-- the following is a brief paragraph on my overall thoughts, followed by spoilers of story structure. reader discretion advised. --
Feel like I'm in the minority here, but I found Shenmue: The Animation to be an absolute slog and consistently boring. An overpowered protagonist who almost never loses and when he's on the verge, there's a plot device to save him out of the situation or a flashback that gives him the motivation to suddenly defeat his adversary. Being an adaptation of two separate games, there's a giant divide between the two halves as every character is basically forgotten as we make the switch from game 1 to game 2. The art is lackluster (looking at background characters is always my favorite and Shenmue doesn't disappoint in that department) and the music / sound seems like it was booted off any run-of-the-mill sound bank (although the opening has been growing on me). Every character has a single personality trait that drives them and no one seems to grow.
The video game pacing shines through with no regrets. Every scene feels linear, stitched together with a single rope. Ryo needs something, he doesn't know where to get it. He talks to someone. They tell him to talk to another person. He goes to the person and talks to them. They tell him to visit another location. He goes to the location and finds a thing. He brings the thing. Now, he needs another thing. He talks to someone about the thing. They tell h-
And it just goes on like that for 13 episodes. Circular in execution. It's a big fetch quest of a show just for the next point to be another fetch quest. I thought it was hilarious during the first few episodes, but it quickly becomes a bore. Maybe this seems more obvious considering the negative reputation Shenmue as a game series has (at least the one I have been led to believe) for being repetitive and a walk-athon. I really want to play them for myself given the positive reputation these games have, but haven't had a chance so the only idea I had was the one I've seen others spout and I can't help but think it describes the anime quite well. Progression seems obsolete. Ryo needs to learn the teachings of Wude. So, he does. And it seems like filler and a way to add more scenes to the flashback catalog as Ryo's fighting seems to stay exactly the same. Every scene seems to exist purely to move along, not for characterization or to let the world breathe. Point A leads to B leads to C etc. A friend joined me for a few episodes mid-season since I was lagging behind and consistently said "has anything happened at all?" Nothing seems purposeful.
When it comes to video game adaptations, I would much prefer something like Street Fighter (1994). Delightful camp happy to exist instead of something lifeless like this. There were times when I found myself enjoying the show, but those were all during the first half - due to it being better told or perhaps I hadn't formed a full opinion yet, I'm not to say. I'm glad others are having a blast, but the ship left without me this time.
Thanks for reading.
