Shenmue fans will not have to wait for the announced anime nearly as long as they did for the last game. The first trailer for Shenmue: The Animation confirms that the series will be premiering in 2022.
The Shenmue anime had been officially confirmed in September of last year, with the main draw for it being that it would bring the series creator Yu Suzuki on board as executive producer. This new 13-episode entry in the Shenmue story is a Crunchyroll and Adult Swim production, with animation duties going to Telecom Animation Film under direction from Chikara Sakurai (One-Punch Man).
With that in mind, the trailer for Shenmue: The Animation does not appear to disappoint in any way, giving an early tease at some of the fights that will take place in it, but without giving away much of the story it will cover. The trailer is narrated by Shenhua Ling, literally Ryo Hazuki’s dream girl, who tells the legend of the dragon and phoenix mirror. It also foreshadows that the anime will extend itself onto Shenmue 2's plot, as Ryo is seen on a boat possibly on his way to China from Japan.
Among the characters who can be spotted in the trailer are series villains Lan Di and the sneaky Chai, as well as Ryo’s father Iwao Hazuki and Guizhang Chen, all featured in brief glimpses of some of the game’s iconic scenes. Although there’s no specific 2022 premiere date, it was disclosed that Shenmue: The Animation will be an Adult Swim exclusive in the United States, with Crunchyroll handling distribution in the rest of the world, save for Japan.
Suzuki has been quite vocal about some of his intentions for Shenmue in the past, claiming the game’s story is far from complete, possibly being about 40% done according to him, a number that makes sense considering how many questions Shenmue games leave unanswered. Whether or not Suzuki will ever get to realize that vision in video game form in an entirely different matter, as Shenmue 3 was considered a flop for keeping aged mechanics and tropes from open-world games that came out nearly two decades ago.
Still, Shenmue has a thriving community of fans and modders that to this day are working on updated Shenmue 1 and 2 remakes that seek to modernize both visual and certain gameplay aspects from these classics. As Suzuki puts it, anime is a far easier art form to tell stories because of its linear nature, so hopefully, he can make amends for the disappointment that was Shenmue 3.
Shenmue will air on Adult Swim's Toonami and stream on Crunchyroll in 2022.
Source: Adult Swim | YouTube