My Anime Review of Ronin Warriors also known as Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers
This review will cover the 39-episode TV show and the 3 OVA movies for Ronin Warriors. In this review I will be referencing the show to Ronin Warriors rather than the lengthy Samurai Trooper name to make things simply so that no one is confused about the name of the show I am reviewing.
The story for this show starts with a peaceful day in Japan but then strange things start happening and this dark fog appears and overshadows the city and in the fog is an old Castle that houses the Demon Emperor Talpa and his four Dark Warlords who seek the legendary Ronin Warrior armor so that Talpa can conquer the human world. These Ronin Warriors are armed and stand against Talpa and the Dark Warlords and trying to stop Talpa and save everyone who was taken and return the city back to normal. Each Ronin Warrior and Dark Warlord have their own personality and special move that they like to shout during battle for example the Ronin Warrior Ryo of Wildfire uses the move “Flare Up Now” and his Rival in some ways The Dark Warlord Anubis uses the move “Quake with Fear”.
The Heroes of our story are not perfect and experience times of struggle throughout the show, and it gives the show a sense of overcoming difficulties so that these heroes can grow. When Talpa invaded, everyone who was not able to defend against the mist was taken prisoner and disappeared from the earth and into Talpa’s castle. Which gives somewhat a depressing sense that if the Ronin Warriors fail then the whole world is doomed.
What makes this show truly memorable and great though is the sound design the way they make the mist eerie with sound it does not make sense when I talk about it but in the first episode it is made clear how they make evil in this show mystical. Then when the characters shout their signature attacks, they add good music and sound effects that make them feel powerful. Then there are the armor transformations, and they are cool adding a short but sweet rock flare to it.
When I was growing up, I watched toonami when it originally aired before toonami ended and rebooted. Ronin Warriors was one of the first anime shows I watched, and I do have some bias toward the show because of my nostalgia however I thought about the show and rewatched it and the story for the TV show is simple, but it is good. There are lessons in how evil can persuade certain types of people and how evil uses people for its own goals. The classic good vs. evil show is like saint Seiya but it keeps itself grounded by not expanding too much on things they do not show in the anime. The finale for the show is excellent and it ties up loose ends for the most part (except for one plot point that I don’t know if it ended or if it was supposed to go on or it was scrapped because it did not fit into the end of the show).
The OVA movies though are a mixed bag even for a fan like me. The first OVA called “Gaiden” has the Ronin Warriors traveling to New York to find out what happened to one of their fellow warriors. This one is the best OVA out of the 3 in my opinion because it has a determined plot and villain, and everything comes together very nicely at the end. The second OVA is called “Legend of the Inferno Armor”, and this one is very mystical and mysterious the warriors find themselves traveling to Africa when they see an illusion of someone wearing a black version of the Inferno armor which the inferno armor is discovered in the TV show and is expanded upon in the show than the OVA. The story in this OVA is strange and is hard to describe because it doesn’t make sense culturally and it never explains how the black armor showed up in Africa now not trying to say the plot doesn’t make sense but when things are not explained it makes the story hard to follow however it is not bad it just is not as excellent as “Gaiden” in my opinion. Then the last but certainly not least the OVA called “The Message” is not full of action and it feels more like a narration than an anime action OVA. The story is about the Ronin Warriors trying to figure out when they can hang up the Ronin Warrior mantle and move on with their lives and what it means to be a Ronin Warrior and why they were chosen in the first place. The OVA is more for fans and not the average anime viewer looking for a good action movie and I was really hungry for more considering in this OVA the Ronin Warriors get a redesign armor for the characters and they look even more Samurai than the original designs.
Overall, in conclusion I would definitely watch the Ronin Warrior TV show if you like classic good vs evil story lines and if you are a fan of Saint Seiya or if you are a fan of good action anime. This anime is very underrated which is a shame I was hoping we would have more Ronin Warriors than Saint Seiya not that I don’t like Saint Seiya, but I really like the Armor Designs in this series more than Saint Seiya. Please give this show a chance and you will not be disappointed.