Awesome work Switch! Loved both parts!
I'm so damn excited for the anime, and it's amazing to read some behind the scenes stuff like this! Thank you!
The last section regarding the crossover in skills between games and anime is very interesting to be honest.
When Yu gets the go-ahead to make Shenmue IV, it would really help to have a team like this on board in some capacity. It seems like they have the skills and expertise to assist Yu with creating a narrative/story from the original script, that would transfer well to a game, with good pacing and payoffs etc. This is something that probably comes naturally to them now, after working on anime (in an episodic format for so long), where you need to keep the viewer's interest peaked to ensure they come back episode after episode.
It makes even more sense as they will have worked together on this anime, they are also apart (kinda) of the same parent company, and also as it was the one main aspect in where Shenmue III (arguably) fell short. From Sega's point of view, if they pony up and allow Yu to make Shenmue IV, I'd hope they'd ask Kiyozono and his team to be involved/oversee in someway to ensure that the narrative is up to par lol.