Shemune is back! This time as an anime, instead of a game. Adult Swim and Crunchy Roll are releasing Shemune: The Animation Saturday, February 5th. The 1999 Sega classic is something of an underground legend. Many people are familiar with the name, but few I know of actually have delved into the game itself. Me included.
Personally, from a distance the game looked like a bunch of walking around, playing mini games, talking to old people in shops, and some random martial arts here and there. Similar to games like Persona or Yakuza, but less exciting. At least that’s how I remember it from the Let’s Play I binged at 3 A.M. a couple of years ago. At the time the graphics were groundbreaking, but it looked like they spent more time on appearances than gameplay.
However, I’ve always been interested in the game’s story and martial arts elements. The plot revolves around teenager Ryo Hazuki looking to avenge the death of his father by defeating his murderer, Lan Di, in combat while uncovering the secret behind the mysterious “dragon mirror” that connects them all. The anime so far looks like a faithful adaptation of the game. I feel like it’s been a little bit since an anime has had that old school martial arts flavor, void of save-the-world children using destroy-the-world powers. Whether it’s good or not, at least it will stand out from the crowd and we will finally get to see the story without having to suffer through the game.
