Customer Reviews

Ronin Warriors, Vol. 5: The Hardest Battle

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Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (AKA Ronin Warriors) was originally intended to end after one season, in a rather gloomy fashion, with the destruction of the Troopers. However, towards the end of the season the creators of the show were told "hey, this show's doing well, we'd like another season!".

In what turned out to be one of the most inspired improvisations ever animated, they redid the last two episodes in a matter of weeks, having only to rerun one episode for extra time, and in the process creating the main driving force for the next season: the "white armor" called Keikoutei.

These episodes are some of the best of the series, which I consider to be the best of the "God-Warrior" subgenre. Arago, the lord of his own part of Hell, gains back the power of his old armor, which had been split into the nine Yoroi (mystic armor) by the Shugendo mage/priest/warrior Kaos. Only Rekka no Ryo ("Ryo of the Wildfire") remains to oppose him, and even he finally falls to Arago, to be absorbed by the demonlord. But even in failure there is one last chance, and in taking that last chance Ryo, and the Troopers, are changed forever.

Is RONIN WARRIORS a classic anime? In my household it is! But, no, RONIN WARRIORS - known in Japan as YOROIDEN SAMURAI TROOPERS (or "Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers") - never did make big waves on this side of the ocean, although it did garner a loyal following. Still, if you're looking for an actionfest cartoon, RONIN WARRIORS'll do you a solid. Character development, though, yeah, there's the rub. I do like that these episodes lead into the next, so there's a feel of continuity and narrative progression.

When Talpa, thousand-year-old Demon Lord of the Netherworld, seeks to expand his vile dominion, it falls to five young men to protect Tokyo and the rest of the mortal realm. But let's backtrack some. This is not Talpa's first stab at incursion on Earth. Ages ago, his attempt to conquer our world was stymied and he was banished back to the Netherworld by the Ancient who also claimed Talpa's infernal armor and split it into nine separate battle suits.

But now Talpa has crossed thru a demonic gateway and again encroaches on our world, still thirsting for conquest. Talpa has regained four of the nine battle suits and has parceled them out to his four Dark Warlords. The other five suits have ended up in the hands of five courageous dudes: Sage Of Halo, Kento of Hardrock, Cye Of Torrent (for some reason, with an Australian accent), Rowen Of Strata, and Ryo of the Wildfire (my favorite).

Each of the armors is imbued with a virtue and affiliated with an element which increases the warriors' fighting prowess: Sage - wisdom/light; Kento - justice/earth; Cye - trust/water; Rowen - life/air; and Ryo - virtue/fire. The armor also grants each of them a special form of attack. Rowen, for example, wields a magical bow which unleashes the awesome "Arrow Shock Wave." It's key to know that these armors gain more strength the more they're utilized in battle.

The Ronin Warriors are often found in the company of a young kid named Ully whose parents fell victim to Talpa's evil dynasty, Mia Koji who seems to know a thing or two about the legend of the mystical armors, and the great white tiger White Blaze. White Blaze is awesome! Even though he keeps getting swatted aside by the big bads, it doesn't stop him from charging in anytime he thinks his friends need him.

I remember watching this when Channel 9 aired it in morning syndication sometime in the 1990s. But I never got to see what happened after Ryo got the white armor so, darn tootin', I'm all over these DVDs which collect the series' 39 episodes. RONIN WARRIORS Vol. 5: THE HARDEST BATTLE has episodes #17-20. This story arc finds the Ronin Warriors in their darkest hour as they engage Talpa in an apocalyptic showdown. Except that their all-out assault on Talpa's stronghold is so very easily repelled. And when the demonic overlord sets out to reclaim his five rogue battle suits, it's shocking how effortlessly he takes out the Warriors one by one. Finally, only Ryo of the Wildfire is the only one left to make a stand, except that Ryo doesn't seem up for it. What happens next, I vividly remember, blew my mind years ago. RONIN WARRIORS doesn't stinge on the dark, foreboding atmosphere. With Talpa making his big end move, this particular arc captures that sense of desperate high stakes. The Ronin Warriors have never come so close to losing.

These episodes are pretty nicely dubbed in English and they come complete with the outgoing and ingoing tags. The disc's reverse side features these same episodes, only uncut and in the original Japanese track (with English sub-titles).

- Episode #17 - "The Legend of the Armor"

- Episode #18 - "Talpa's Triumph"

- Episode #19 - ""Wildfire's Fight Against Fate"

- Episode #20 - "Ronin Vs. Saranbo"