Shenmue The Animation Episode 5: Equal SPOILERS thread

You can read my recap of the episode here:
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Shenmue The Animation Ep #5 -‘Equal’ recap and review

NOTE: This is a recap/review of the Japanese audio & English subtitled version of the episode, viewed via Crunchyroll. It is currently not possible to view the English dub where I am, in the UK…
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In short:

GUYS.

THIS WAS SO DAMN GOOD

Easily my favourite episode so far. I loved how they utilised the supporting characters, and I think this episode actually made me prefer the anime version of Nozomi over her game counterpart (I go into this more in the blog post). I was skeptical about how well they could wrap up Yokosuka in just this one episode but I think it was done masterfully well. Cannot wait for next week in Hong Kong!! As others may have said, I'm curious as to how they'll handle Ryo and Xiuying's dynamic, given Anime Ryo doesn't seem as focused on getting revenge. Perhaps she'll simply try to warn him its a dangerous quest regardless?
 
Shenhua-Nani? said:
This episode marked 2 pretty big changes from the game’s story, Nozomi didnt move to Canada and Guizhang stayed in Yokosuka not because of the injury but because Ryo wants him to stay with his father.

Aside from that, im very curious to see how they’ll handle Hong Kong’s arc as in the game it was mostly based on 2 themes that are more or less missing in the anime : Ryo’s focus on revenge and Ryo’s growth as a martial artist.
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I think it was implied that Nozomi is going to move to Canada, wasn't it? While not explicitly stated, I think her realising Ryo was determined to go to Hong Kong made her realise that her reason to stay was leaving, and she couldn't stop him - therefore making her decision to go to Canada easier.
 
Damn, what an awesome episode lol! I'll write up more detailed thoughts later as I have to go out, but it would seem that Ryo is going to speak Chinese in Hong Kong? They queued it up nicely now if so, with the scene in Asia Travel Co (when he understands the worker speaking Chinese to him), and now when he says thanks to Master Chen.
Would be pretty crazy if so but would also make a lot of sense as in the game you kinda just deal with the fact that he is Japanese lol.
Going to be interesting to see what happens! We don't even get a Japanese Teaser so we won't know till next Sunday!!!

Edit:- Acutally come to think of it, I don't think they will do this because they would have already have started with the Bailu clips. It wouldn't make sense for that to be in Japanese and then Hong Kong in Chinese lol. He might speak Chinese when doing introductions to key chars, and they work out from his accent that he is Japanese etc or something like that, but I think that will be the most of it. Would be awesome though lol.
 
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bcdcdude said:
How does it not make sense? They all work at the harbour, so it's not as if they were coming from far away or anything.
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I´m coming from a perspective of why characters do something, what their motivation is and what they are capable off; not geographically.

bcdcdude said:
And just out of curiosity, what anime do you like that has good animation? I'd like to compare and contrast to see if you're being reasonable or not. Not all anime has the budget of a Studio Ghibli or Kyoto Animation.
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I don`t watch anime at all these days. The only animes I`ve watched in the last 15 years are Attack on Titan, Death Note and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, which I though were awesome!

I think the animation and ascetics of this anime are pretty great. You don`t like it?

bcdcdude said:
As for Nozomi, I think she's wonderful (although I still prefer the gentle melancholy of the game Nozomi). Mai is great, but she's a bit one-note in that she's no nonsense. That's fine; her keeping Goro in line gave a few chuckles, but there's not much to her more than that.
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In the game I liked that Mai and Goro bought some levity to Ryos situation at the harbour. It felt a bit like you distance yourself from home, but also partially from the root of your unease. But you can go overboard with it. With Mai they went waaaaay overboard in this episode!

I liked Nozomi in this episode better than in the other ones, even though I`m torn about the whole thing that she didn`t tell Ryo about her possible departure. I think Ryo knowing what he is actually sacrificing in persuit of a dark path is very valuable so I think ultimately I don`t like that decision much.
 
I know i said this about last week's episode, but this week's episode is the best one yet. 20/10.

All of the changes are amazing. I love how they all helped Ryo in the harbor and they really fleshed out the side characters. Goro, Guizhang, and Mai being the stand out stars. The fighting was excellent and it was awesome to see the forklift get some action. The episode made me feel really sorry for Nozomi. Their parting is much more tragic in the anime as she never got the chance to confess her feelings to Ryo and chose to go to Canada as she overheard he was leaving for Hong Kong. The tears at the end were so sad.

The anime team has done an excellent job. The crazy part is, this was only Shenmue 1. Can you imagine how insane it's about to get with Shenmue 2?

50/10
 
@Master Mo (sorry, i'm not sure how to do individual quotes!)
I´m coming from a perspective of why characters do something, what their motivation is and what they are capable off; not geographically.
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Ah, OK. I think that's an anime trope and one of the pickles of trying to cram so much in such a short time. At least that's my thinking.!

I don`t watch anime at all these days. The only animes I`ve watched in the last 15 years are Attack on Titan, Death Note and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, which I though were awesome!

I think the animation and ascetics of this anime are pretty great. You don`t like it?
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I've seen bits of AoT and FMA and agree the animation isn't bad at all (I can recommend Violet Evergarden as a short series with astonishing animation). However, having just watched the Ace Attorney series, Shenmue is a whole other level. Ace Attorney is like watching a slide show at times! I think based on a lot of anime I watch, Shenmue is sort of mid-tier animation. Not brilliant, but does the job.

In the game I liked that Mai and Goro bought some levity to Ryos situation at the harbour. It felt a bit like you distance yourself from home, but also partially from the root of your unease. But you can go overboard with it. With Mai they went waaaaay overboard in this episode!

I liked Nozomi in this episode better than in the other ones, even though I`m torn about the whole thing that she didn`t tell Ryo about her possible departure. I think Ryo knowing what he is actually sacrificing in persuit of a dark path is very valuable so I think ultimately I don`t like that decision much.
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I think because she overheard Ryo saying he is departing for Hong Kong has stopped her talking about Canada. Her tears at the end after saying goodbye really moved me. As much as I adore the confession scene in the game (it's one of my all time favourites), I'm always wanting to smack Ryo in the head for not reading the room. I tell myself he's so consumed with revenge he can't comprehend the concept of love haha. I'm unsure how I feel about anime Ryo's motivations, but I'm cool with having a 'lighter' path of revenge for the time being.

I think the key line from the episode was Fuku-san saying something along the lines of "hope you can prove your father's innocence"; an angle that I don't think i've seen in the game.
 
This was a fun episode! I like that the anime has a more detached perspective. Having a whole segment dedicated to Mark, Goro, Mai, and Nozomi was totally unexpected and something that would never have been done in the games, but I really enjoyed how they executed it here. Shame that we didn't see more of Tom, but ultimately having Goro as Ryo's main pal instead was probably the right call. Overall a solid conclusion to Shenmue I.

I'm really excited for next week! I can't wait to see the Shenmue II arc begin and how they adapt it. As I said in the last thread, it really feels like experiencing the story for the first time all over again.
 
Gahh, I loved it. I loved that they held off on Gui Zhang's "that's my line" (reworded of course) until a flashback after the fact. It tricked me into thinking it wouldn't happen -- but they just saved it :cool:

Very interesting they changed Gui Zhang's intentions to follow Ryo (smart conclusion to his arc, by the way). I guess it makes no difference -- he could potentially still show up unexpectedly -- or not. Same with Nozomi no longer revealing she's moving to Canada; the outcome is the same, but the emotional setup for the (potential) future is different.

I'm glad Tom was in the show, but he wasn't in it enough to justify an emotional goodbye, so cutting his harbour scene was a good call. It would've felt completely out of place.

I was smiling from ear-to-ear when Mark rammed that door with the forklift. I mean, holy shit :ROFLMAO:

*Also, I can totally see Xuiying looking deeper into Ryo and discovering his want for revenge. I think she will serve the same purpose in the show as she does in the game.
 
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Beautiful episode. I like that the episode started showing Ryo VS Guizhang fight for the viewers to understand exactly what happened in detail in this fight, i enjoyed this scene a lot, one of the reasons is because this scene complement what we saw in the ending of the previous episode, now we saw the full fight and this explained a lot of things for the viewers.

I really thought that i would see only Goro in the next scene so i was surprised to see Mai-chan, nice that Mark appeared as well, that forklift action to save Nozomi is so awesome.

I like the way the anime team did this part to give more screen time to the other characters, i enjoy seeing a different version about this and it is a interesting change but i love the game version as well, sadly nothing more about Mark's brother.

I love the 70 man battle here but to me the game version is more intense, the motorcycle scene is nice but i felt sad for Nozomi because she didn't expressed her feelings about everything.

I love the conversation of Ryo with Guizhang. this part is similar to the one we see in the game.

I love the conversation of Ryo with Mark after Ryo lost his job, was nice to see the scene with Mai and Goro about marriage similar to the one we see in the game.

The goodbye scene with Fuku-san and Ine-san is really beautiful, Ryo even said that he will come back, maybe in the ending of Shenmue Ryo will really come back to Yokosuka to take care of the Dojo and to be a Kung Fu teacher, if this happen will be a nice ending for Shenmue in my opinion.

Nozomi goodbye scene is nice and i felt sad for her that she didn't confess her love in this version, nice to see Nozomi giving the amulet to Ryo, and was emotional the ending of the scene seeing the tears falling the ground.

I enjoy the goodbye scene with Master Chen, Guizhang and the fight with Chai. I love the scene with Guizhang and Master Chen watching Ryo leaving, Guizhang remembering the conversation with Ryo, Master Chen finally accepting again Guizhang calling him father and understanding him is beautiful, emotional scene while we see Ryo leaving Japan, nice to see Lan Di arriving in Hong Kong, now Lan Di will start his search for Yuanda Zhu and i think in this part we will see a lot of new scenes that will add even more to the story, it will be awesome if this happen.

Sad that Megumi-chan, the kitten and Shozo Mizuki didn't appear in the anime but I understand that the anime focus is on the main characters.

One thing i miss in this episode is Ryo learning the moves with Tom, Shozo Mizuki and Master Chen. Tom only appeared in the first episode, i wished for more screen time for Tom but at least he appeared in the anime.

To me Ryo improving as a martial artist is a big thing for the story so was sad to me that these parts are not in the anime, this is one of the reasons why i think that the anime with 24 episodes or even with 35 episodes like Virtua Fighter anime would have been even better, more time to do a lot of things in the anime, but i really understand this cuts and changes in the anime version because is 13 episodes and so far is a beautiful adaptation.

I really enjoy Ryo talking in mandarin with Master Chen, i think we will see Ryo talking more times in madarin in the Hong Kong part, it will not be all the time, i think it will be just in a few moments just like what happened with Master Chen, and maybe we will see Lan Di talking more in mandarin as well, this is a beautiful detail in the anime.

I have no problems with the changes in this episode in relation to the game but some things about it i think the game version is more intense, i love the anime is just that some details i prefer the game version, but other details i prefer the anime version.

Now we have 8 episodes for Hong Kong/Kowloon and possibly Guilin as well, i think the anime will end where the first episode started, in the cave scene in Guilin, it will make sense the season ending in this part, i feel that the next episodes will be intense and i'm looking forward to see Ren, Joy, Wong, Xiuying, Fangmei, more about Lan Di, Shenhua and many other characters.

To me the anime complement the games and the games complement the anime, if someone want to have a complete Shenmue experience then i recommend both the anime and the games.
 
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bcdcdude said:
@danielmann861 - I might be wrong, but i've not heard anything to suggest the show is being shown on TV in Japan? I'd love to be proved wrong.
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I mean the official website is in Japanese...unless it hasn't aired yet over there. I mean the "on air" tab is greyed out on the official website still. It's strange, not unless they plan to wait until it's all said and done and then air it over there? But I would assume its gonna show in Japan at some point.
 
This episode marked the biggest changes from the game that I can remember. I enjoyed this episode and the previous ones quite a lot. I'm having a good time with them. I do find it strange how so much emphasis is placed on the Swallow Dive move lol.

A couple nit-picks why introduce Tom in episode one if he doesn't show up anymore. No Tom goodbye scene, tornado kick, or Ryo watching the plane flying before the Gui Zhang fight. I felt it was a bit cheesy that Ryos friends rescued Nozomi and not Ryo. No Nozomi photo, no I Wish song or really any music of note during the motorcycle ride home that was disappointing. The Nozomi goodbye scene in the game is my all-time favorite endings to any medium. I always loved how that was the last thing Ryo thought of before boarding the boat. Hell I believe he smiles thinking about it. Such a masterpiece of a ending. This anime one was fine wish she would've at least told him she was leaving but I get why. I wish they incorporated more or the soundtrack from the games. All in all another solid and fun episode I'm always smiling from ear to ear watching these onto the Shenmue 2 journey
 
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danielmann861 said:
I mean the official website is in Japanese...unless it hasn't aired yet over there. I mean the "on air" tab is greyed out on the official website still. It's strange, not unless they plan to wait until it's all said and done and then air it over there? But I would assume its gonna show in Japan at some point.
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Sadly, last I checked (by which I mean I asked my wife to check for me because my Japanese is abysmal), there’s still no word on if or when the anime will air over here. I’m kind of expecting it not to at this point, as with there already being a readily available Japanese dub online, most Japanese people who care enough about the series to watch the anime probably already have. I guess finding a buyer was just more difficult than they originally anticipated. That or they got greedy and asked for too much money.

Look on the bright side though. It’s not as bad as Shenmue, where they made big changes to core gameplay mechanics to appease the Chinese censors only for the game to never actually get released over there. Shambles.
 
Jesse said:
This episode marked the biggest changes from the game that I can remember. I enjoyed this episode and the previous ones quite a lot. I'm having a good time with them.

A couple nit-picks why introduce Tom in episode one if he doesn't show up anymore. No Tom goodbye scene, tornado kick, or Ryo watching the plane flying away before the Gui Zhang fight. I felt it was a bit cheesy that Ryos friends rescued Nozomi and not Ryo. No Nozomi photo, no I Wish song or really any music of note during the motorcycle ride home that was disappointing. The goodbye scene in the game is my all-time favorite endings to any medium. This one was fine wish she would've at least told him she was leaving but I get why. I wish they incorporated more or the soundtrack from the games. All in all another solid and fun episode looking forward to the Shenmue 2 journey.
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Hmm, now that you mention it, no Nozomi photograph is a bit unfortunate.

I always liked how much emphasis Shenmue put on photography. It was a nice touch that Ryo kept photos on him of his father, his friends from Yokosuka, Nozomi, Joy, Fangmei, and Xiuying. Definitely rang true to the 'keep those you love close to you' mantra.

I wonder if they'll also cut the photo ops for everyone else.
 
Jibby said:
Hmm, now that you mention it, no Nozomi photograph is a bit unfortunate.

I always liked how much emphasis Shenmue put on photography. It was a nice touch that Ryo kept photos on him of his father, his friends from Yokosuka, Nozomi, Joy, Fangmei, and Xiuying. Definitely rang true to the 'keep those you love close to you' mantra.

I wonder if they'll also cut the photo ops for everyone else.
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Am I right in thinking that of the five or six key items that carry over into Shenmue 2, anime Ryo only has the photograph of Iwao and Sunming in Bailu Village, the Lishao Tao letter and Nozomi’s good luck amulet?
 
tomboz said:
Am I right in thinking that of the five or six key items that carry over into Shenmue 2, anime Ryo only has the photograph of Iwao and Sunming in Bailu Village, the Lishao Tao letter and Nozomi’s good luck amulet?
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One of them is the Nozomi photo from what I remember if you start fresh without playing one and just dive into 2. If I'm not mistaken it's the close one of the two that Ryo has with him.
 
tomboz said:
Am I right in thinking that of the five or six key items that carry over into Shenmue 2, anime Ryo only has the photograph of Iwao and Sunming in Bailu Village?
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I think you still get the 'good' photo of her. You can show it to Shenhua at the end of Shenmue II if you pick the right dialogue option.
 
Jibby said:
Hmm, now that you mention it, no Nozomi photograph is a bit unfortunate.

I always liked how much emphasis Shenmue put on photography. It was a nice touch that Ryo kept photos on him of his father, his friends from Yokosuka, Nozomi, Joy, Fangmei, and Xiuying. Definitely rang true to the 'keep those you love close to you' mantra.

I wonder if they'll also cut the photo ops for everyone else.
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I always liked that aspect too. You're probably right no Joy photo most likely. I fully expected a song to be played during the bike ride at least and we got nothing lol.
 
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