SPOILERS - SHENMUE THE ANIMATION EPISODE 13 "SHENMUE" THREAD

Xiuying vs Lan di ? I really hope it wont happen in the anime.
 
Personally i think season 2 has probably already been greenlit, especially if there's only such little time left for the character of shenhua and her importance to ryo and the overall story. :)
 
I love how Ryo's eyes are turning red from having the revenge overtake his soul.

That's a really nice touch.
And they turn blue instead when he wants to save one of his friends, aka Joy
 
Awesome they put the fight here. It gives good closure to the series should there not be a season 2 and it satisfys casual fans.

The fight is only lasting a minute then he's leaving for the dou niu fight to take place if im reading the rotten tomatoes description correctly.

I hope we don't get any constant whining /moaning from shenmue fans about this, like we always do with every single little change that occurs. Its for the greater good and helps the series massively. Not to mention, im pretty sure the original soundtrack in shenmue 2 on the rooftop was called "encounter with lan di" or something.
My God if truer words haven't been spoken. I'm surprised nobody has complained that they haven't included QTE prompts, the watch on screen at all times, and Ine - san giving a daily allowance. I am all for criticism, but EVERY TIME we get anything nice, it seems there is an alarmingly large minority of the fanbase that wants to absolutely pick it to pieces, then go to work on the bones. Maybe we should all take a look at the anime for what it IS, not for what it ISN'T. This is an ADAPTATION, meaning it doesn't need to be 1:1 with the game, line per line, event per event, character per character.
 
I agree on the overly-critical nitpicking part - its not healthy. I made a post about an unpopular perspective yesterday about just that.

I'm just wondering -> is there enough time in 20 minutes to go through:-

1. Fight with Dou Niu
2. Fight with Lan Di
3. Rescuing Zhu and having the big debrief session
4. Saying goodbyes to people
5. Travelling to Guilin
6. Meeting Shenhua, travelling together
7. Cave Scene

What do you all think?

I think that the meeting and travelling part will be significantly cut. I could see it literally being "Where are you headed Ryo? Bailu Village? That's where I'm from, I'm headed there too" *skips all journey". "I just need to drop some food to my father". Then they arrive at the cave.

I still think it could be a stretch to fit all of that in.
 
I agree on the overly-critical nitpicking part - its not healthy. I made a post about an unpopular perspective yesterday about just that.

I'm just wondering -> is there enough time in 20 minutes to go through:-

1. Fight with Dou Niu
2. Fight with Lan Di
3. Rescuing Zhu and having the big debrief session
4. Saying goodbyes to people
5. Travelling to Guilin
6. Meeting Shenhua, travelling together
7. Cave Scene

What do you all think?

I think that the meeting and travelling part will be significantly cut. I could see it literally being "Where are you headed Ryo? Bailu Village? That's where I'm from, I'm headed there too" *skips all journey". "I just need to drop some food to my father". Then they arrive at the cave.

I still think it could be a stretch to fit all of that in.
I bet we will end with either a montage over the ending theme (ala the Xiuying is Lishao Tao reveal over ending theme) playing over the goodbyes and exiting the boat at Langhuishan, maybe meeting Shenhua at the port instead of trying to save the white deer, or we will end at the Zhu debrief and the goodbyes. I personally doubt we will get the cave scene. Maybe the bet here was that they would get a second season, since this season was never going to finish Shenmue II, but rather "most of it".

Of course, things could change a lot, and maybe Zhu will get kidnapped and maybe things will go further away from the game's story. Time will tell.
 
I'm gonna predict what'll go on in episode 13.

Two minutes into the episode will focus on Ryo vs. Lan Di.

Three minutes of content after the Lan Di fight, but before the Dou Niu fight.

Before the Dou Niu fight, if you're watching on toonami it'll have commercials, so about 2-3 minutes.
(Don't know if Crunchyroll has commercials).

Five minutes of Ryo fighting Dou Niu.

Five minutes of Yuanda Zhu's mirror talk.

Four minutes of Ryo returning to Man Mo Temple (probably won't get Demon's triangle since he's barely gotten any moves from the games).

The end credits will probably be different and might have Ryo arriving in Guilin. We are already aware that Guilin wouldn't be covered, but you never know with credits, they might surprise us with cuts from a few scenes of Ryo and Shenhua's travel to the cave.


Oh and I can't forget Yu Suzuki will arrive from a rocket ship and announce Shenmue IV.
 
Love the preview, but you can tell the budget is at its limit (Baihu fight being the obvious example). But it seems they're now reusing animation frames.

Episode 1

14.PNG

Episode 13

13.PNG

There is also a moment where Ryo tries to kick Lan Di, but he blocks it. Lan Di's leg looks like it's tacked on and the frames of animation are kept to a bare minimum.

I think it's safe to say, there's no way this series could go for 24 episodes whilst having the same quality that's been presented throughout the 12 episodes. Not on its current budget
 
I'm really excited for this episode. We (presumably) know what will happen, but I'm going to take a guess and say we'll not only get some added details (I'll explain below), we may even learn something that we do not yet know after Shenmue III. I'll mark with spoilers just in case.


I think the Ryo/Lan Di skirmish will last all of 2 minutes. Lan Di will just prove a point to Ryo to show that he still lacks Kung Fu. Joy and Ren spot Zhu, but Dou Niu stops them by threatening Wong (as seen in II). Lan Di tells Dou Niu to deal with Ryo to prove himself in taking over Hong Kong.

Now here's where I think there will be disappointment. The Ryo/Dou Niu fight will be really short. Dou Niu will resist all of Ryo's attacks. Ryo has his Xuiying epiphany moment and swallow dive counter elbow assault Dou Niu taking him down rather easily. Lan Di decides that he does not need to fight Ryo and takes off without Zhu. We get Zhu's revelations as normal, though I wonder if we'll get a flashback of Zhu learning Lan Di is after the mirrors and writing the letter to warn Iwao. (Part of me hopes to also have an explanation on why Lan Di only though Iwao had one of the mirrors).

Here's where I think we will get more context. We see Lan Di and his cronies (the guys from III) in Niaowu and his goons question Lan Di about failing to get Zhu because Lan Di originally though the Zhu had Phoenix Mirror. Lan Di reveals his gut feeling that Ryo has the Phoenix Mirror or at least he knows where it is and figures that Ryo will eventually come to him again as he is shown to be foolish enough. While this is happening, we get our first glimpse of Niao Sun eavesdropping on this situation and possibly convincing Chai to switch loyalty to her and tail Ryo to Guilin.

We get Ryo's goodbyes to Wong and Joy (and possibly a flashback to Joy being saved by Master Chen to make that link), and Ren tells Ryo to contact him when he learns something (that way Ren doesn't just randomly show up in Niaowu). Ryo says goodbye to Xuiying and Fangmei at Man Mo Temple, during which Xuiying gives Ryo her half of the pendant (Hopefully teaches him Demon's Triangle, but not betting on it).

Ryo arrives at Langhuishan and begins his hike to Bailu Village. Storm happens and we get the scene in which Shenhua jumps into the river. Ryo jumps in the river. Then we get the credits with them on the bank of the river doing introductions and we end with Shenhua telling Ryo to follow her.
 
My God if truer words haven't been spoken. I'm surprised nobody has complained that they haven't included QTE prompts, the watch on screen at all times, and Ine - san giving a daily allowance. I am all for criticism, but EVERY TIME we get anything nice, it seems there is an alarmingly large minority of the fanbase that wants to absolutely pick it to pieces, then go to work on the bones. Maybe we should all take a look at the anime for what it IS, not for what it ISN'T. This is an ADAPTATION, meaning it doesn't need to be 1:1 with the game, line per line, event per event, character per character.
A lot of it comes down to what ifs for me.

If the story of Shenmue cannot be completed in game form and we end up with the anime completing the story, then it will make the anime canon rather than just adaptation. With all of the changes and things left out of the anime, I don't think I could ever accept it as canon. As an adaptation, fine, but as the new canon? no chance.

Like I said though, it's all what ifs. I have accepted the anime for what it is at this point and am just going along with it and hoping it gains enough interest to keep the series alive in game form.
 
It can never replicate a game, and won' try to, for better or for worse. If the games are cancelled and the anime does finish the story, it will still continue to be an adaptation of the source material, which we will likely never see in the first place. It will be the only closure we have for Ryo's story, and if that is the only way we get the rest of the story, then I will gladly take it.

For all we know, some of the changes in the anime may be closer to the original scripts.
 
A lot of it comes down to what ifs for me.

If the story of Shenmue cannot be completed in game form and we end up with the anime completing the story, then it will make the anime canon rather than just adaptation. With all of the changes and things left out of the anime, I don't think I could ever accept it as canon. As an adaptation, fine, but as the new canon? no chance.

Like I said though, it's all what ifs. I have accepted the anime for what it is at this point and am just going along with it and hoping it gains enough interest to keep the series alive in game form.
Are there really that many changes to the story in the anime though? Obviously there are a lot of additions, but many of these are borne simply through the anime’s ability to explore Shenmue’s world through eyes other than Ryo’s. It’s not like the handful of meaningful changes have a huge bearing on the plot either.

On the whole, I think that the anime has done a fantastic job adapting the games and presenting them in such a way as to attract and appeal to a wider audience. Not all of the additions have landed perfectly, but most have enhanced the story in some way shape or form. Considering this seems to have been the primary reason for making a Shenmue anime in the first place, I think it’s more than met expectations

I just wish they hadn’t rushed Iwao’s death, Kowloon, and, presumably, Guilin quite as much as they did.
 
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