Spoilers Shenmue The Animation: Episode 1 - Thunderclap - Thread

I watched the trailer of the anime again and comparing Nozomi in the trailer with the first episode i noticed something really interesting...


Nozomi’s hair here looks different and a little bigger than in the first episode, this part in the game is near the ending of the game so we can imagine that in the anime maybe some months will pass just like it can happen in the games, maybe we will even see christmas, New year and much more like we can see in the game. Nozomi in the first episode looks similar to her concept her and i think the anime team did a nice job in relation to this, in the images i think we can say that Nozomi is more similar to her character design in the game, all i know is that i can see the difference between Nozomi in the first episode and Nozomi here, very interesting.

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DoubleO_Ren said:
My reaction to the first episode!!
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Nice one :cool:

Another thing I noticed while watching this is how they've intentionally jumped to Ine-san handing over the letter before any real investigative stuff. The letter reveal feels kinda arbitrary in the game because she could hand it over at any point, and it would've felt even more obvious in the show. That's precisely the type of thing they should be changing :coffee:

Also, seeing the ending again has made me appreciate the change from pure revenge to a deeper motivation. It would be really strange if Ryo didn't acknowledge the "my Dad killed someone, apparently?" thing in a TV show. In a game you can let the player stew on things like that because you embody Ryo to a large extent. Your thoughts are Ryo's thoughts. In the show, ignoring that information -- like it's something to tackle at a random point later in the story -- would just feel like sloppy storytelling. Another win for the anime.
 
orient said:
Nice one :cool:

Another thing I noticed while watching this is how they've intentionally jumped to Ine-san handing over the letter before any real investigative stuff. The letter reveal feels kinda arbitrary in the game because she could hand it over at any point, and it would've felt even more obvious in the show. That's precisely the type of thing they should be changing :coffee:

Also, seeing the ending again has made me appreciate the change from pure revenge to a deeper motivation. It would be really strange if Ryo didn't acknowledge the "my Dad killed someone, apparently?" thing in a TV show. In a game you can let the player stew on things like that because you embody Ryo to a large extent. Your thoughts are Ryo's thoughts. In the show, ignoring that information -- like it's something to tackle at a random point later in the story -- would just feel like sloppy storytelling. Another win for the anime.
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After a few rewatches, I think it's really clear that the revenge motivation for Ryo is absolutely still there. He touches his band-aid when he thinks about that day. He asks Fuku-San who the men at the dojo were, he is doubtful that the police can help - and he just straight up says "I have to find out! [who they are] - what's he going to do when he finds out, ask them to apologise? Nah, he's gonna fuck them up. He's also constantly having flashbacks of Lan Di directly; he sees him in the reflection of his water in Ajiichi, and tells Nozomi he can't get Lan Di out of his head. And right at the end of the episode, he does the trademark Ryo fist-squeeze when thinking about Lan Di.

The anime's approach to Ryo's revenge motivation is clearly: show, don't tell. Good storytelling.

You made great points re: the letter story beat, and Ryo wanting to find out more about his father, too. I agree there 100%.
 
orient said:
Nice one :cool:

Another thing I noticed while watching this is how they've intentionally jumped to Ine-san handing over the letter before any real investigative stuff. The letter reveal feels kinda arbitrary in the game because she could hand it over at any point, and it would've felt even more obvious in the show. That's precisely the type of thing they should be changing :coffee:

Also, seeing the ending again has made me appreciate the change from pure revenge to a deeper motivation. It would be really strange if Ryo didn't acknowledge the "my Dad killed someone, apparently?" thing in a TV show. In a game you can let the player stew on things like that because you embody Ryo to a large extent. Your thoughts are Ryo's thoughts. In the show, ignoring that information -- like it's something to tackle at a random point later in the story -- would just feel like sloppy storytelling. Another win for the anime.
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I still think the revenge motive is there though. At the end of the episode, he says something like "I'll find the truth and then..." as it cuts to Lan Di implying that revenge is still very much on his mind.

Not to mention what @DarksideHazuki said. Lan Di is all over Ryo's mind throughout the entire episode. That's why I never really understood the complaint that revenge is no longer a factor for Ryo in the first episode. Lan Di is in Ryo's head the entire episode. The desire for revenge is still very much there for Ryo. But yeah, I like the fact that they're delving into the greater mystery at bay and making that also a factor on Ryo's mind. Considering it's been the one thing I've been waiting for Game Ryo to finally wake up to.

I think the anime allows for a fully fleshed out Ryo in a way that the game simply does not. As much as I love the game, its completely based on roleplaying. It wants you the player to be Ryo and is very deliberate in how it treats Ryo as a character. But as others have already said; can't do that in an anime. He has to have more to his character. And that's what I enjoyed about the first episode. It was nice seeing a very familiar if not slightly modified take on Ryo.
 
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Honestly I kinda just wanna hold off and binge all the remaining episodes in one go with some cider. Hmmm. Not sure I have the discipline to stop myself watching each week though.
 
Unfortunately, I didn`t really like the episode. The music is great, the stuff they added before the intro scene of the game made sense and was actually fun and I really liked how it looked over all. Everything else I thought was ok at best...
 
Master Mo said:
Unfortunately, I didn`t really like the episode. The music is great, the stuff they added before the intro scene of the game made sense and was actually fun and I really liked how it looked over all. Everything else I thought was ok at best...
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Interesting what was wrong with it? I thought it was great, only thing i'm iffy about was Chai and not even that he fought Ryo so early but that Ryo beat him so early and easily.
 
Sorry for being late to the party, but yeah, I've really enjoyed this anime so far. I'll admit some of the changes did catch me off guard, but I do welcome them for the right reasons. I do enjoy seeing Masaya Matsukaze back in the role of Ryo and his acting does a great job in bringing out fresher sides to him. I wouldn't say the pacing is too fast, but things have been moved around to give us a fresher experience. Then again, everytime some of us play Shenmue, we experience something new and that has been a part of its 20-year charm.
 
Also, SUPER late to the party, but now that the series is done, I'm watching a few episodes a day to catch up.

Saw the episode last night, thought it was great! The changes with Chai work for the show very well, though I will say that I prefer how the game did it.

The minor dialogue changes are not too big a deal, though they do irk me a bit :LOL:

Still, great stuff!
 
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