I recall that Yu was adamant with Brianna Knickerbocker that Shenhua be portrayed with more empowerment this time around. So she now has these moments in Shenmue 3 where she demonstrates a bit more strength, courage, and sass than her Shenmue 2 incarnation.
With the Yanlang scene, in particular, I thought it was an interesting subversion that gave a bit more spice to her character. I think we were all expecting Shenhua to remain as this fragile damsel who Ryo had to safeguard constantly (myself included), and then 3 challenges that in a pretty comical way by revealing that she's a capable heroine in her own right who will complement Ryo nicely along their travels.
I know it's a deliberate character alteration, but I do prefer a slightly more fiery Shenhua than her pure, innocent maiden self from Shenmue 2 who at times felt a bit absent of a personality and would have been dull to journey around China with. In 3, she still has that softness but also feels a bit more empowered and sassy this time, who I think will now have some great moments with Ryo and Ren in the future games.
I am probably arguing semantics here, but I remember Suzuki stating for Knickerbocker to voice her as an equal, not empowered. I hypothesize that Suzuki gave this direction to Briana because he felt that would appeal to Westerners more. Because in that same interview, Ms. Knickerbocker stated that Haruka Terui portrayed Shenhua as more of a kind soul. Which I would hypothesize is more appealing to Japanese players.
However, to be honest, I am bored with the proverbial empowered female character trope because it's been overdone. To me, it sends the message that traits people consider to be feminine are inferior to traits people consider to be masculine. Also, it isn't like Shenmue was lacking in strong female characters, to begin with.
I think a female character can be both feminine and strong. For example, Mrs. Brisby from the Secret of Nimh movie is a quintessential example of this. In the end, the strong female trope is hardly a subversion anymore since it's extremely common. As is females usurping and abusing males.
As for Shenhua having a strong side that we didn't know about, I didn't need that demonstrated to me again. When we are first introduced to her in Shenmue II, she's diving head-first into a river to save a goat. We learn from her that as a child, she was a tomboy, and being raised by her stepfather, she learned many practical skills, such as hunting.
The reason I believe that the Yanglang scene was meant to be comedic, is for a few reasons. The first being that humor works by subverting expectations, and unless you are a hardcore Shenmue fan, most people are going to assume that Shenhua is weaker and less prone to violence than Yanglang is. The second being that Suzuki has stated in the past that he doesn't like his works to be too heavy or dramatic. Finally, the scene we saw was a "noodle moment" which is quite commonly played for comedy.
I mean, if this was a serious moment then why hide it? In the Project Berkeley trailer, we see Shenhua using her powers when Longsun Zhao is threatening her life. Also, take into consideration, that we have already seen Shenhua's powers being demonstrated so there's no reason to hide it.
Finally, this is not to say that I want Shenhua to be weak. However, what I do want is character consistency. I am going to pretend that scene played out differently in my mind. As I do not like what we got.