SPOILERS SHENMUE THE ANIMATION EPISODE 10 "Comeback" THREAD

[ShenSun]

Godaamn that episode was amazing. One of the best episodes i've seen in the series.

So much fun

 

[Kintor]

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.

Of the two I'd still say that the game depiction is still the better version of Kowloon if only because it provided a much better sense of scale. I'm not asking for much just an establishing shot that looks like this:



If I saw a reconstruction of this Kowloon aerial photo with an anime style colour filter then I'd happy. As is stands the anime doesn't provide any context as to whether Kowloon is much bigger then any apartment block or just how dense the place really was, it all relies on the audience have existing knowledge of Kowloon and its unique environment.

But I digress, this is the approach the production team has chosen and its best not to dwell on it too much. The anime does a much better job at traditional picturesque scenes like Yokosuka and Guilin.

 

[Spaghetti]

Whew! Absolutely jam-packed episode, but they still somehow found space for non-game content. The cold open sequence before the credits gives me big "setting up season 2" vibes, if it happens.

I wonder how canon that stuff about Joy and the White Thai organisation is... It'd certainly explain a lot more about her status in the game, which is really only hinted at with her connections to Master Chen and Guizhang.

 

[hazuki00]

I liked this episode but is not among my favourites, way too fast pacing. My concern is that they leave full season 2 for Shenmue 3, that is the one who has less history content of the three games. They have skipped a lot of content of Kowloon and wanchai, it's a shame. I always like the stellar appearances of Xiuying, with that powerful aura she gives off to surprise even Dou Niu.

 

[WuyingRen]

I liked this episode but is not among my favourites, way too fast pacing. My concern is that they leave full season 2 for Shenmue 3, that is the one who has less history content of the three games. They have skipped a lot of content of Kowloon and wanchai, it's a shame. I always like the stellar appearances of Xiuying, with that powerful aura she gives off to surprise even Dou Niu.

If we do get a season 2, I fully expect it to comprise of story beats from both Shenmue 3 and Shenmue 4.

 

[terry.tsoi]

Just watched this episode. I am truly amazed by the amount of storytelling in this one.

This is a great episode full of surprises, like Shenhua's dad and the connection between Joy's family and the Yellow Head.

It seems that the anime team decided to emphasise the cooperation between Ren and Ryo, and less of Ren "tricking" Ryo with two 5 dollars coins.

 

[lavrentis]

I thought that was one of the better episodes, enjoyed that!

 

[chaikilla]

I love those little moments that we didn't see in the games (the interaction between Do Niu/Yuan and Lan Di and Shenhua's father's 'last' trip to the quarry). Yuan is totally unhinged and I love it.

Very fast pacing and it's a shame how Ryo didn't even get to see his father's GI in Zhu's hideout but it is what it is.

 

[Obi_Frans]

Wow.

I loved it, but this is the first episode where I'm not sure how much I love it. This felt very fast to me and I'm still processing what we missed because of it, I think I'll have to see the whole Kowloon arc before I can properly judge this one.

Might be high on my list or possibly the lowest, which is relative because I did really enjoy it.

 

[hyo_razuki]

Another absolutely phenomenal episode! Love it!

I think now it's pretty clear how the remaining thee episodes will go.

Episode 11: beating the four street fighters, getting the invite from the Yellow Head scout.
Episode 12: Yellow Head building, including Bailu and Douniu fights.
Episode 13: arrival in Guilin, walking to Shenny's house, getting taken to the cave and boom, it's a wrap for season 1.

 

[~ ひかり ~]

I loved it. Shenhua and Yunshen Yuan in the beginning of the episode, more about Joy's past, scenes of Lan Di with Yuan and Dou Niu and we see how Lan Di found out that Ryo is in Kowloon, these scenes don't have in the game, it is a beautiful way to expand the story, like i said other times, the anime complement the games and the games complement the anime, if someone want to have the complete Shenmue experience then i recommend both the anime and the games.

I love that we got more flashback of Xiuying with Ziming, this time Ziming telling the reason he is leaving, this flashback is for the audience to see why Xiuying decided to follow Ryo and appeared in the ending of the episode, and also for the audience to see that Ziming have a lot of things in common with Ryo, Ziming is like a Ryo but a Ryo that went into the wrong path in life, and when the time comes Ryo will probably not make the same decisions that Ziming did and then probably Ryo will forget about revenge, i love this flashback.

This episode is what I was imagining, lots of action with Ryo and Ren in Kowloon, the action scenes are really good, it looks like the anime team cut out a lot of things in Kowloon because Ryo didn't found Yuanda Zhu that fast in the game, it was slow pace in the game, as far as i remember a lot of things happened in Kowloon before meeting Yuanda Zhu but it's okay, when i miss the games version i can just play.

Some things that the anime team cut out in the anime was sad but i'm enjoying the anime, it is really nice to see a different version of Shenmue and see some parts of the story getting expanded, like more scenes with Shenhua and more scenes with Lan Di, we even saw Shenhua's father in this episode, really nice, i loved that.

I hope we can see the catching leaves part in the anime, to me the lesson of a clear and serene mind as a polished mirror is important, i don't know if catching leaves will be in the anime but at least the lesson i think Xiuying will teach Ryo.

I say this because in the previous episode Xiuying said to Fangmei... "His mind is still not where it needs to be, a clear and serene mind." Something like this that Xiuying said so i imagine that Xiuying will teach this for Ryo. I hope we can see the catching leaves part in the anime, to me is important but now i don't know if will happen.

We are almost reaching the end of the season, now i feel more that the season will end in Guilin, episode 13 will probably be only for Guilin, and i think the final episode will end in the cave just like in the game.

If a second season happen i think it will be after the release of Shenmue IV, if Shenmue IV happens of course, this way the second season can be Shenmue III and Shenmue IV, and this way the anime team can expand the story of Shenmue III, we can see a lot of new scenes and story in Bailu and Niaowu, the anime team can even put Baisha in the second season and i think it will be amazing if this happen.

My dream for the future of the franchise is the release of Shenmue IV and after that the second season of the anime, i hope one day we can get an official Shenmue Manga as well, the more Shenmue in more media the better, this is what i hope for the future of this beautiful franchise.

I love the final scene that Xiuying appeared to save Ryo.

Just 3 episodes left to end the season... when the season ends i will miss this time of Shenmue content every week.

i just hope that after the end of the season the Shenmue franchise will continue and i feel that it will continue.

Overall good episode, i'm looking forward for the next episode.

 

[Jibby]

Wow, this was a really dense episode. I do find it strange just how much stuff from Shenmue II they're doing 1:1 given that the Shenmue I stuff was changed up quite a lot. I guess the second game naturally works better in anime form as it's more action packed, so fewer changes are needed.

That being said, the Ghost Hall plank retcon was the first change that's left me genuinely disappointed. I can understand why they needed to cut it as it was right at the end of the episode, but it was always such an iconic, high-stakes moment (arguably the most so in the entire game) so it's a shame to see it not get that kind of representation.

People who play the the game because they liked the anime are going to be in for a real shock when they reach Ghost Hall

 

[Down by Law]

I give this episode a FRIED CHICKEN / 10

Honestly that bit slayed me . Hilarious.

Definetely agree with others who said Kowloon needed some establishing shots. For those unfamiliar with it there is no context.

Really enjoyed seeing Lan Di again, the White Thai backstory, these bits were all very welcome. I thought the little girl was Joy, too.

Fights were weak again, but can be forgiven as there was so much going on.

Minus 1 point for lacking the immortal SHUT UP OR I'LL BUST YER FACE!!11!, though I didn't mind them losing the planks. Shame the five stars office room was more or less cut mind, I love the mystery of searching the room, and the music is terrific.

Definetely an improvement on last weeks that I wasn't too keen on. I also realised i've been calling Dou Niu "Don Niu" for the last twenty years. Oops.

 

[Shenhua-Nani?]

Way too fast of an episode, with too many things either cut or passing by too fast.

Like i feared, dedicating too many episodes to Shenmue 1 means that now some Shenmue 2 events wont get properly shown.

To some people the fake coin thing or Ren talking the elevator to reach ghost hall bldg top floor may seem not that important , but they helped establish that Ren is a Smart son of a…(in a good way) in contrast to Ryo being “honest” and straight almost to the point of stupidity, which Made their partnership more interesting.

Another part i didnt like was after Ryo gets thrown out of the window, in the game he got up and tried to fight, here he was already on the ground.

That is another important moment from the game imo because its when you realize he’s biting more than he can chew even at his level of skill, and it helped establish that feeling that Dou Niu is just too strong for him.

The + of the episode is certainly Dou Niu which at least sounds and looks as menacing as he should be.

 

[ManoTemple]

My only real "I don't like it" moment in this anime was the forklift rescue with Mark. As for the pacing of S2, it's not very jarring for my taste because S2 was quite fast-paced if you take out the mundane, for lack of a better word, RPG tasks.

 

[I Got Sriracha In My DNA]

I think my only real criticism of the episode is they left out some of the more fun Ren/Ryo interactions like the coin flip to see who attacks Yuan and Ren having the keys for the elevator for the Ghost Hall building. They didn't need to adapt planks, could've just been a ton of stairs for Ryo to climb, only for Ren to show up at the top.

One Ren thing I'm not surprised is gone but low-key hoped would show up is Ren giving up his capsule toy to the orphan/child. Always liked in Shenmue II that Ren pretended to be annoyed but tried to hold back a smile at the kid's joy. I thought it always gave us a good glimpse on how Ren deep down is a bit of a softie.

 

[bcdcdude]

I think the episode was great as usual, but after 4 episodes of a relatively calm pace, it did feel like a lot was crammed into this episode. It was brilliant to see Ren and I loved the recreation of the scene in Yuan's room, but I must admit, this episode hasn't left me as enamoured as some of the others. I think it might be because today was the first episode I couldn't watch in one sitting...that and the sun was suspiciously sunny today, making a lot of the episode tough to watch!

Loving the flashbacks and slightly differences in the games. I have a sinking feeling that Kowloon will be done by next episode which - if so - would be a shame as I think the Don Niu fight would make a great season closer.

Still - it's hard to complain; I think my circumstances today have dampened the weekly tradition I currently have, but man - i'm still having a big smile on my face when I watch this show!

 

[chaikilla]

The amount of 'fill in the gaps' scenes we've seen so far such as Lan Di looking for Zhu, Lan Di interacting with Yuan and Do Niu and Shenhua's father making his last trip to the quarry before his kidnap gives me a lot of hope that we will see Yanglang and (or) Niao Sun before the end of the anime, to set the tone for the events of the third game. Hopefully!

 

[Demon's Triangle]

Whew! Absolutely jam-packed episode, but they still somehow found space for non-game content. The cold open sequence before the credits gives me big "setting up season 2" vibes, if it happens.

I wonder how canon that stuff about Joy and the White Thai organisation is... It'd certainly explain a lot more about her status in the game, which is really only hinted at with her connections to Master Chen and Guizhang.

I don't really follow the white thai stuff. Is that little girl Joy? I thought it may have been Xiuying because we never found what happened to how her parents die.

 

[code l name]

Just caught up with the episode today. Largely enjoyed it but was disappointed that Kowloon, was never properly established or you got a sense of size and scale as the story events seem turbo charged at this juncture.

I absolutely liked the additional lore about Yellowhead origins and connecting that with Joy. Along with additional scene with Lan Di.