Let's get this out of the way for the true diehards: According to producer Yu Kiyozono, the anime was in development for around two to three years during the time Shenmue III was produced and released, but it wasn't released until after the game came out. Kiyozono also stated that the production crew went to Yokosuka to get an accurate feel of the city's streets and atmosphere, while the anime will see most of the core Japanese voice actors return from the video games (i.e. Masaya Matsukaze with Ryo Hazuki and Takahiro Sakurai with Lan Di), although some of the cast will include new voice actors to appeal to the game's younger fanbase. Producer Joseph Chou of Sola Entertainment mentions that Yu Suzuki was heavily involved in the production to plan out the narrative with backstory information that was never implemented in the games, while director Chikara Sakurai added that some free roaming aspects were included with Ryo talking to people in the streets. So take in all of these, and you can see the care and passion of the staff team in bringing the Shenmue dream alive to the small screen, and they've largely succeeded.
For the newcomers who don't largely know what Shenmue is all about (largely because time is lost to this beloved IP), Shenmue the Animation adapts the overarching story from the Dreamcast games into one package. The premise is that Ryo Hazuki is the son of a family dojo, and so sets the story that his father was murdered by this clan called the Chi You Men through Lan Di, and that Ryo Hazuki is bent on getting revenge, crossing paths with people and learning the way of martial arts until he reaches his goal to defeat Lan Di. Sounds way too simple for modern-day standards, but I'd tell you that back in 1999/2000 this was something very different than your typical RPG that defies genres and even causes polarizing opinions till to this day.
The core characters are back with Ryo Hazuki and Lan Di (their VAs are the same as the Japanese version of Shenmue), while some others like Shenhua and Nozomi Harasaki get some new VAs in order to make the anime sound fresh to newcomers. That's why diehard fans have craved for a Shenmue revival after the Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, and Shenmue III was released to fanfare in 2019 to feature more of the same, but yet still having the same polarizing opinions. And this is where the new younger fanbase comes in to experience what would the first 2 original games would've felt like, without getting too flashy on its character appeal that's all the same if you've played both games before (and not the overzelaous English version which were some of the worst but hilarious dialogue VOs).
Being a subsidiary of TMS Entertainment, Telecom Animation Film did decent on the visuals and action overall, it just did enough to service the plot with a tight budget. But I've gotta say that it's such a treat to finally watch Shenmue summed into 13 episodes which I feel is the perfect duration to flesh out both games in general without losing too much of its mostly side-quest appeal and the alluring story that was so far ahead of its time back in the day. But I miss the Lucky Hit segment, wish there was more of it. Music was decent-to-good as well with Kashitaro Ito churning out another banger song of an opening with Narudora's calm ending that also fits within Shenmue's draw of musical proportions that while is not close to famed composer Yuzo Koshiro's stellar composition in the games, it's just good enough to glide over the series in the most general way.
Fans of Shenmue, DO NOT MISS this adaptation. It's a faithful replication of the Dreamcast games, and I can reassure you that you won't be disappointed at all. As for the newcomers, please don't take the somewhat maligned score for what it is, try it out for yourself and experience the Shenmue franchise the way that it's supposed to be in its own greatness.
