Ryo and Rowen have successfully rescued Cye, Sage and
Kento from Talpa’s castle. Reunited, the
Ronin Warrirors stand together as Talpa’s final plan to conquer the Human World
begins to take its final form.
Meanwhile, Anubis confronts his destiny as he learns the true origins of
Kayura and the role she must play in this final battle. At last, the nine armors
are brought together but will it be for salvation or destruction? This is it, the last stand of the Ronin
Warriors. Who will live and who will die
to protect the world from the Darkness of Talpa and his Dynasty?
I’ve gotta admit, the flaws of Ronin Warriors have always
been at the back of my mind and ive never really addressed all of them: from
the lack of backstory and character development of the main characters to the
simplistic dialogue of the villains from time to time to the fact that the second
half of the series has had the Ronin Warriors themselves feeling less and less
competent in their own series. But you
know what? Despite the flaws, Ronin
Warriors pulled off an impressive final battle and gave the spotlight to
characters who deserved the best out of the grand finale.
Given all the love I feel Anubis has gotten from this
series, it makes sense that his final battle would be so epic, awesome and
heartbreaking. The man finally found his
mission, his purpose left to him by the Ancient One and he owned up to that
mission with all of his heart and soul.
No longer a mad man possessed by evil, he was now a full fledged good
guy who gave his life to save the Ancient One’s true successor, Kayura and give
the guys a fighting chance to stop Talpa once and for all. He even transferred his armor to Kayura,
replacing her nigh armorless look. I was
with Yuli running into the river after Anubis died, I was on the verge of
tears.
With all the love given to Anubis, is it wrong Ryo and
the gang spent a good chunk of the finale captured…AGAIN!!!??? The first half of this series showed all five
Ronin at their most brash but also their most intelligent when facing the Dark
Warlords. Actually, both sides made
crazy judgement calls in battle but made equally good decisions. Since the boys started getting captured a
couple sets ago, it’s like the Ronin Warriors werent get a solid win in or at
least act like they were getting stronger, smarter and more confident in their
ability to fight the good fight. It irks
me that 3/5s of the team were relegated to mere cameos for the better part of
ten episodes and Ryo and Rowen lucked their way into victories after being
treated as punching bags for the majority of this second half.
That all being said, the final battle finally brought
back that more confident and self assured five manned team we saw at the end of
the first half of the series. And even
better, Talpa was animated far, far better than he was last time in battle. His showdowns with both Kayura and Ryo were
well choreographed, allowing the Dark Lord to show what he’s really capable of
with a sword besides lumbering about as a giant. Everything culminated in one last showdown on
Earth with all five Ronin Warriors holding their own against Talpa until Ryo
had to make the ultimate sacrifice to give the team the opening to win. Finally, after almost 20 episodes of being
tossed around like ragdolls more often than not, the Ronin Warriors were
allowed to have their time to shine and bring down the big bad once and for
all. Ryo busting out of Talpa’s armor
still clad in the Inferno Armor was just icing on the cake. Like most other action Anime, Ronin Warriors
does end pretty abruptly. The bad guy is
dead, the armors can be retired, Kayrua and the Warlords head back to the
Netherworld to rebuild it…and everyone plays baseball with the weapon that
helped save the world…so standard stuff.
But then again this isn’t the end is it?
We’ll get there but for here…eh it’s serviceable and about on par with
everything Ronin Warriors has done so far.
Ok so…how was it?
Well Ronin Warriors is still one helluva fun nostalgia trip for anyone
who was a fan of them during their Toonami days. Even if their quality of character development
or combat efficiency wavers constantly, Ryo, Sage, Cye, Kento and Rowen all
still ooze coolness both in and out of their sweet armor. Mia, Yuli and White Blaze all succeed in
elevating their characters past supporting roles and sometimes overshadowed the
core heroes themselves. Anubis stole the
show, along with his fellow Dark Warlords from time to time and definitely
Kayura. And Talpa managed to be an
imposing villain, though most times he did that best as a severed ghostly head. The action was excellent, better than I
expected and remained consistently good across every episode. Some villains of the week later on got more
and more disappointing after a strong set of opening foes. And I still haven’t forgotten the lack of
backstory for the Ancient One and how he met Ryo and the others and gave them
their armor. Sure he got his own
flashback episode but that doesn’t excuse one very vital piece of information
to complete this saga. I’d say the first half of Ronin Warriors was stronger
overall with a good balance of battle chess and solid action, while the second
half floundered a bit by reducing the effectiveness of the Ronin Warriors
themselves, though the supporting cast benefited from better stories and
character arcs. All in all, this is a flawed
80’s action Anime…but it is still freaking awesome to watch when you don’t put
too much thought into it.
Nostalgia goggles aren’t gonna blind me on this one. I’m giving Ronin Warriors an 8/10. Great action, slick Armor designs from the
house of Mecha, Studio Sunrise, and a pretty fast paced and enjoyable plot keep
things rolling until the end. Prepare to
scratch your head at some pretty glaring problems…and then remember its an 80’s
action Anime and you should just relax and “let them fight.”
But like I said, the story isn’t over yet. We’ve got three sequel OVAs to get through
and they’ll be our closing chapters of this summers Extended Series
Review. The Ronin Warriors will be back
on Friday with Ronin Warriors: Gaiden.
Cant wait to see what’s next for this band of multi color armored bad
asses. See ya then.
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