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.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.
Will the watchalong be on YouTube as well? Right now it's only on Twitch and I'm not a fan of their interface.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!
Yeah, it gets clipped and archived on the YouTube channel too. The live reaction portion should be up maybe today or tomorrow.Will the watchalong be on YouTube as well? Right now it's only on Twitch and I'm not a fan of their interface.
Just saw the full stream is archived on YT: here.Will the watchalong be on YouTube as well? Right now it's only on Twitch and I'm not a fan of their interface.
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.
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.
Cheers!Just saw the full stream is archived on YT: here.
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 coolIs 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.
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.
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.
In game he teaches Ryo the swallow dive at the harbour.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
Yes, in addition, Terry in the game just wanted Ryo to break Guizhang's legs. IN the anime, he wants him dead.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.