SPOILERS - SHENMUE THE ANIMATION EPISODE 13 "SHENMUE" THREAD

I woke up early and decided to watch this episode. I was nearly 20 minutes in and my stream froze and my CrunchyRoll trial ended :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: nooo

Shenhua must be powerful. She carried an unconscious Ryo over mountains! Maybe she used her chi... I know some things had to be cut for the sake of saving time but Zhu's smoke trick with the phoenix mirror to reveal lights that indicate where the treasure is located being cut, in addition to the floating sword omission, does make me feel like the mystical elements in this series will be swept under the rug.
 
Great episode and I'm really happy with the way the entire season went. I liked pretty much all the changes they needed to make to adapt the story to this anime, besides a few things here and there.

They did the rooftop fight pretty well, and like many of the scenes throughout the series they added small bits of dialogue that helped add a bit more context to what other characters were thinking, or explain their motivations a bit more in depth.

Was Guilin a bit rushed? Yeah, probably. This episode could have benefitted from being split up into two episodes, but obviously they had to work within a limited budget. If I'm nitpicking, they could have maybe just had line or two of dialogue where Shenhua acknowledges that Ryo saved her and asked how he was feeling after passing out (unless I missed it!).
 
Bittersweet the anime is over. For the most part, I think it's been a success, I am sure in the coming weeks we will have a chance to better digest and talk about the series as a whole.

In terms of this episode, there was actually nice fight choreography and animation which was a pleasant change. As noted very interesting the Lan Di fight from Shenmue 3 was essentially ported here, right down the hold and kick he uses in the Old Castle. While I understand the narrative use of flashbacks with all key characters, in a way I think it dilutes the bond and lessons imparted by Xuixing, with mind as a polished mirror segment. The moment was good but didn't quite capture the epic nature of the game (I miss the camera angle spinning around Don Niu as the counter elbow assault lands).

The journey to Bailu and meeting Shenhua is severely compromised here, there are no two ways about it. Yes, they had a limited episode run but surely there were elements they could have reduced in the Hong Kong chapter just to give some additional screentime to meeting Shenhua. Ryo teleporting from the river to Shenhua's house in particular hurt and everything felt like it was fast-forwarded from that point on.

While I may sound negative overall I've enjoyed the anime and the opportunity for more of Shenmue's story to be told.
 
I see some folks on twitter saying none of the Crunchyroll/Adult Swim collabs have got a second season? Not sure if that is true or not :(

Although I know they wanted a second Fena season but the creator didn’t.
 
I see some folks on twitter saying none of the Crunchyroll/Adult Swim collabs have got a second season? Not sure if that is true or not :(

Although I know they wanted a second Fena season but the creator didn’t.
Its because they all suck except for shenmue
 
On the whole, a great adaptation. There were one or two things that I really didn’t like, but, for the most part, I think the additions were for the best. I’d probably give the entire season an eight out of ten, maybe an 8.5 if I’m being generous. Considering I don’t really like anime and had fairly low expectations going into this, I’m pleasantly surprised to be able to score it so highly. Role on season 2.
 
Just left a review on Crunchyroll. Great season đź‘Ź đź‘Ś and a great end to it.

So Zhu told Lan Di to go to Bailu. Is it to find the Phoenix Mirror specifically (which he doesn't know Ryo has yet) or just to find more clues because the mirrors were created there? I guess it doesn't really matter, but did he tell Lan Di in the games, too, off-screen? :unsure:

Encouraging Ryo to follow just seems shockingly irresponsible. He's clearly just going to get his ass kicked again and most likely get the mirror stolen, leaving Lan Di with both. Shifty Zhu! Of course we've all known this for a long time.
 
The story goes on....

Great episode imo!

My theory about Xiuying arriving on the rooftop didn't pan out and I thought Zhu just negotiating with Lan Di to stop was weak - surely Lan Di already knows of Bailu Village so required more info than that to be convinced to leave?!
In the games Lan Di knows to go to Bailu already as Zhu tells Ryo Lan Di is heading there but there's no interaction between Zhu and Lan Di in the game. I guess because he knows his and Ryo's father were there together so really doesn't make much sense as a tool for Lan Di just leaving when you think into it... He went to all that trouble and personally arrived to retrieve Zhu Yuanda, who's been in hiding for ages by all accounts, and then just leaves when he's told about a place he should already know of and doesn't still take Zhu for the Chiyoumen?! Yea ok.... Lol

The fight scenes were well done, liked the counter elbow assault inclusion (although was hoping for the kanji popping up).

However... Them completely removing Ryo and Shenhua's journey back to Bailu was very disappointing, I know that section is very indulgent, which the Anime didn't have the luxury of being, but it does epitomise what sets Shenmue apart from other revenge based story's, and how Yu let's the story breathe and be about the people that come into Ryo's life and the impact they have... Obviously Ryo and Shenhua will have time to build that relationship if the anime continues, but still, even just a shorten montage of their hike back to Bailu would've worked better imo.

It did still work for for me that he passed out and wakes up at the house somewhat though, giving the benefit of doubt I'm guessing Shenhua found a villager at the port to get help and hitched a ride back to the village.

I thought the Joy scene where she realises her dad has been to her mum's grave was super interesting, did we know her dad was alive?? I assumed both Joy's parents were killed in the car bomb assassination when the Yellowheads seized power...

Anyway, overall I think the season has been very good and I'm hoping it continues into season 2, although that is going to mean it going beyond the end of Shenmue 3 surely so that'll be interesting!
 
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Great series overall. I loved nearly every change and the anime has made Shenmue an even stronger Narrative. Only low point for me was episode 12 for obvious reasons. So much had to be skipped in the Shenmue 2 arc but they still managed to cram in nearly every major story beat and expand on the side characters and Ryo's personality.

If we get a season 2 I have full faith that the narrative will make up for what we got in the Shenmue 3 game. I can see huge revisions in that arc.
 
I think I enjoyed the Lan Di confrontation there more than I did in 3. Might be lack of squeaky voiced English Language Lan Di from 3. Not sure if they'll do the same plot beat again in the 2nd season, but with a relative thin amount of material left for Season 2 I guess there will be a lot of changes from Shenmue 3.

Brought back a few questions and inconsistencies from Shenmue 3 again. Why is Shenhua's dads life work to carve giant mirrors out of riverstone into a cave... like, what purpose did they serve other than being left in the cave immediately and never spoken about again? Seems like he pretty much wasted his life here.
 
Very good finale. The rooftop was handled extremely well and animation was top notch. Really liked Ren's moment talking sense to Ryo. It's the closest the anime has done in capturing their intangible chemistry in the game.

As for Shenhua, I'll just say Disc 4 is better. However I understand that disc is incredibly hard to adapt. Especially when it's part of the finale, it's a big gamble to have it move as slow as in the game. It also lacked the magic (no pun intended) of the revelations like the Shenmue Tree.

All in all this anime was a triumph to me. Really hope for a Season 2.
 
Disappointed to honest. I felt really let down by how they adapted disc 4, or to be more accurate.. how they didn't.

The anime really needed a couple of more episodes imo.
 
I really liked that one. The rooftop fights were handled well and the way they used Ren to help Ryo snap out of it was a great change. "Don't you care about this kid?" was a great line by Dou Niu, selling how Ryo was totally blinded by his ambition of defeating Lan Di. The goodbye segment was excellent and handled really well. It was great to see so many major and minor characters one last time and a happier ending for Wong.

Guilin was rushed as expected but the important parts were covered.

Overall outside of a few shakey episodes in the Kowloon arc , as a non-anime watcher I have really enjoyed this

The story goes on in the Shenmue 3 font is a nice touch .

Fancy a replay of the games now!

Let's get more Shenmue !
 
Very bad episode. Absolutely the worst unfortunately.

I actually don`t mind Lan Di coming down but it`s essentially the scene from Shenmue III. So if they ever do an anime of Shenmue III they would need to change the castle encounter with Lan Di. The animation on the Shenmue III kick was awesome though.

I know it`s an anime but the fight with Dou Niu felt a bit too anime-y. One of the best moments in the Dou Nui fight is the moment of desperation where Ryo accepts that he cannot overcome him due to their differences in physical strength, so he looked inward finding the "serene mind" as Xiuying stated.I feared they would botch the counter assault moment but the way it way depicted was wrong to me. At least the frame they used on the hit looked great. I give them that. But over all they fight didn`t feel epic.

The Yuanda Zhu scene is pretty good, but not doing the smoke trick is weird to me. It`s essentially the first time introducing some otherworldly elements to Shenmue, something that was already teased by Master Chen, and it`s also an introduction to what is ahead for Ryo in Guilin.

The Guilin portion is simply bad. In many facets... No Tai Chi moment, no bonding of the characters on the journey, the reveal of the tree and the mirror sketch was done so quickly. Absolutely abysmal. I`d never understand why they spend soooo much time on the Wude, in my opinion spreading them out defeated their purpose but I digress (I elaborated on this in a post on another episode), rather than maybe having a montage of what Ryo and Shenhua had to go through and how they bonded on their way to to Bailu.

And also I will never understand the apparent distaste of these showrunners for establishing shot. He got to freaking Guilin and you essentially just get to a river and to a house with a big tree. I don`t get it.

Frankly a very bad episode and I also think it`s made in the worst possible way. The only thing I partially liked was that Lan Di came down, even though it compromises the future events if they are not changed, the counter Assault frame (definitely picture-frame worthy) and also I really enjoyed the placement of the intro.
 
I think there's a bit of a change in the anime, Shenhua says she grew up with the tree, and they show a flash back of her with her parents. But I thought in the game that flashback was a dream of a previous life where she grew in an imperial capital (I guess the era of the Tang Dynasty where Bailu Village's ancestors came from, exiled nobles) and not the same place this incarnation of Shenhua grew up.

 
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