Spoilers Shenmue The Animation: Episode 1 - Thunderclap - Thread

[code l name]

Correct me if I am wrong but there was line of dialogue in the original game about Ryo’s karate teacher? I assume that is the older guy who tells Ryo to be patient at the tournament?

 

[kaliskonig91]

Yo, unless someone else caught it btw but I didn't see it. Yu Suzuki name wasn't mentioned anywhere. In neither credits or as being apart of the thing at all. But, Sega was mentioned.

I don't like the looks of that.

Had me second guessing for a minute because I could have sworn I did see him credited lol. On crunchyroll he is mentioned in the beginning credits crawl during the cave scene. literally the first name so thats great. lol

 

[Hermit]

Also, felt strong Kai and Predictive Explosion vibes when Ryo was fighting Chai. For people saying it feels rushed...they have 13 episodes, just under five hours, to pack basically two full games into. That'd hard enough to do with just the story and nothing else. I think we needed to finish disc 1 of Shenmue I with this episode, and it looks like we did, and then some. Onto the next!

This comes across like you think it isn't a valid complaint. They were the ones that put themselves in this position, if they couldn't tell the story of the first two games without it feeling rushed, then they should have addressed that problem. I always said the first series should have focused on Shenmue 1 only. Spreading 2 games across 13 episodes was something I was concerned about from the day it was announced. I am even more concerned now because they are adding their own spin on things.

 

[kaliskonig91]

I always said the first series should have focused on Shenmue 1 only

While I am not dimissing the issues with pace....this would have been HORRIBLE. People are seriously overestimating how much compelling story content Shenmue 1 had. Especially in the form of an anime. If you truly stripped down the story beats you would have a few hours of content at most.

 

[24Nathan]

Some interesting observations from the credits:

Eigo Kasahara and Hiroshi Noguchi are production assistants! They were heavily involved in the first two games, as well as the rereleases. Toshiyuki Ito is listed third under them, and was a planner on Shenmue III. Junichi Yoshida, "Supervision Coordination" on the anime, was a lead writer for Shenmue III. Yokosuka City is credited for "Location Cooperation".

And I know I keep saying this to anyone who will listen...but this "Shenmue Project" that holds the copyright with SEGA, and now is credited with "Presented By"...just what does this mean? Absolutely nothing? The anime team? Hmm...

 

[Tomato Convenience Store]

Correct me if I am wrong but there was line of dialogue in the original game about Ryo’s karate teacher? I assume that is the older guy who tells Ryo to be patient at the tournament?

I honestly don't remember there being any reference to a karate teacher in S1. I just kind of assumed that guy in the anime was some sort of regular school teacher/chaperone.

 

[kaliskonig91]

Correct me if I am wrong but there was line of dialogue in the original game about Ryo’s karate teacher? I assume that is the older guy who tells Ryo to be patient at the tournament?

I dont think so. Going by the Japanese subs, Ryo is not actually on the Karate team. They recruited him specifically for the tourney. So That guy probably is not actually a karate teacher but just over the club since they would require an adult for off campus events.

 

[code l name]

I honestly don't remember there being any reference to a karate teacher in S1. I just kind of assumed that guy in the anime was some sort of regular school teacher/chaperone.

Found reference on the old forums

I thought Kiyuu’s post was very interesting-

Nonaka-sensei is the instructor of the Karate club in his high school. Ryo belongs to
that club, as that's the only martial-arts club in his high school, most likely.

That scene is triggered just once while you're looking for the tattoo parlor, I believe.

Anyway, Ryo mentions Karate once more when he meets Nozomi outside the tattoo
parlor, saying that he's considering going to a university which has a Karate course.

 

[24Nathan]

This comes across like you think it isn't a valid complaint. They were the ones that put themselves in this position, if they couldn't tell the story of the first two games without it feeling rushed, then they should have addressed that problem. I always said the first series should have focused on Shenmue 1 only. Spreading 2 games across 13 episodes was something I was concerned about from the day it was announced. I am even more concerned now because they are adding their own spin on things.

I really don't, but to each their own. I just remind myself I'm not playing this, so a lot of gameplay time of me running Ryo around Dobuita/the harbor, killing time waiting for Asia Travel to open or the Tattoo Parlor to open, waiting on the bus, running home, training in the parking lot, etc. doesn't need to be shown in the anime. They took some small liberties, but got a lot of the same "notebook entries" so far.

I thought it was a perfect balance of action and hooks to lure the casuals in, with a lot of nods to the fans thrown in. The layout of the Hazuki Residence, Tom's menu (EXACTLY the same), etc. were all awesome easter eggs. If they were going to simply retell the games scene by scene, line by line, I don't think it would have been too captivating for newcomers to the series.

 

[Hermit]

sure in something like a 74 episode series like Monster but with 13 episodes how would that be crammed in?

I never said they could cram it in, which is exactly why I expressed my concerns about the anime condensing the 2 games into a 13 episode series the day it was announced. The first episode already seems to have confirmed my original fears.

You also don't need a 74 episode series to tell the story of both games. The other day, I mentioned Steins;Gate doing what I consider to be the best anime adaptation of a game to date, and that is 24 episodes. They took their time with it, built up the story and it's characters. If they went the same direction with Shenmue, I think it could have avoided these issues very easily.

 

[pilman]

This comes across like you think it isn't a valid complaint. They were the ones that put themselves in this position, if they couldn't tell the story of the first two games without it feeling rushed, then they should have addressed that problem. I always said the first series should have focused on Shenmue 1 only. Spreading 2 games across 13 episodes was something I was concerned about from the day it was announced. I am even more concerned now because they are adding their own spin on things.

Shenmue the movie did it successfully using limited game content...

I understand your concerns of possible retcons, however, given the circumstances, there are much worse adaptions of movies based on games.

At least with Shenmue it is set in the same universe, if we had a playthrough then some people may miss certain cutscenes, qtes, some may or may not go to the casino or the arcade, some may get 1st prize in the forklift races and some may have multiple conversations or different conversations depending on the day and time. Even the Chai arcade slightly changes the narrative depending if you beat him or not.

I dont know the specifics behind the contractual agreements with the studio but I am assuming theres agreements with networks, voice actors, original backgrounds and characters utilized (rather than generic used), I am assuming like most anime, its sent out to Korea for animation and no idea if covid has impacted that or not.

For as niche of a title Shenmue is, its possible that 13 episodes was the most that could be secured with the idea of a possible second series depending how the first went.

I see the additional material adding more backdrop.

 

[Tomato Convenience Store]

I never said they could cram it in, which is exactly why I expressed my concerns about the anime condensing the 2 games into a 13 episode series the day it was announced. The first episode already seems to have confirmed my original fears.

You also don't need a 74 episode series to tell the story of both games. The other day, I mentioned Steins;Gate doing what I consider to be the best anime adaptation of a game to date, and that is 24 episodes (23 without filler) They took their time with it, built up the story and it's characters. If they went the same direction with Shenmue, I think it could have avoided these issues very easily.

You have a right to have concerns about the pacing, of course, but we've only seen the first episode of the season so it may be premature to say the whole series was rushed.

 

[24Nathan]

You have a right to have concerns about the pacing, of course, but we've only seen the first episode of the season so it may be premature to say the whole series was rushed.

Exactly. It's kind of the same thinking when people say the games are trash or all boring or that it is "just a revenge story". Yu Suzuki's story was a grand one, that just happened to grow and have to be split into multiple games. It should be viewed as such three games that are part of an incomplete story - and every brain dead casual seems to think that there is no substance here and only forklifts, sailors, and capsule toys.

What we saw was one episode out of thirteen...this one could've been the best, the worst, or somewhere in the middle quality wise out of the season, but I think it was great. It needed to be action packed enough to hook newcomers, as well as faithful enough for the series veterans. I think it accomplished both, at least moderately well.

 

[pilman]

Speaking of pacing, I highly recommend watching the shenmue movie that many xbox fans were introduced to before playing Shenmue IIx, it will give you a new appreciation for the anime. I think the pacing of the movie using recreated scenes cut so much more than the pacing of the anime. In many cases I was not expecting much from Shenmue 1 as a result of the movie so I am glad I never based my expectations off of it. I do think the anime is likely to introduce more newcomers.

 

[danielmann861]

Something quick I'm whipping together in Premiere. I'll post here when I've posted it to youtube

 

[Obi_Frans]

I loved it, few points:

- the Japanese dub (which I watched, only one available to me) seems to be getting much better reviews than the English dub.
- I liked Ryo laughing with Nozomi, I think from this episode alone it seems that they're trying to lighten him up a bit. I can understand why game-fans might dislike this; but I'm ok with it. Nozomi was fine to me
- Tom and Fuku-san!

 

[code l name]

View attachment 13994

Something quick I'm whipping together in Premiere. I'll post here when I've posted it to youtube

I am sort of sad after Iwao indicates the mirror is buried under the Cherry tree unlike the game, Lan Di doesn’t direct direct them with simple head gesture.

Again we are so used to the games but the original cinematic is awesome because of how economical Lan Di is with his movement and gestures.

 

[DrGamma]

It was absolutely perfect. In the game, we only have Ryo's very lonely perspective to his personality with friends, and his interactions like calling Nozomi every day and talking with Tom regularly are something you find if you delve more into the game. They're supposed to present to yourselves through actual effort. In a story such as this, they do need to make certain characters very present in Ryo's life, so we have constant cast members that aren't him. There's also the factor of motivation, and having to show a full arc in each episode. The Chai fight was needed, because showing the full Tattoo parlor investigation would have rushed through it way more and taught Ryo nothing. The episode starting with the very thing that he's being shown through the game, which is that he's lacking and the world around him is still unknown, is very good.

All of these story changes make sense from the characters' point of view, so that we understand them better. And from the point of view of creating a cohesive narrative for a TV show to fit their budget. The cuts, pacing and style are just as they need to be.

 

[WuyingRen]

Mixed feelings about the first episode, but would probably give it a 6 or a 7 out of 10 if pressed.

I liked that they started with the events in the cave, though wasn’t a fan of the random “meanwhile” cutaway to Shenhua. I get why they did it, but worry that this is going to be a regular thing which would be a huge waste of screentime. As far as we know, nothing of note really happens to/with Shenhua prior to her meeting with Ryo, so unless they add some new stuff, I’d rather see the focus sticking with Ryo.

On the subject of wasted screentime, the karate tournament just didn’t work for me at all. It did feel very generic anime though, so I suspect this was added for the benefit of anime fans rather than to improve the narrative. This probably wouldn’t have bothered me so much had Iwao’s death not felt so rushed. Then again, the abrupt start was one of the things that I liked most about the first game. I was hooked before I’d even touched the controller:

I also didn’t like Lan Di telling one of his henchmen that there was another mirror in Yokosuka. In the games, I always assumed that either he only knew about the Dragon mirror or that he knew about both but had no idea where the other mirror was. If he knew that both mirrors were in Japan the whole time though, would he not have assumed that Iwao also had the Phoenix Mirror? At the very least, would he not have asked before killing him?

Ryo laughing with Nozomi felt a little out of character too and his acceptance that he wasn’t strong enough to beat Chai is also a little problematic. A recurring theme throughout the series is his failure to accept/realise this and so for him to do so in episode one does make me wonder how they’re going to handle Ryo’s training. In some ways, it almost felt like a different Ryo.

I appreciate that this all sounds very negative, but there was just as much that I enjoyed about the episode, if not more. I thought that it looked and sounded great, for example and liked that they opted to work Chai into the story a little earlier on. One suspects that this will come at the expense of Ryo looking for sailors, which is definitely a good thing.

 

[ShenSun]

I absolutely loved it. The pacing is fine considering we have the beast known as Shenmue 2 to get through. I really enjoyed the rearrangement of scenes to include all the key story points and was happy it showed us Ryo's life before Iwao's death.

The scene of Ryo in the park was brilliant and added to the internal conflict that he is facing. It was brilliant seeing Ryo confused on whether he should seek revenge or not, and I loved the friendly scene with him and Nozomi. We know Ryo will eventually neglect his friends for revenge, so seeing this scene adds to that dynamic.

The fights were great. There were some frames that were off in terms of art and animation, but overall, it was very solid and we got multiple fights in one episode.

Ryo beating Chai in the dojo is fine. Chai is not the last boss in the anime and the ending of shenmue 1 will feel like a normal episode going into Shenmue 2.

Really liked how they're showing Shenhua in Bailu along side Ryo's journey. That is an excellent touch and is great for character development and world building

I watched the Japanese dub which was good. I really want to see the english dub as i liked what i heard in the trailers and toonami ads. Will report back on this when i see it.

Overall, I'm very happy. That was incredible. Bring on episode 2