English Dub Review: Shenmue the Animation “Distinct”

Overview

Ryo finds a book written by Yuanda Zhu in Xiuying’s library; in the book, he finds a memo of the chawan sign which if done incorrectly, could lead to potential danger. But despite the danger, Ryo uses it to find Yuanda Zhu, but it’s not without consequences…

Our Take

The Wulinshu, and the paper that dropped out of a book, is the famous Chawan Sign code that Shenmue fans will recognize which represent “Heaven, Dragon, Earth, and Friend”. A way of communication between masters of martial arts schools. He also manages to later meet a gang leader named “Ren of the Heavens Gang” which in previous episodes have been building up to and it’s a big deal to given that Ren also plays a significant role in later storylines of the games. (He even appears in the promo art of Shenmue 2 and 3.)

Later on after helping Ren in something shady, Ryo later obtains the “final Wude” which is basically a warning about “courage without foresight, or “acting without a plan”. It’s interesting given that Ryo tends to have a track record of getting into trouble by rushing forward while following every possible lead he comes across, but I don’t know what else he’s supposed to do in a situation where nearly everyone he speaks to is either a quest giver or a random foe? He lacks any possible leads or the necessary information, and the only people who can help insist on speaking in riddles which worked better in the videogames that encourage the open world exploration aspect.

Overall, this was a decent episode that helped move the plot forward. With the 4th and final Wude mastered, It leaves you to wonder why Ryo doesn’t understand the fundamentals of martial arts which is self-defense instead of using martial arts to murder someone. It takes years of discipline to resist the urge to kill. If he continues down this path of revenge, there’s a chance he won’t be the same person if he does kill Lan Di. And because of this, Ryo bids farewell to Xiuying for not being supportive to his quest, given her history with a lost sibling who ran away to fulfill his own vendetta…