The following article contains spoilers forShenmue: The Animation.
How to tackle a giant? That is the questionShenmue’sYu Suzuki must have asked himself when retelling the game’s story inanimeformat, and also the same one needed to solve for Ryo Hazuki to take down Don Niu in his final rooftop battle. However, while the anime does succeed at wrapping upShenmue 2’sstory, the differences between the game and series become even greater in an oddly paced finale.
Prior to this, discrepancies between the two were rather small, mostly being tied to the timing of some events, yet the anime decides to give viewers one extra fight that might be worth it for some and seem out of place for others. That, coupled with the show’s decision to quickly run through Ryo’s long-awaited meetup with Shenhua in rural China is what ends up defining an ending that is neither action-heavy nor achieves too much in terms of character exploration.
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The episode is simply titled “Shenmue”, so there’s not a ton of meaning to look for in that and it does happen to get going fairly quickly as itimmediately connects to the last one’s ending, the rooftop battle. In the game, series villain Lan Di is happy to watch Don Niu get beaten by Ryo and ultimately gain very little from his second run-in with the young Hazuki, nevertheless, this part gets rewritten in a way that arguably fits in better with the overall story.
See, here Lan Di actually descends to face off against a raging Ryo, blinded by his desire for revenge, and as inShenmue 3, he has no problems defeating the protagonist who at least gets a reminder from Ren of everything he is supposed to have learned from Xuiying. Lan Di also gets some proper Intel from Yuanda Zhu before leaving but there are many more changes: there’s a fence surrounding this Kowloon rooftop, Wong doesn’t bite Don Niu and gets hit when the villain releases him, those sound small but combined with more consequential ones make up for a very different scene.
As for the actual battle with Don Niu, it’s simply a vast improvement over what could be achievedwith the Dreamcast in 2001’sShenmue 2. Don Niu remains an imposing figure and Ryo can only stand a chance against his superior strength with optimal concentration and technique; luckily, Ren is there to snap him out of his angry state and he eventually lands a couple of hard blows, including a very cool Counter Elbow Assault, on the villains whose Hong Kong takeover now seems unlikely without his boss’ blessing.
Just like in the game, the scene cuts straight to Ren’s hideout where Zhu briefs everyone on what he knows about the mirrors, Ryo’s father, Sunming Zhao (Lan Di’s father), and the Guilin region. There are some extra bits, but it’s missing the game’s mysterious smoke scene with the mirror, which is a meaningful teaser for die-hard fans of the games.
Before Ryo departs from Kowloon he says his goodbyes, a modified version of the hidden scene with Fangmei is included, his final words with Xiuying, as well as solo moments for Joy, Ren, and Wong. These are welcome, but they would work so much better if the series’ intro hadn’t been awkwardly shifted to around the 11-minute mark which is a definite throw-off.
When it’s time to head to Guilin, it becomes even clearer how different parts one and two of this episode are, and it’s probably what makes it a worse finale than it really is. Ryo spends nearly three hours in Guilin and Bailu, yet somehow this is condensed into only 7 minutes. Let’s face it, Ryo exploring the countryside and listening to Shenhua’s tale is not the most promising thing to watch, but here the change turns this part into an almost forced epilogue.
In a certain way, all the iconic momentsfrom this part ofShenmue 2are here, Ryo saving Shenhua in the river, the cherry blossom tree that gives the franchise its name and, of course, the pair’s trip down below to see her dad’s work, the game’s iconic ending. It’s all there to provide the same mystery it did for players, however, the issue is that sense of anticipation is removed when viewers are aware this is the final episode and there’s very little runtime left.
The anime ends with a black screen saying “The Story Goes On…”, and it surely does inShenmue 3, a game with perhaps more flexible storytelling, and one where Suzuki might be keen on making more changesas he heads into Shenmue 4. As for the anime, despite having some spectacularly well recreated moments, and even improvements as seen in the finale, the tale of the tape suggests thatShenmuestill can’t guarantee that its quieter parts remain entertaining for neither gamers and viewers.
Fans of the franchise will be excited for what’s to come, though it’s not necessarily guaranteed a second season is on the way. While it does retain its niche, animatedShenmuesuffers a similar fate to the games, there is simplyso much better anime to watch right now.
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