Originally published in the 22 June 2001 issue of the Japanese magazine DoriMaga, this interview features Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo Hazuki), Hazuki Ishigaki (Shenhua), and Takumi Hagiwara (Ren) reflecting on three years of recording, memorable scenes from development, and their expectations just before the release of Shenmue II. The interview also includes recollections from the early Saturn-era development, offering a glimpse into scenes that were ultimately never used.
Shenmue II was released in Japan a few months later on 6 September 2001.
The translation begins below.
Shenmue II finally set for release on Thursday, September 6, 2001!!
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| From left: Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo Hazuki), Hazuki Ishigaki (Shenhua), and Takumi Hagiwara (Wuying Ren). The three share a variety of stories from recording that spanned two and a half to three years. |
With development finally complete, the main cast reunites for this interview!!
Three long years of recording and lost scenes
Recording for Shenmue II took place from around October last year through to early May this year, with the final sessions wrapping up only recently, according to Matsukaze, who plays the protagonist Ryo Hazuki. In fact, most of what had been recorded up to that point was redone to improve quality. A large amount of motion data was also re-recorded, and much of it was ultimately scrapped. The interview begins with reflections from Matsukaze, who had been involved in recording for the longest.
Matsukaze: I’d been working on Shenmue since back when I was performing at Korakuen Amusement Park, appearing in hero shows as Mega Blue from the TV series Denji Sentai Megaranger, interacting with the audience and all that. That would have been around December three years ago, I think. At the time, I’d perform in hero shows at Korakuen on weekends, then go straight into motion capture for Shenmue, which was a top-secret project.
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| Matsukaze played the role of Mega Blue in the late 1990s |
— The amount of time spent on recording must have been enormous, right?
Ishigaki: For me, things mostly wrapped up around the end of April. My recording schedule was almost the same as Matsukaze’s. Lately I’ve also been busy with a figure project of myself (limited to 200 pieces; planned for release around summer) which has been a lot of fun.
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| Recently, a limited run of garage-kit figures of Hazuki Ishigaki herself has been produced, and she even made some of the accessories, including the bag, by hand. More details will be coming soon. |
— Your recording work together goes back to when the game was still being developed on the Saturn, right?
Matsukaze: Oh yeah, that takes me back. There’s that scene where a goat* is drowning in the river. It was literally the day after we first met, and suddenly they were like, “Okay, let’s do the river drowning scene!” (laughs) There we were, in an empty motion capture room with no river in sight, suspended by ropes, while about twenty grown men were pulling on them…
*Note from Switch: Matsukaze refers to the animal as a goat, although it is actually a fawn.
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| Saturn version footage: Shenhua and Ryo save a fawn from the river. (Screenshot added by Switch) |
Ishigaki: Right, exactly! And on top of that, we had to change straight into those black “mojimoji-kun” suits* (laughs). We filmed all sorts of scenes back then, didn’t we? Like the one where rocks come crashing down from above and Ryo shouts, “Watch out!” and saves me and the two of us go tumbling together.
*Note from Switch: “Mojimoji-kun” refers to the tight black bodysuits popularized by a Japanese comedy segment in the 1990s.
Matsukaze: Right, right. The one where they yanked both of us about two meters through the air. There was a close-up of our faces, wasn't there? But I think that ended up getting cut. A lot of what we shot back then was ultimately scrapped. Ah, that brings back memories… Back in the Saturn-era Chapter One, there were even scenes showing everyday life in the Hazuki household, like Ryo doing chores such as wiping the floors. Yeah, I actually did motion capture for that too (laughs). That ended up becoming another one of those “lost” scenes.
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| Saturn version footage: Iwao ensures Ryo and Fuku-san attend to their cleaning chores. (Screenshot added by Switch) |
— That seems a pity. So, with recording for Shenmue II now finished, what would you say are the highlights this time?
Ishigaki: Once you get into Shenmue II, there are so many scenes where you start to see new sides of Ryo and Shenhua. There are lots of new discoveries, and it all feels very fresh. Ryo might come across as cold or distant at first, but he actually relies on Shenhua quite a bit, and he shows consideration for her in different ways.
Also, I used to think that Shenhua had never met another person before meeting Ryo, but that’s not actually the case.
Matsukaze: Right. Back in Chapter One, there was hardly any dialogue where you’d ask the other person questions about themselves. But in Shenmue II, you’re walking along with Shenhua, and when you see a house, you might ask about her father, or end up talking about her home. And when you see flowers, it leads into conversations about what kind of flowers she likes. So in that sense, it all felt really fresh (laughs).
Ishigaki: Yeah, they really start to get to know each other…
Matsukaze: Another thing about Shenmue II is just how impressive the voice cast is. It’s really something. With Shenmue, if you use typical “anime-style” voice acting, it comes across as too exaggerated and doesn’t fit the game. So rather than relying on anime voice actors, a lot of the cast comes from the theater world. Honestly, there’s probably no other game in the world with this many stage actors involved.
Even during the recording, I remember thinking, “How can these people deliver such convincing lines when they don’t even know the full context of the story?” It really surprised me. The characters surrounding Ryo, like Joy, Xiuying Hong, and the people around Ren, as well as the antagonists, are all incredibly well done.
— Is there a scene, from Shenhua's perspective, that stands out in your memory?
Ishigaki: Probably the dandelion scene (laughs). There’s a scene where Shenhua blows dandelion seeds into the air, and it’s really beautiful. There’s also a little hint of one of Shenhua’s secrets there, but more than anything, the CG is just gorgeous. More generally, Shenmue II does a wonderful job of portraying nature.
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| Shenhua's dandelion scene (image added by Switch) |
I also like that you get to see plenty of Ryo without the cool front. He messes up, slips, and falls over too (laughs).
Matsukaze: Also, Ren’s complaints are great. Things like, “Hey, you already asked that a minute ago!” (laughs). I loved that, honestly (laughs). Up to now, no matter how many times you asked the same thing, nobody ever complained and nobody ever called Ryo out on it, right? But this time, when Ryo does something odd, Ren is right there to throw in a sharp comeback. It adds a lot of flavor (laughs).
— By the way, before Shenmue II was completed, there was that major announcement about the Dreamcast*. How did you feel at the time?
*Note from Switch: On January 31, 2001 Sega announced that Dreamcast production would end in March, marking the company’s withdrawal from the console hardware business.
Matsukaze: Well, we found out from the morning paper at Tokyo Station, just as we were about to board the Shinkansen to Osaka for recording on Shenmue: The Movie. But the Dreamcast isn’t some disposable product like a bar of soap. As far as people enjoying it goes, I don’t think it’s a problem at all.
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| The final scene of Shenmue II is said to be especially powerful. After more than three years with Ryo, Matsukaze’s performance is something fans will want to see through to the end. |
Hagiwara: But really, I think the Dreamcast is amazing. If you asked whether these visuals could be done on other game hardware, I honestly doubt it. We pushed ourselves to the absolute limit making it, too. On set, they were asking us to do things that motion capture alone could not normally achieve, and we gave it everything we had. I think you can really feel that level of commitment in a lot of the later scenes.
Matsukaze: Exactly. What they were doing on Shenmue was, in some ways, not all that different from the kind of recording methods used for things like Star Wars. It really was incredible.
Hagiwara: Other games talk a lot about doing all sorts of things, but Shenmue was already doing that stuff a long time ago. Motion capture is different from ordinary acting. Before recording, you always have to do what they call the “basic stance” so they can check the positional data. It would go something like, “Basic stance, please. Resetting the data... okay, and now let’s begin for real.” So even if you were all fired up and thinking, “All right, let’s do this,” you still had to go through all that first every single time, and it was hard to stay motivated (laughs).
Matsukaze: Everyone says that (laughs). Even the doors were pantomime. They were basically just make-believe doors.
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| All three are reunited for this interview for the first time in a while. The memories from the past three years clearly run deep for them all. |
Hagiwara: I really want people to pay attention to Ren’s movements. He’s always living with danger close at hand, right? Even when he opens a door, Ren doesn’t just carelessly yank it open. He’ll quietly push near the bottom and ease it open. When I was a kid, my brothers and I used to play the kind of pranks that felt like we were trying to kill each other (laughs), so some of that probably comes naturally to me.
Because of that instinct for danger, Ren’s movements are a little slower and more deliberate. There were plenty of scenes we had to redo eight or nine times. Even in a single scene, there was that much heart put into the recording. I really want people to notice that when they watch characters like Ren and Ryo move.
Matsukaze: Exactly. Ren’s got some great little bits of movement too. There’s a scene where Joy rides up on her bike and starts talking with Ryo, and in the background Ren is staring at her bike, casually climbing onto it and touching it. The way he moves is exactly like the kind of thing a teenage delinquent would do (laughs). Then he joins the conversation, but even in moments that seem unimportant, he’s doing these really nice little background actions.
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| Ren casually tries out Joy's bike in the background (image added by Switch) |
Hagiwara: By the way, I still haven’t seen the final scene of Shenmue II.
Matsukaze: Ah, we recorded that just the other day. It’s amazing. It’ll really blow you away!
Ishigaki: Yeah, it’s seriously amazing (laughs).
Hagiwara: What? So you two recorded it together? Come on, what happens? Don’t tell me it ends with, “Please insert Disc 4 into your PlayStation 2*.”
*Note from Switch: A nod to the Dreamcast’s uncertain future in 2001, with the PlayStation 2 already established as the next-generation console. (It has also recently come to light that a PS2 version of the original Shenmue had been created, though it was never released).
All: (big laughter)
Matsukaze: Come on, I don't think so (laughs).
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| Takumi Hagiwara’s performance as Ren is full of soul in every single scene. That is something to look forward to seeing for yourself. Shenmue II is packed with highlights in every sense. |
— For all of you, what have those three years with Shenmue meant?
Ishigaki: More than anything, the biggest thing was getting to meet so many different people. It also made me stronger mentally. I guess it taught me that the world isn’t such an easy place, and that you need a certain level-headedness too.
Hagiwara: Yeah, that’s true. What we do is not just art for art’s sake. You have to be able to keep delivering good work on the spot. But I gained an enormous amount from it.
Ishigaki: But doesn’t it still not really feel like it’s over?
Matsukaze: Actually, for me it really does feel like a grand finale. Then again, maybe it’s just because it only just ended and it still hasn’t fully sunk in yet. But for now, I definitely feel like I’ve seen it through. I hope everyone looks forward to the September 6 release.
-- End of translation --
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