English Dub Review: Shenmue the Animation “Equal”

Overview

Ryo is forced to fight Guizhang Chen from the Chen family to save Nozomi, who has been taken, hostage. In hopes that Goro finds Ryo’s secret message, he fights Guizang, ending with the two both wounded and seemingly defeated…


Our Take

As Ryo and Guizhang are forced into battle against one another by the Mad Angels under Terry who’s witnessing the fight, it just so happens that Goro discovered that Nozomi is being kidnapped by them. Though the recurring gag between Mai and Goro feels forced and shoddy at best, like why is it played for laughs in anime whenever a woman frequently bitch-slaps their male significant other?

Mai even manages to request help from an unexpected individual, but I knew nothing was completely what it seems on Ryo’s end, At the very least, the action scenes were well cone. Also, the main story of the first Shenmue game comes to an end as Ryo has no choice, but to move on to Hong Kong, but not before bidding farewell to, his remaining family, Nozomi, the Alpha Trading people he worked for, and finally the Jiu Feng Co. under Master Chen. What later happens with the appearance with that impish Smeagol-looking antagonist, known as “Chai” stayed surprisingly true to how Shenmue 1 ended, but of course, with one chapter closing, another opens.

The first 5 episodes have done an excellent job adapting the first game’s events into something cohesive without being longer than the original game. It’s clear that the people in charge of this anime are fans of the games themselves and know them well. At first, it was hard to suspend disbelief that they’d just sent a Japanese high school kid who can’t possibly read or speak any Chinese alone to Hong Kong. But upon research, that isn’t the case. As it turns out, the Japanese dub actually handles this a bit better in episode 4 when a travel agent spoke to Ryo in Mandarin and he acknowledged her, but the way this English Dub particularly ignores this language barrier gives the narrative a natural flow. Now it’s off to Hong Kong where the events of Shenmue 2 begins!