Differences Between the Anime and the Games (SPOILERS!)

I would have loved the catching leaves scene, too. Perhaps it's one of those cases where it didn't really translate well into a linear medium? Consider that the gameplay segment moves to first person here.
I think there is a way to do it on the show but it would have ate a bit of screen time. Considering the limited episode run I totally understand why it was cut. It's a really cool scene but ultimately the same message can be explained to Ryo in a line of dialogue.
Shenmue II the Chawan signs can sometimes lead to negative consequences, and you weren't sure if you were stepping into a trap when you were meeting Kai because you didn't know if he was a friend or foe.
That's true. it did take a bit of the sting out of the scene knowing he was already an ally.
I've been really enjoying this change, and it was also done very well with the enemies in the S1 segment of the story.
Me too. I'm hoping if there's a second season it continues fleshing out the CYM. That's something I wanted from S3.
think if the street fights took up more time it would have taken away from more of the true "set piece" fights, imo. Too many fights in a quick succession could diminish their impact, and the episode started with a major fight as well.
True but this is only because the show is limited to cramming a lot of stuff in the 13 episodes. If the show was longer it could focus more on the fighting. I personally think that is one of my criticisms, the fights are far too brief and since Shenmue is essentially martial arts Shonen, it would have been more ideal to focus on hyping up and showing the fights in more detail. Not at a sacrifice to the story mind you, but balancing it a bit better. This would have drawn in more anime fans I think but it would also have required the season be several episodes longer and have an increased budget.
At first I thought Chun might be the name of Joy's father, so maybe they thought Xiuying was Joy and she was old enough to take revenge?
This is a good guess. It was likely a throwaway line so I don't think it hints at Xiuying's parents either way.
Chun might have meant to be Hong?
I think @Tomato Convenience Store guess is more likely since the YH had a past with Joy's family. Even if Xiuying's parents were significant to the overall story I don't see why Dou Niu would know about them.

The Shenmue fandom wiki states her father is Chunyun Liang. Perhaps that was just shortened in the subtitles.
 
I think there is a way to do it on the show but it would have ate a bit of screen time. Considering the limited episode run I totally understand why it was cut. It's a really cool scene but ultimately the same message can be explained to Ryo in a line of dialogue.
On this note I think we can rule out Ryo being taught Demon's Triangle :( I think it's safe to assume that Xiuying teaching Ryo CEA under the moon was meant to reference this moment.

I think @Tomato Convenience Store guess is more likely since the YH had a past with Joy's family. Even if Xiuying's parents were significant to the overall story I don't see why Dou Niu would know about them.
My mistake, I thought it was in reference to Xiuying. They don't mention Joy's family name; would be interesting to see if there's any translation on the headstone she visits.

Me too. I'm hoping if there's a second season it continues fleshing out the CYM. That's something I wanted from S3.
If they get to do S3 I can bet that they'll expand on Niao Sun like this. I half expected her to show up this season. Since they show that Lan Di knows that Ryo is following him it'll be interesting to see how the rooftop fight plays out.

I'm interested to see if they flesh out Master Baihu in any way. We barely have a hint to go on at this point.
I always hoped he'd make a comeback later in the series. It'd certainly be more welcome than Chai imo.
 
Feels like they really took their time with this episode which I like. If there was ever a point in Shenmue 1 or 2 that deserved to be longer than 1 episode, it's the Yellow Head building but that definitely means we're not getting to the end of Shenmue 2 in one more episode. This was one of those episodes that used the ability to see beyond Ryo's perspective perfectly and was where most of the changes were:

1. Wong's "hero moment". Wong is more consistently helpful in the games than he is presented in the anime, but that all came to a head this episode in one of my favorite additions to the series thus far: him unleashing a bunch of rats on Yuan and nearly rescuing Yuanda Zhu! This captured something about the character that was very difficult to portray outside of games without taking the focus away from Ryo and I think they managed it perfectly. Plus he called Ryo Onii Chan!

2. Baihu! This was always going to feel anticlimactic but they did a pretty good job setting him up as a badass (though I think showing his skills a little more elaborately would have done wonders). I like that they took the opportunity to make it seem like Ryo has learned enough and is nearing the end of his journey. You can really get the sense that Ryo thinks he's ready to square off against Lan Di, which seems like it might actually happen next episode!

3. Everything about Dou Niu and Yuan was perfect and basically 100% game accurate. It was a little weird that they defeat Yuan after Baihu/rescuing Joy but I get it considering he's a much bigger character. Plus it works for how they're building up to everything going great for Ryo. I had a few minor gripes, mostly that things aren't as cool or stylish as they are in the game (such as Ryo kicking down the garbage) but this is mostly due to animation budget limitations; it doesn't really impact the overall quality. I did miss seeing Dou Niu's extravagant, narcissistic penthouse though.

4. Ren and Ryo high five. It's not as cool as the no-look high five they exchange in the game, nor is their relationship as hostile leading up to it but they included it so this episode is instantly a 10/10 for me.

I'm legitimately sad that this series is ending and I hope that they at least get a second season. They have absolutely hit this out of the park considering what they were working with and, depending on how the next episode ends, they might actually improve on Shenmue 2's ending which is really saying something.
 
Looks like I spoke too soon, they actually managed to cram the entirety of Shenmue 1 and 2 into 13 episodes of a tv series! Color me impressed. This episode, like most of the series, had a few big changes but was largely a very faithful adaptation.

1. Ryo fights Lan Di! Maybe this was because they're unsure whether or not they're going to get to Shenmue 3, maybe it was to add a bit of symmetry to the beginning of the story, but Ryo fighting Lan Di (and even using some of the same choreography) definitely feels like part of Shenmue 3 moved forward. If the show gets a second season, it will be interesting to see if/how they revisit the fight. This also cements the fact that Lan Di knows about Ryo and allows him to live; it definitely seems like he is characterized to be more sympathetic than in Shenmue 3.

2. Yuanda Zhu tells Lan Di "it's in Bailu Village", presumably referring to the Phoenix Mirror. It's a little weird that Lan Di would just believe him and take off like that but it definitely had the effect of solidifying what Lan Di knows and how he came to know it. Lan Di knew about both mirrors before he killed Iwao, knows that Ryo is after him, and thinks that the mirror is in Bailu Village. This sets up the events of Shenmue 3 a little differently since Lan Di is presented as a far more active player in this story.

3. There is no reference to the big dipper light pattern in the Phoenix mirror and Yuanda Zhu describes the treasure as a "massive fortune of hidden treasures". This seems to confirm that the treasure is monetary but given how drastically reduced the lore behind the treasure and the mirrors are in the anime, I expected as much. Honestly, Ren seems to care way more about it than Ryo.

4. Shenhua warps Ryo to her house! They really minimized her presence in the anime in the back half didn't they? Seems like they could have spaced those cutaways to Bailu Village out a little more but it totally makes sense to save Ryo getting to know Shenhua for the second season, since in the games there is a lot of repeated information. The flashbacks to Shenhua's namesake are also presented quite differently in the anime; in the game her parents are clearly in a drastically different location and time period, but the anime seems to present the same Shenmue tree.

5. Magic! Shenhua references the mirror's powers, the mirror shoots a light that ignites the torches, but there is no floating sword. Seems like the anime is keeping things in a nice middle ground in terms of realism though she does mention that they were made at the behest of "the emperor" and that many people lost their lives in disputes over its ownership. There is no clear timeline, which is something that a second season would likely clear up, but a lot of Shenmue 3's ground has already been covered so it remains to be seen how they'll proceed.

That's it for the Shenmue anime! I really hope we get a second season because this team has a great grasp of the source material and they seem to have a clearer vision for what should happen going forward than S2 managed to set up. A second season would also allow them to proceed well past the third game offering a much better incentive for fans of the series to tune in.
 
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. Ryo fights Lan Di! Maybe this was because they're unsure whether or not they're going to get to Shenmue 3, maybe it was to add a bit of symmetry to the beginning of the story, but Ryo fighting Lan Di (and even using some of the same choreography) definitely feels like part of Shenmue 3 moved forward. If the show gets a second season, it will be interesting to see if/how they revisit the fight. This also cements the fact that Lan Di knows about Ryo and allows him to live; it definitely seems like he is characterized to be more sympathetic than in Shenmue 3.
I think you're right, they probably added this in part because people who didn't play the games were expecting some kind of confrontation at the end. It definitely seems like Lan Di is more sympathetic but essentially the same thing happens in the game when he just flies off so it could be that he's more focused on getting the mirrors and doesn't see Ryo as a threat. Personally, I preferred S3 where they cement him as a villain.
. Yuanda Zhu tells Lan Di "it's in Bailu Village", presumably referring to the Phoenix Mirror. It's a little weird that Lan Di would just believe him and take off like that but it definitely had the effect of solidifying what Lan Di knows and how he came to know it. Lan Di knew about both mirrors before he killed Iwao, knows that Ryo is after him, and thinks that the mirror is in Bailu Village. This sets up the events of Shenmue 3 a little differently since Lan Di is presented as a far more active player in this story.
I think this was done similarly to why they included the cantonese translation guide. It's an assumption we all had in the games but was never spelled out. Why did Lan Di fly off after seeing Ryo, now we know its because he got what he wanted from YZ, the supposed location to the Phoenix Mirror. It also explains why YZ knew that Lan Di was heading to Bailu. I don't think it fundamentally changes S3, as we know the CYM sent goons to turn Bailu upside down looking for the mirror.
There is no reference to the big dipper light pattern in the Phoenix mirror and Yuanda Zhu describes the treasure as a "massive fortune of hidden treasures". This seems to confirm that the treasure is monetary but given how drastically the lore behind the treasure and the mirrors are in the anime, I expected as much. Honestly, Ren seems to care way more about it than Ry
I'm still not convinced the treasure is monetary unless this is just going to be a retcon which makes little sense. In the game he says it's a treasure to revive the Qing Dynasty. I still believe this to be misdirection, but it makes sense for the show since they trimmed the scene and want to give Ren his motivation to continue the journey.
4. Shenhua warps Ryo to her house! They really minimized her presence in the anime in the back half didn't they? Seems like they could have spaced those cutaways to Bailu Village out a little more but it totally makes sense to save Ryo getting to know Shenhua for the second season, since in the games there is a lot of repeated information. The flashbacks to Shenhua's namesake are also presented quite differently in the anime; in the game her parents are clearly in a drastically different location and time period, but the anime seems to present the same Shenmue tree.
Obviously everyone would have liked that they spent a little more time on this but I get it given the constraints. It was still totally weird that he just warps to Bailu though, it was almost humorous in its execution. I just wonder if non-game fans felt it was rushed or if they didn't notice at all (I suspect the latter). However, the Shenmue Tree reveal loses a bit of gravitas in the show. I think the Shenhua flashback probably seems more contemporary since they didn't focus on it much.
There is no clear timeline, which is something that a second season would likely clear up, but a lot of Shenmue 3's ground has already been covered so it remains to be seen how they'll proceed.
I think if they do a Season 2 that they could cover S3 in the first 5-6 episodes or fewer, similar to S1 in this season and have the rest for future content. It would be really exciting to see that happen but it could take a long time before a second season is announced
 
Some other changes I noticed:
  1. Ryo doesn't catch Wong - wong takes one for the team in the show as Dou Niu chucks him aside, would have been nice if Ryo or Ren tried to catch him
  2. Ren doesn't throw his knife at the map - they made it seem less that Ren was going solo in the show and just straight up hinted that he will join Ryo
  3. Wong gets a happy ending! - It was a bit comical but given the way Wong is framed in the show this makes sense. I'm glad to see they gave him an arc
  4. Joy goes to her parents grave - It seems Joy also gets a bit of an arc as Ryo's actions and the defeat of the YH make her reminisce on her own relationship to her past
  5. Ryo says goodbye to everyone - it made sense to move this to the end of the season since they didn't separate Kowloon
That's it for the Shenmue anime! I really hope we get a second season because this team has a great grasp of the source material and they seem to have a clearer vision for what should happen going forward than S2 managed to set up. A second season would also allow them to proceed well past the third game offering a much better incentive for fans of the series to tune in.
Overall this was a really good show. It's not perfect by any means, and we all have our criticisms or desires for where it could have done more, but it really was so much better than my expectations for a budget anime. There were moments in the show that really impressed me and improved upon the games. In an ideal world things would be different (i..e Shenmue 4) but fans need to remember that with Shenmue there are no more ideals only compromises and I think all things considered this show hits the mark given its realistic constraints. For me personally, I really hope the show continues into a second season and we get the continuation of the story this way, hopefully with a slightly expanded budget. As much as I want Shenmue 4 I cant imagine realistically where it would actually be good and wouldn't mind if the future of the series is a beefed up season 2 to this show instead
 
I don't think it fundamentally changes S3, as we know the CYM sent goons to turn Bailu upside down looking for the mirror.
It doesn't fundamentally change S3 but the anime presents Lan Di as much more proactive. It seems ridiculous that some random thugs would be outsourced to raid such a tiny village considering that he is shown personally overseeing all the events in the anime. Unless they have some CYM related business that he needs to be there for in Niaowu that they can cut between but the game presents the mirrors as a goal of the CYM, not just Lan Di. We'll see.

I'm still not convinced the treasure is monetary unless this is just going to be a retcon which makes little sense. In the game he says it's a treasure to revive the Qing Dynasty. I still believe this to be misdirection, but it makes sense for the show since they trimmed the scene and want to give Ren his motivation to continue the journey.
This could be true but this is the only mention of the mirror/ what it does. In the games we get conflicting stories from Master Chen and Yuanda Zhu but as of right now, all Ryo knows is that there is a treasure and that is about to be reaffirmed by Elder Yeh and the map. The anime has not laid the ground work for many interpretations beyond a throwaway line from Shenhua and is even more mysterious about the timeline.

I just wonder if non-game fans felt it was rushed or if they didn't notice at all (I suspect the latter). However, the Shenmue Tree reveal loses a bit of gravitas in the show. I think the Shenhua flashback probably seems more contemporary since they didn't focus on it much.
The only reason this read as anything of importance is because it's the title of the show. The music from the games was never more missed than in this scene. I like that even though Shenhua was part of the show from early on, they maintain a mystery as to what she's like. Considering how S3 turned out I consider this a good thing, it allows Ryo to spend time getting to know Shenhua who is a brand new character and makes the "and thus the saga begins" line ring a lot truer. Their journey begins in the next season, not in this one.

I think if they do a Season 2 that they could cover S3 in the first 5-6 episodes or fewer, similar to S1 in this season and have the rest for future content. It would be really exciting to see that happen but it could take a long time before a second season is announced
At the pace that the anime reached, they could legitimately cover all of Shenmue 3 in 3 episodes.

For me personally, I really hope the show continues into a second season and we get the continuation of the story this way, hopefully with a slightly expanded budget. As much as I want Shenmue 4 I cant imagine realistically where it would actually be good and wouldn't mind if the future of the series is a beefed up season 2 to this show instead
I totally agree. I didn't think the anime would be anything special and now it's how I want to see the story finish. To say nothing of the fact that even if we get S4, it will HAVE to be the last game in the series, whereas the anime could cover more ground and more locations and really feel epic. It's a little weird to have "the saga begin" and then have Ryo go to Niaowu, the Cliff Temple, Meng Cun, and wherever the treasure is (if it is indeed a different location) and call that a "saga" lol. The anime could see Ryo travel all over China, closer to the original concept art.
 
It seems ridiculous that some random thugs would be outsourced to raid such a tiny village considering that he is shown personally overseeing all the events in the anime.
I don't think so. I think it makes sense for him to hang in Niaowu while minions investigate the mirror. He's now on his home turf with his entire entourage, plus he may be keeping a close eye on other players (Niao Sun, for example).

The anime has not laid the ground work for many interpretations beyond a throwaway line from Shenhua and is even more mysterious about the timeline.
Even still, there's no way "the treasure to restore the Qing Dynasty" was ever going to be just physical, monetary treasure. I find it so bizarre some people still believe this tbh.

At the pace that the anime reached, they could legitimately cover all of Shenmue 3 in 3 episodes.
If you look at how they fleshed out all the characters in the anime, though, there is so much they could do with Shenmue III's skeletal story to flesh it out into something more interesting. Keep the bones but add all the meat, and that would take them to half a season easy.
 
I think it makes sense for him to hang in Niaowu while minions investigate the mirror. He's now on his home turf with his entire entourage, plus he may be keeping a close eye on other players (Niao Sun, for example).
As it stands, what's presented in Shenmue 3 doesn't fit the anime (that Lan Di is waiting around for Ryo to prove "useful") so they'd need to either add some CYM stuff to cut away to, or drastically speed up the timeline since Bailu village is so small. It would make very little sense for the Lan Di of the show (who is shown multiple times overseeing his minions or directly interrogating people over the mirrors) to take Yuanda Zhu at his word and then just sit idly by when his minions were not able to produce the mirror.

Even still, there's no way "the treasure to restore the Qing Dynasty" was ever going to be just physical, monetary treasure. I find it so bizarre some people still believe this tbh.
Probably because the only time it's ever even been hinted at to be something other than treasure is in Shenmue 1. I don't think it's purely monetary (and it would be bad if it was) but the anime really buries the lead with this. It's also possible that this has changed somewhat throughout Shenmue's crazy history.

If you look at how they fleshed out all the characters in the anime, though, there is so much they could do with Shenmue III's skeletal story to flesh it out into something more interesting. Keep the bones but add all the meat, and that would take them to half a season easy.
Thus far the anime hasn't exactly been in the business of drawing things out, it has a much lighter, more adventure-ish tone than the games and, frankly, if they're going to have to do the bulk of the writing anyway, I'd rather they just give us more future installments rather than give the shrine maiden a really nice backstory or whatever.

The journey to Bailu Village was a bit different...
lol I can see why they'd just leave it for the second season. Makes a lot of sense for the structure, if not the pacing...
 
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So, I just binged the whole anime over the past 2 days and I'm slightly confused by what some ppl in this thread are saying in regards to the purpose of the mirrors and that the only explanation we got was Zhu's; that they serve as a key to unlock the treasures to resurrect the Qing dynasty. Maybe I'm missing something, but Master Chen gives the same explanation that he gave in Shenmue 1; that Zuh once told him that when the Phoenix and Dragon meet, Chi You will resurrect itself on earth, thus Lan Di must be planning on making use of both mirrors. To me, the anime has given us the same somewhat conflicting explanations that we got in S1 and S2.

I don't know how closely they worked with YSNet when making the anime, but I would have thought that if there had been a change made to what the mirrors do between S1 and S2 (was there a 3rd explanation in S3, I can't recall?), they would have addressed this in the series, assuming they were able to ask someone from YSNet for clarification.

If they were able to ask someone at YSNet about this and still gave us both stories, then that may mean that we simply don't have all the information yet.
Also, given the wording Zhu uses, I agree with others that the 'treasures' are not simply a pile of riches that only Ren will want. Personally, I think the mirrors are keys, like Zhu said and that it will be the 'treasures' that can then be used to resurrect Chi You (which must have some connection to the Qing Dynasty).

Just my 2 cents.
 
So, I just binged the whole anime over the past 2 days and I'm slightly confused by what some ppl in this thread are saying in regards to the purpose of the mirrors and that the only explanation we got was Zhu's; that they serve as a key to unlock the treasures to resurrect the Qing dynasty. Maybe I'm missing something, but Master Chen gives the same explanation that he gave in Shenmue 1; that Zuh once told him that when the Phoenix and Dragon meet, Chi You will resurrect itself on earth, thus Lan Di must be planning on making use of both mirrors. To me, the anime has given us the same somewhat conflicting explanations that we got in S1 and S2.
This is true, I forgot that Chen says the same thing so yes, the anime does provide the two conflicting stories but imo it's still not something the anime seems too concerned with and anime Ryo doesn't seem to care much about them at all. Ren is the one who asks Yuanda Zhu about the mirror in the anime, not Ryo so the connection between the mirrors and the murder of Sunming Zhao is also downplayed. They could just be pacing out information to be revealed later on but this seems like a weird one to downplay.

I don't know how closely they worked with YSNet when making the anime, but I would have thought that if there had been a change made to what the mirrors do between S1 and S2 (was there a 3rd explanation in S3, I can't recall?), they would have addressed this in the series, assuming they were able to ask someone from YSNet for clarification.
I don't think that anything would have changed between S1 and S2, between S2 and S3 is far more likely and S3 doubles down on the "treasure" angle, even going so far as to show an actual pile of gold depicted on the map. This could obviously be misdirection but who knows? S3 gets really weird about the mirrors with replicas being sold in shops, their weird age etc. I always though S3 went for a more "realistic" approach for budget reasons to sort of scale the story down but who knows?

Also, given the wording Zhu uses, I agree with others that the 'treasures' are not simply a pile of riches that only Ren will want. Personally, I think the mirrors are keys, like Zhu said and that it will be the 'treasures' that can then be used to resurrect Chi You (which must have some connection to the Qing Dynasty).
The wording Zhu uses in the game is "treasures hidden away", in the anime he clarifies "a massive fortune of hidden treasures". So obviously this could just be a translation thing but "treasure" is a far more ambiguous word than "fortune", which heavily implies money. Again, this could be misdirection, but I'm assuming that Elder Yeh is going to give the same information when they ask her, so imo it's just doubling down on the gold thing. I hope not, and I think it would be bad if it was, but that just seems to be what was set up.

The Chi You to Qing dynasty thing has always been the most curious aspect of the mirrors for me (I started a thread about it) because the time gap is so massive. Most "ancient treasure" stories make the treasure ancient, so no one knows who created the treasure or why, whereas Shenmue is relatively recent (the Qing dynasty fell approximately 80 years before the games begin with the last emperor living into the 1960s) but the legend of Chi You is thousands of years old.
 
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