The following article contains spoilers for Shenmue: The Animation.
Moving or traveling to a new city is always bound to bring tons of changes, and Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki is surely becoming aware of that as the anime’s change of scene to Hong Kong has significantly slowed down the pace of his adventures in a way that might not suit every fan’s expectations.
This sudden shift in rhythm suggests Ryo’s quest in the animated series could take just as long as in the games, which does raise the question of just how Yu Suzuki' plot handling will unfold in the remaining six episodes. So just what is so important that’s caused Ryo to become so occupied since he landed in Hong Kong? Well turns out the young Hazuki has to become familiar with all four Wude, the four legendary teaching of martial arts that are passed on to the protagonist by four different masters.
Last week’s Shenmue episode saw Ryo learn the meaning of “Gon”, as well as adding the Iron Palm technique to his karate repertoire, however, while his encounters with Master Xiuying and the Man Mo temple monk suggested a slightly different path towards that goal, that’s most certainly not the case. Episode seven, “Future”, instead has Ryo walking around asking strangers for a martial arts expert before eventually finding his way to the familiar Guang Martial Arts School.
Nevertheless, that only happens after Ryo is quickly dismissed by Xiuying who is not one bit impressed by his knowledge of “Gon” when the two spar in what is without a doubt the episode’s best action sequence. Though short, this scene does a great job displaying the massive gulf in skills that exists between Ryo and more seasoned martial arts masters like her, let alone someone as powerful as Lan Di.
Although Shenmue’s animation may not be flashy, it does work to convey the notion that Xiuying's swift movements are completely different from everyone else’s. As for the rest of the episode, this one also packs Ryo’ first run in with the Yellowheads as the starts to get acquainted with the inner working of Aberdeen’s crime scene, thanks to a couple of fresh new faces.
The first of these is master Zhoshan Xuan, who heads the Guang school and promptly dismisses Ryo as he tells him the story of how he failed a former student. Be warned though that the Wude in question has little to do with the patience that is required to see Ryo go back and forth between locations, which can admittedly become a bit tiresome.
Still, it must be noted that Zongquan is truly hilarious in this episode, thus providing a rare comic relief in an anime that often has Ryo taking himself way too seriously. While it is true most of the characters’ personality is very well translated from Shenmue the game to the anime, this is one worthy example of someone who’s simply better suited to animation.
Joy is also among the few that truly benefit from this transition, as in this episode she finally takes out Ryo which helps to provide the viewer with a brief but necessary glance at Hong Kong’s streets, beyond the key locations from the games. This Joy is just as confident and cool as her video game counterpart, though she also likes to reflect on her romantic mishaps as no one in Aberdeen seems courageous enough to ask her out, and Ryo is just not in that type of mood.
In any case, Ryo’s quest in the Golden Shopping Mall goes as expected learning Jie, to “Judge yourself without conceit and do not show moves thoughtlessly”, to finally get Xiuying to listen to what he has to say. Though the beautiful master is not impressed she finally agrees to let him stay at his place, yet another slight change in the timing of certain events when compared to the game.
Switching up the order certain moments from Shenmue 2 take place is no sin at all, however, imagining Ryo pick up the four Wude means there’s a lot less time for him to handle other affairs, especially considering he has not met Ren yet. Time-consuming quests and talking to strangers are intrinsically tied to Shenmue as much as forklifts are, but somehow this episode feels like one of the few so far where that trait makes the show drag a bit.
With two Wude lessons left to learn, it almost seems like an obstacle to have Ryo and viewers endure an entire episode for each one of those. When the show was still settled in Japan, the supporting cast got possibly as much character development as Ryo, that is not the case now as the protagonist's own journey appears to lack any kind of excitement for the time being, and the series is far from the best Crunchyroll has to offer.