Spoilers Shenmue The Animation: Episode 1 - Thunderclap - Thread

I have a feeling the next episodes of the anime will have a lot of scenes that were created especially for the anime like we saw in the first episode, looks like the story will progress in different ways in relation to some things.

I remember that in the game Ine-san give Yuanda Zhu's letter to Ryo later in the story of the first game, but in the anime Ine-san give the letter in the first episode in the Dojo, even the location is different and i'm okay with this things.

I love the scenes in the Hazuki Residence that Ryo talked with Ine-san, Fuku-san, Yamagishi-san and Iwao, was nice seeing Yamagishi-san there.

We didn't see Megumi and the kitten in the first episode, i imagine Megumi and the kitten will appear in Yamanose or Sakuragaoka in a different situation.

Another thing... i saw Tao in the anime in the Ajiichi scene, it was nice to see this detail in the anime.

I think we will not see some NPCs in the anime, or if these NPCs appear it will be short scenes.

Would be nice to see all the NPCs in Yokosuka but in my opinion the focus of the anime team is in the main characters and other characters like Tom, Goro, Shozo Mizuki and many others, it is important to remember that the anime will be 13 episodes, 13 episodes to tell the story of Shenmue I and II so we will probably not see many things about the games in the anime, NPCs included in relation to this, of course i want to see the NPCs, all i'm saying is that i will understand if i don't see all of them, plus if some NPCs do not appear in the anime i can always play the games so is okay.

The anime team did an amazing job recreating the Hazuki Residence and other places in anime form, plus is nice to see new locations like the school, probably Suka High.

Like i said in other post the more Shenmue in different media the better. Games, anime, manga, books and much more, this means a franchise is alive.

I'm enjoying this new take on the Shenmue story, my mindset for the anime is that anime is a different media, that i will see different things, that the story will not be 100% like the games, that now we have 2 versions of Shenmue and this is beautiful.
 
The rating on MAL is strange. I just put my rating in and the number of users who rated didn't increase.

I wouldn't worry yet about the rating. The show just started. At least it has a bit higher rating than Blade Runner which is also a Crunchyroll/Adult Swim original.
 
I watched on Crunchyroll (no subs). I had my expectations set pretty low going in, but so far I'm not a fan of the anime. It pretty much reaffirmed the concerns I had with an anime adaptation (I still stand by my feelings that a manga adaptation would be much better for Shenmue). The production values are fairly impressive, but that's not really my secondary, or even tertiary concern when it comes to the story.

A couple notes to get out of the way:

-Most of the lines during the adaptation of the intro sequence at the dojo are word for word the same as the Japanese dialog from the original game.

-Looks like Shenhua might be talking with our famous white deer during the cut-away sequence in Bailu.

I can't stand this sort of pacing. It's not even strictly an anime thing. Older shows like the original Gundam or Zeta Gundam, for instance, don't have these sorts of pacing issues. It was something I started to notice when Futurama was brought back on Comedy Central, after originally being cancelled, for a Western animation example. Part of it is ever expanding ad-break windows bringing down run-times for TV shows, but this is still up at 23 minutes, and not the 21 minutes that's become more customary in the last decade or so.

Ultimately I don't find the main story component in Shenmue I to be all that consequential, so I'm somewhat reserving judgement for when it hits the Hong Kong portion of the games. Still, I find the storyboarding to be on the poorer side for this first episode. I see really disparate quality in story presentation between the game's intro with the dojo, and everything else shown in episode 1.

My biggest issue is with Ryo's presentation. I had understood that he would have more emotion than in the games, and wouldn't be the step up from a silent protagonist that we're used to, since it's not the viewer controlling Ryo's actions for the majority of the time. My main interest in Ryo in the games is the way he's portrayed in his journey, though. This first episode seems to completely unravel that, and it's jarring. I got whiplash going through the arc of all three games at this point in only 20 minutes. Ryo in the games is stubborn, closed off, driven, and singularly focused, but here he's already reaching acceptance and open-mindedness about the future. His arc is essentially complete in only 20 minutes. I'm not sure how to care as much at this point, because that is the point of the games, for me.

I really feel like the first episode should have focused more on the emotional turmoil for Ryo after his father's death, but with more of the nuance of the games (dream sequences, and concern from Ine-san). I remember thinking at some point after Iwao's death in this episode that I knew they would have to conclude with some sort of crescendo, because that's just how these sorts of TV shows go, but stepping back for a moment, I think it would have been better to work in more of Ryo's life before Lan Di for the first half, then finish with the Iwao's death, and make the screaming up at the thunder, or Ine-san pulling the letter from Shu Gentatsu out of the mailbox the end of the episode. Then episode 2 could begin with dream sequences of fighting Lan Di, and potentially into the Phoenix Mirror dream with Shenhua (maybe cutting into the scene they added with Shenhua and the deer). At that point I think they could have gotten into Ryo falling out with friends and family, to conclude the episode with a fight with Chai--where he doesn't just wax him with the power of introspection.

All said, I feel like this sort of sterilizes Shenmue's story, so far. It succumbs to too many anime tropes, and I sort of didn't expect that to this extent. Trimming the fat is one thing; It's the organization of the plot that has me so nonplussed.

I'm also not sure how to interpret Suzuki's (lack of) crediting. We know he was involved as a creative producer during production, but in the credits, he's only listed as "Original Concept By," which is really only crediting his original work on the games, and says nothing about his involvement with the anime. My pessimism almost makes me think it could be an "Alan Smithee" situation.
 
Rydeen said:
I watched on Crunchyroll (no subs). I had my expectations set pretty low going in, but so far I'm not a fan of the anime. It pretty much reaffirmed the concerns I had with an anime adaptation
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That's unfortunate that you didn't enjoy it. Whilst I can't say that I agree with most of them, it was still interesting to read your criticisms. Do you plan to continue watching past episode 1?
 
I disagree with that. Ryo will probably go through so many difficult situations in the anime, Ryo will probably learn many things like he learn in the games.

Ryo's mini arc about accepting he's not the strongest is over, Ryo was super confident in his strength like nobody could defeat him, but during the episode he learned what Iwao said to him in the beginning of the episode and this was beautiful in my opinion, now Ryo accepts his lack of strength, that he is not the strongest and now Ryo want to learn more about his father's past, the second episode will probably start a new arc for Ryo.
 
just rewatched for a second time. still get chills with that ending it was artfully done. aside from FMA and AoT I haven't really invested myself in a lot of anime. there is definitely something to be said about how skillful animation and storytelling can bring about such strong emotions.

excited to see how this plays out. regardless, i think we all know we're damn blessed to have an animated series for our beloved series.
 
Dont let the myanimelist score discourage you too much. Almost all of the shows on the site range from 6-8. Id even say 6-7. That includes a lot of top shows aswell

Still, let's continue to give shenmue a nice push
 
If you wanna reverse a few salty downvotes, just get on there and give it a 9 or a 10. We'll be pushing that stuff on Dojo social media for a bit.
 
Hiki said:
I love Ryo in the games but I also love seeing this new version.
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I think this will be key to one's enjoyment for the show going forward. We either have to be on board with change, or not. And I'm definitely not saying that anyone is wrong in disliking the "new"/different Ryo, but it is what it is.

I love love love the dark take on Ryo of the games, I think it's unique. Watching the show though, I instantly liked the Ryo/Nozomi interaction, I almost felt happy FOR Ryo; he deserves a break considering not only what happened but what's about to happen to him. And it was true to the character he was in the rest of the episode, a bit less determined and more unsure of himself than game-Ryo who woke up with vengeance on his mind. Nozomi gave him a nice little break.
 
I Got Sriracha In My DNA said:
The rating on MAL is strange. I just put my rating in and the number of users who rated didn't increase.

I wouldn't worry yet about the rating. The show just started. At least it has a bit higher rating than Blade Runner which is also a Crunchyroll/Adult Swim original.
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This is normal, it usually takes a little while to update.
 
I loved it. I have always been on the side of finishing the story through the games first, but after seeing this, I would be just fine if they finish the story in this medium. I actually hope they do.
 
ryokillslandi said:
are trolls trolling it?
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No, I think some of the suggestions on here that people are lowering the score deliberately is unfounded. If you click the stats page, you can see who is leaving scores. If I am being brutally honest, the only score manipulating I am seeing is from Shenmue fans signing up to leave a 10/10.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of this. Nobody is going to take the score seriously if they see a bunch of new users sign up and give it a 10/10, it's not honest and there is a chance that a lot of these reviews will get removed if they suspect any boosting.

Also, it's quite normal for a lot of users on MAL to be overly harsh on certain anime. It's not uncommon for users to leave a 2 or 3. Many users have hundreds of animes on their watch list with a mean score of around 5. Basically, what I am saying is, don't take MAL too seriously. A score on MAL will have very little impact on how the show is received from the wider audience and will have little to no impact on if the show receives a second season or not.
 
Managed to watch the subtitled version earlier. Really impressed how much they squeezed into 20 minutes . 12 twenty minute episodes to go is over 4 hours of Shenmue goodness - if it maintains the sort of pace as episode 1 then i'm pretty confident non of the major plot points from Shenmue 1 & 2 will be cut.
 
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