Shenmue's biggest plot hole

[asdfguy]

I always wondered this, but why didn't the police investigate the death of Ryo's father? The makers of Shenmue didn't even mention the police. It would have made sense if the police didn't want to get involved because the Yakuza involvement. But they didn't mention anything. There could of been a scene where Ryo finds out from a whistleblower that the police didn't want to investigate too much because the murder has ties to the Yakuza.

Just a thought...

[Axm]

Ya I always thought about why no mention of police involvement was made, but ofcourse theirs nothing they can really do about it. A Chinese person illegally enters Japan by frieght ship, kills someone and leaves. That person is also a leader of an undergound triad group with huge political and physical power.

Ya, nothing can really be done especially considering Japan and China relations in the 80's.

[ShenGCH]

Ya I always thought about why no mention of police involvement was made, but ofcourse theirs nothing they can really do about it. A Chinese person illegally enters Japan by frieght ship, kills someone and leaves. That person is also a leader of an undergound triad group with huge political and physical power.

Ya, nothing can really be done especially considering Japan and China relations in the 80's.

If, at any point in the game, you try to phone the police, Ryo will automatically hang up and say something along the lines of, "I don't want to get the police involved," so perhaps the series of events following the death of Iwao were all handled privately, including the funeral, etc.? Makes make think it's something to do with family tradition in that if a member of the family dies, everything is taken care of very quickly as a way to honour them. Seeing as there was just a four day gap between the death of Iwao and the beginning of Ryo's adventure, shit would have had to have happened really fast. Plus, there's the fact that a reading of a will took place; Ine-san tells Ryo he should "respect the will of your father and look after the dojo."

I could be completely wrong, but that's my guess.

[johnvivant]

yeah, having discussions with police would have felt out of place in the game in my opinion. maybe the four day gap was for us to assume that the police were informed and are investigating but Ryo wouldn't deal with them again.

in fact i don't think you come into contact with law enforcement during either game. only security guards.

this is also supposed to be an old style revenge story, dating from a time before the establishment of institutions like a national police force, hence the necessity of taking matters into ones owns hands. otherwise Ryo would have just stayed home!

[MiTT3NZ]

Yu said that they were too corrupt or that the Chi-You Men were too big or a ghost or some shit like that.

[sand4fish]

ShenGCH is right. There is definitely mention of police in Shenmue. It's all really subtle though. Remember there's a 4 days gap between Ryo's dad and when we have control of the character. A lot might have happened.