More cast members have been announced for Crunchyroll and Adult Swim’s upcoming Shenmue the Animation. The 13 episode co-production, directed by Chikara Sakurai (One Punch Man season two) at Telecom Animation Film, will debut in February with both English subtitles and audio options.
While Crunchyroll announced the English cast last month, we now know three more Japanese voice actors joining Masaya Matsukaze and Takahiro Sakurai as they reprise their original roles as Ryo Hazuki and Lan Di in the 1999 Sega Dreamcast RPG. The original game’s director, Yu Suzuki, is also joining the production as an executive producer.
Haruka Terui reprises the role of the mysterious Shenhua Ling, whom she voiced in 2019’s Shenmue III. In her first named role, Haruka Fushimi will voice Ryo’s friend and classmate Nozomi Harasaki. And Ryuuichi Kijima (Boruto, God Eater) as the businessman and martial artist Guizhang Chen. That leaves Chai, Wong, Joy, Xiuying Hong, Rin, and Doi Niu to be announced on the Japanese cast.
The show’s official Twitter account announced the casting this morning.
In English, Shenhua is voiced by Natalie Rial (My Hero Academia), Nozomi is voiced by Cat Thomas (Food Wars), and Guizhang is voiced by Jeremy Gee (Haikyuu!!)/ Leads Ryo and Lan Di are voiced by Austin Tindle (Black Clover) and Scott Gibbs (Parasyte), respectively.
We also learned on Twitter that Japanese rock band Narudora will debut a new song, “Sympathy,” as the series’ ending theme.
Shenmue the Animation premieres Saturday, Feb. 5 at 9:30pm PST on Crunchyroll and Adult Swim. Adult Swim will air the English dub in North America during the channel’s Toonami block, while Crunchyroll will stream the sub in international markets outside of Japan and China.
The series will air on Japanese TV at a later date, a new trend emerging as streaming takes a stronger footing in the domestic anime market.
