Examining Shenmue II Storyboards | Design Documents

In the Spring of 2022, a promotional event was held on location in Yokosuka to celebrate the anime adaptation of Shenmue, Shenmue The Animation, which was organized by Yokosuka City in collaboration with SEGA and IGN Japan. Various pieces of concept artwork were exhibited at a number of shops in the area, some being from the anime while others were sketches and illustrations from the time of development of the first two games.

Among the artwork were reproductions of certain storyboards from the game, detailing the camera shots and spoken lines to guide creation of cut scenes in the game. 

The three storyboards exhibited at the event which we will cover in this post are from Shenmue II and are entitled:

1. "Encounter with Joy"
2. "Xiuying's Tears"
3. "Encounter with Shenhua"

We will be looking at these in more detail and translating any written notes and characters' lines, noting differences of interest between the storyboards and the final implementation of the cut scenes in the game.

Storyboard 1: Encounter with Joy

The first storyboard, "Encounter with Joy", describes the memorable cut scene in Shenmue II where Ryo first meets Joy soon after disembarking from the boat upon arrival in Hong Kong.

Storyboard: "Encounter with Joy"

Let's go through it one chunk at a time. I have added screenshots from the cutscene in the release version of the game, where there is a close match.

First section of the "Encounter with Joy" storyboard, with screenshots added from the cutscene

The crowd parts in an instant, and a motorcycle comes straight towards Ryo through the gap.

Joy: Get out of my way!

Ryo: What the...?

Joy: Watch where you're going, you punk!

The spoken lines and general flow in the storyboard are faithful to those of the cutscene, but there are a few differences:

• The note about the crowd parting can be observed in the daytime version of the cutscene, where various bystanders are shown around the motorcycle as it hurtles through. A small detail that may not be widely known is that if the player waits until night before triggering it, the crowd is no longer present in the cutscene - and Joy no longer yells "Get out of my way!".
• Joy is shown here wearing a helmet as she rides towards Ryo (panel 3, reflecting Ryo in it), taking it off after coming to a stop in front of Ryo (upward movement indicated by the arrow in panel 8). It can be seen that panel 3 has a cross through it, however - this would be due to the later decision to remove her helmet, which was attributed to technical difficulty in a 2019 tweet by one of the developers, who goes by the pseudonym of Morio Ashizuka:
  
  "Originally, she [Joy] was to wear shorts. However, a complaint was received from the motorcycle manufacturer that shorts, as well as not wearing a helmet, could not be allowed. However, it turned out to be technically impossible to put a helmet on her, so the motorcycle's actual brand was not able to be used. The long pants were kept in, for some reason. 😅"
• The diagram sketched at the bottom left shows how Joy's motorbike skids clockwise around Ryo to end up on the opposite side of him. In the game she turns the bike even further than in the diagram, facing him completely.

Moving on to the second section:

Second section of the "Encounter with Joy" storyboard, with screenshots added from the cutscene

"Ryo: That goes for you, too. Barging into people like that.

Joy looks closely at Ryo.

Joy: You must be Japanese.

Ryo: Yes.

Joy: Watch out. Here in Hong Kong, you can easily get run over.

Joy revs the engine and gets ready to depart.

Ryo: Where's Wan Chai?

Joy: Huh?

Ryo: Wan Chai!

Joy (pointing): Oh, it's that way.

Ryo: I see.

Joy: Hey, what's your name?

Ryo: Ryo Hazuki.

Joy: Ryo, I'm Joy. Well, take care of yourself, okay!"

Here too, the lines are almost identical to the game's version, but Ryo introduces himself giving his full name (rather than just "Ryo" like in the game). Also Joy advises Ryo to generally take care, which becomes more specifically a warning to watch out for thieves in the game. This change for the game is a nice foreshadowing of Ryo's bag being snatched by Wong and the gang soon afterwards.

View the game cutscene - day version (video by TonyGamingHut):

Night version (video by BlueMue):

Storyboard 2: Xiuying's Tears

The second storyboard, "Xiuying's Tears", depicts the scene where Ryo interrupts Xiuying as she sits in her room, gazing sadly at a photo of herself as a child with a boy who we later learn is her brother, Ziming.

Storyboard: "Xiuying's Tears"

Examining the top section first:

First section of the "Xiuying's Tears" storyboard, with screenshots added from the cutscene

The first several panels have no dialogue, and show Ryo heading for Xiuying's room up the stairs and along a corridor. He finds the door ajar, and peers through to observe Xiuying sitting at her desk looking at something in her hand. She senses his presence and turns around to him.

Ryo: Um...

Xiuying: You could have knocked.

Ryo: Sorry.

Ryo: Um...

Xiuying: It's okay now. 

The storyboard flow is very close to the game's cutscene, although some of the angles differ slightly. Interestingly, the close-up shot of the photo dropping to the floor as Xiuying leaves her desk is not present in the storyboard, but was added into the cutscene.

Now the second section:

Second section of the "Xiuying's Tears" storyboard, with screenshots added from the cutscene

Since the first part of the storyboard did not show the photo dropping to the floor, instead Ryo simply spots it from across the room - the cutscene definitely feels more natural having Ryo notice the movement as it falls.

The only spoken lines are Ryo repeating the names he reads from the back of the photo.

Ryo: Xiuying...
Ryo: Ziming..?

Return to FREE mode

One panel here is of particular interest. It is the close-up sketch of the photo showing Xiuying and Ziming as children. This may look familiar if you have played the recently discovered Game Jam build (or other beta version) of Shenmue II - although not in color, it has a definite similarity to the placeholder illustration that is used there:

Photo of Ziming and Xiuying (screenshot from the Game Jam beta version of Shenmue II)

Let's compare them more closely:

Xiuying and Ziming photo: the sketch from the storyboard (top left) vs the unused version found in the Shenmue II game files (top right). At bottom is the version seen in the game.

Surprisingly, the sketch appears to be a perfect match with the colored version on the Shenmue II disc! Except, however, that on the storyboard the left and right sides of the colored version are not drawn.

This nicely explains the origin of the illustration on disc. It appears that the original sketch on the storyboard is in fact full color, even though the reproduction exhibited for the event is only black-and-white. By comparing the two illustrations, it can be seen how the artist (Miyawaki) cleverly extended it (perhaps digitally) outside the boundaries of the storyboard panel frame, to allow it to potentially be used with beta testing the game.

View the game cutscene:

Storyboard 3: Encounter with Shenhua

The third storyboard is "Encounter with Shenhua", portraying the pivotal moment when Ryo observes Shenhua diving into the raging river in Guilin to rescue a drowning fawn, and dives in to save her.

Storyboard: "Encounter with Shenhua"

First section:

First section of the "Encounter with Shenhua" storyboard, with screenshots added from the cutscene

Connects from FREE mode

Scenery of mountains and forest.

Dark clouds descend and fierce rain begins to fall.

The Yingshuihe river turns to a raging torrent.

Ryo walks along the riverside.

Close-up of feet running on the opposite bank.

A figure runs through the trees.

A young girl, running desperately. It is Shenhua.
Ryo senses her presence and stops.

Ryo: Huh?

While the storyboard notes indicate that it immediately follows FREE mode, in the released game there is a short introductory cutscene prefacing this, showing Ryo's concern as initial heavy raindrops turn to rain as the sky turns dark, causing him to sprint along the path. (This does lead to a minor continuity issue, as we then see Ryo walking along the path at the start here, rather than continuing to run!).

Overall, the game's cutscene sticks very closely to the mixture of cuts and pans outlined in the storyboard. 

Second section of the "Encounter with Shenhua" storyboard, with screenshots added from the cutscene

Shenhua leaps up onto a rock at the side of the river.

A white animal is engulfed by the muddy torrent in front of her.

The fawn is swept along, struggling in distress.
Ryo is shocked.

On the rock, Shenhua braces herself.

(PAN UP)

Shenhua dives into the river without hesitation.

In this section of the storyboard, four of the panels are used cleverly to describe a camera pan from Shenhua's feet up to her face, something that can be seen reproduced exactly in the game.

Third section of the "Encounter with Shenhua" storyboard, with screenshots added from the cutscene

SFX: Splash!!

Ryo has an expression of surprise.

Ryo: What!?

Shenhua is swept along in front of Ryo.

Ryo puts down his bag.

He dives into the torrent.

Shenhua swims after the fawn as it is swept along.

Interestingly, the sound effect of the splash Shenhua makes as she dives into the river is noted on the storyboard, but in the game's cutscene this is almost inaudible due to the dramatic music as well as the many other sound effects being played: the claps of thunder, the hiss of the rain, the howling wind and so on.

View the game cutscene (video by TonyGamingHut):

Final Comment

After examining all three Shenmue II storyboards that were exhibited at the Yokosuka event, one thing that stands out is how close to the final cutscenes in the game they are. This indicates that they were most likely drawn up towards the final stages of development, after the scenarios, plot, and detailed scripts had been locked down.

This helps to reveal some of the minor tweaks or changes that were made, such as the removal of Joy's motorcycle helmet and the adjustment to her farewell remark to Ryo to hint at his upcoming run-in with thieves.

I'm grateful that these storyboards were dug up from the vaults and shared with the public for the Shenmue The Animation event, over 22 years after the release of the original games. It is always fascinating to gain insight into the development effort that went into their creation. Let's hope that more unseen development materials or game versions may be uncovered in the years to come.

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