>>>>>SPOILERS BELOW
Yu's revelation that "romance" will be a key theme in Shenmue 3 really got me thinking, especially since he said that Ryo's desire for revenge will fade.
Will his feelings for Shenhua kill his lust for revenge? I'm starting to think that Shenhua might become his goal in more ways than one in future titles. Shenhua has a power which is almost definitely being sought after by the Chiyoumen and she already has a muscly goon breathing down her neck from what looks like the beginning of the game. There's a good chance she'll be captured but I'd wager that won't happen before Ryo begins to develop feelings for her, causing him to shift his goal from revenge to rescue the princess.
At first, that sounds kind of lame/generic/cliched but I think this shift in Ryo's goal(s) could open doors to some really interesting possibilities and tie in neatly with the Virtua fighter rpg spoilers we got a few years back, namely what some people assumed to be Ryo cradling the dead body of Ren.
Remember that Ren's goal is the "treasure" of the Qing dynasty, something which requires both mirrors in order to locate. If Ryo's goal of seeking out Lan Di in order to destroy him changes, that could create conflict between Ryo and Ren. Lan Di doesn't strike me as the type of guy who'll voluntarily give up the dragon mirror, so if Ryo loses his desire to kill him the chance of learning the treasure's location will also die too. Something which will not please Ren.
If Ryo does indeed develop romantic feelings for Shehua, maybe he'll use the mirror as a bargaining chip to free Shenhua from the Chiyoumen's clutches, as seen in the Shenmue Online trailer
from Ren's perspective, an action like this from Ryo would be seen as a betrayal. Ryo did halfheartedly promise him a share of the treasure and Ren made several, life-risking sacrifices because of the mirror. If Ryo were to give it up like that it could definitely create tension between the pair.
The more I think about the mirror, the more I think about the ring from the LOTR series. The mirror, much like the ring, seems to have the power to corrupt people and bring out their worst desires. Ren didn't give a damn about Ryo's pursuit of Yuanda Zhu until he laid eyes on the mirror. The allure of the mirror sucked him and drove him to recklessly risk his life on nothing but a mere hunch that it was valuable. It makes me think about Zhao Sunming...did the same thing happen to him? Did the mirror(s) corrupt him in some way, ultimately leading to his death? The parallel of history repeating itself does seem possible if that were the case.
I've even started to wonder if Iwao's final message to Ryo to "Keep friends close to you" has a deeper meaning. Maybe Iwao said this regretfully, perhaps Zhao Sunming became increasingly distanced and isolated from Iwao and began to change (possibly as a result of the mirrors' corruption) and Iwao imparted this advice in order for history to not repeat itself.