Shenmue anime finally gets a trailer

No one was surprised when a Shenmue anime was announced because everything is getting an anime. But there's reason to be especially excited about a Shenmue adaptation: the series has always been character- and narrative-driven, and considering what a cliffhanger Shenmue 3 ended on (despite an 18-year wait) there's a lot of people eager for more. The third and most important reason is that Shenmue is awesome. That should be enough.

That's the trailer above, and sadly there's not a forklift in sight. The footage suggests the anime is leaning into the harder-edged side of the Shenmue universe, ie, the parts where people beat the shit out of each other. That makes better TV than turtle races and goose catching, I guess.

The production is a joint Crunchyroll / Adult Swim effort, with Shenmue executive producer Yu Suzuki involved as an executive producer. One Punch Man director Chikara Sakurai is directing. The 13-episode series is expected to launch next year.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.