The ending of Shenmue

[~ ヒキ ~]

The poll is limited so I couldn't put everything i wanted, so in this post i will put a complete version of the poll.

1. Ryo win a fight against Longsun Zhao, forget about revenge, Ryo defeat the true leader of The Chi You Men maybe with Longsun Zhao help, Chi You Men is over, Ryo goes back to Japan to take care of the Dojo, stay close to his friends and maybe stay with Nozomi.

2. Ryo win a fight against Longsun Zhao, forget about revenge, Ryo defeat the true leader of The Chi You Men, Chi You Men is over, Ryo decide to live in Bailu Village with Shenhua.

3. Ryo win a fight against Longsun Zhao, forget about revenge, Ryo defeat the true leader of The Chi You Men, Chi You Men is over, Ryo decide to travel the world to challenge other martial artists, new journey

4. Ryo will kill Longsun Zhao, after that he will not feel good about it and will start to reflect about what he did, he will learn the lesson in a hard way.

5. Other Possibilities


I think that in the end Ryo will defeat the true leader of the Chi You Men, i think Ryo will defeat the one pulling the strings maybe with Longsun Zhao help, when Ryo and Longsun Zhao discover the truth about what happened i think a lot of things will change, depending on what are the revelations maybe Longsun Zhao will even want revenge against The Chi You Men for twisting with his mind since he was a kid. In Shenmue III we learned that after Sunming Zhao's death Longsun Zhao was raised by the Chi You Men so i really feel that this can happen, and that maybe Ryo and Longsun Zhao will understand each other and fight together to destroy The Chi You Men.


When i look at this chapter card i always have a feeling that the character sitting is Yuanda Zhu, i hope one day we can see the chapter cards in better quality but i really think this character is Yuanda Zhu. I know a lot of things changed since the VF RPG days but i really think that the main parts of the story Yu Suzuki didn't changed, to me is possible that in the next games we will see things that are in the concept arts just like what happened with Shenmue III.




I really like the theory that Yuanda Zhu is the true villan and leader of the Chi You Men and that he planned everything from the start for Ryo when he sended the letter to Yokosuka, i think he planned everything, but why he would do that? i really don't know.

A part of me would like to see Ryo going back to Japan to take care of the Dojo, maybe staying with Nozomi or Shenhua and close to his friends, it would be a sweet ending.

Another part of me love the idea of Ryo travelling the world to challenge other martial artists, a new journey but he will stay in contact with the people dear to him, If Ryo decides to travel the world in the end the community can even try to create so many new stories about Shenmue, Ryo travelling to many countries would be really interesting to see.

Ryo will go back to Japan? Ryo will stay in China? Ryo will travel the world in a new journey? what other things can happen in the ending? i love thinking about what will happen in the end.

 

[Demon's Triangle]

I think some of Shenhua conversations in III foreshadow Ryo will move to Bailu Village and he says he could live in a place like that.

 

[~ ヒキ ~]

I think some of Shenhua conversations in III foreshadow Ryo will move to Bailu Village and he says he could live in a place like that.

It would be nice if Ryo decide to live a peaceful life in Bailu Village with Shenhua. Also in Shenmue III Shenhua said to Ryo that she want to see what Japan is like, maybe Ryo will come back to Yokosuka with Shenhua, it would be nice to see Shenhua in Japan and her reaction about everything in Yokosuka.

So many routes that Yu Suzuki can choose for the ending but i think Yu Suzuki already have the ending in his head, only time will tell how this beautiful saga will end.

 

[orient]

I agree that Ryo will defeat Lan Di but will spare his life. If Xuiying's teachings are to have any meaning then this has to happen.

I also think, if anyone's going to die, it'll be Ren. There's a clear trajectory for Ren's character, and it's him learning the power of friendship(!) and choosing friends over wealth. I can see a noble death driving that home. He's also kinda unlikeable, which makes it more palatable than if someone like Shenhua died...there also aren't that many options for "impactful" character deaths, and I think it has to have a huge effect on Ryo or there's no point.

*Lastly, I don't think Ryo will go off to be a martial arts Master and fight across the world...I don't think that really fits.

 

[Mole]

*Lastly, I don't think Ryo will go off to be a martial arts Master and fight across the world...I don't think that really fits.

Well, Shenmue did start out as a VF Akira spin-off, and Akira is a guy who travels and fights around the world. And it seems the story stayed very faithful to its conception, even after it changed from VF to an original IP. If it was meant to be a canonical prequel, then the traveling warrior ending is the only logical one.

But...that was more than 20 years ago. And Suzuki's mind has probably changed on a lot of things. Ryo is most probably a different character to him now than "The Younger Akira".

Judging the story on its own, without any Virtua Fighter connections, I wouldn't guess it would end with Ryo becoming Ryu myself. Personally, that just goes against the friendship thing. "Remember Son, keep friends close to yo-oh wait never mind, you're going to spend the rest of your life beating the shit out of random people across the world, oh okay, that's cool."

A more fitting ending, maybe, is Ryo going back to his family dojo to continue its legacy and teach people the martial arts. Or maybe he travels the world with friends like Shenhua, instead of just being a fist-fighting hobo loner all day.

Either way, I hope we get to see Ryo revisit Yokosuka as a changed person for the epilogue.

 

[orient]

But...that was more than 20 years ago. And Suzuki's mind has probably changed on a lot of things. Ryo is most probably a different character to him now than "The Younger Akira".

Exactly. That ending makes sense for an origin story that was always meant to lead into Virtua Fighter. I don't see how that ending fits Ryo and Shenmue.

I can see Ryo deciding to carry on his father's legacy by teaching the Hazuki style. In my mind it'd be best if he went home to Yokosuka and taught in the dojo, but I guess he could travel the world to teach it, too, maybe.

 

[RyoHazuki84]

I'd like to see the fight happen in an underground martial arts tournament like in Enter the Dragon

 

[celsowm]

- Ren will die
- Lan Di will sacrifice himself to save Ryo from the true final boss as a redemption act

 

[Hermit]

I would actually like a mix of going home to take care of the dojo and travelling to search out more fighters to keep improving his skills.

Ryo is the kind of character that wants to learn and get better, I couldn't imagine him staying home for the rest of his life. He's still young.

 

[Alex banana]

I know Shenmue hasn't had multiple endings up to this point and likely won't, but I would love their to be multiple endings, so that we can all choose our favourite instead of a whole bunch of people inevitably hating on it due to the amount of time we've all had to think about it. It would also force them to include a decent amount storytelling to justify it. One can dream! XD

I think ryo will have that moment where regret will make him mature and become a 'real martial artist', but I hope it's due to a recent and very hard hitting death (not his father's). I also really hope that Suzuki's 'recent' comments about finding the comedy in small moments in life doesn't turn the ending into a comedic skitshow.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

- Ren will die
- Lan Di will sacrifice himself to save Ryo from the true final boss as a redemption act

Definitely see the 1st happening, don't see the 2nd (even if Yu has hinted at the Star Wars similarities, don't see it).

 

[hmjohnny]

Definitely see the 1st happening, don't see the 2nd (even if Yu has hinted at the Star Wars similarities, don't see it).

same. Lan Di has basically been established as the villain and that was cemented with S3.

Btw, where did Yu hint at Star Wars similarities?

 

[GeordieBoySteve]

I really like the theory that Yuanda Zhu is the true villan and leader of the Chi You Men and that he planned everything from the start for Ryo when he sended the letter to Yokosuka, i think he planned everything, but why he would do that? i really don't know.

Zhu had a plan! I think Yuanda Zhu will be revealed as the person who told the lie to Lan Di that Iwao was responsible for Zhao's death. Zhu manipulated Lan Di in the knowledge that he'd kill Iwao without a thought and by doing so, the location of the Phoenix Mirror would die with him and this would thwart any future Chiyoumen plans. The twist being that by Ryo finding the Phoenix Mirror, Iwao's death was in vain.

 

[Demon's Triangle]

Zhu had a plan! I think Yuanda Zhu will be revealed as the person who told the lie to Lan Di that Iwao was responsible for Zhao's death. Zhu manipulated Lan Di in the knowledge that he'd kill Iwao without a thought and by doing so, the location of the Phoenix Mirror would die with him and this would thwart any future Chiyoumen plans. The twist being that by Ryo finding the Phoenix Mirror, Iwao's death was in vain.

I prefer that Iwao killed Sunming because it gives Ryo a more emotional arc but he may have acted in self defense or we don't know the whole story. Zhu (who is possibly Tentei) may have uses his agents, proxies to provide Lan Di a distorted account of what transpired, to manipulate him into pursuing revenge.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

same. Lan Di has basically been established as the villain and that was cemented with S3.

Btw, where did Yu hint at Star Wars similarities?

https://www.shenmuedojo.com/forum/index.php?threads/do-you-think-there-will-be-any-deaths-in-shenmue-iv.3694/#post-127824

https://www.shenmuedojo.com/forum/index.php?threads/random-shenmue-iii-thoughts.23/page-531#post-117596

@Nigel is the first post and @Peter is the second post. Peter's has the actual quote by Yu in 1999, where he compares the story arc being similar.

 

[JCJ]

I prefer that Iwao killed Sunming because it gives Ryo a more emotional arc but he may have acted in self defense or we don't know the whole story. Zhu (who is possibly Tentei) may have uses his agents, proxies to provide Lan Di a distorted account of what transpired, to manipulate him into pursuing revenge.

If I could choose, I would prefer for Iwao to have actually killed Sunming, and having done it in a moment of rage or greed or something, with no justification. That would give Iwao an interesting depth of how him, a disciplined moral-teaching educator, had coped with that thing in his conscience for so many years and how that molded him as a person. And that would give us a new perspective to the opening scene of Shenmue, knowing that Iwao knew that Lan Di was "kind of" right.

Of course, witnessing how Ryo discovers all that and copes with it would make some really interesting matter for the plot.

 

[darksniper]

Zhu had a plan! I think Yuanda Zhu will be revealed as the person who told the lie to Lan Di that Iwao was responsible for Zhao's death. Zhu manipulated Lan Di in the knowledge that he'd kill Iwao without a thought and by doing so, the location of the Phoenix Mirror would die with him and this would thwart any future Chiyoumen plans. The twist being that by Ryo finding the Phoenix Mirror, Iwao's death was in vain.

I can't remember what interview, but I recall Yu Suzuki said that Yuanda Zhu cannot be trusted. I think Lan Di is going to end up as the anti-hero by the time Shenmue ends and the ending of III kind of hints towards this. One of the reasons why I am highly anticipating Shenmue IV is that we're about to learn a little more of who Lan Di really is. Especially when him and Ryo may end up having to work together to get that Dragon Mirror back from Niao Sun.

 

[Demon's Triangle]

If I could choose, I would prefer for Iwao to have actually killed Sunming, and having done it in a moment of rage or greed or something, with no justification. That would give Iwao an interesting depth of how him, a disciplined moral-teaching educator, had coped with that thing in his conscience for so many years and how that molded him as a person. And that would give us a new perspective to the opening scene of Shenmue, knowing that Iwao knew that Lan Di was "kind of" right.

Of course, witnessing how Ryo discovers all that and copes with it would make some really interesting matter for the plot.

I don't think it will be as simple as Iwao is a murderer. I think the truth needs to shake not just Ryo's perspective but Lan Di's as well. Assuming Tentei is the overarching villain, what did he hide from Lan Di? What makes him an evil worse villian?

 

[BruceWayne911]

I believe Ryo will win the final showdown against Lan Di, I'm not sure how but this is what the series is building up to. Ryo will not kill Lan Di thus breaking the revenge cycle. Then we will see the main villain Tentai. He will reveal himself to Ryo as none other than Motoyuki Aoki(the Funny Bear Burger owner). I mean look at this guy...pretty sketchy if you ask me.

 

[GlaimCZ]

I think it could have two ends. One in which Ryo takes revenge but becomes the same person as Lan Di.
In the second, Ryo would spare his opponent.