- "You must be Japanese. ... Watch out. Here in Hong Kong, you can easily get run over."
- ―Joy meeting Ryo
Joy (ジョイ Joi), full name possibly Joy Liang, is a young Chinese woman who can most often be seen around Aberdeen in Hong Kong, China riding her motorcycle.
Appearance[]
Joy is Chinese and is 162 cm (5' 3") tall. She has long orange hair which is dyed, so it is unknown what her natural hair color is. Her eyes are brown in the artwork and renders for Shenmue II and in Shenmue the Animation, but both blue and green in her in-game model in Shenmue II. She wears a necklace and a orange leopard-patterned bra with a dark red strap around it. Her stomach and cleavage are exposed too. She also wears faded blue jeans, a brown belt with a white buckle and brown cowgirl boots.
Personality[]
Joy has an outspoken and confident personality, contrasting the more reserved and shy personalities of Nozomi Harasaki and Shenhua Ling. She lives a risky life on the edge, but she is street smart to make up for it. If one of her friends has been wronged, she can get revenge such as when she fools a scam artist.
She is a fan of biking and seems to enjoy rock and roll music. She may also be a fan of video games, as she can be found in the Pine Game Arcade.
Biography[]
Coming from a rich family, Joy is well known in the area because her father Chunyun Liang is a well-established businessman. He trades with Master Chen in Yokosuka and Gonglin Sun of Fortune's Office in Fortune's Pier. As such, a lot of people know and are friendly to Joy.
Since her father trades with Master Chen, she and his son Guizhang Chen know each other very well and consider each other friends. As seen in Shenmue Side Story, Guizhang once rescued her as a little girl.
In Shenmue the Animation, Joy's past is explored. Her father is referred to as "Chun" rather than "Chunyun", and he is a member of a cartel called White Tai rather than a businessman. He is rivals with the Yellow Heads, which made Joy's mother one of their targets, and they killed her. Joy's mother died at a young age, like Ryo Hazuki, and she feels that her father is responsible for her death, and cannot forgive him. Her father being a part of a cartel is highly unlikely to be canon to the games series, as he is confirmed to be a respected businessman in the games. Joy's mother's status in the game series is unconfirmed, as she is never mentioned in the games, so it is unclear if her being killed is actually canon to the games.
She is also friends with the various Heavens members such as Wuying Ren and Xianweng Ni (Wong).
Shenmue II[]
Joy helping Ryo get a job.
After she first meets Ryo in Aberdeen after she carelessly almost runs her bike into him, she becomes interested in helping him out and does so on several occasions such as showing him to a place to sleep at the Come Over Guest House and getting him a job at the harbor with Delin Hong.
It is not entirely clear why Joy puts so much effort into helping Ryo, although it is possible she may have developed an interest in his quest, or developed a crush. She considers him a friend, and she seems very annoyed or hurt when Ryo does not show any interest in her back. In the Japanese version of the game, Ryo is also a bit ruder to her, leading to banter between them.
Joy pissed at Ryo for not saying bye.
She and Wong follow Ryo and Ren to Kowloon and try to help them. She is quite mad at Ryo for not telling her he was leaving. Later, Joy informs Ryo that Yuanda Zhu is being held captive in the Yellow Head Building.
Joy decides to follow Ryo, Ren and Wong to the building to help them, but does not tell them. She ends up being captured by the Yellow Heads and held hostage by Master Baihu. Ryo defeats him and frees Joy.
Joy after being rescued by Ryo.
Ryo and Joy explore the Yellow Head Building. She follows him to the roof to save Wong and gives Ryo moral support during the fight against Dou Niu.
Joy decides to stay while Ryo goes to Guilin. She says bye to Ryo with Wong.
Shenmue III[]
In the second part of the game at Hotel Niaowu, Ryo can use the telephone to call Joy and she and Ryo will catch up. Joy is annoyed at him for not calling her earlier, although Ryo explains he hasn't come across a lot of phones. Throughout their conversation, Joy begins taking Ryo's words the wrong way, for example, if Ryo mentions Wong helped him, Joy replies, "And I didn't?" Ryo then finally shows appreciation for her help, causing Joy to say, "Now you tell me!" Their conversation then grows awkward with a long moment of silence. Ryo then mentions he's about to end the call, causing Joy to get offended because they've barely talked. Ryo says he will call again sometime and Joy says she won't get her hopes up. Ryo says he'd be worried if she did and Joy says "Damn you, Ryo! Well, whatever! Just don't get hurt!"
Extra / Alternate Scenes[]
If Ryo performs certain actions, there will be extra/alternate scenes featuring Joy.
- If Ryo meets Joy for the first time at night, there will be no one in her way before she barges into Ryo with her motorcycle. She also will not say her spoken line "Get out of my way!" in that bit like she does during the day. Another noticeable difference in all of the scenes with Joy at night is that her motorcycle lights are flashing and lit. [1]
- There is an extra scene where Ryo has a short flashback about Joy in Kowloon. Ryo must go up to her bike near the Tea Break Building in the Dimsum Quarter and press X (or ▢ in the PS4 version) to trigger the extra scene. This has to be done before Ryo gets caught by Dou Niu.[2]
- In Shenmue III, when Ryo calls Joy and chooses the "Ren" option, the dialogue will be different depending on if Ryo meets Ren in Niaowu or not when he calls her. He can also get both dialogues if he calls her and chooses that option before he meets Ren and after he meets him.
Shenmue the Animation[]
Joy as she appears in Shenmue the Animation.
Joy appears as a main character in Episode 6 to Episode 13 of Shenmue the Animation. Her role is similar to how it is in the game series, however she is more involved in helping Ryo in his quest than she is in the games, and Ryo seems to respect her more and is a lot more polite to her, rather than being rude to her constantly and shooing her away like he does in the games. The anime also explores Joy's past, and the fate of her mother.
Quotes[]
- "Get out of my way!" (Joy yelling at people while they're in her way when she's riding her motorcycle.)
- "Watch where you're going, you punk!" (Joy to Ryo when she barges into him with her motorcycle when they first meet.)
- "Hang on!"
Themes[]
Trivia[]
Joy's unused model with shorts.
- Joy was originally intended to wear shorts in Shenmue II. However, the Shenmue team received a complaint from motorcycle manufacturer Honda that her wearing shorts, as well as not wearing a helmet was not allowed. It was technically impossible to make her wear a helmet, so they could not get the license from Honda for her motorcycle.
- In the Game Jam Prototype, her motorcycle has Honda branding on it, but it was removed for the actual release.
- Joy's motorcycle is replica of Honda's CBR1100XX model.
- An unused model of Joy wearing shorts can be found in the game's files. [3]
- Joy's eyes are both blue and green for her in-game model but are brown in her artwork and renders and in Shenmue the Animation.
- Due to Joy's father's full name being confirmed, it can be assumed that Joy's surname is "Liang". It is unclear if "Joy" is actually her first name, or just a nickname.
- Joy's zodiac sign is Leo and she has a B blood type.
- Joy mentions the words "Hang-On" when picking up Ryo over at the Come Over Guest House, a plug of the same game.
- Joy's English voice actress in the games is Lisle Wilkerson, who also is the English voice actress for Xiuying Hong, Yuan, and some minor characters in the games.
- In Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, Sarah Bryant can be customized to look similar to Joy.[4]
References[]
Gallery[]
|
Shenmue Wiki has a gallery for Joy. | 
|