SPOILERS Shenmue The Animation Episode 4: Shackles Thread

God DAMN that Shenmue theme arrangement that plays during Ryo vs. Guizhang at the end there was brilliant! Yokosuka looks and feels perfect. I have been pleased so far as a fan of the series since I first saw my cousins playing it at a Christmas party in 2000.
 
Another amazing episode. I do feel it was even more fast paced than even the first episode but I can respect it since if we are being honest...this arc was a slog in-game. If they devote 8 episodes to Shenmue 2 I feel like we wont be missing too many important beats. Man I hope this anime is doing well enough to warrant a second season that covers Shenmue 3 and beyond. With how the anime has expanded on things, I know they will fix the issues I had with Shenmue 3 in terms of story and characters. Can't wait for the 70-man battle!

And yes! that battle mix of the main theme at the end was awesome. I hope we hear an arrangement of earth and sea in the next episode.
 
Not gonna lie, not a fan of this monosyllabic, standoffish Mark. Spends half the episode just glaring at Ryo. I also feel like they're rushing things a bit. I feel they could've gone another episode or two before the kidnapping. The major events don't fell major. I dont really feel like I know enough about the Mad Angels to feel the uneasiness I did with them in the game. I do miss the shady Asia Travel Co. Segment. I feel they could included that to show the extent to which the Mad Angels have their footprint in Yokosuk and just how seedy this quite neighborhood can be.

I do like how they made Nozomi more proactive and show how much she's willing to help Ryo. Her playing detective was a nice gesture and gives an explanation on how they were able to snatch her up anyway. I do like Goro getting a backstory and a reason why he respects Ryo so much. Bonus points for Ryo kicking the Mad Angel member off his bike Vice City style before taking off with his bike to thr harbor. That actually would've been cool to see played out in the game. That was a nice twist with the negotiation at the end though. Jesus christ
 
Rydeen said:
My issue with the animation series is always going to be the brazen way they disregard the part of Ryo's story where he tries to sabotage all the relationships he has in Yokosuka for the pursuit of revenge. This doesn't get made up for down the road. This is the time for Ryo to go through that. I believe there was a way to do it, even while keeping the runtime for the first game brief, but it might not have been fashionable enough for the modern audience. Looking at some comments on Cruncyroll, even this stripped down plot summary in the animation is too meandering for newcomers.
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At the end of the day this is a different Ryo than in the game and I can totally understand people not liking that. He's a more competent friend, more emotionally available. He's just as motivated, but less grief-stricken. Ryo comes across as depressed in the game, like he's isolating himself from those he loves. Not so in the anime. It's a "cooler" representation of him, but also a more relatable representation. And honestly, it was smart of them to do that, because game Ryo wouldn't make a good anime protagonist. It doesn't change the fact that it isn't the exact Ryo we grew up with.
 
Spaghetti said:
Shenmue Dojo, anime episode 4 watchalong now LIVE.

Remember, NO SPOILERS in the chat as Matt and James are going in blind for a Herculean fourth week in a row!

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Will the watchalong be on YouTube as well? Right now it's only on Twitch and I'm not a fan of their interface.
 
Rydeen said:
I'm also disappointed to see the pointless block Ryo performs on Guizhang in the opening animation actually shows up in a fight scene here.
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Nictac said:
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Is the last attack in this gif the block you are referring to? Twisting your arm like that so you block with the outside of your forearm is legit, if you can time it so you 'twist' your wrist into it as it makes contact, it can really hurt the other person.
 
Down by Law said:
Is the last attack in this gif the block you are referring to? Twisting your arm like that so you block with the outside of your forearm is legit, if you can time it so you 'twist' your wrist into it as it makes contact, it can really hurt the other person.
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It'd definitely be more traditional karate to block with the outside of your left arm in this scenario and pivot/step to the right with your back leg. Blocking across your body like this is a little weird as it opens your head up and leaves you in an awkward position, but I agree that type of offensive snapping block is a real thing and can hurt a lot...but the most important thing is it looks cool :cool:
 
Mark being more serious and distant in the anime is understandable and i like the way it happened in this episode, i saw character development for Mark.

In this moment Mark is sad because he is suffering bullying from the Mad Angels and he is trying to find his brother, even in the game we can see sometimes that Mark is more alone.

In the episode Mark thought that Ryo was just another guy that wants money to have fun, but during the episode Mark observed Ryo and learned the reason why Ryo is working there, this remembered Mark of himself, and this was the moment that Mark really understood Ryo, then Ryo saved Mark and Mark started to be more open with Ryo, we got character development for Mark and now Mark and Ryo are friends, i like the way the anime team did this in this episode.

If Mark appear in the next episode he will probably talk in a better way with Ryo, maybe we will even see Mark's brother in the next episode.

This is one of the reasons why i think would be good if the Yokosuka arc end in episode 6, i think would be more emotional in episode 6 but if this arc end in episode 5 it will be okay for me as well.

Yokosuka arc have many interesting things as well that can be expanded just like it happened in this episode, in this episode we got character development for Goro, Mark and Guizhang.

Shenmue have many interesting NPCs that they can expand and create more stories like this, like it happened with Yamagishi-san as well in the second episode, and this is happening with Shenhua, Nozomi and Lan Di as well, with Ryo we are even seeing Ryo question more things about everything, the revenge is there but in this version of the story it looks like Ryo will not tell the other characters that he wants revenge, at this time only Yamagishi-san noticed that Ryo wants revenge, probably Xiuying will know about this as well, i really like the way is happening in this version of the story.

For example would be interesting to see the anime team expanding the story about Nagai Industries, expand the story of other characters like Naoyuki and Ichiro and much more but i don't think it will happen in this version of the story.

This is one of the reasons why i think the anime with 24 episodes would be even better, i love Shenmue so more content this way i said would be awesome in my opinion, but i love the anime and the anime is really like a breath of fresh air for this wonderful franchise.
 
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I was a little disappointed that despite including the scene where Mark is getting the shit kicked out of him by the Mad Angels, they cut the bit where they knocked his lunch into the ocean. Pretty sure that soundbit is ingrained in all of our memories for life. Hey, my lunch!
 
Englishhedgehog said:
No one's talked about it, so I wanna draw some attention to the sequence of Ryo first learning that Nozomi's been kidnapped, right up to the fight with Gui Zhang. Because I think this is where you can feel the restricted time bother the writers the most.

- Remember how it felt when you were charging through an uncomfortably empty Dobuita to the bus stop, only to have your panic double upon realising the buses no longer running? Of course you do, it's the highlight of the game and very cleverly what getting to know the town has been building up to. No, they didn't have to include it in the anime, because it isn't plot relevant. But it's a fine example of the emotional resonance having to be removed in order to the move the story along. If there were just a couple of minutes of Ryo desperately trying to get to the harbour, losing his mind, that could have been a standout point for the show.
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Tomato Convenience Store said:
I'd argue that this works much better in the games, so I like what they did here (granted, we don't have all the same scenes to compare in a video format). In S1, since you have agency to control your character you've had many hours of gameplay where you explored the environment and learned how to get from point A to point B. This point in the story gives you a literal time limit where you need to remember what you learned to progress, so typically your first instinct is to run to the bus stop. When you find out the busses aren't running anymore, you're really at a loss on what to do next because you, as a player, need to figure out the next steps and you only have a few minutes to figure it out before game over.

I don't think it would work as well in the anime because it'll just cut to Ryo running to a place and then go "Oh no! The buses aren't running! Oh no! The Taxi will take too long to get here. Oh no! I won't get there in time on a bicycle!". I just don't think this part will translate well to the anime because the tension came at this point from having control of your character.



To be fair, you mostly "opt in" to Naoyuki's friendship in Shenmue 1 and there's honestly not much development in the games as well. I think I barely knew who the guy was when I first played the game.
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I'm going to respectfully disagree with both of you and say that the critical difference is the exclusion of this scene from the kidnapping reveal.



Nozomi is in a potentially life or death situation but Ryo decides against interrupting Naoyuki's bathtime and offers to call back later.
 
Love this episode, love it ended in a cliffhanger and love this Nozomi. My favourite thing in the anime is the "let's see characters perspective beyond Ryo".

Also, I might not recall Shenmue I correctly, but this encounter with Guizang, when he teaches the kick, does it happen in the Dobuita in the game? Looks a lot like the Sega Saturn scene to me but could be wrong
 
Kyo_JP said:
Also, I might not recall Shenmue I correctly, but this encounter with Guizang, when he teaches the kick, does it happen in the Dobuita in the game? Looks a lot like the Sega Saturn scene to me but could be wrong
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In game he teaches Ryo the swallow dive at the harbour.

I believe the footage of them together in the Saturn prototype is the scene where Guizhang tests Ryo and explains that he's going to be acting as his bodyguard. In the game that scene is in Sakuragaoka, I think it's also there (albeit looking different) in the Saturn prototype and in the anime it looks to be at the end of Doubita.
 
I loved this episode, I think it was the best one so far. Aside from some narrative condensing choices I think all of the changes were really strong. Mark's character is more interesting and I really like how they are re-framing Ryo. it was a nice touch to see him mess up driving the forklifts.

It's weird that they introduced that Mark's brother joined the Mad Angels instead of being killed by them, especially since it looks like S1 arc is going to end in one more episode and this change isn't likely to have a payoff in the next episode. I could be wrong though.
 
hmjohnny said:
I loved this episode, I think it was the best one so far. Aside from some narrative condensing choices I think all of the changes were really strong. Mark's character is more interesting and I really like how they are re-framing Ryo. it was a nice touch to see him mess up driving the forklifts.

It's weird that they introduced that Mark's brother joined the Mad Angels instead of being killed by them, especially since it looks like S1 arc is going to end in one more episode and this change isn't likely to have a payoff in the next episode. I could be wrong though.
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Yes, in addition, Terry in the game just wanted Ryo to break Guizhang's legs. IN the anime, he wants him dead.
 
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