Shenmue The Animation Series Announced

Relive Ryo Hazuki’s story in a new TV anime adaptation

Crunchyroll have announced that an anime adaptation of Sega’s cult classic game, Shenmue is a currently in production.

Announced during the Virtual Crunchyroll Expo, the animation will be a 13-episode long series and will be co-produced between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim. The studio handling the animation will be Telecom Animation Film (Tower of God, Orange, Lupin III), directed by Chikara Sakurai (One-Punch Man Season 2).

Legendary game developer and creator of the Shenmue franchise Yu Suzuki, will also be on board the project acting as Executive Producer.

Shenume was originally released in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast. The sequel Shenmue II was released two years later in 2001. A Kickstarter campaign launched in 2015 to help aid development for a new Shenmue game. The Kickstarter campaign was very successful and raised over $6 million. After four years of development, Shenmue III eventually saw a release in November 2019.