Season 2 officially cancelled (for now)

It's alright, guys. Somebody else will publish season 2. Adult Swim mismanaged it from the beginning. Maybe now we'll see the English dub on Crunchyroll, and maybe the fans can Kickstart season 2 for another publisher. Easy. We've faced bigger challenges as a community than this. The anime was a hit, so I'm sure there are already interested investors.
 
Especially given what’s going on in the world right now, imagine being a grown adult who is seething angry over a niche video game series for merely existing and who salivates at every hiccup this series experiences along the way. A very poor reflection on them, and the sad thing is they think they look cool. 😬

Other infinitely more successful game franchises have had a plethora of cancelled projects. At least Shenmue even got a successful season of a high-quality anime.

Agreed. I must admit it is quite satisfying to see how a game can wind someone up so much that it lives in their head rent free. At first I would be upset about such comments, but nowadays I just find it kinda pathetic. It's too easy these days to shit on something. Frankly, I find it emotionally draining. Don't get me wrong, i'm not perfect and I moan post about a lot of things, but it's usually about something that might make the difference of affording a house or not or the government doing their best to make the UK a wasteland (sorry to get political) rather than a game that for some reason makes people angry.

For what it's worth, most of the articles i've read do point out that for all intents and purposes, the anime was a success. I have read some sarcastic bits, but i've also seen much worse.

I am contemplating on how to show my support on the 4th...other than tweeting, I don't know what else I can do.

@spud1897 - just thinking re: John Linneman; is anyone here a paid up member of Digital Foundry, because every Monday they do a YT video which involves supporter questions; perhaps a Shenmue related one could be asked there (but I imagine it would have to be worded in a way that gets it on there as it's mostly related to tech).
 
I feel like ranting here so don't expect coherency :ROFLMAO:

If a second season ever does actually get made some day, let its inevitable failure be the final nail in the coffin for why Shenmue just can't catch a break: the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story. They had forever, I mean, come on now! There's really no excuse unless Yu Suzuki is hell bent on making sure the series has a zillion chapters before it ever gets to the point.

I honestly think this anime series would have been something special if it came out in the 90s and the games never happened, but it's just too tied to the games, and the games themselves are honestly just huge slogs. Most people weren't seeing it as an anime to check out, they were seeing it as "that anime based on those games," and after how badly the third game did it surprises me anyone even gave this a chance. I never watched the anime personally, and its specifically because of how disappointing and worthless Shenmue 3 was in the story's timeline. They really lost me, and that reputation surely made most people just dismiss this as an anime based on a series that led up to.... whatever the hell that game was.

I've done some personal reflecting on why i even cared about this series in the past and it all came down to the journey it offered in a time when such a technically vast game was super impressive. That journey is no longer unique, games have gotten so epic in scale, and that scale was really the main thing the game series had going for it. Basing an anime off of its story just wasn't destined to work since the story mostly felt like a backdrop to just exploring. I mean, I'll admit, Shenmue 2 did quite a bit that started making it interesting, but in retrospect all the random side quest characters you met in that game never progressed Ryo's actual quest since it ends the same as the third game, Lan Di just shows up and runs away. I mean, I was left at the end of the second game getting a sense that there's going to be some sort of ancient magical Chinese secret thing going on, but the third game showed they still were never really going to go anywhere with that anytime soon. So is the end goal that he finally meets Lan Di and defeats him? That's it? Sure seems like that's all they want us to keep thinking.

Maybe if Shenmue was an anime that was like One Piece or Pokemon even, where there's an ultimate goal but it's mostly episodic adventures along their grand journey, it would have worked in some way? Well, if this had started years and years earlier, anyway. But the story they were trying to rush through just never felt like it had anything interesting it was leading up to. Again, the third game proved this.

If it's not obvious, i mostly blame it all on that terrible third game. They had their chance, proved to us they really don't know what they're doing, audiences in turn knew not to really care. I'd happily just take a release of Saturn Shenmue for posterity purposes and be content. They lost fans like me long ago when the series vanished after the second game. It's honestly just too late for anyone but the most diehard fans.
 
With actual confirmation that a Shenmue product did well and other forces had to cover down and still fuck us over.

The Max payne remakes will have to be my primary want now

Figures
 
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I feel like ranting here so don't expect coherency :ROFLMAO:

If a second season ever does actually get made some day, let its inevitable failure be the final nail in the coffin for why Shenmue just can't catch a break: the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story. They had forever, I mean, come on now! There's really no excuse unless Yu Suzuki is hell bent on making sure the series has a zillion chapters before it ever gets to the point.

I honestly think this anime series would have been something special if it came out in the 90s and the games never happened, but it's just too tied to the games, and the games themselves are honestly just huge slogs. Most people weren't seeing it as an anime to check out, they were seeing it as "that anime based on those games," and after how badly the third game did it surprises me anyone even gave this a chance. I never watched the anime personally, and its specifically because of how disappointing and worthless Shenmue 3 was in the story's timeline. They really lost me, and that reputation surely made most people just dismiss this as an anime based on a series that led up to.... whatever the hell that game was.

I've done some personal reflecting on why i even cared about this series in the past and it all came down to the journey it offered in a time when such a technically vast game was super impressive. That journey is no longer unique, games have gotten so epic in scale, and that scale was really the main thing the game series had going for it. Basing an anime off of its story just wasn't destined to work since the story mostly felt like a backdrop to just exploring. I mean, I'll admit, Shenmue 2 did quite a bit that started making it interesting, but in retrospect all the random side quest characters you met in that game never progressed Ryo's actual quest since it ends the same as the third game, Lan Di just shows up and runs away. I mean, I was left at the end of the second game getting a sense that there's going to be some sort of ancient magical Chinese secret thing going on, but the third game showed they still were never really going to go anywhere with that anytime soon. So is the end goal that he finally meets Lan Di and defeats him? That's it? Sure seems like that's all they want us to keep thinking.

Maybe if Shenmue was an anime that was like One Piece or Pokemon even, where there's an ultimate goal but it's mostly episodic adventures along their grand journey, it would have worked in some way? Well, if this had started years and years earlier, anyway. But the story they were trying to rush through just never felt like it had anything interesting it was leading up to. Again, the third game proved this.

If it's not obvious, i mostly blame it all on that terrible third game. They had their chance, proved to us they really don't know what they're doing, audiences in turn knew not to really care. I'd happily just take a release of Saturn Shenmue for posterity purposes and be content. They lost fans like me long ago when the series vanished after the second game. It's honestly just too late for anyone but the most diehard fans.
I'm sorry but if you're blaming most of it on the 3rd game then I think you're mistaken. It wouldn't even factor in considering they were getting ready to make season 2 and confirmed when I interviewed Jason Demarco that it would be half of S2 and they could fill in some gaps much like they did with the others.

If someone doesn't like Shenmue 3 I've zero issue with it, I agree it has its issues for sure in that everything that happens (yes stuff does happen, Ryo loses the mirror and the double cross) doesn't have the effective build of Shenmue 2.

Anyway I digress. People need to let that go and ask themselves what they want. If you want Shenmue to continue as a series then put Shenmue 3 aside and whether you liked it or not and join the fight. Sitting dwelling on it is only going to fuck this series more and I'm fed up of pointing out the obvious.

Sorry this is ranty but we have a choice. It's a very simple one IMO. Come together and fight for the series future or not and we've come too far in all our efforts to stop now. I know what side I'm on.

PS this isn't a personal attack so please don't take it that way. Just airing a frustration
 
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I feel like ranting here so don't expect coherency :ROFLMAO:

If a second season ever does actually get made some day, let its inevitable failure be the final nail in the coffin for why Shenmue just can't catch a break: the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story. They had forever, I mean, come on now! There's really no excuse unless Yu Suzuki is hell bent on making sure the series has a zillion chapters before it ever gets to the point.

I honestly think this anime series would have been something special if it came out in the 90s and the games never happened, but it's just too tied to the games, and the games themselves are honestly just huge slogs. Most people weren't seeing it as an anime to check out, they were seeing it as "that anime based on those games," and after how badly the third game did it surprises me anyone even gave this a chance. I never watched the anime personally, and its specifically because of how disappointing and worthless Shenmue 3 was in the story's timeline. They really lost me, and that reputation surely made most people just dismiss this as an anime based on a series that led up to.... whatever the hell that game was.

I've done some personal reflecting on why i even cared about this series in the past and it all came down to the journey it offered in a time when such a technically vast game was super impressive. That journey is no longer unique, games have gotten so epic in scale, and that scale was really the main thing the game series had going for it. Basing an anime off of its story just wasn't destined to work since the story mostly felt like a backdrop to just exploring. I mean, I'll admit, Shenmue 2 did quite a bit that started making it interesting, but in retrospect all the random side quest characters you met in that game never progressed Ryo's actual quest since it ends the same as the third game, Lan Di just shows up and runs away. I mean, I was left at the end of the second game getting a sense that there's going to be some sort of ancient magical Chinese secret thing going on, but the third game showed they still were never really going to go anywhere with that anytime soon. So is the end goal that he finally meets Lan Di and defeats him? That's it? Sure seems like that's all they want us to keep thinking.

Maybe if Shenmue was an anime that was like One Piece or Pokemon even, where there's an ultimate goal but it's mostly episodic adventures along their grand journey, it would have worked in some way? Well, if this had started years and years earlier, anyway. But the story they were trying to rush through just never felt like it had anything interesting it was leading up to. Again, the third game proved this.

If it's not obvious, i mostly blame it all on that terrible third game. They had their chance, proved to us they really don't know what they're doing, audiences in turn knew not to really care. I'd happily just take a release of Saturn Shenmue for posterity purposes and be content. They lost fans like me long ago when the series vanished after the second game. It's honestly just too late for anyone but the most diehard fans.

For what it's worth, I disagree with what you say, but I do appreciate and respect you actually giving some context behind it. There was an interesting video done by the Dojo not long ago about the story and the simple truth about Shenmue is that it's not just about revenge. Revenge is certainly one of the key themes, but there's so much more to it. As for Shenmue III, I disagree in that there is no story. I agree in that the overall story hasn't progressed much, but there is a lot of detailed lore that you have to go out and find. It's not spoonfed to you like other games. On my 2nd playthrough, I took my time and in doing so, learned quite a lot about the overall world of Shenmue.

As I understand it, the 3rd game was to have a 3rd area, but simply ran out of time. This 3rd area (which I daresay would be the 1st area for Shenmue IV) may have much more overall story.

As for the anime; almost every article says the show was a success. Not One Piece or Naruto success, but very few anime is. And whilst i'm sure that some people checked it out because it was based on a game, i'm sure that people who enjoyed the anime didn't know it was based on a game. Either way, the anime was successful and the reason it was cancelled has nothing to do with its success/failure, but purely shitty financial decisions that have claimed the scalps of far bigger names.

Finally, I disagree about modern games being "better" because they're bigger in scope. Shenmue is a half way house where there is scope and expansion, but done in a way that there is so much detail. Sure, your average Assasins Creed game is a thousand times larger, but what does it matter when a lot of it is empty space? Personally for me, it's too big and it's too overwhelming. Shenmue was big enough to get lost in, but after a while you learn where everything is - just like real life.

As an aside - if there was no stamina bar, I think more people would be kinder to the 3rd game (maybe the fighting, but i'm not as precious about it).

Finally, if you want a 90's anime, then check out the Virtua Fighter anime which was made in the 90's. That's good fun.
 
I feel like ranting here so don't expect coherency :ROFLMAO:

If a second season ever does actually get made some day, let its inevitable failure be the final nail in the coffin for why Shenmue just can't catch a break: the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story. They had forever, I mean, come on now! There's really no excuse unless Yu Suzuki is hell bent on making sure the series has a zillion chapters before it ever gets to the point.

I honestly think this anime series would have been something special if it came out in the 90s and the games never happened, but it's just too tied to the games, and the games themselves are honestly just huge slogs. Most people weren't seeing it as an anime to check out, they were seeing it as "that anime based on those games," and after how badly the third game did it surprises me anyone even gave this a chance. I never watched the anime personally, and its specifically because of how disappointing and worthless Shenmue 3 was in the story's timeline. They really lost me, and that reputation surely made most people just dismiss this as an anime based on a series that led up to.... whatever the hell that game was.

I've done some personal reflecting on why i even cared about this series in the past and it all came down to the journey it offered in a time when such a technically vast game was super impressive. That journey is no longer unique, games have gotten so epic in scale, and that scale was really the main thing the game series had going for it. Basing an anime off of its story just wasn't destined to work since the story mostly felt like a backdrop to just exploring. I mean, I'll admit, Shenmue 2 did quite a bit that started making it interesting, but in retrospect all the random side quest characters you met in that game never progressed Ryo's actual quest since it ends the same as the third game, Lan Di just shows up and runs away. I mean, I was left at the end of the second game getting a sense that there's going to be some sort of ancient magical Chinese secret thing going on, but the third game showed they still were never really going to go anywhere with that anytime soon. So is the end goal that he finally meets Lan Di and defeats him? That's it? Sure seems like that's all they want us to keep thinking.

Maybe if Shenmue was an anime that was like One Piece or Pokemon even, where there's an ultimate goal but it's mostly episodic adventures along their grand journey, it would have worked in some way? Well, if this had started years and years earlier, anyway. But the story they were trying to rush through just never felt like it had anything interesting it was leading up to. Again, the third game proved this.

If it's not obvious, i mostly blame it all on that terrible third game. They had their chance, proved to us they really don't know what they're doing, audiences in turn knew not to really care. I'd happily just take a release of Saturn Shenmue for posterity purposes and be content. They lost fans like me long ago when the series vanished after the second game. It's honestly just too late for anyone but the most diehard fans.
But did you liked Shenmue 3?😁
 
Sometimes I think peoples' recollections of Shenmue's story are literally just what it says on the back of the box.

Heaping blame on Shenmue III in particular is very strange, because despite a fundamental lack of resources to tell the story they wanted to, that game still ends with a major shakeup of the series status quo. It just bunches all the interesting stuff in the last hour rather than teasing it out, unfortunately.
 
I feel like ranting here so don't expect coherency :ROFLMAO:

If a second season ever does actually get made some day, let its inevitable failure be the final nail in the coffin for why Shenmue just can't catch a break: the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story. They had forever, I mean, come on now! There's really no excuse unless Yu Suzuki is hell bent on making sure the series has a zillion chapters before it ever gets to the point.

I honestly think this anime series would have been something special if it came out in the 90s and the games never happened, but it's just too tied to the games, and the games themselves are honestly just huge slogs. Most people weren't seeing it as an anime to check out, they were seeing it as "that anime based on those games," and after how badly the third game did it surprises me anyone even gave this a chance. I never watched the anime personally, and its specifically because of how disappointing and worthless Shenmue 3 was in the story's timeline. They really lost me, and that reputation surely made most people just dismiss this as an anime based on a series that led up to.... whatever the hell that game was.

I've done some personal reflecting on why i even cared about this series in the past and it all came down to the journey it offered in a time when such a technically vast game was super impressive. That journey is no longer unique, games have gotten so epic in scale, and that scale was really the main thing the game series had going for it. Basing an anime off of its story just wasn't destined to work since the story mostly felt like a backdrop to just exploring. I mean, I'll admit, Shenmue 2 did quite a bit that started making it interesting, but in retrospect all the random side quest characters you met in that game never progressed Ryo's actual quest since it ends the same as the third game, Lan Di just shows up and runs away. I mean, I was left at the end of the second game getting a sense that there's going to be some sort of ancient magical Chinese secret thing going on, but the third game showed they still were never really going to go anywhere with that anytime soon. So is the end goal that he finally meets Lan Di and defeats him? That's it? Sure seems like that's all they want us to keep thinking.

Maybe if Shenmue was an anime that was like One Piece or Pokemon even, where there's an ultimate goal but it's mostly episodic adventures along their grand journey, it would have worked in some way? Well, if this had started years and years earlier, anyway. But the story they were trying to rush through just never felt like it had anything interesting it was leading up to. Again, the third game proved this.

If it's not obvious, i mostly blame it all on that terrible third game. They had their chance, proved to us they really don't know what they're doing, audiences in turn knew not to really care. I'd happily just take a release of Saturn Shenmue for posterity purposes and be content. They lost fans like me long ago when the series vanished after the second game. It's honestly just too late for anyone but the most diehard fans.

This is a bit of a redundant take when it was confirmed that the anime did better than expected and a Season 2 was in fact in the works.

It didn't get pulled because they just suddenly realised they didn't know how to continue the story. They were fully ready to do so. It got pulled due to corporate greed and a general sense of apathy towards anything that isn't turning the biggest profit possible.

Your post feels more like an excuse to rant about your thoughts on Shenmue III, which doesn't really belong in this thread or subform for what it's worth.
 
I feel like ranting here so don't expect coherency :ROFLMAO:

If a second season ever does actually get made some day, let its inevitable failure be the final nail in the coffin for why Shenmue just can't catch a break: the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story. They had forever, I mean, come on now! There's really no excuse unless Yu Suzuki is hell bent on making sure the series has a zillion chapters before it ever gets to the point.

I honestly think this anime series would have been something special if it came out in the 90s and the games never happened, but it's just too tied to the games, and the games themselves are honestly just huge slogs. Most people weren't seeing it as an anime to check out, they were seeing it as "that anime based on those games," and after how badly the third game did it surprises me anyone even gave this a chance. I never watched the anime personally, and its specifically because of how disappointing and worthless Shenmue 3 was in the story's timeline. They really lost me, and that reputation surely made most people just dismiss this as an anime based on a series that led up to.... whatever the hell that game was.

I've done some personal reflecting on why i even cared about this series in the past and it all came down to the journey it offered in a time when such a technically vast game was super impressive. That journey is no longer unique, games have gotten so epic in scale, and that scale was really the main thing the game series had going for it. Basing an anime off of its story just wasn't destined to work since the story mostly felt like a backdrop to just exploring. I mean, I'll admit, Shenmue 2 did quite a bit that started making it interesting, but in retrospect all the random side quest characters you met in that game never progressed Ryo's actual quest since it ends the same as the third game, Lan Di just shows up and runs away. I mean, I was left at the end of the second game getting a sense that there's going to be some sort of ancient magical Chinese secret thing going on, but the third game showed they still were never really going to go anywhere with that anytime soon. So is the end goal that he finally meets Lan Di and defeats him? That's it? Sure seems like that's all they want us to keep thinking.

Maybe if Shenmue was an anime that was like One Piece or Pokemon even, where there's an ultimate goal but it's mostly episodic adventures along their grand journey, it would have worked in some way? Well, if this had started years and years earlier, anyway. But the story they were trying to rush through just never felt like it had anything interesting it was leading up to. Again, the third game proved this.

If it's not obvious, i mostly blame it all on that terrible third game. They had their chance, proved to us they really don't know what they're doing, audiences in turn knew not to really care. I'd happily just take a release of Saturn Shenmue for posterity purposes and be content. They lost fans like me long ago when the series vanished after the second game. It's honestly just too late for anyone but the most diehard fans

Terrible post with terrible logic, but you are entitled to your own opinion
 
Sometimes I think peoples' recollections of Shenmue's story are literally just what it says on the back of the box.

Heaping blame on Shenmue III in particular is very strange, because despite a fundamental lack of resources to tell the story they wanted to, that game still ends with a major shakeup of the series status quo. It just bunches all the interesting stuff in the last hour rather than teasing it out, unfortunately.


Objectively speaking, Shenmue III has the best ending in the series despite the obstacles SIII had to overcome to get completed.


Shenmue 1's ending was pretty straightforward and non eventful. You fight Chai, say goodbye to Guizhang and Master Chen, get on a boat and move on.


Shenmue 2's ending left us on a cliffhanger, however the mere existence of Shenmue 3 cancels the end of 2 out. Had 2 ended after Dou Niu then I think it would be a different story.

Shenmue 3's ending was the most action packed out of the entire trilogy and gave us a lot more questions that I can't wait to see unravel. At the end of the day, Ryo reached a tangible milestone by running the rematch against Lan Di which we've been working hard to do for 3 full games.

Because of the ending of Shenmue 3, I am anticipating finding the backstory of who Lan Di really is in Shenmue 4. I have a feeling this game is going to be his redemption arc.
 
While I definitely enjoyed the action in the ending (Lan Di punking Ryo is my favourite cutscene of the whole game), the implications for the characters excites me the most:

Ryo finally confronted Lan Di, and what everybody from Fuku-san to Xiuying told him would happen, happened. He barely escaped with his life, after putting Shenhua and Ren's on the line too, and it ultimately cost him the Phoenix Mirror. There's great potential to explore a crisis of confidence for Ryo here that resolves in him coming out stronger.

On the flip side, Lan Di has had his organisation stolen from under him by a betrayer in his own ranks, who now holds an object of his desire.

Ren, despite his selfish obsession with money, is making increasingly selfless acts to protect Ryo. (Those who have predicted where his arc goes are onto something, I think...)

Niao Sun is looking to become the big boss of the Chi You Men, and is not above attempting to murder Lan Di in a burning hideout to do it.

Shenhua found her adoptive father. IMO they need to address why she's still with Ryo in the next game else it feels a bit arbitrary and unmotivated, now she's basically gotten what she wanted out of sticking with him in the first place. A moment with her father where he explains that following Ryo will lead to answers about who she is and her real lineage would probably do it.

Shenmue III's ending inverts a lot of the series status quo. The next game could go in some seriously interesting places narratively if they decide to run with that.
 
A damn shame, especially since it did well, but if we get Shenmue 4 some time soon then I will overlook it. Funnily enough, that's how I found about this, by googling 'Shenmue 4'. I think a lot of us didn't expect a second season from what I can remember reading on the discussions section for the anime but it does sting a little for that to be confirmed.

I would have liked a second season just so the events of Shenmue 3 could be fleshed out better.
 
I feel like ranting here so don't expect coherency :ROFLMAO:

If a second season ever does actually get made some day, let its inevitable failure be the final nail in the coffin for why Shenmue just can't catch a break: the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story. They had forever, I mean, come on now! There's really no excuse unless Yu Suzuki is hell bent on making sure the series has a zillion chapters before it ever gets to the point.

I honestly think this anime series would have been something special if it came out in the 90s and the games never happened, but it's just too tied to the games, and the games themselves are honestly just huge slogs. Most people weren't seeing it as an anime to check out, they were seeing it as "that anime based on those games," and after how badly the third game did it surprises me anyone even gave this a chance. I never watched the anime personally, and its specifically because of how disappointing and worthless Shenmue 3 was in the story's timeline. They really lost me, and that reputation surely made most people just dismiss this as an anime based on a series that led up to.... whatever the hell that game was.

I've done some personal reflecting on why i even cared about this series in the past and it all came down to the journey it offered in a time when such a technically vast game was super impressive. That journey is no longer unique, games have gotten so epic in scale, and that scale was really the main thing the game series had going for it. Basing an anime off of its story just wasn't destined to work since the story mostly felt like a backdrop to just exploring. I mean, I'll admit, Shenmue 2 did quite a bit that started making it interesting, but in retrospect all the random side quest characters you met in that game never progressed Ryo's actual quest since it ends the same as the third game, Lan Di just shows up and runs away. I mean, I was left at the end of the second game getting a sense that there's going to be some sort of ancient magical Chinese secret thing going on, but the third game showed they still were never really going to go anywhere with that anytime soon. So is the end goal that he finally meets Lan Di and defeats him? That's it? Sure seems like that's all they want us to keep thinking.

Maybe if Shenmue was an anime that was like One Piece or Pokemon even, where there's an ultimate goal but it's mostly episodic adventures along their grand journey, it would have worked in some way? Well, if this had started years and years earlier, anyway. But the story they were trying to rush through just never felt like it had anything interesting it was leading up to. Again, the third game proved this.

If it's not obvious, i mostly blame it all on that terrible third game. They had their chance, proved to us they really don't know what they're doing, audiences in turn knew not to really care. I'd happily just take a release of Saturn Shenmue for posterity purposes and be content. They lost fans like me long ago when the series vanished after the second game. It's honestly just too late for anyone but the most diehard fans.
You might want to watch the anime before blaming an entirely different type of media for the anime's 'failure', which was only really that it didn't raise million of dollars and save world poverty in order to stop Warner-discovery from cutting costs.
 
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My feeling is, if Warner Media were the ones who blocked a second season, that opens up the possibility of others picking the show up. However, if as I suspect, the reason is that Crunchyroll share the rights, and have no interest in continuing (or allowing the competition to do so) then that might prove a more significant hurdle.

I don’t, for one second, think that Jason Demarco would block a second season in any form, and anyone thinks he may have been part of the problem really should watch the Dojo interview with him. He comes across as one of the strongest industry allies that the Shenmue community has.
 
Every crisis is an opportunity and this is the perfect opportunity to rethink what Shenmue is/will be moving forward. In one corner we have the anime, which was well received and evidently performed well enough to earn a second season and in the other corner we have Shenmue 3 which wasn't as well received and didn't earn a sequel. So why not shift gears and combine the two? Change the direction of the series to be 2D, lean into the anime for the cutscenes and focus on what works, rather than "that's how it's always been done." Suzuki could easily prototype a version of S1 and 2 using this model and it would be way cheaper than trying to recapture what made Shenmue so special in 3D.

the main story just isn't all that interesting.

The third game, even after decades of waiting, couldn't find anything interesting to tell us further about Ryo's story.
These are two completely different points. The main story is interesting, obviously that's why people still cared after 20 years. That S3 failed to do anything with it doesn't mean that the story itself never had the goods. It's certainly possible that the story to Shenmue was always bad but it's equally possible that Suzuki made changes to the story to either suit the lower budget of S3, or to defer to future sequels in the hopes that he would be able to generate a bigger budget for himself. We don't know without seeing the script.

You're right that what made Shenmue special in its day is much harder to recapture which is why I think if the series is to have any chance, it needs a radical shift in design. But I don't begrudge anyone their cynicism.
 
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