Monday, July 6, 2020

Ronin Warriors Part 1 Episodes 1-5

On a beautiful day in Japan, a dark shadow covers Tokyo.  In an instant, a dark cloud carrying a terrifying castle emerges in the sky and the Dynasty descends, enslaving most of the civilian population.  Regular military is powerless against these mystical demons hellbent on the destruction of Humanity.  All is not lost.  From the mist, five young warriors emerge to challenge Talpa, leader of the Dynasty, and his four  Dark Warlords.  They are Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Kento and Cye.  Each have their own style of battle and a magic suit of armor that give them unrivaled capabilities.  Alone they are fearsome fighters.  Together…they are the Ronin Warriors.

Welcome everyone to this years Extended Series Review.  It’s that usual time of year leading up to a special convention where I pick a title that’s a bit longer than my usual crop (13-26 episodes) and cover it at an accelerated rate (2-3 days a week depending besides the usual Monday).  And have I picked a special treat for everyone this summer.  I know I say this about a lot of the shows I cover but ive been trying to find the right time to slot this in for a looooong time, ever since I got the series on DVD during my last Baltimore Otakon…so 4 years, damn.  I may be reviewing it under its original title but its still the same awesome goodness we all remember from my favorite Toonami Golden Age (1999-2001).  In Japan, they were known as the Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers.  This summer, we’ll be taking a look at that saga under the name most know them by…Ronin Warriors

Man was the Nostalgia Factor in full effect.  Sitting down to watch these first five episodes felt like coming home during summer and pulling up Toonami in the afternoon.  Better yet, Ronin Warriors still holds up surprisingly well in its debut.  Much of that is no doubt thanks to the Anime powerhouse that is Studio Sunrise.  Believe it or not, Ronin Warriors actually debuted in Japan in the late 80’s and that was the decade Sunrise ruled the Mecha genre in no small part thanks to Mobile Suit Gundam.  So their animation style was in pretty good shape.  However, not only do they bring their A Game to the Samurai Armor designs of the titular Warriors and their evil rivals, but they also make some fun and refreshing storytelling choices as well.

It is kind of a gamble showing your core group of heroes as the exact opposite of invincible in their debut.  More often than not, when the main character (or characters) battling against an evil force show up for the first time, they handidly deal with the small fries and maybe a sub boss with ease and don’t start taking a beating until 5-10 episodes in.  Ronin Warriors goes for broke.  Not only do Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Kento and Cye barely beat what will become a meager footsoldier in their first episode, but they get soundly defeated by Talpa in Episode 2 and scattered to the four winds (Dragon Ball style).  After this though, Ryo does start steadily leveling up once he is reawakened, though he still takes his fair share of a beating.  Like I said, it’s kind of refreshing seeing how vulnerable the good guys can be…and yet it never takes away from their cool factor. 

Ryo and company look as bad ass as ever, like proto Power Rangers before they made their US Debut.  We don’t get to learn much about everyone save for that they all come from various martial arts schools but given this series clocks in at just under 40 episodes, we’ve got time to get to know everyone in turn (Once theyre all found again).  We spend most of the premiere with Ryo, his battle cat White Blaze and allies Mia and Yuli.  Ryo’s a literal hothead (cause his armor is Wildfire) but is able to adapt to most combat situations with ease.  Mia is a cute college student with a ton of knowledge about the Dynasty and the Ronin Warriors themselves (plus she’s rocking Rin Tohsaka’s style of dress which is a plus). Yuli, thankfYuli, never comes off as an annoying kid sidekick.  You feel for his dilemma, being separated from his parents when the Dynasty descends.  But he plays important parts in a couple of battles, so the kid can def pull his own weight.  And White Blaze…man I hope he gets Battle Cat Armor down the line. 

As mentioned above, Ronin Warriors is the baby of Studio Sunrise.  When it comes to Armor and Mecha designs, their studio is second to none, more so in the 1980’s with the Giant Robot Boom.  The Armor of the Ronin Warriors and the Four Generals looks sleek and bad ass and all bear their own unique styles akin to their wearer.  My personal favs are Sage’s Armor and Sekmet’s Armor.  Sage’s gives off the feel of a Medieval Knight more than a proper samurai and I love his Golden Emblem on his helmet, it feels very Gundam esque.  As for Sekmet, his attack style echoes that of a snake and his Armor matches that kind of demonic edge, especially with the amount of swords attached to it and the fangs on his helmets faceplate.  What really stands out most is Talpa, the big bad of the series.  Though he is only seen as an ethereal armored helmet, you can feel how intimidating he is, especially with his voice.  I cant wait to see what he looks like full bodied.  Even the under armored body suits of all the characters looks awesome.  Best yet, everything moves and really shines in the action scenes.  Ryo gets ample to battle in and out of armor and he moves really well.  I do predict we might see some reused animation down the line (it happens and there were a couple of moments especially in the Sekmet fight).  But to kick things off, the action scenes were all fast paced and well animated, especially Ryo’s rematch with Anubis in a volcano (though his first fight with Sekmet is a very close second).

The premiere does raise one question that nagged me especially for the first three or so episodes.  So, Ryo and the gang appear out of nowhere, they all come from different martial arts schools and have their own Armor…but they don’t really know how to use it?  Did they come into these weapons recently?  Did whoever handed it to them not give them an instruction manual?  How much about the Dynasty did they know about before they showed up and did they expect to kick the crap out of them easy?  Ok so that’s more than one question but still.  It feels like Ryo and the others came into this fight woefYuli underprepared and with a distinct lack of knowledge of the power theyd been given to fight the Dynasty.  I hope that lingering plot point gets cleared up.

Whew, I’m pumped.  I’m excited.  Maybe it’s because I haven’t revisited this series since it left Toonami.  Maybe I’m remembering the fun I had watching Ronin Warriors on network TV long before it arrived on Toonami.  Either way, I’m hoping that the actually good premiere keeps the momentum going throughout the series.  Much like with Gundam Wing, I’m expecting something to hold up less well than others.  For now though, Ronin Warriors is off to a great start.  It’s gonna be a good Extended Series Review this summer, I can tell.

Side note before I close: The Character Designer for Ronin Warriors is also the person responsible for the Backstreet Boys of Anime in Gundam Wing…so you should thank Shuko Marase for doing such a good job here so he could bring some of our favorite Anime bad boys to life later on in the Gundam franchise.

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