Shenmue not getting a season 2

[viperxmns]

Ratings mean nothing anymore 

 

[Daos]

Demarco sez

"Doesn’t mean anything for upcoming shows. But those shows have been written off. They can still be released on home video, that’s it."

They have been executed. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Daos

[Sketch]

Well that sure sucks for Fena, Black Lotus and Shenmue and anyone who cared about those shows. You can still get Fena and Black Lotus dubbed episodes on iTunes, Vudu and Amazon. Currently they're on sale on discounted from around 39 dollars to 20 on all 3 services. So 'ef it, I picked up Fena and used 4 dollars of Amazon digital video credit I had to make it 16 bucks.

Now on one hand you'd think the cost of these anime co-pros was low enough that WBD wouldn't feel so inclined to hang them out to dry for very little in return but Crunchyroll will make doing anything with these co-pros a bigger headache than WBD wants to deal with. Only Shenmue had any potential for another season because the other two were always intended to be one and done and the rerun ratings and the views on Adult Swim's website probably didn't prove these 12-13 episode shows had any longevity in them. So what future value did these co-pros have that made them worth holding on to?

I'd like to say this only happened because they were Crunchyroll co-pros but the volatile nature of WBD right now is too unpredictable. If Housing Complex C doesn't do well enough then it could quickly be written off and the same is true for everything coming in 2023 and beyond. It's a very real possibility that someone will look at how long its taking for Uzumaki to be animated and shut the project down. At this point I put nothing past WBD.

[PokeNirvash]

Well, at least you aren't calling the dubs potential lost media like you did on Twitter. Anime fans take preservationism very seriously.

[Jman]

I think we all resigned ourself to this inevitability once the Crunchyroll sale to Sony was made official and Sony decided they wanted all the anime for themselves and didn't want to bother with that late-nite block.  Not to mention Warner is a mess right now, with animation being cut because that's where Zaslav thinks the cuts will be easiest (and clearly needing the money since they're facing a class action lawsuit for cooking the books prior to the buyout).  And it sucks because of all the Crunchyroll Originals, Shenmue was the best one, and probably the only one to be a success outside of Tower of God.  But given Shenmue's own history, it's kind of fitting legal bullshit keeps the story from continuing.  It SUCKS, but no one can say this came out of nowhere.

That being said, if Sega announces in November a Yakuza anime with a celebrity VA as Kiryu, we'll probably be able to hear the screams from Atlanta.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Jman

[PokeNirvash]

39 minutes ago, Jman said:

That being said, if Sega announces in November a Yakuza anime with a celebrity VA as Kiryu, we'll probably be able to hear the screams from Atlanta.

For the English dub, right? 'Cause I think Japan's gonna stick with Takaya Kuroda if it makes the move.

Still, write-off or rights revertion, Shenmue the Animation is now my new "season 2 never" series.

[kengan ashura 3 hype]

[Blatch]

Would there be a chance that Crunchyroll could take whatever rights they have and commission a S2 with it? Then again, they're a mess right now too.

So the three CR co-pros are gone. I'll preach for the choir and say that I'm sad Shenmue isn't getting continued, at least for now, while the other two are no big loss. I do think it's interesting on Blade Runner's end because Black Lotus is being continued through a comic book, while Amazon has commissioned a new live-action series of it. It would be funny if the latter ends up mentioning this show that you can no longer legally stream, and who knows if you'll be able to buy it by then.

On 9/28/2022 at 5:32 AM, Sketch said:

I'd like to say this only happened because they were Crunchyroll co-pros but the volatile nature of WBD right now is too unpredictable. If Housing Complex C doesn't do well enough then it could quickly be written off and the same is true for everything coming in 2023 and beyond. It's a very real possibility that someone will look at how long its taking for Uzumaki to be animated and shut the project down. At this point I put nothing past WBD.

It makes the GameRant scoop about how WBD isn't going to touch Toonami ring hollow, don't you think? Or maybe we're just being paranoid. I do think that if Uzumaki needs to be delayed one more time, WBD will try to can it rather than see it out. The only thing that could save it in that case is having to comply with a contract signed on the JP side.

[PokeNirvash]

If the crossover crackfic I dropped yesterday wasn't enough, here's another form of self-therapy I made out of an anime episode I just rewatched, spoilered to keep the thread tidy.

Spoiler

And also because of digit loss.

 

[OwlChemist81]

1 hour ago, PokeNirvash said:

If the crossover crackfic I dropped yesterday wasn't enough, here's another form of self-therapy I made out of an anime episode I just rewatched, spoilered to keep the thread tidy.

  Hide contents

And also because of digit loss.

 

Elfen Lied?

[PokeNirvash]

7 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Elfen Lied?

Yup.

[Jman]

On 9/28/2022 at 7:16 AM, PokeNirvash said:

For the English dub, right? 'Cause I think Japan's gonna stick with Takaya Kuroda if it makes the move.

Still, write-off or rights revertion, Shenmue the Animation is now my new "season 2 never" series.

[kengan ashura 3 hype]

Yeah, I see Japan keeping the same VA’s while the dub casts Sebastian Stan as Kiryu or something the same way they got Esposito for Cyberpunk.

It’s still an utter shame, but I think this would have occurred with or without Zaslav thanks to the CR sale.

[DangerMouse]

On 9/30/2022 at 10:48 AM, Jman said:

It’s still an utter shame, but I think this would have occurred with or without Zaslav thanks to the CR sale.

I don't really think it would have with Demarco saying they were gearing up for S2 still even after it's been over a year since CR's sale was already completed, so to me it sounds like it didn't get canned until very recently. This definitely sounds just like more of the insane axe swinging they're doing seemingly trying to write off whatever they can and pretend like half of this stuff never existed, even their own originals they own outright.

Edited October 2, 2022 by DangerMouse

[ben0119]

This really sucks and adds even further insult to injury for Shenmue fans.  Shenmue 3 came out and not only didn't finish the story, but Yu Suzuki was talking about doing another two... three more Shenmue games?  Does anyone really think those games will ever come out? 

Potentially, the Shenmue anime would have been the way to finally finish the story in some format, so we can all go to our graves knowing the mystery behind Ryo's father's murder.  Now we may never know.  Thanks a lot WBD assholes!