I watched the episode for the third time and now i love the episode even more, beautiful episode.
Was really nice to see Ryo with the cantonese study book in some parts when talking with some characters, for us Ryo is talking in japanese, Shenmue is made in Japan so the language of the anime is japanese, but it is like in the story he is speaking cantonese with the help of this book, even in the Yokosuka arc i saw Ryo with this book sometimes, really felt to me like he is studying cantonese.
This is what i feel the anime team tried to show with this episode in relation to this, and when Tao asked for Ryo if he speak cantonese Ryo said a little, i really enjoy these details in this episode, something that don't have in the games and i really appreciate these type of details.
The anime team are doing a beautiful job in creating Hong Kong in the anime. Yokosuka is Ryo's hometown, a more calm and secure city for him where he knows the city and many people, in Hong Kong is not like that, Hong Kong to me in the game have an adventure feel where Ryo is in a foreign country that he doesn't know many things, a different city and the anime team so far did a beautiful job in relation to this.
Looks like the anime team will expand Wong and Joy in the anime, i love every scene with them, and i love how Joy in this episode shows how much she care about Wong and even about Ryo, Joy wants to protect the people dear to her.
In this episode we even saw a fast flashback of Joy's past, she was crying, this made me remember of chapter 1 of the manga side story, i hope in the next episodes we see more about Joy's story, this way expanding even more the Shenmue story, maybe she was crying because her mother died, i don't know, something like that, this don't have in the game so i don't know, would be nice if we see more about Wong as well.
I love all the scenes of Ryo with Jiamin Tao, Ryo learned many things with Jiamin Tao in this episode, he learned the Iron Palm and the pace about this was really good, during the episode we saw Ryo training many times, was not something fast and i love how Jiamin Tao teached Ryo about this things saying about instant noodles, that Ryo have learned other techiniques faster in the past, but this is not how it works in Hong Kong, these parts are so beautiful. I thought the pace was okay about these things, he learned that the true purpose of martial arts has nothing to do with blindly harm upon others, and he learned the wude Gon, and i love how the Kanji appear when Tao said about, Ryo will probably learn one more Wude or all the others in the next episode.
The scene with Shenhua was short but it was nice detail about the Shenmue tree, i hope Shenhua appear in the next episode. Was nice seeing Lan Di, it was fast but it looks like he was in Niaowu, the place looks like the fortified castle in Niaowu but maybe i'm wrong. The scene with Guixiang Lee was nice, it was nice that she was the one that gave the clue about the Man Mo Temple.
The Man Mo temple is beautiful just like in the game, Lotus Park as well, like i said the anime team did a beautiful job with the places in Hong Kong.
Xiuying in this episode is amazing just like in the game. i love that we can see her with her 2 clothes just like in the game. In this episode Xiuying said to Ryo... "You have been consumed by your desire, becoming blind to what stands before you. This is what your eyes tell me. Perhaps the more you continue to search, the more you lose sight of what really matters."
To me it is clear that she already noticed that Ryo really want revenge, Yamagishi-san noticed that in the Yokosuka arc and now Xiuying, after that Ryo even touched the plaster. and in the ending of the episode she said... "You will one day be led astray if you continue this path you are now.
To me was not an issue that this scene is with the credits, maybe in the beginning of the next episode we will even see this scene again in a different way, it is not impossible, all i know is that it was not an issue to me. Nice to see Ren in the ending, Ren will probably appear more in the next episode.
I have the games and i love the games but i really don't want the exact same experience with the anime, watching the anime it feels like home and nostalgic but also it feels new, it feels like i'm seeing the Shenmue story for the first time again and this is beautiful, the Shenmue essence is in the anime in my opinion.
Beautiful episode and so far beautiful adaptation.
