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Shenmue Anime Reveals Trailer, Cast, Visual, February 6 Premiere

Crunchyroll announced on Wednesday that Shenmue the Animation, the anime series adaptation of Yū 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 an English dub, and Crunchyroll will stream the English-subtitled version worldwide outside of Japan and China. Crunchyroll is streaming a trailer for the show.

Crunchyroll also revealed the show's Japanese and English voice cast (some of the Japanese voice cast are not yet announced):

• Masaya Matsukaze (Japanese) and Austin Tindle (English) as Ryo Hazuki
• Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese) and Scott Gibbs (English) as Lan Di
• Natalie Rial (English) as Shenhua
• Cat Thomas (English) as Nozomi Harasaki
• Jeremy Gee (English) as Guizhang Chen
• Greg Ayres (English) as Chai
• Bryson Baugus (English) as Wong
• Luci Christian (English) as Joy
• Christine Auten (English) as Xiuying Hong / Lishao Tao
• Cody House (English) as Ren
• Joe Daniels (English) as Dou Niu

Crunchyroll describes the anime's story:

1986, Yokosuka. Ryo Hazuki has trained to master the Hazuki Style Jujitsu under his strict father in the Hazuki Dojo from his childhood. However, one day a mysterious man named Lan Di murders his father and takes the “mirror” his father was protecting. Ryo is determined to find the truth behind his father's murder, but soon finds himself getting stuck in a war between the underground organizations…. Traveling from Yokosuka to Hong Kong, Ryo's long journey begins!

Chikara Sakurai (One Punch Man season 2, Magimoji Rurumo, Lost Song) is directing the anime at Telecom Animation Film. Sola Entertainment is credited for production management. Shenmue game series director Yū Suzuki is the executive producer for the project. Kensuke Ishikawa (Tower of God, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid) is the chief animation director, Kento Shimoyama (Gintama, Valkyria Chronicles, The Devil Is a Part-Timer!) is writing the scripts, and Udaka is in charge of the original character design. Kashitarō Itō will perform the opening theme song "Undead-Noid."

SEGA released the first Shenmue game on its Dreamcast console in Japan in 1999, and in 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.

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.

Source: Press release