Back to SplashBreeze's Profile SplashBreeze's Profile

I cannot begin to describe how much joy seeing the Shenmue story adapted into the anime medium has brought me. Shenmue the Animation is an outstanding companion piece to the original game series and also stands on its own as a great way to experience Yu Suzuki’s grand tale of revenge and discovery.

The pillars of Shenmue’s plot are investigation, mystery, and martial arts action. The series does a great job weaving between these elements in a way that is true to the multi-faceted gameplay of the source material. The action scenes are well animated and always incorporated as means to advance the story. Every ... fight has a purpose in Shenmue the Animation, just as it was for Shenmue 1 and 2 on Sega’s Dreamcast.

Certain characters benefitted greatly from the extra screen time given to them in the adaptation. Ryo’s school friend Nozomi Harasaki, in particular, had her role increased from the games and I appreciate her character now more than I did in the original game. Ryo Hazuki has become a better rounded character in the anime as well. He demonstrates a sense of humor, intelligence, and willingness to express himself that wasn’t always present in the games. Other minor characters get updates for the better throughout the first 5 episodes.

Rating the production quality, I give the art and animation good marks. Some characters could use a little extra detailing here and there, but they come across solid overall. The fighting animation in general is of high quality and certain fight scenes hold a “WOW” factor to them that I love to see. The English dub is does a decent job but I recommend Japanese audio on Crunchyroll. The Japanese voice actors from the games are back and doing an excellent job, plus a few minor details get lost in translation in the dub.

The sound design is great. Shenmue has one of the best soundtracks in all of gaming and Kana Shibue, the anime’s composer, has beautifully woven pieces of that soundtrack into the episodes. I’ve gotten goosebumps multiple times hearing the main theme Sedge Tree and Shenhua’s theme playing during sequences. ‘UNDEAD-NOID’ by Kashitarou Itou and ‘Sympathy’ by Narudora are both lovely tracks that open and close the show.

Waiting by the TV for a new episode to drop each is the highlight of my week and I strongly encourage any anime fan to give this show a try.