SPOILERS SHENMUE THE ANIMATION EPISODE 10 "Comeback" THREAD

This was discussed a little in the Ep 9 thread, but it seems possible they may move all the Kowloon events to Hong Kong - Ren didn't mention Kowloon, and his hideout in Aberdeen looks exactly like the game one in Kowloon, suggesting this may be used as the location for those scenes/Ryo's accomodation. Might be wrong, but there seems to be signs that this is what they're doing. Personally not too bothered by this as long as they do the story justice :)
 
Before the anime release i remember that Crunchyroll did an event to share more informations about Shenmue and other anime, in this virtual meeting was Yu Suzuki, the director of the anime Chikara Sakurai, the producer Yu Kiyozono and the interviewer.

I remember Chikara Sakurai and Yu Kiyozono talking about Kowloon in the anime, and in the other thread i shared a part of an interview where Yu Kiyozono talked about Kowloon, as far as i know Kowloon is confirmed, the only part that is not confirmed is the ending in Guilin.

This is what i remember about what i saw at that time.
 
Next episodes I guess

Episode 10 Dancing Dragon building ambush, tailing Yuan to Zhang

Episode 11 Finding Yuanda Zhu, meeting Kai. Ryo fights the 3 champions. Maybe they could fit the leaf scene in after Xiuying saves Ryo

Episode 12 Yellow Head building and rescuing Zhu

Episioe 13 Disc 4 Guilin epilogue of Shenmue 2, come full circle to the cave flash forward
 
It's almost go time. I'm here this week! Finally after all the time differences, I'm finally back to watch another ep as it goes live
 
Well, we did get to see Kowloon but in a much reduced capacity. Honestly, the establishing shots of Kowloon were pretty weak in my opinion. Especially compared to Kowloon's introduction in Shenmue 2. Hard to get a sense of scale and the unique hyper-urban sprawl that defined Kowloon at its height. Still, on close up they definitely got the dilapidated feel of the place right.

Also, I think we also have bit more backstory to the Yellow Heads and Joy as it turns out; it all seems like new information to me at least. We learn about the White Thai and how the Yellow Heads betrayed them to become the dominant criminal gang in Hong Kong. Also, that young girl in the flashback seems to match the earlier flashback of Joy as child. Combined with Joy's reaction to the Yellow Heads' involvement it's safe to say that Joy probably has a connection to the White Thai and their now dead leaders.
 
Probably my least favorite episode. I think these moments blend better in video game form. There were a few neat tidbits here and there but overall there wasn't much to go on, and action scenes were cut down quite a bit. Ghost hall building got a massive downgrade too, they were just straight up given the keys, didn't have to put in the work to find 'em.

Interesting that at the start of the episode, Shenhua's father Yuan doesn't head to the quarry and heads towards the village instead.
 
I liked the episode a lot despite Crunchyroll doing this weird thing where it would skip 10 seconds a lot. I ended up taking an hour to watch the episode because of all the rewinding I needed to do.
 
Man, really digging that eastern flavored song with Ren at the beginning, any ideas if there's an ost ?

EDIT: Damn and that theme when Dou NIu appears, the music in this anime is sick.
 
I think it's tough to translate "investigative quests" in a linear format, so the Yang -> Dou Niu capture scenes and follow Yuan scenes were kind of hit or miss for me. I actually didn't mind the changes to the Ghost Hall building since crossing the planks and finding the keys wouldn't have been that interesting to the viewer, but I wish they were able to at least have a scene that cuts to establish what's in the room and maybe even find the karate uniform with the Hazuki name on it. (I probably messed up some terminology there)

That being said I still liked the episode, and Xiuying's appearance was awesome, of course. I just think this episode followed the quest format a little too closely. I'm guessing this might be similar to what @RetroLord120 was saying.

Perhaps we'll get the leaf catching next episode? Xiuying can use Ryo getting his ass whooped as an opportunity to teach this.
 
Not sure what to make of this episode. Part of me thinks it was the best episode yet, despite the rapid pacing. I can see why some might dislike it, but for me, they found a great balance when it came to both staying true to and truncating the source material.

What’s more, if they cut down on the amount of time spent on the street fighting sections, I can actually see them making it to the cave without too many sacrifices now.
 
tomboz said:
Not sure what to make of this episode. Part of me thinks it was the best episode yet, despite the rapid pacing. I can see why some might dislike it, but for me, they found a great balance when it came to both staying true to and truncating the source material.

What’s more, if they cut down on the amount of time spent on the street fighting sections, I can actually see them making it to the cave without too many sacrifices now.
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I rewatched and I clicked with me much better now. I might have been distracted messing with audio settings during the episode since I updated my soundbars firmware right beforehand. On a rewatch, the one thing that still felt off was probably the sequence of saving Zhang, getting the keys from him (why didn't Yuan take them away from him?), and then having Yuan and Dou Niu show up again about 1 minute later in Ghost Hall Building. It comes across that this all happens at practically the same timeframe (and maybe this is the case?)

I liked a lot of the small story bits they fleshed out, such as Ren's motivation for helping Ryo being more clearly defined, the White Thai story (like others have said, probably related to Joy's parents), and the interactions with Lan Di and Dou Niu/Yuan. They also show that Ren has more street smarts, such as when he notices the guy in the black suit giving a signal, being the lookout near Yuan's, figuring out the bird clue, and warning Ryo about what he's really getting into.

I liked Xiuying's cutaway with the flashback at Man Mo Temple. Sets the table for her to follow Ryo to Kowloon and try to get him off this path. That's why I'm thinking the leaf catching might come next episode (or at least, there's an opportunity for a lesson after saving Ryo). I think it can be another case of telling a few stories in parallel in the anime as opposed to in sequence in the games.
 
Kintor said:
Well, we did get to see Kowloon but in a much reduced capacity. Honestly, the establishing shots of Kowloon were pretty weak in my opinion. Especially compared to Kowloon's introduction in Shenmue 2. Hard to get a sense of scale and the unique hyper-urban sprawl that defined Kowloon at its height. Still, on close up they definitely got the dilapidated feel of the place right.

Also, I think we also have bit more backstory to the Yellow Heads and Joy as it turns out; it all seems like new information to me at least. We learn about the White Thai and how the Yellow Heads betrayed them to become the dominant criminal gang in Hong Kong. Also, that young girl in the flashback seems to match the earlier flashback of Joy as child. Combined with Joy's reaction to the Yellow Heads' involvement it's safe to say that Joy probably has a connection to the White Thai and their now dead leaders.
Click to expand...
The Kowloon in the game was absolutely epic but no where near the real Kowloon, I think the game I recall something about the cramped narrow alleys would not be fun to play or technical issues? I dont recall. The Kowloon in the anime resembles the real Kowloon how it existed at the time.
 
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