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| Crunchyroll revised release time @ 9pm PT. The full-fledged OP is nice to see, and this episode IMMEDIATELY feels like the Dreamcast game all around, certainly a better effort than the premiere episode. Bailu Village and Shenhua's inclusion is really the best starting point. Ryo has gotten Zhu Yuanda's letter, and proceeds to find out about Lan Di's whereabouts. Yokosuka City never looked as good to imitate the game, which really brings out Ryo's sandbox feel of doing quests. It's funny how I remember that the NPCs in the US version were all stupidly harsh on Ryo, while the Japanese version is what you see here with a different feel. It's wise to dumb down hours of content for the show's producers to see Ryo's business since we players are used to controlling him. From Grandpa Yamagishi to the Heartbeats bar, it feels more alive with the action and investigation. Charlie is also back in Dobuita, acting like the typical gangster lord, and this fight is part of the game's progression as well. There're even more SEGA cameos like the Tails figure on Ryo's desk, Fantasy Zone poster and Virtua Fighter arcade machine in the arcade, expect to see more Easter Eggs in the proceeding episodes. Narudora's ED is decent, feels chill and OK. So far, so good. Now THIS is the kind of Shenmue that I can recognize from nostalgia. Keep on looking high and low for clues on Lan Di while learning new things, Ryo. |
KANLen09Feb 13, 2022 9:40 AM
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| Episode 2 just released on Crunchyroll/AdultSwim. Thought the pacing was at a much better pace this time around, with a good balance between investigation & Action. Edit: Oops someone beat me to the topic lol Love the chill ending theme as well! |
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| I hope this show will have an actual new story that continue from the latest game. |
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| Ha, they actually animated the bar scene, nice. So Charlie was tracked down, Ryu learnt a new move and the next stop is deciphering the letter. I like how it's adding a bit more to Ryu's motive other than, you killed me father I will have revenge. |
| “I just spent the last two years thinking that you guys knew more than me about life and I just found out that you guys are just as dumb as me.” “Duh-doy.” “Yeah, duh-doy.” |
| Amazing episode! I even liked more than the first one! You can feel how the world of Shenmue is alive in the anime not focusing only on ryo but also on what the other characters think, and at the same time, is truly faithful to the games. The action, investigation and pace were great, and the new scenes too. They really are doing a awesome work, waiting for the next one! |
-Hyunckel-Feb 13, 2022 6:25 AM
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| So Ryo has begun his quest to find out about his father's past that connects him to Lian Di. He starts to ask around to see if someone can read the letter that was addressed to his father, but appears to be written in a Chinese language that no one understands. After beating up a couple of thugs, a friend of his father decides to point him in the right direction to a person who can read the letter. I like how they made Ryo's investigation interesting by having him ask a few people with a little bit of action in between to make it less boring. |
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| Shenmue is so cool, this anime makes it out to be really action packed and then when you play the game it's such a slow burn lol, but I still love it. I thought the episode was great, I love all the additional bits they add with Shenhua, really emphasising how her fate and Ryo's are tied together. It's nice to see her travel around the village that we experienced in the third game, it really makes the world feel alive. Ryo is also really cool, and I liked how in the first episode they showed him in a martial arts tournament, so it feels a bit more believable when he's beating people up in this episode. The interactions with Ryo and Nozomi are also really cute, it's one of my favourite parts of the first game, and while Nozomi may look different their relationship is still the same. Finally, I thought the scenes of Chai lurking in the background are a nice touch, so it isn't like he comes out of nowhere like in the games. |
RodrigoAlPeres said: Has anyone noticed Sonic 2's Tails in Gacha and Virtua Fighter? As these games were released in 1986 (when the story is told) Sonic 2 released in 1992 and Virtua Fighter in 1993 idk if you have played the games but you can collect various SEGA ips as Gatchas so it's not that deep just a neat reference |
| Its really cool how they are recreating a lot of the locations in the games even if sometimes only for quick shots, its just nice going, hey I recognize that shop and that character. Especially at the start with Bailu village its just neat seeing some sort of 3 representation with all those quick shots of villagers making me go, oh hey its those characters from the game, granted I'm one of what feels like 12 people who actually likes 3. I also still generally like how they are pacing things out cause its doing a good job of not feeling too rushed while cutting out the fat, like we didnt actually need an episode of Ryo trying to find that tatoo parlor and dealing with that dude just jump straight to the actual plot developments. My guess is at this pace episode 5 or so will be the end of 1's events. It also generally feels like they are giving some more personality to Ryo cause a big issue with that first game, is how too much of his dialogue is relegated to him asking questions and pretty much only asking questions, here it feels like a good balance of him clearly sleuthing but also just holding some normal conversations with people. What I do not like though, is just how this show looks, its so janky with lots of very off-model shots and awkward movement both out of and in the fight scenes even though I appreciate seeing moves you could pull off in the games represented. There was also a couple of shot of crowds walking in the distance that has some abysmal-looking CGI that looked especially bad when Ryo and Hazuki were on screen with it. I kind of thought it was ep 1 but was mostly ok with it, but this episode absolutely has me thinking this looks cheap and given the absolute horror stories of Crunchyroll original's production issues that doesn't surprise me but I was kind of hoping Adult Swim's input maybe would counteract that cause they have had 2 decades worth of experience crossing over with Japanese studios since they have played a part in some pretty notable anime like Big-O's 2nd half and space dandy among some other smaller things, but at the very minimum regardless of what one would think of those shows, cheap is not a word that I think you'd see pop up much. Also feeling like the show isn't really matching the game's atmosphere, Shenmue 1 is a very cold feeling game, both in the literal sense cause of the winter time period but also there's this lingering sadness to the whole game both cause of what just happened to Ryo's dad but also this feeling that Ryo is sort of about to ruin his life to pursue Lan Di. Here neither really registers like that. Its clear to me the staff has a affinity to the games but I guess the directing just isnt exactly up to the snuff. |
JizzyHitlerFeb 13, 2022 1:28 PM
Immahnoob said: Jizzy, I know you have no idea how to argue for shit, tokiyashiro said: Jizzy as you would call yourself because youre a dick The most butthurt award goes to you And clearly you havent watched that many shows thats why you cant determine if a show is unique or not Or maybe you're just a child who likes common stuffs where hero saves the day and guys gets all the girls. Sad taste you have there kid you came up to me in the first place making you look more like a kid who got slapped without me even knowing it and start crying about it to me |
| The show is definitely the best format for a game that really shouldn't have been a game. |
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| Amazing, amazing, amazing. I'm so happy that the show is this good, and so proud of everyone who's working on it. This IS Shenmue. A different kind of Shenmue, but Shenmue nonetheless. First off, LOVE the Shenmue III intro. Nice to see that they're taking elements from all the games, that's a great sign. What I said about Ryo and Nozomi's character writing still stands. These new, spunkier versions of them with a bit more personality bounce off each other really well and their dynamic is really interesting. Can't wait to see more. The way they expanded upon Yamagishi-san's character was amazing as well, especially that scene where he talks to Ine-san and Fuku-san about Ryo's obsession. It served to make his character that much more likable, and him turning around and teaching Ryo the Double Blow in the end hit that much harder because of it. And last but not least, the finale with that new rendition of Shenmue - Sedge Tree playing while the camera pans on Shenhua gave me a kind of goosebumps that I've never felt before. Beautiful. One of the best versions of that cutscene from the first game. Also liked the Tails cameo, as well as Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier, and the arcade games from Shenmue III. Now, listen. I was still being easy on the haters last week because nobody knew what to expect from the show, but now it's very clear. I hate to use the "fake fan" argument, but if you think that this show isn't doing Shenmue's story justice, you don't understand what makes Shenmue great in the first place. The core of Shenmue is more than present in the show's writing. In fact, it's expanded upon. The fact that you don't have entire episodes worth of Ryo running from house to house, looking for every single clue doesn't detract from the story at all. The fact that they're taking liberties and making the story fit more into the anime format is a good thing. Otherwise, you'd just have a slow, poorly-paced anime that would only satisfy a niche portion of the fanbase that doesn't know what makes an anime good in the first place. The anime and the games being different entities is the way to do it. The anime doesn't invalidate the games, or the other way around. You can still play and enjoy the original version of the story, this is just a different take on it that was carefully crafted, specifically for this different medium. The level of hypocrisy I'm seeing about the show, both inside and outside the fanbase, reminds me of Shenmue III's launch. It really shows you, once again, that we can in fact have nice things when it comes to Shenmue, but there will always be a vocal crowd that's never satisfied, even though they never understood what made Shenmue great in the first place. |
TarifKabir said: The show is definitely the best format for a game that really shouldn't have been a game. You're just following a redundant opinion that the games are somehow bad/badly aged despite being classics. Really tiresome, games are great in pacing and storytelling. |
 Steam: Zeemanhuismerk |
| Lmao the way Ryou just casually went into the bar that has people with ties to the chinese mafia where he ended up beating up everyone is just hilarious in a way. |
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| Yamagishi teaching Ryo some new moves at the park, all set to the motif of Sedge Tree, was everything to me. <3 |
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