Deadline is reporting that WarnerMedia’s Crunchyroll and Adult Swim are developing a thirteen-episode anime series based on the SEGA game franchise Shenmue.
Shenmue follows the journey of Ryo Hazuki. After he witnesses his father’s murder at the family dojo, Ryo dedicates his life to finding the man responsible – a mission that takes him from the streets of Yokosuka, Japan, to the sprawling metropolis of Hong Kong and beyond. Soon he’ll learn that larger, mystical forces are at play as he trains to become the ultimate martial artist in his quest for revenge.
Sarah Victor, Head of Development at Crunchyroll, released a statement saying:
The first Shenmue video game was released more than twenty years ago and we’re so excited to be working again with Adult Swim to bring this franchise to life through anime. We’re eager to show our fans more of this action-packed adventure series as we move through production.
Jason DeMarco, SVP/Creative Director on-air for Adult Swim, also released a statement saying:
The world of Shenmue is fascinating and unique, and we are so excited to partner with Yu Suzuki to bring his epic creation to anime- and make a kick-ass martial arts epic!
Shenmue will be co-produced by Crunchyroll and Adult Swim Productions. Sakurai Chikara will be directing, with the animation production by Telecom Animation Film, and production management provided by Sola Entertainment. Video game creator Yu Suzuki will serve as executive producer. The Shenmue video game franchise started back in 1999 when the first game was published by SEGA, along with the 2001 sequel Shenmue II, for the SEGA Dreamcast console. Shenmue III, this time developed by Suzuki’s Ys Net, was then released in 2019 for Windows and PlayStation 4.