Shenmue the Animation

Title:Shenmue the Animation
シェンムー the Animation
Overall:Unevaluated
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Telecom Animation Film
MATSUKAZE Masaya
Distinguished teenage karate artist Ryo Hazuki returned home to the family dojo one day to find his father locked in a deadly duel with a strange man named Lan Di. Lan Di wants a 'mirror' of some sort, and when it comes to the martial arts is in a totally different league than Ryo or his father. After his father is killed, Ryo resolves to find out just what was going on, and whether the claim Lan Di made that his father once killed someone is true.

13 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Unevaluated Stretch [series:4446#628]
(Two episodes watched):

Based on the title and off-season release, I had thought this might be another Chinese anime (not necessarily bad news), but it seems completely Japanese. A lot of work is definitely put into the character designs. Being 'the animation' and the Sega company playing a part, it seems to be based on a video game. In some ways it seemed kind of stereotypical, like the incidents where Ryo humiliates a braggart at a competition or kicks the asses of two bullies. The fight at the Hazuki dojo seemed kind of wooden; at least the bit that Lan Di may have not just been looking for this mystical 'mirror' (it doesn't really look like one) but also out for revenge was intriguing. It suggests that this might be a more entertaining matter of shades of gray rather than just black versus white. The OP sequence suggests that Ryo will team up with a girl named Yuanda Zhu, who I'm guessing is a good sorceress and is somewhere in China. Ryo also has a sort-of girlfriend, Nozomi Harasaki, who will apparently play some part in the plot. So this show has some good points and I'll watch some more. What bothers me is the way the martial arts are elevated to a form of magic as patently impossible feats are performed and, like in a video game, one must level up in order to stand a chance against the main villain. It was hard to buy how making a realization about a piece of advice his father had left enabled Ryo to turn the tables on an opponent who had been owning him up 'til than. I hope there's enough mystery and intrigue (and the show doesn't rely too heavily on fighting) for it to remain fun.

But episode two relied pretty heavily on fighting. There are three or four tussles with bad guys as Ryo searches for clues about Lan Di and the claims he made. But the fights weren't very detailed or interesting. At one point Ryo is being held by four villains, but when he loses his temper he somehow manages to break free (and nobody remarks 'wow, this guy has a sort of supernatural strength that would make you think he's the subject of an ancient myth!'). It's not so much a matter of him being a skilled karate master as it is that he kicks and punches hard enough to send opponents flying through the air. Anybody could do that if they had his mind-boggling strength. But for all the fighting little progress is made towards solving the various mysteries and I became tired.

Last updated Sunday, December 04 2022. Created Monday, February 14 2022.

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org