Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for March 2023

Every month Phantom River Stone holds a poll among our patrons to choose a topic for the blog in the coming month. After tallying the votes (including accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted this time is:

"Years ago... I was Chinese" - Translation Analysis

In the past we have analyzed a number of memorable English translations from the first game that have been a source of amusement for generations of Shenmue fans, including the snappy Let's Get Sweaty and the somewhat more puzzling Especially since you bought merchandise.

In this post we will be looking at another phrase that is similarly often quoted.

It occurs with the owner of the Mary's Patches & Embroidery store on Dobuita Street, the elderly Itoi-san. He is always to be found hunched over his counter during the day, always ready for a spot of conversation

Ryo approaches Mary's Patches & Embroidery, determined to extract a hint as to his next move from as many local shopkeepers as it takes

Ryo wishes to learn more about something known as the Three Blades and loses no time in starting to interrogate Itoi-san regarding this. 

It is then that Itoi-san declares: "Years ago... I was Chinese."

Itoi-san's quirky wording here in the English version earns this phrase a place in our "Say What?" series of posts. We'll review his character's background and consider alternative phrasing that would sound more natural to English speakers.

Coming soon to the blog.

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Shenhua's Home Renovations - What Changed in Shenmue III

It has been a while since our earlier post on the blog in which we looked at changes in appearance to the exterior of Shenhua's house and the surrounding landscape from Shenmue II compared to Shenmue III. In this post, we'll turn our attention to the house's interior to cover what changes have been made within.

House Footprint

One notable difference seen from external observation, even before Ryo steps inside, is that Shenhua's house in Shenmue III has a difference in shape compared to Shenmue II.

Originally, the house's footprint was previously a simple "L" shape:

Shenhua's house, Shenmue II

However in the later game, the right-hand side of the house has been extended with a new wing:

Shenhua's house, Shenmue III

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Weekly AM2 Vol. 7: Interview with Shenmue Planning Director, Eigo Kasahara | 25th Jan 2000

In this series we translate Shenmue content from Weekly AM2, the official online magazine published by Sega's AM2 development team back in the day. News and information about the Shenmue series could be found regularly within these pages from the end of 1999 through to 2001 with the release of Shenmue II.

Vol. 7 contains an interview with Shenmue Planning Director, Eigo Kasahara (who also returned to manage the localization for Shenmue I & II many years later). There is also an announcement of the prizes for the Network Ranking competition, as well as another Shenmue digital wallpaper

-Switch

 

Vol.6: 2000.1.25

Have you cleared Shenmue? I'm Takuan.

Are you all participating in the Network Rankings? The Shenmue Passport makes Shenmue even more fun!

This week's contents:

• Notice of Yu Suzuki's talk
• Interview with Shenmue's Planning Director, Eigo Kasahara
• Announcement of Network Rankings Prizes
• Shenmue Wallpaper Download Service, Round 2

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Forklift No. 5

Spotted in the wild... a genuine Forklift No. 5.

Ready for the morning race.

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Band-Aids at the Tomato Convenience Store - Early Design Document | Translation

In this post we examine and translate an early Shenmue design document which gives some interesting insight into some design changes made before the game's release.

The document is an illustration that details the contents of the shelves at the Tomato Convenience store in Dobuita, as shown below:

Early design document of the shelves at the Tomato Convenience Store

The appearance and layout of these shelves match very closely with the shelves at the Dobuita branch of the Tomato Convenience Store in the first game:

Shelves at the Tomato Convenience Store in Dobuita (release version)

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Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for February 2023

Every month Phantom River Stone holds a poll among our patrons to choose a topic for the blog in the coming month. After tallying the votes (including accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted this time is:

"The Significance of the Big Dipper in Shenmue"

The Big Dipper is what is known as an asterism, which is a recognizable pattern of stars that is not a formal constellation in itself, but can often be part of one. In the case of the Big Dipper, it is part of the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). In Chinese culture, the Big Dipper is often associated with the mythical creature the Dragon.

The stars and their constellations are a recurring topic encountered throughout the Shenmue games, and are woven into the story. For example:

• Ancient beliefs: in Shenmue I: the Russiya antique shop in Dobuita, where the owner, Xiuyu Xia, explains the significance that people in China attach to the Big Dipper and other nearby stars.

• Celestial harbinger: Ryo notices a book about constellations when visiting Shenhua's house for the first time. When Ryo asks about it, she recounts that while observing the Big Dipper the night before, the behavior of a neighboring star gave her an uneasy feeling that something bad had happened.

• Symbolism: the Sword of Seven Stars that has been left at the Stone Pit by Shenhua's father is inscribed with the same seven-star pattern of the Big Dipper.

Another aspect we will touch on is the extent to which the symbolism and importance of the Big Dipper and other star formations that has been hinted at throughout the first two games, carries through to the third game in the series.

Watch for this article in an upcoming post! Early access will be available for blog patrons.

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12 Riveting Shenmue Development Revelations | Morio Ashizuka

Morio Ashizuka is the Twitter handle of a former senior developer who was deeply involved with development of the first two Shenmue games, in particular character animations and motion design. He tweets prolifically about video games, SEGA and other topics - along with occasional fascinating insights and anecdotes from the day.

Some of the amazing details from Morio Ashizuka's tweets that we have highlighted in the past here on the blog include:

• The revelation that the character of Izumi Takano was once a candidate for Ryo's love interest
• The reason Ryo's bicycle was dropped from the first Shenmue game
• Suzuki's comment about Takumi Hagiwara's motion capture as Ren
• What had been planned for the bicycle event by which Ryo travels to Miao Village
• A character model of Yu Suzuki was created during the development of Shenmue II

Cover of one of the "The Legend of Akira" script books (Chapter Four: Guilin) tweeted by Ashizuka. Source tweet

In this post we have selected 12 tweets that give revelations into Shenmue's development, which were tweeted by Morio Ashizuka between 2017 and 2019 (plus a final bonus entry!).

This topic was selected by the Phantom River Stone blog patrons via our monthly poll on the Phantom River Stone Patreon and was available for early access. Thank you for your support!

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Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for January 2023

Every month Phantom River Stone holds a poll among our patrons to choose a topic for the blog in the coming month. After tallying the votes (including accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted this time is:

"Dreamcast Magazine Dec 1999 Interviews w/ Shenmue development staff: Masanori Oe & Takenobu Mitsuyoshi"

Two short but insightful developer interviews were published in the Japanese Dreamcast magazine as part of a 16-page special feature about Shenmue. The two members of the development team interviewed were Masanori Oe, who is credited as the main designer, and sound director Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.

Main Designer Masanori Oe (left) & Sound Director Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (right)

With the publication of these interviews being just prior to Shenmue's release at the end of December 1999, they would have served to stir up the excitement of the Japanese readers.

"Rather than worrying about whether a Saturn belonged there or not, we were more concerned with whether the Saturn's drive lid opens properly. And so, the Saturn's drive lid does open properly! [laughs]" - Masanori Oe

 "Yu Suzuki kept nagging us: the music during the game mustn't draw attention to itself... but it also has to be there. For people like us who had previously created ordinary game music, creating the right balance was extremely difficult, and gave us a hard time." - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi

Watch for our translation of the interviews in an upcoming post! Early access will be available for blog patrons.

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