Monday, July 13, 2020

Ronin Warriors Part 4 Episodes 16-20

The Ancient One, the beloved mentor of the Ronin Warriors, sacrifices his life to provide the boys with entry into Talpa’s main fortress.  With anger and resolve in their hearts, Ryo, Sage, Rowen, Kento and Cye cross the threshold and prepare for the final battle with the leader of the Dyansty himself.  However, Talpa has been playing a long waiting game and the Warriors crossing into his domain might be the ultimate trap they didn’t see coming.  With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Ryo and his friends will risk all to stop Talpa and his minions…even if that means they have to die to make that happen.  And even if they survive this ordeal, what’s next for the Ronin Warriors with the dawn of a new day?

In many ways, im really glad this wasn’t the series finale of Ronin Warriors.  Otherwise, it would have ended on a bit of a disappointing note.  Let me say that I am well aware of what this show is.  It’s not meant to be anything deep or compelling, it’s a straight up action vehicle.  It’s a ton of fun to watch but that doesn’t mean its without flaws.  I’ve largely ignored them til now but this latest set of episodes highlighted those problems, even if there was still plenty to enjoy.

You know when the Ronin Warriors break off to face their Dark Warlord Rivals (Sage vs. Cale, Kento vs. Dais, Cye vs. Sekhmet, Rowen vs…well the cannon fodder (poor guy)), the show is going to deliver and it did in the climactic final showdown each pairing had.  The dark, hellish landscapes that came with both Dais’ illusions and the fact that the guys are fighting on Netherworld territory in general returned and stronger than ever.  I particularly enjoyed Cale fighting disguised as a classic, white robe and red mask sporting Oni against Sage, awesome stuff.  I also liked that even with their demonic power ups, the Dark Warlords steadily lost their battles, showing the powerful growth of the heroes after all this time.  Even Anubis managed to break free from his Netherworld prison and fight alongside Ryo for a brief period, brief but great to see nonetheless. 

And then Talpa himself got involved and what should have been a freaking epic battle of the ages began to show signs that…it kind of wasn’t.  A skyscraper sized Talpa vs. Ryo, the former of whom managed to absorb everyone into himself and regain is full form, was a great setup, highlighting the ever rising scale of the conflict.  Buuuuut…I’ll be honest, I was more intimidated and impressed with Talpa when he was just a severed, ethereal head.  His Kaiju version looks unfinished compared to how everyone else in their armor has looked so far.  Not only that, but his dialogue became that of a broken record, “Give the Armor…I will have your Armor…hahahaha…”  Gone was the mysterious figure of doom, replaced with a lumbering villainous stereotype.  And that’s saying something knowing this show isn’t trying to break any action molds.  Even before he started attaining physical form, Talpa was mopping the floor with the Ronin Warriors, defeating them in kind of scary ways that made the battle feel hopeless and dire…that worked far more than the lumbering giant he ended up becoming.

I’m half and half on the sudden return of the Ancient One, who spirit appeared to give Ryo some backstory on Talpa and the armor…just how he created it, not how he passed it onto 9 individuals over a millenia, five of whom are 5 kids he never introduced to one another in order to prepare them for a showdown with demons from Hell (no I’m not letting go of that lingering plot thread).  The Ancient One has been a “get out of jail free” more than he’s needed to be and his reappearance to rebolster Ryo’s spirit is something Mia and Yuli could have done in his stead, you know considering they have a much stronger connection compared to the lack of one we’ve seen with Ryo and his mentor.  But whatever, INFERNO ARMOR!!!! Yep, after all the lingering complaints, Ryo got a sweet power up and managed to blow Talpa and his castle away in one fell swoop.  The Inferno Armor looks freaking sweet, the ultimate upgrade from the already cool looking Wildfire Armor.  The day was saved…the end…

But not really cause this is only the halfway mark and even before a new villain showed up, there were still a couple of questions.  Mostly, what’s happened to Anubis, Sekmet, Dais and Cale?  Are they dead?  The other Armors escaped Talpa to power up Ryo but the Dark Warlords were still inside him when Ryo struck him down.  Maybe we’ll see them again, imagine what kind of Armor Ryo would get if all nine were combined.  Til then, we got a mini respite before a new baddie arrived to try and take on the Ronin Warriors.  And here is where another problem emerges.  We’ve seen that Sage, Cye, Kento and Rowen can handle themselves just fine in battle.  But now that Ryo has become the defacto main lead and has the Inferno Armor, they cant do squat without him.  Even Saranbo, as disappointing as he is, shouldn’t be too much of a hassle for a group of guys growing stronger after every battle with their armor.  Honestly it’s a trope that plagues many of my other favorite Anime: the Senshi cant defeat a monster of the week without Sailor Moon; no Z Fighter can defeat a big bad unless his name is Goku.  It doesn’t help that Saranbo kind of sucks and is just another bag of air spouting the same nonsense that Giant Talpa did an episode prior.

I feel like I ragged on Ronin Warriors a bit this set and…yeah I kind of did.  I’m still enjoying things and everything leading up to the Talpa battle was really well done.  But after a stumble at the halfway mark, the show didn’t exactly get back on steady feet to kick off this newest, post Talpa arc.  Maybe I need to temper my expectations a bit and hope that everything going forward is a much better rebound.  We’ve still got 19 episodes and 3 OVAs to run through.  Ronin Warriors sure isn’t finished yet…and given how things turned out this set im glad that’s not the case.

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