Ronin Warriors: Gaiden

The Dynasty has fallen and Talpa has been destroyed.  At last, peace has come to the world.  However, a birthday party for Ryo has one notable absence: Sage.  Things get even crazier when a news report from New York City shows Sage in his armor killing innocent people.  With a million questions on their mind and a friend in need of the help, Ryo, Rowen, Cye, Keto, Mia and Yuli jet off to the US.  Here they find friends turned enemies and mysterious forces looking to harness the power of their armor for their own nefarious ends.  Has Sage truly turned to the Dark Side and can Ryo and the other Ronin Warriors stop him if he has?  Once again, the Ronin Warriors heed the call to battle.

Ronin Warriors: Gaiden begins the final storylines of the Ronin Warriors franchise.  To put it a bit simply: if Episodes 1-19 could be seen as Season One and Episodes 20-39 as Season Two, then these three OVA mini movies could be seen as an unofficial Third and Final Season for the TV Series.  While I don’t remember Ronin Warriors being wildly or hugely popular, I guess it earned enough of a good rep to have these new stories commissioned, which seems odd considering that the finale of the TV Series was decent enough to call it a day.  But man oh man…I hope the next two OVAs are infinitely better than this pointless two episode train wreck.

As fun as it is to see the boys in a more peaceful manner without the Dynasty looming over their heads and the prospect of them flying to the States for a new adventure, Gaiden falls flat on its face before the first half of the first episode and it doesn’t get any better.  When did Sage get kidnapped?  How were the bad guys able to use his armor to go on a killing spree halfway on the East Coast when theyre on the West Coast…but they continuously try to get Sage to summon his armor?  Did Runa serve a true purpose in this story other than to give Ryo extra needless incentive to fight?  Who were the bad guys and why should we care about their evil goals? Did Runa and Ryo have a thing when it really should have been Runa and Rowen considering how they meet?  Oh and why is an all out military police assault being mounted against the team, I mean does the world not know about the Ronin Warriors or what happened in Japan? 

As you can see, this OVA is nothing more than a string of questions lobbed together in a half assed story that’s just here to waste time and nothing more.  It’s an in and out tale that never takes full advantage of the Stateside setting or the concept of the Ryo and the guys having to fight one of their own AND have to stay one step ahead of the authorities.  Even the bad guy and his scientist lacky and Ryo’s (kind of) love interest Runa are all just introduced, made to say some standard dialogue given to their roles…and then leave just as quickly.  They aren’t meant to be remembered because this whole story feels like it was a leftover idea that was jettisoned from the main series (probably as a bridge between the first and second halves of the series). 

Ronin Warriors: Gaiden is a headache of an OVA to sit through.  The story is fast and sloppy with many dangling threads of questions and promising concepts.  The artstyle doesn’t look much better than the TV series, in fact I say it took a step down.  And anything resembling a worthy follow up to a good series finale is…well its not there.  This was clearly a project that was rushed to completion and im sure there are plenty of people who regret adding this to the legacy of the Ronin Warriors.  These two episodes should have stayed in the recycle bin.

Yeah…it sucks to say but I’m doing it.  Ronin Warriors: Gaiden follows up a fantastic series with a very disappointing but ultimately earned 0/10 (most times I don’t mind giving out that score but I really liked the TV Series, which makes this all the more heartbreaking).

Hopefully the other two OVAs do a much better job at being the sequels Ryo and the boys deserve.  We’ll find out on Monday when we get to Ronin Warriors: Legend of the Inferno Armor.  See ya then.