Shenmue: The Animation has been abruptly cancelled. This has been confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery senior vice president of action and anime programming Jason DeMarco in a Tweet after it was noticed that Shenmue, among other series, had been removed from Adult Swim’s website.
Sorry guys. This happened. You can still watch all of the anime on Crunchyroll and it will still be available as digital downloads. And yes, it’s looking like no S2 of Shenmue, even though sadly- it did well enough that we were gearing up for S2. Maybe one day… https://t.co/WpM3O6NcSC
— SPIRAL CURSE DEMARCO (@Clarknova1) September 28, 2022
Shenmue: The Animation first began airing in February 2022, before releasing its entire first season on streaming services in April. The series followed the events of the first two Shenmue games and seemingly did well enough that DeMarco and the production team expected to begin working on season two. That obviously won’t be happening with the series’ cancellation, but at least the first season will remain on Crunchyroll… at least for now.
It is being speculated that the cancellation is due to Warner Bros. Discovery’s infamous content write-offs, which so far have culled Infinity Train, Final Space, OK KO, and other Cartoon Network and Adult Swim originals. Following the enormous merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery Inc, it makes sense that the resulting entity Warner Bros. Discovery might want to make some changes, but it remains a tragedy for Shenmue fans that the series will not be continued.
About the Author
Edie W-K
she/her
If it isn't video games, Edie doesn't care about it. She's been playing games since the N64 era, and only spent enough time away from her 3DS to earn a Bachelor in Games Design from RMIT.
