Customer Reviews

Ronin Warriors - The Call (Vol. 1)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My first encounter with anime was in 1997 (for me, kindergarten) the first anime I ever saw was this one and it has remained very dear to me over the years. Unlike other animes I saw long ago, I was not dissapointed when I re-watched it. Some may find the English dub a little annoying (Rowen's voice drives me nuts), but it adds a bit to the humor for me. This is a very unique DVD as it is double sided. It's abit of a hindernce if you suddenly want to switch from Japanese to English or vise-versa, but you get used to it. The dialougue for the English version is kind of stereotyped. Cye with his British accent, Rowen with his New York, and Kento with his sufer. But all around the voice acting is okay for something done so long ago. I suggest you watch it in both languages first and then make a desicion on which you like better.
Basically this is a story of an evil dynasty trying to take over the world; run by a floating head. Though most likely not meant to be comical I always thought it was funny. He basically traps all the people in Japan except for one Mia Koji and a littel boy named Yuli. Enter the Ronin Warriors. Mystical armors/warriors of legend come to save the world from impending doom. At first they get their butts totally kicked, but as the story continues they get stronger and more confident.
The animation is really beautiful in some parts (particularly the armors) but can be repeatitive and some times even disproportionate! All around though, this is one of the best animes I've seen. I strongly recommend getting it for anyone who is an anime fan!

I stumbled onto this show by accident, and it was already well the sixth episode, but I taped it and got hooked instantly. I was brutally dissapointed--and I wasn't the only one, either--when the series was taken off the air just as quickly as it premiered, but Cartoon Network had the good taste to snatch it up and add it to Toonami. Now it's finally here to enjoy on DVD, and it looks great. Bandai deserves a lot of praise for releasing this as a dual DVD, and including the original "Yoroiden Samurai Troopers" episodes too. The voice-acting for the Japanese cast is good, but the American dub is very well done in my opinion. Matt Hill,(Ryo) Ward Perry,(Rowen) Jason Grey-Stanford,(Kento) and Michael Donovan (Sage/Cye) are all excellent in their respective roles.

I first saw this on Fox when I was in about fifth grade at unholy hours of the morning, and like many, I guess I just became quite hooked. I still haven't run into anything quite like it, and really enjoyed seeing the series again.

It's not -the best-, but the animation is still quite good, as is the music (Well, in -my- opinion), and the storyline. However, something that I found rewatching it was that the dubbed version isn't as good as I remember it, and is actually kind of cheesey, and perhaps inflates certain qualities of the characterization. In the subtitled version, however, I found there to be more depth to the dialogue (though I admit I couldn't keep from laughing at the mentions of Arago's awesome powers of doom XD and the soldiers of doom, and etc), and the characterization seems overall a lot better and their emotions seem a lot more genuine.

The idea has kind of been done ^^; but I still feel it's unique, and a breath of fresh air, and it still remains one of my favourites.

Ronin Warriors has been my favorite anime since i was in the fourth grade. I'm now going on to the ninth and it is still my favorite anime. I have gone as far as joining a Ronin Warriors message board www.roninlounge.com.

Ronin Warriors--known as Yoroiden Samurai Troopers to those of us who prefer subs--is without a doubt my all-time favorite series, and I can't tell you how pleased I am to see a bilingual DVD at long last. The subtitles are a welcome change from the dub, the quality is clearer than that seen on television, and everything that makes it great is here. I have a few beefs with some of the name romanizations and armor name/virtue translations(for example, Seiji's kanji REI is translated as 'Grace' rather than 'Courtesy', which I feel is more correct), but these are minor complaints and I have to recommend this DVD to anyone who loves action, fantasy, anime, or all of the above.

Originally entitled "Yoroiden Samurai Troopers" (Legend of the Mystic Armor: Samurai Troopers, abbreviated "YST"), this is one of the sub-genre I call "God-Warrior" anime, in which a group of young people is selected/destined to fight a demon or god bent on conquering or destroying the world. God-Warriors wield personal mystical powers in this quest, often through the use of special weapons or armor or both. The anime that began the modern God-Warrior subgenre was "Saint Seiya"; this was followed by YST, Shurato, and others (YuuYuu Hakusho is one cynical take on some of the ideas; Sailor Moon takes shots both at this and at the shoujo "Magical Girl" subgenre).

Imported here as "Ronin Warriors", YST was reasonably successful but the translation left a lot to be desired; on paper the lines used weren't usually terrible, but the way in which they were delivered often did damage to the characters, particularly Touma ("Rowen"), who came off as much more a jerk and less of a genius than he was supposed to be.

This DVD issue represents the first time that the show is available for the American public, and overall it's a good effort. Not only does it include both the American dub and a subtitle of the original Japanese version, but it appears that at least SOME effort went into fixing the problems with the dialogue and character names -- in other words, it's not a complete "dubtitle" as some hardcore fans would call it.

The transfer to digital appears to have gone well, and the story is as good as it ever was: the demonlord Arago (called "Talpa" in the dub) has finally made his entry to this world, which he intends to make a part of his own demonic realm. Against him and his four Ma-sho (Demon Generals) are five young men, the Samurai Troopers: Ryo, Touma, Seiji, Shu, and Shin. Each of them represents one of the modern Eastern elements (the ancient ones were considerably different; the modern five incorporate the Western 4 and add one more for lightning/spirit) and one of the five Confucian virtues (perfect humanity, faith, justice, wisdom, and truth). Yet the Troopers don't know how to use their powers -- they were given the armor by the ancient mystic Kaos (called "The Ancient" in the dub) with no explicit instructions -- and without the help of Naste Yaigu, daughter of an antiquarian who had studied the legends of Arago, they would be doomed to failure. Naste is a combination advisor and den mother for the Troopers, who need her knowledge to figure out what to do next.

I won't be able to be certain how much has been changed for the new subtitled version until later; the character names are now all corrected (although, frustratingly, they still insist on using the English names for the armors and special attacks, rather than keeping the Japanese ones and supplying a parenthetical translation; I think Rekka and So En Zan sound better than "Armor of Wildfire" and "Power of Fire" respectively. I will admit that the latter is considerably better than the original dub's "Flare Up Now!", but it's still not even a proper translation -- it would be something like "fire circle cut" or maybe "blade of flame"), but the actual changes that were made to the show with respect to the origin of the White Armor ("Keikoutei") didn't show up until later. Hopefully they will correct that one major, inexplicable change.

All in all, I'm very pleased by this release, and look forward to getting all the other volumes. Highly recommended; YST uses some rather unique background material, drawn more from Japanese myth, and mixes it with its own approach to produce a deceptively simple and enjoyable show.

I saw this series on Cartoon network. I believe this to be the greatest anime out there. The story draws you in and is very well done. The animation is great. Going by the title,this DVD contains the capture of the city and an itroduction to the main charcters. There are some differencs in the American dub from the original Japanese release,(charater names,except Ryo,and the name of the city), but it still sticks true to what I have read about the original release. This is a classic.

This Big O and DBZ (dragon ball z)were the first animes i saw...when i was four.This one was like my favorite when i was younger though.They said it was 13 and up but i watched it anyway.They didnt swear or cuss when it was on toonami (cartoonnetwork).Well anyway getting to the point i reccomend this anime for ages 4 and up (there is alot of blood though).

I have wanted these movies ever since I first saw them. I even tried to record all of them on blank tapes but they were only run twice. If you're a serious fan of anime, get this DVD and the others.

My only regret is that there are no subtitles for the "Ronin Warriors" as there are for "Samurai Troopers".

I loved RW when I first saw it on Cartoon Network, and the dual-language DVD is a prize! Granted, the first four episodes are a little bit weak, but the series just gets better from here. It's also fun to compare the Japanese original with the American version. Great characters, interesting designs, not overly violent and no gore, and a whole lot of fun. I can't wait for the next DVD!