The ending of Shenmue

How will be the ending of Shenmue?

  • Ryo Win a fight against Lan Di, forget about revenge, goes back to Japan to take care of the Dojo

    Votes: 29 37.7%
  • Ryo Win a fight against Lan Di, forget about revenge, decide to live in Bailu Village.

    Votes: 5 6.5%
  • Ryo Win, forget about revenge, travel the world to challenge other martial artists, new journey.

    Votes: 22 28.6%
  • Ryo decide to Kill Lan Di, he will feel bad about it, he will learn the lesson in a hard way

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • Other possibilities

    Votes: 19 24.7%

  • Total voters
    77
The original illustrations from the postmortem kind of gives us the answer:

shenmue_unreleased.jpg


Ryo becomes Akira (he puts his signature headband) and shows his back to Shenhua (in the center) and Xiuying (in the background), who look like giving him some kind of farewell. All in a barren, grassland-like, setting.

No sign of where Ryo goes to, maybe it's back to Japan or to search for more adventures, but the destination doesn't seem key to the plot and it will probably not be shown. Also no sign of Nozomi or Guizhang coming back (neither Joy nor Fangmei, nor Wong seems important to the plot).

I think it would be a great ending, and I'd agree completely with all those choices if they are kept in the end. Having phone conversations with past secondary characters, and meeting some relatives or acquaintances of them, is enough for filling the "nostalgia" and connecting the world. But more would be too much IMO.

Card 11 is Xinjiang province.
 
Isn't Xiuying only in her 20's?

Maybe she and Ryo can SHARE her bed next time for some... "advanced" training sessions?

You mean like... judo chopping him outta the bed? :p
 
After defeating the darkness of Chi You (which represents greed and hate), Lan Di and Ryo have a friendly spar like their fathers. Shenhua and Ryo reunite at the Verdant Bridge under the stars of the dragon and phoenix.
 
I'm wondering if Shenmue will have a bittersweet ending of sorts. A while back I posted this thread about a promotional poem that outlines the entire story vaguely.

This part may be relevant:

It was all over.
Or so it seemed.
There is no such thing as the future.
An empty world preventing the soul from breathing.
Love seemed to flicker.
Something little by little flowing into a frozen heart

It sort of implies that once Ryo takes his revenge (or fails to) he has nothing left to live for. He loses his purpose in life. You can kind of see this in S3 where he implies he has no plans for the future (he hasn't thought that far ahead).

As for the ending. It has been said that Ryo will embark on a new journey (apparently westward if the map image has anything to do with it).

However, this is all from the VFRPG when he becomes Akira. In Ryo's case the ending may have been changed to him returning to Japan or something else entirely.
 
As the concept art and map shows, Chapter 11 clearly takes place in the streets of New York. Roe Hazuki will learn that Tom, the guy who gave conflicting stories about seeing his father's murderer in Shenmue I, orchestrated the whole thing in order to get both dragon mirrors and use its power to give birth to the perfect hot dog recipe. He takes a flight to the US but accidentally gets off in Canada. He then spends a good portion of the game trying to get money to go to the US, but then he meets Nozomi who somehow convinces Roe to finally share a bed with her. He then trains Nozomi in the 4 wude and goes together with her to the US, and they both kick Tom's ass. Finishing move QTE is a weakened Roe polling his remaining energy into kicking a beer bottle into Tom's face. End credits is Roe and Nozomi sharing a hotdog while the sun sets.
 
Ryo fights Lan Di and beats him with a special move. He is about to land the killing blow but then black suits arrive with guns and they proceed to shoot off Ryo's arms and legs.

An armless, legless Ryo lies there helplessly and says "father... I failed you... ugh!"

They let Ryo live and he becomes a permanent stationary fixture in the Hazuki home which is now owned by Fuku San who had been secretly syphoning Iwao's house payments into his personal bank account and has now legally bought the house.

Ryo is forced to watch helplessly as Fuku San and Nozomi get it on right in front of him every night and there's nothing he can do about it.

Once and a while Tom visits Ryo to feed him a hot dog but someones can't resist tormenting him by sticking the hotdog in his eye and laughing at him. "Hey Ryo.. how about a dog!"

Ryo realizes he wasted his life on revenge and that he should have listened to Master Chen and Xuiying all along.

THE END.
 
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The end of Shenmue could deviate entirely from the initial plan. In the VFRPG concept, Akira Yuki becomes the martial artist he is destined to be and embarks on a new journey which is most likely setting up the events in Virtua Fighter 1 & 2. However, Shenmue is now in a different universe from Virtua Fighter and so could have a completely new ending which deviates from this plan. Perhaps it could more closely follow Joseph Campbell’s Hero's Journey where Ryo would return to the ordinary world he left behind for his epic quest, only now a changed man.

I can't write stories for shit, but for what I would personally really love to see: after Shenmue 5's credits we get a short scene of Ryo returning to Dobuita recreated in PlayStation 5 graphics. Ryo reunites with everyone at the Hazuki Dojo and hears from Ine-san that Nozomi has returned from Canada and is praying at the Yamanose shrine (most likely to ensure Ryo's safety on his trip).

noz.jpg

Ryo would head to the same shrine area and will “spook” Nozomi once again just like he did in the first game, which was their last encounter together before they both departed Japan. Ryo would pull out the amulet that she had given him and would thank her, saying that no matter how perilous his journey was, her amulet had kept him safe this whole time just as she wished and willed it to do. The End! 🥰
 
The end of Shenmue could deviate entirely from the initial plan. In the VFRPG concept, Akira Yuki becomes the martial artist he is destined to be and embarks on a new journey which is most likely setting up the events in Virtua Fighter 1 & 2. However, Shenmue is now in a different universe from Virtua Fighter and so could have a completely new ending which deviates from this plan. Perhaps it could more closely follow Joseph Campbell’s Hero's Journey where Ryo would return to the ordinary world he left behind for his epic quest, only now a changed man.

I can't write stories for shit, but for what I would personally really love to see: after Shenmue 5's credits we get a short scene of Ryo returning to Dobuita recreated in PlayStation 5 graphics. Ryo reunites with everyone at the Hazuki Dojo and hears from Ine-san that Nozomi has returned from Canada and is praying at the Yamanose shrine (most likely to ensure Ryo's safety on his trip).

View attachment 8660

Ryo would head to the same shrine area and will “spook” Nozomi once again just like he did in the first game, which was their last encounter together before they both departed Japan. Ryo would pull out the amulet that she had given him and would thank her, saying that no matter how perilous his journey was, her amulet had kept him safe this whole time just as she wished and willed it to do. The End! 🥰
I think Shenhua being in the star might be foreshadowing, with the mirrors destroyed, her fate is to leave Ryo and lead the Phoenix and the Dragon to their fates in the stars. The North Star, what Shenhua was afraid of, that is her destiny... but like the Phoenix she can be reborn. Post credits scene with child Shenhua next to the Shenmue tree.
 
I thought that both Shenhua and Lishao Tao were dead in the last picture and Akira was imagining them.
 
I love this thread.

Just like everyone else I think Ryo's journey is dulling his thirst for the death of lan Di. Eventually he'll spare him, but not before shenhua or someone significant dies. Flashbacks of shenhua and his dad save lan Di, but not before a graceful lightning swallow kick to the bollocks has lan di grounded. Lan di life flashes before him in the pain of it all in doing so becoming a changed man. I think Ryo beset by the loss of shenhua walks off into the distance to find his path etc. That or lan di is not the big bad guy and is misunderstood. Or tom comes back and shoves a hot dog down lan Di's throat. I dunno. I just want an ending already!
 
I think that Lan Di is going to die a meaningful death like others have mentioned. I also think Ren won't make it to the end of the series either. Both of these moments are going to have a profound impact on Ryo during his journey. I hope Ryo makes the smart choice and goes with Xiuying for his love interest for hot MILF action. :)

Much how Longzhun Zhao evolved into the alias Lan Di, I think Ryo Hazuki will change his name to Akira Yuki by the very end of the series.
Ryo defo gonna get his balls crushed by high heels. You Xiuying is iinto that shit.
 
I created a poll for the thread, vote if you want, thank you. 😊
 
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