Ronin Warriors: Message

At long last, the fighting is over.  Having given up their powers, the five young men once known as the Ronin Warriors were finally able to lead peaceful lives…that is until a mysterious woman arrives, harboring a deep resentment for the armor once held by these young men.  When each becomes a target of this heartbroken songstress, Ryo, Rowen, Cye, Kento and Sage must take up their powers one last time.  Do these men fight to save a lost soul or is this another battle preordained as part of an inescapable destiny?  The final chapter of the Ronin Warriors saga begins.

Ugh…

Just…ugh…What the hell did I just watch?  Why did it feel so long and why do I feel like this was the exact opposite of everything ive seen before? As the final note in the Ronin Warriors saga, Message is…well it’s arguably worse than Gaiden.  I sort of get what this OVA was trying to go for.  At the same time though, I got very familiar vibes of Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, both in title and in overall final effect.

Ronin Warriors: Legend of the Inferno Armor

In the middle of a massive heatwave, Ryo, Sage, Kento, Rowen and Cye find themselves drawn to the center of Tokyo.  Here a mysterious warrior from Africa appears with the power to take on all five Ronin Warriors singlehandedly.  Even more alarming is the warriors possession of a Black Inferno Armor.  When Ryo and Sage are snatched to Africa, the remaining Ronin Warriors must find a way to get them back and defeat this powerful new foe.  But this lone warrior is merely the herald of a much greater calamity.  Two sets of armor call to each other and will stop at nothing to have their final battle…and that includes turning the armor of the Ronin Warriors against their wearers.  Can the team survive a battle for the ages without the full use of their powers?

Yeesh, with the bar set so low by Gaiden, there was nowhere but for the next Ronin Warriors OVA to go but up.  And up this one went.  Legend of the Inferno Armor brought back everything we liked about the Ronin Warriors TV Series and gave us a movie level event that compliments the series nicely.  It’s definitely not without some drawbacks but this was a huge improvement over the 0/10 Gaiden from the end of last week.

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.

T5W#258-Top 5 Otakon 2013 Cosplays

For a long time, Otakon 2013 was my second most favorite Otakon of all time (for the record it’s still pretty high up there).  It was a major bounce back from 2012 and it’s where I met many friends who have since become some of my closest family.  When it came to the cosplay, trying to pick five from a weekend of hundreds for this list proved challenging, then again I could say that about this entire Otakon Cosplay Retrospective I’ve been working on.  Still, I think you’ll be surprised by this list as I was.  So enough yapping and onto this weeks Top 5 Wednesday, my Top 5 Otakon 2013 Cosplays.

Ronin Warriors Part 8 Episodes 36-39

 

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.