SPOILERS Shenmue The Animation: Episode 2 - Daybreak - Thread

I Got Sriracha In My DNA said:
Mimi the cat is in the end credits.

Loved the Nozomi-centric credits too. Wonder if we're going to get credits for different characters. If so, I will absolutely lose my mind if Joy gets one and the theme is her cheesy 80s rock theme song.
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Im sure from the start of episode 7 it will be a new ending focusing on Joy (or other Hong Kong ladies) for sure.
 
I was thinking the same thing. Both the opening and ending themes are very Nozomi centric for her only going to be in half or less than half of the season. I think they will change out at least parts of the opening at least, until it gets to what I assume is the chorus and Ryo falls down from above.
 
Quick question...does anyone know where I can get images of QTE Dreamcast button prompts for this quick video I'm working on? Or am I gonna have to try and make them myself?
 
Another great episode. Loved seeing the s3 characters, although they are really going hard on the prophecy - seems like it has bookended both episodes now, and 2 in a row where we have the shenmue music and prophecy playing over the final scene. Will be curious if this continues, although hard to see this concluding every single episode. Interesting stylistic choice if they do so however.

I think someone earlier said how they have cut out Shenmue's "side events" to focus on the core story, although actually this isn't the case. We've had at least 2 of these events already: the park fight with enoki in episode 1, (very missable in S1), and now double blow with Yamagishi (also missable). In fact Yamagishi san virtually gets his own mini arc this episode himself, as he comes to terms with Ryo's desire to learn the truth about his father, after initially, sensibly, trying to dissuade him. I definitely think there'll be more side stuff, and the Yamagishi scenes here were really well done.

The continued shift on Ryo's motivation is interesting here, especially considering a big part of the Man Mo temple section with Xiuying is about her trying to stop Ryo throwing his life away on revenge. I suppose though that they may ramp up the revenge side more as we go along - although to be honest Ryo is still embarking on a foolish, near suicidal mission regardless of the slight shift, so not too much has changed anyway. Ryo is still very single minded and naive here, so plenty of room to grow. Also, this version of the nightmare scene gives us the extra Lan Di moment which seems to be the real point at which Ryo becomes obsessed with finding the truth about his father.

I also love the added scenes again, the way they are developing Ryo/Nozomi is really well done - we get to see Nozomi's room! I always wanted to see something like that after the calls in the game with Nozomi, and I feel like the off screen mother calling is a reference to those calls too. Pacing felt more relaxed this week too, with less heavy lifting to do than episode 1. Guizhang and master Chen next episode. Bring it!
 
I still have to process my thoughts on the episode as its early morning here and i watched it half awake, but i got surprised by the change in pace from the first episode.

They showed lot of scenes from the game but the episode barely advanced the story if you think about it.
 
24Nathan said:
How so regarding the fight? I mean, different camera angles and such, but even the moves he used to defeat each thug were the exact same. Down to which foot he kicked the barstool with.
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In the game you see the "milk's perfect for a school boy" guy get head-kicked at a low angle, then he elaborately flips over the bar top before crashing into the bottles. The anime representation is cut back and more economical, which is to be expected. It's not like it's bad or anything, just not as impressive. I thought the Iwao Lan Di fight held up really well compared to the game, but I doubt they can put that level of time and effort into every single fight scene.
 
2nd watch done, and whilst I expect I have a bunch more things to say about this episode, for now I just wanted to say this:

Yamagishi san saying to Ryo that he is, "having a drink with Iwao" after Iwao's death is the kind of deep cut that shows that the team behind this understand the depth of Shenmue - the small but moving and impactul moments that are entirely overlooked by series naysayers. In fact I'll give you a little story.

When the remaster came out a few years ago I had been trying to get my best bud to play Shenmue for years, banging on about it being this unique masterpiece etc. He had briefly tried the S2 xbox port with his 360, but the slow load times and starting with the second game in the series put him off. So when the remaster rolled around he had the perfect opportunity to get stuck in.

I was kind of nervous as I'd hyped S1 up so much for years, although he's pretty open minded and had taught English in Japan in the early 2000's (so I knew he would dig the setting). So I asked him to text me an update now and again to see how he was getting on. Like a lot of people it wasn't quite clicking for the first 3-4 hours, but over time the sheer quality and "unique versimilitude" (my phrase!) started to win him over. So about halfway through the game he told me he would give it a 9/10, but didn't think it was quite a masterpiece.

Then a few days later he's raving about how it *is* a masterpiece, and is now one of his favourite games of all time. I asked him why and he told me that the scene with "the homeless guy" at the harbor had moved him and he'd never experienced anything like that in a video game before. Just the simple choice to do a good turn for a guy down on his luck - a tiny moment that other games wouldn't bother with but Shenmue had actually *emphasized*, particularly as it's an optional scene. That Yamagishi san scene in this episode reminded me of that.
 
That's it. I'm in. Whatever the hell they're gonna do next I am down for it. Loving it so far.

They're filling in the blanks! So much context added to some situations in the game! Charlie and Yamagishi's scenes are great. PLUS that SOUNDTRACK, they're sticking with a cinematic style soundtrack... LOVE IT.

Also most importantly...
Cat confirmed CANON in the credits
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Just finished, and again they absolutely nailed it. Loving the extra touches on Ryo's relationships to the people around him.

I think the look on his face and him touching his bandaid all of the time definitely still point to vengeance being a part of his drive, it's the thing he doesn't say out loud. I'm sure somebody will soon call him out on this. "Is this about clearing your fathers name....or getting revenge".

It's a great narrative decision, as clearing his fathers name wouldn't require going after Lan-Di, but we know he will pivot to chasing after him soon.

Awesome stuff, and I'm a fanboy of course but show is still a 10 to me.
 
Some more observations:

- In Nozomi's room when we see the photograph of ryo and pals, there is actually an interesting section of a photo above/behind it. It looks like Ryo on the left, with a dark haired girl wearing pink gloves with a finger raised like she's scolding him. You think that's one of Nozomi's friends? Like the one in S1 who sort of Chides Ryo for not being nicer to Nozomi? (Or something like that)

- Nozomi also has a boom box/cassette player. You think she got it from the Tomato Mart raffle? ;)

- You Arcade is now the size of a small country, but has an absolutely gorgeous establishing shot with plenty of Bell Woods vending machines. :cool:
 
Like the last thread, I'll start with a few scatterbrained comments:

I agree with the folks who like how they fleshed out Nozomi as a character and gave her a bit more personality than in the games. It's been a nice dynamic between her and Ryo, while retaining just a bit of awkwardness.

It's really hard for us to "unlearn" the story and scenarios from S1 so part of me is wondering if maybe they should have taken even more liberties in this adaptation. However, I didn't have any issues with the pacing and I feel the investigative moments were appropriately truncated (such as multiple cuts to characters nodding "no" that they can't read the letter).

I agree in that I feel that ending with the prophecy feels overdone and I hope the rest of the episodes don't end with it. More of a minor nitpick, though.

Cool to see a nod to Shenmue III characters and Bailu village. I do secretly hope that there's a mini "story do-over" of S3 in Season 2.

I really enjoyed the story emphasis on Yamagashi this episode. Since he was Iwao's friend it makes sense that he becomes a bit more prominent in the anime, and perhaps he feels a small bit of responsibility for keeping Ryo's life on track.
 
OK! Literally just finished episode 2! I'm really enjoying this even if the pace is a little too fast for me. I'm writing my comments now, then will read everyone's in a little while :)

It is fascinating to see how the story is intertwined in a way we've not expected before, but also some gentle little nuggets of info I don't believe we were privy to before. For example, Yamagashi-san saying that Iwao-san didn't always live here (which we know of course, but I don't think it was said as explicitly). It's lovely to see Nozomi play a big part in the show too. Litlte things like seeing her bedroom above Aida florists was nice!

It was also great to see Shenmue III characters right at the beginning of the episode too - i'll be very interested to see how a potential series 2 will do things. Perhaps when Ryo reaches Bailu, there will be flashbacks for bits in Shenmue I & II in a similar vein?

I think the Charlie investigation was a *little* too quick - literally seconds. I think some investigation on looking for a tattoo would've been nice, but appreciate that some things have to be streamlined. The fight scenes are brilliant in their brevity and impact. You can *feel* the impact of some of the blows.

I think the opening and ending themes are fine, but they're not lingering in the memory. I do have to say how BEAUTIFUL the ending paintings are. There was one of Ryo and Nozomi with the cat which is a lovely little bit. I would love to have the final one of Ryo and Nozomi on a bench as a framed photo. Utterly stunning. I hope some screenshots will be saved as they will also make a good desktop background.

I think we're on to a winner here folks.

Bonus - Did Yamagashi-san get his jumper from the same shop as Nozomi when he went to pay respects to Iwao?!
 


And there's another one...just to quickly compare the two scenes directly. They don't line up 1 for 1 or dialog for dialog, but Ryo's actions are absolutely spot on. Not sure about the background. Let me know if its too garish.
 
danielmann861 said:


And there's another one...just to quickly compare the two scenes directly. They don't line up 1 for 1 or dialog for dialog, but Ryo's actions are absolutely spot on. Not sure about the background. Let me know if its too garish.
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Great work, man! I would probably say something that's more of a solid color would work better as the background, or if there's some sort of processing you can do on the current pic to desaturate it somehow.
 
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