Ryo Hazuki’s quest for revenge will take a new form in Shenmue the Animation has been revealed, an anime adaptation of Sega’s cult-classic video game series.
The first trailer and key art from the new series were revealed during a virtual panel event at New York Comic-Con this year. The new show will be directed by Chikara Sakurai, also previously working on One-Punch Man, the Naruto Shippuden movie, and Sailor Moon Super S The Movie.
A quest traveling from the streets of Yokosuka and Hong Kong, Shenmue The Animation will retell the story of the first game with Ryo Hazuki beginning his journey for revenge on the man who killed his father.
Like the newly released Fena: Pirate Princess and Blade Runner: Black Lotus, the new series was developed as a collaboration between Adult Swim and anime streaming company Crunchyroll.
It will consist of 13 episodes and air with an English dub. Additional details about the show, including the voice cast and release date, have yet to be announced at the event, but the first art photo from the series is shown, depicting Ryo Hazuki fighting the man who killed his father, Lan Di.
Shenmue was originally launched for the Sega Dreamcast in Japan in 1999. The game was directed by Yu Suzuki, creator of arcade hits like Hang On, Outrun, and Virtua Fighter, who was widely regarded as one of Sega’s top game designers at the time and would go on to inspire Sega’s Yakuza series.
It is an action/adventure game with an unprecedented level of detail and interactivity, Shenmue was reportedly the most expensive video game ever developed at the time it launched, with some sources claiming that the game cost Sega more than $ 70 million USD to produce.
The final release date for the series has not been announced but is expected to air in 2022.