Crunchyroll announced that Shenmue the Animation, based on Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue game series, will premiere on February 6 at 12:30 a.m. [EST] on both Crunchyroll and Adult Swim.
Toonami will air the show in North America with English dub, and Crunchyroll will stream the English-subtitled version worldwide outside of Japan and China. In conjunction with this announcement, a new trailer and key visual was disclosed.
The 13-episode animated series will follow protagonist Ryo Hazuki on his journey to become the ultimate martial artist and avenge his father’s death, aiming to capture the same essence of mystery and thrilling martial arts as the original video game released in December 1999
▍Shenmue the Animation Official Trailer
■ Japanese Ver.
■ English Ver.
▍ Newly Revealed Cast
■ Ryo Hazuk – CV: Masaya Matsukaze (Japanese) & Austin Tindle (English)
■ Lan Di – CV: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese) & Scott Gibbs (English)
▍About Shenmue
Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki, and published by SEGA on the Dreamcast. Japan got the game in 1999, and North America in 2000.
The company released Shenmue II on the Dreamcast in Japan in 2000, and in North America in 2001. Shenmue II also received an Xbox version in 2002. The series was originally planned as a trilogy. Later on, Sega released the Shenmue I & II game collection in North America and Europe for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in August 2018.
Shenmue III released for PlayStation 4 and PC in November 2019 after multiple delays. The game was initially funded through a Kickstarter campaign in 2015, which set a new record for the highest funded video game Kickstarter campaign at the time. The campaign closed after raising US$6,333,295 from 69,320 backers.
▍Staff & Production
Original Story by Yutaka Suzuki / SEGA
Director: Chikayoshi Sakurai
Series Composition: Taketo Shimoyama
Character Design: Ame Taka
Character Design: Kensuke Ishikawa
Art Director: Natsue Muramoto
Color Designer: Studio Lord, Makiko Kojima
Sound Director: Yasunori Ebina
Music: Natsuna Shibue
Music Production: Wave Master
Animation Production: Telecom Animation Film
Production: Shenmue Project Production Committee