Shenmue Anime Premiere Date Announced & Two New Trailers!

The premiere date for the release of Shenmue Anime has been announced! The new anime will be premiering on Crunchyroll & Adult Swim on 5th February 2022.

This comes together with the simultaneous release of TWO new and varying trailers. The first contains the premiere date announcement and English-language voicing, while the other features Japanese-language voicing by two of the original voice actors who are reprising their roles from the games (Masaya Matsukaze as Ryo Hazuki and Takahiro Sakurai as Lan Di) as well as showcasing the official opening theme music.

Following the videos is our full translation of the official Japanese-language press release material, which includes new artwork images.

As usual, keep an eye on the blog for analysis of these incredible new trailers!

-Switch

Trailer #1 (Crunchyroll / Adult Swim Premiere Date Announcement, English)

Trailer #2 Japanese, featuring Masaya Matsukaze & Takahiro Sakurai) 

Japanese Press Release [Translation]

• Trailer released, featuring latest footage!
• Key art also released, depicting several characters!
• Main character roles to be voiced by Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo Hazuki) and Takahiro Sakurai (Lan Di)
• Opening theme also announced: "UNDEAD-NOID" by Kashitaro Ito!

The legendary action-adventure game Shenmue was released in 1999 on Sega's Dreamcast home video game console, and has influenced many other games. An animated version of the game, "Shenmue the Animation," is scheduled to be released in 2022! The animation will be produced by Telecom Animation Film, the company behind Lupin the 3rd Part V: Misadventures in France and Blue Thermal, and directed by Chikara Sakurai (One Punch Man Season 2).

A trailer with latest footage from Shenmue the Animation has now been released. Beginning with an account of the dramatic past of the protagonist Ryo Hazuki, it goes on to feature intense action scenes involving his sworn enemy, Lan Di, and a story filled with mystery. Set in the nostalgic and beautiful city of Yokosuka, it depicts the epic story of the protagonist as he grows stronger.

A spectacular piece of key art featuring main characters from the anime has also been released. The main protagonist features prominently, blazing with a passionate fighting spirit, along with a succession of distinctive characters who also appear in the games.

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Project Team Memories of Working on Shenmue | Famitsu Article Translation

This is a translation of an article published online by Famitsu.com in November 2018 to commemorate the release of Shenmue I & II. Comments about working on the original Shenmue project were gathered from:

• Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo Hazuki)
• Takahiro Sakurai (Lan Di, Goro, Yuan)
• Megumi Yasu (Nozomi)
• Ikue Otani (Fangmei)
• Rio Natsuki (Joy)
• Tow Ubukata
• Toshihiro Nagoshi
• Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
• Yasuhiro Takagi
• Kenji Miyawaki

The translation begins below.

In commemoration of the release of Shenmue I & II for the PS4 on 22nd November 2018, we gathered comments from some of the staff members and performers who were involved with the creation of the original games. Enjoy hearing them speak about their remembrances and hardships of the time. (See our separate article to read comments from Fujioka Hiroshi).

Masaya Matsukaze

Role: Ryo Hazuki

"Ryo Hazuki is my other self"

Back when amusement arcades were booming, arcade game hit-maker Yu Suzuki turned his talent to creating a home console game. There was a large-scale audition that attracted actors in the motion picture industry, and as I was a Mega Ranger at the time that is when I first met Yu-san.

The game started as "Virtua Fighter RPG", and its genre was the world's first of its kind, designated as "FREE" (an acronym for Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment") but these days called open-world. What Yu-san ideally wanted was "freedom in everything, where things you would expect to happen would naturally happen," and together with a staff of hundreds, he took on the challenge of creating a world that had never before been seen.

I was in charge of the motion capture and spoken lines for the protagonist, Ryo Hazuki. The actions ranged from basic movement like sitting and walking, through to those for QTE events where Ryo would punch or alternatively get punched. When he falls from a high place, that is me falling. Falling down from a height of 15 meters (!) would be fatal, so for this motion capture data for falling from a low height would be extended, along with motion capture for hanging in mid-air and dropping down, The spoken lines for striking up conversations with people had slight variations each time, so I recorded all the lines needed for talking to the same person multiple times, even if they would probably never be heard by the player. It was really a huge volume of recording.

Some of Yu Suzuki's works are on display in the Smithsonian Museum, and this legendary work set a new record in gaming history. Furthermore, this long journey continues on with Shenmue III. There is rarely such an opportunity to obtain a truly legendary work yourself at such an affordable price. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy!

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