It is a full season (13 episodes)
  • No airing date yet
  • It will be shown in the expo today with probably a trqiler
  • Yu Suzuki is involved
  • It covers game 1 and some of game 2
  • SEGA is onboard
  • Director is Chikara Sakurai who directed things like One Punch season 2(ugh) and others https://m.imdb.com/name/nm2191341/filmotype?ref_=m_nmfmd_dr_flm
  • Greenlighted just after Shenmue3
Did I missed anything?

I'd imagine a website/project detail may pop up on here soon: https://tmsanime.com/project
So that is the studio that does it? That is super good news, lupin Dr stone had super solid animations
 

Curious to see how others interpret this.

"I do not want to tease anything for nothing..."

The pessimist in me worries they should have been deep into Shenmue IV preparations by now, not still deliberating if its feasible.
 
Curious to see how others interpret this.

"I do not want to tease anything for nothing..."

The pessimist in me worries they should have been deep into Shenmue IV preparations by now, not still deliberating if its feasible.
I’ve gotta say, his comments about budget give the impression that S4 is not in production right now.
 
Very interesting food for thought, @tomboz. I think for the Japanese dub it's a no-brainer since people like Matsukaze and Sakurai seem to do more anime than video games if I'm not mistaken.

But if they recast completely, I'd be open for some fresh voices, tbh. And when /if S4 gets announced, I'd say "may the best actors win." If someone does a better Ryo, Ren or Shenhua than the game voice actors why not keep them on board for a fourth and /or fifth game?


Although I can't imagine anyone ever pulling off a better English Lan Di and Chai than Paul Lucas. They really need to bring him back.
Totally agree with this. Paul nailed Lan Di and while the Shenmue 3 VA for Chai isn't bad at all, it feels like he's trying to do his best gollum impersonation. Paul really captures how unhinged Chai is, something I don't get from his dub VA in 3.
 
Curious to see how others interpret this.

"I do not want to tease anything for nothing..."

The pessimist in me worries they should have been deep into Shenmue IV preparations by now, not still deliberating if its feasible.
They can't just openly state or hint that Shenmue 4 is in development or that it will become a reality since Shenmue 3 even hasn't been released on other platforms like Steam or Gog; that would just affect the sales if they announced it before hand.
 
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