Crunchyroll and Adult Swim Announce 'Shenmue' Anime Adaptation

by DatRandomDude
Sep 4, 2020 7:26 PM | 39 Comments

Crunchyroll announced an anime adaptation of Sega's action-adventure game series Shenmue during the Virtual Crunchyroll Expo on Friday, revealing the main staff and a teaser visual (pictured). The anime will run for 13 episodes.

Chikara Sakurai (One Punch Man 2nd Season, Majimoji Rurumo) is helming the anime at Telecom Animation Film. Yuu Suzuki, the creator of the Shenmue franchise, will serve as the executive producer for the project.

Sega released the first Shenmue game in Japan in December 1999 on the Dreamcast console, in November 2000 in North America, and December that year in Europe. The second game in the franchise was released in 2001 in Japan and Europe on the same console, followed by a reissue on Xbox in the US in 2002 and Europe in 2003.

A compilation of the first two games, Shenmue I & II, was released in 2018 on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Sega published the third game, Shenmue III, worldwide last November on Playstation 4 and PC after a crowdfunding campaign, which began in June 2015.

The Shenmue anime adaptation marks the second collaboration between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim, with the first being Fena: Pirate Princess, which is being produced by Production I.G and is scheduled for a 2021 debut.

Source: Crunchyroll

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20 of 39 Comments Recent Comments

Warcheef said:

RobertBobert said:

Are you a marketing advisor and genuinely confident that a poorly selling product doesn't need advertising? Whoa, dude, it's good that you're not working for me.

I agree, I wouldn't want to work for a man who would be facing bankrapcy in no time.
What you do not understand is that depending on how poorly your product sells there is a point where you must cut your losses instead of bleeding additional money for a lost cause with no hope of actual profit. Shenmue 3 is a financial deadweight, good luck selling that.

Dude, do you understand that advertising is a means to draw attention to your product, and not some kind of proof of the quality of your product?

Sep 16, 2020 8:35 AM by RobertBobert

Warcheef said:

RobertBobert said:

So, what's so strange about the creators choosing to make an anime to bring more attention to the franchise? Do you really think that authors should give up advertising and promotion if the original product does not sell well? I don't know how knowledgeable you are about business, but it doesn't work that way.

I am a marketing advisor... And yes it does.

Are you a marketing advisor and genuinely confident that a poorly selling product doesn't need advertising? Whoa, dude, it's good that you're not working for me.

Sep 16, 2020 12:29 AM by RobertBobert

Holy flipping martial arts from Dreamcast days!!!!

Sep 8, 2020 2:59 PM by CataOrShane

I don't know what to expect from this at all. It's literally the latest thing I could think of, honestly. The first two games are some of my all-time favourites while 3 while I wouldn't call it bad is pretty underwhelming given the long wait both in terms of story and gameplay. Not sure how it will feel watching this in a weekly-format. I want to believe they will nail the SoL elements of the series. The director choice given his work on OPM2 makes it a bit "ehh" but we will see. As a major fan of the series, I hope it will turn out good but realistically my expectations as of now are pretty low.

Sep 7, 2020 2:32 AM by MonkeyDHunter

Its all going to come down to budget. One Punch Man 2 sucked mostly becase of extremely cheap and poor action scenes using every trick in the book to skimp on frames. If this show manages to circumvent that by making a peaceful/serene style avoiding need much smooth action, then the backstory already penned by Suzuki should provide enough good material to make something good, especially since much of it has already been animated 20 years ago.

But I still would be $50k that numerous 'old school fans' will rise out of obscurity to bash this show no matter what because it betrays 'their true vision' of the series from their adolescence.

MichaelJackson said:
And here I am, still waiting for a Skies of Arcadia remake so it gets its own anime adaptation (wich will probably suck d*ck and will make me wish I never wished for that)

You are also a man of refined tastes I see.

Warcheef said:

RobertBobert said:

I am a marketing advisor... And yes it does.

The potential margins for this series are likely better than your average manga tie-in anime. Many people bash Shenmue for poor sales but in comparison it almost certainly earns more than most manga vying for seasonal anime. Its become a pet project of gamers to bash Shenmue anywhere and everywhere, and frankly its embarrassing.

Mod Edit: Merged duplicated posts; please use the edit button.

Sep 7, 2020 1:11 AM by VyseLegendaire

Wow, this is surprising and unexpected. I’m a huge fan of Shenmue. These kinds of game adaptations usually turn out mediocre at best, but I’ll remain cautiously optimistic until it’s out.

Sep 6, 2020 4:22 PM by WisperG

Rei_III said:
What's the point of this adpatation? Those games were never interesting thanks to their story... It was the systems they exploited/popularized , the "interactions", the fact you had a whole little neighbourhood "simulated", etc

jc9622 said:
I don't even think the PS1 could output such graphics at the time.

Well, you're comparing the first 128 bits generation console with Sony's 32bits model. It would be more fair to put the Dreamcast and PS2 in the same bag.

Yea, my bad. I forgot the PS1 came out on 1994. I thought it came out around 1998 and I also thought the Dreamcast came out around the same time as the PS1.

Sep 6, 2020 8:44 AM by jc9622

MegamiRem said:

jc9622 said:

In terms of gameplay, it's like Persona except it's boring af. Actually, think of Persona's social sim, except it's just that and no dungeon crawling.

The only reason why this game was beloved is because it was one of the most technically impressive game, at the time that it came out. I don't even think the PS1 could output such graphics at the time.

Ah i c thnx for the info. If it was anything close to Persona games then I would have tried it.

You should give it a try, if you like the life simulator aspects of persona theres a good chance you will enjoy Shenmue. I love persona and shenmue, some people say Shenmue is boring because its a slower type of game. Although there is alot to love, especially in terms of story. Lets put it this way, I think there is alot more in common between Persona and Shenmue than say Yakuza. This is coming from a fan of all 3 franchises and has actually played each.

Sep 6, 2020 7:58 AM by Hotdog_Air

What's the point of this adpatation? Those games were never interesting thanks to their story... It was the systems they exploited/popularized , the "interactions", the fact you had a whole little neighbourhood "simulated", etc

jc9622 said:
I don't even think the PS1 could output such graphics at the time.

Well, you're comparing the first 128 bits generation console with Sony's 32bits model. It would be more fair to put the Dreamcast and PS2 in the same bag.

Sep 6, 2020 5:48 AM by Rei_III

jc9622 said:

MegamiRem said:
Havn't heard of this game before. Is this a moba? Also lol OPM s2 director.

Ah i c thnx for the info. If it was anything close to Persona games then I would have tried it.

Sep 5, 2020 9:45 PM by MegamiRem

MegamiRem said:
Havn't heard of this game before. Is this a moba? Also lol OPM s2 director.

Sep 5, 2020 8:03 PM by jc9622

And here I am, still waiting for a Skies of Arcadia remake so it gets its own anime adaptation (wich will probably suck d*ck and will make me wish I never wished for that)

Sep 5, 2020 7:25 PM by MichaelJackson

Director of OPM S2 and the studio that adapted Tower of God

I feel bad for Shenmue fans

Sep 5, 2020 10:56 AM by Damuzen

With the director of OPM S2, this could go anywhere.

Sep 5, 2020 10:46 AM by MrAwesome2018

Nice, it will be interesting to see what they can do.
Honestly this could be quite good, the story can be adapted to an anime easily.
It might actually be able to flesh out some side characters and improve on some parts of the story, if the script is written by someone competent.
Animation wise it's bound to look better than the third game at least.
The voice acting is bound to far better too lmfao.
As for the directing, we shall see.

Sep 5, 2020 10:24 AM by JokerVentura

Warcheef said:

RobertBobert said:

Have you ever heard of such a thing as "advertising"?

Yeah, I'm sure advertising a game that literally everyone and their mothers trashed and is an epicgames exclusive will do wonders for the sales 😒

Sep 5, 2020 9:41 AM by RobertBobert

It would have been better as a chapter taking place between shenmue 3 and 4. Impossible to fit everything into 4.5 hours

Sep 5, 2020 9:39 AM by removed-user

Shenmue! The director can mess up everything in the anime, BUT if he can maintain Ryo's character from the games, then that is all this anime needs to remain faithful to the games. Ryo's personality is going to matter more than anything else. They mess that up, and this anime adaptation is a wash.

Sep 5, 2020 9:26 AM by Tarotist

This is the most random anime news of the month. Seriously, no one saw this coming.

Sep 5, 2020 8:20 AM by malvarez1

Is this the first adaptation?

Warcheef said:
Why would you do that especially after the Shenmue 3 shitshow? Why?!

Have you ever heard of such a thing as "advertising"?

Sep 5, 2020 7:21 AM by RobertBobert

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