The idea of turning an icon of open world gaming such as Shenmue into a fully-fledged anime production might sound intimidating, but series creator Yu Suzuki and One Punch Man’s Chikara Sakurai make sure Ryo Hazuki's transition into streaming goes far smoother than his last video game adventure on the eighth console generation.
See, when Shenmue came out on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, the game’s slow pace and never-ending side quests were part of what gave its unique charm, yet the anime manages to scrap that in favor of something much better suited for viewers. Part of this is down to changes made in Ryo’s own personality, as the protagonist ditches his neutral-sounding speech to transform into the type of character that can actually bring some emotion to the series.
That is because if there’s one massive gain the Shenmue anime already has over its video game counterpart, it’s definitely the voice acting. Full voice acting was far from being the standard back then, and while it was one of the things that made Shenmue stand out, the truth is that NPCs sound particularly terrible (especially in English) and protagonists are nothing to write home about; luckily, the anime fixes all of this with both Crunchyroll’s Japanese actors and Adult Swim’s English dub delivering great performances that will help the audience immerse themselves in the story.
The first episode, titled “Thunderclap”, starts off with the game’s pre-menu sequence featuring Shenhua Ling narrating the story behind Ryo’s destiny but unlike the first game, instead of cutting right to the scene where his father, Iwao Hazuki is killed by Lan Di, viewers get to know a bit more about the show’s hero. Ryo has a life prior to the events that put him on a quest for vengeance, he’s an outstanding student with a bright future ahead of him, a gifted athlete who has friends, and there’s some insight into his relationship with his father to make his murder feel more impactful.
This latter aspect is mostly told via flashbacks, where Ryo looks back at certain memorable moments of childhood training with his father which lead to him finding the necessary strength, courage, and wisdom to overcome his demons. One of these moments comes during his first run in with the shifty Chai, whom he encounters fairly early compared to Shenmue the game (roughly halfway through).
It’s clear Suzuki and Sakurai are taking certain liberties with this adaptation in terms of storytelling, however, the first episode seems to cut off at around what would be 2 hours worth of playtime. Nevertheless, the aesthetic translation of some of Shenmue’s more iconic spots like Dobuita Street, the Hazuki Dojo, and Tom’s Hot Dogs is quite seamless, and the same goes for most of the characters.
Shenmue will not be praised by unique visuals like Demon Slayer's anytime soon, but the animation feels great and serviceable enough as the entire cast looks pretty much the part with very few changes to their original design or artwork. Perhaps Ryo’s high school sweetheart is among the few to receive a slight makeover, as the anime’s Nozomi Harasaki has lighter-colored hair, while Tom Johnson looks like less of a caricature.
Ryo’s relationship with Nozomi is also very different, as here the girl is actually capable of squeezing a smile out of the usually stoic Ryo because, again, the overall tone the creators are going for is different and all these characters can be upgraded to a certiain extent.
With that being said, the differences that can already be spotted between Shenmue the anime and video game do pose an interesting question, is Shenmue an anime made for gamers or for anime fans? The answer possibly lies somewhere in the middle.
In the grand scheme of things, Shenmue's story is interesting enough for any viewer, and the anime offers the possibility of enjoying that without 20 or 50 hours worth of talking to old lifeless NPCs and clunky quick time events. At the same time, fans of the sagpa will find a faithful anime adaptation (unlike Netflix's productions) of a beloved gaming franchise that might be better consumed in this format rather than with the poorly aged mechanics found in Shenmue 3.
Shenmue’s first episode is a welcome effort, one that cannot be immediately written off as it offers a one-way ticket to explore Ryo’s adventures in Yokosuka, Japan and later Hong Kong. There will probably be plenty of forklift competition, sailors, and martial arts fighting spread throughout because the show is not shy to swap the social interactions that felt new in 1999 but dated in 2019 in order to offer better pacing within 23 minutes worth of runtime that include plenty of highs and lows.
To make matters clear, the Shenmue anime reveals that Suzuki can tell a better Shenmue story in this media format that what he could achieve with a video game three years ago. There are 12 episodes left but the anime already looks like a capable enough medium, -even if an imperfect one- to continue where Shenmue 4 would pick up in the future, and that alone is a huge win.