The Shenmue anime likely won’t be renewed for a second season

The Shenmue anime will likely not be renewed for a second season, its producer has revealed.

The show, which was a joint production by Adult Swim and Crunchyroll, premiered on February 5 but has seemingly already run its course.

Twitter account CN News/Schedules, which is dedicated to covering news on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim animation, reported on Twitter that Shenmue: The Animation had been removed from Adult Swim’s website, along with four other shows including Blade Runner: Black Lotus

Because the Shenmue was a joint production, it will still be available to watch on Crunchyroll. However, Jason DeMarco – senior vice president of anime and action series for Warner Bros Animation and Cartoon Network – confirmed that the show was unlikely to be renewed.

“Sorry guys, this happened”, DeMarco tweeted in response to CN News/Schedules’ report. “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 [Season] 2 of Shenmue, even though sadly it did well enough that we were gearing up for [Season] 2. Maybe one day…”

Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki indicated in May that he doesn’t have any concrete plans for Shenmue 4, but reiterated that he wants to make it more accessible to new players if it happens.

Shenmue 3, the long-awaited RPG sequel, released for PS4 and PC in November 2019, much to the delight of fans who had been waiting for a new instalment for nearly two decades.

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There are currently ‘no concrete plans’ for Shenmue 4, says Yu Suzuki

But the designer wants it to be more accessible to newcomers if it happens

However, the game seemingly failed to find a significant audience beyond its 70,000 Kickstarter backers. Shenmue 3 debuted at No. 17 on the UK chart and sold just 18,000 copies during its launch week in Japan.

In the UK, Shenmue 3 sold a little more than half of the previous year’s Shenmue 1 and 2 remasters at launch.

Shenmue 3’s publisher Deep Silver subsequently called it “a core niche” game and not a “a mass-market product.”