A message in a shared dream from their long dead mentor,
the Ancient One, sends the Ronin Warriors on separate quests to prepare
themselves for the trials ahead. But
this is what Talpa has been waiting for.
One by one, the Warriors fall to capture by their greatest rivals: The
Dark Warlords, until only Ryo and Rowen are left to do battle. Guided by an old friend, the pair and White
Blaze seek to enter the Netherworld to rescue their comrades. Not only are they heading right into enemy
territory, but foes far stronger than even the Dark Warlords await, including a
beautiful demon named Kayrua who has the power of all five Ronin Warriors
combined.
Well things certainly got busy as we headed into the end
of Week Two. We got The Netherworld, the
return of the Dark Warlords and the intro of a beautiful new foe, Anubis gets
an upgrade and Ryo proves that he is not the best at making plans cause you
never know when youre going to confront a literal army of demons. I have some concerns (story wise, Ryo’s
aforementioned plan is dumb no matter how you or he tries to slice it), but I
think we’re heading into a pretty action packed finale next week after this
set. Let’s break it down.
Last time we closed things out with Cye getting captured
by a returning Sekmet. Next it was Sage
and Kento’s turn to get defeated and kidnapped by Cale and Dais. I would complain that these first two episodes
and the episode at the end of the last set were all a wash, rinse, repeat set
with the same plot recycled between three different sets of characters. However, I do like that the Warlords have
been learning as well as growing stronger and they all use different tactics
and distractions to bring down three of the Ronin Warriors. For Cye it was Sekmet poisoning the water.
For Sage it was Cale threatening a family of Deer he’d befriended. For Kento, it was Dais revealing Cye and Sage
were already captured. That’s not to say
that we didn’t get some good fights out of these, especially Kento and
Dias. The animation seemed to take a
step up at various times, almost making the show look like a cool 80s OVA more
than a TV Series. It was pretty great
and equally great to see that the Dark Warlords can still provide some of the
best action and character banter with their rival Ronin Warriors.
However, I have to wonder, if Lady Kayrua is a key player
now, what use is there for Sekmet, Cale and Dais. Introduced in a spectacular battle that saw
her almost take down Ryo and Rowen together, this big eyed but stunning beauty
seems to have all the power of the Dark Warlords combined and I could see her
easily handling the entire Ronin Team with little effort. Heck she doesn’t even need a bulky set of
armor like the others and that shows confidence, further proven by her ability
to swat away Ryo and Rowen’s main attacks with no problem. It’s both great to see a powerful female
presence in this series (not that im discounting Mia’s smarts in the slightest). But is Kayrua too OP for this series? Why is she being revealed now and why didn’t
Talpa just lead off his invasion with her at the head? I imagine this show would have been a lot
shorter if that’d happened…so best be grateful she’s appearing now rather than
then. Also she apparently has a
separate, peaceful form that looks like a Shinto Priestess…there’s gotta be an
interesting story with that coming up I hope.
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that Anubis has
been tapped to take over the title of Ancient One (I’m still gonna call him
Anubis though). The show never hid the
new hair that was clearly his so it was obvious his reveal was coming. ThankfYuli, Anubis is still acting like the
changed man he’d become when we last saw him.
He’s trying to be a bit more calm and level headed and wise with his
actions without replicating the Ancient One completely. In many ways, Anubis is a huge step up from
the original Ancient One because not only did we get a backstory for his
character this set, but we’ve seen Anubis’ interactions with Ryo and the others
all throughout the series thus far. So,
unlike the OG Ancient One, we know why Anubis is so connected to everyone. I guess we’ll never know how his predecessor
met the Ronin Warriors and handed them their armor separately. I can kind of live with that since Anubis is
doing a great job in such a short amount of time. He even kicked Dais’ ass and maybe started to
introduce the idea of joining the good guys.
We’ll have to see if that sticks.
The Netherworld looks deceptively pretty. You don’t expect a dark realm to look so
golden and starlit. It’s a good change
of pace from the usual hellscapes that come associated with the term “Nether
Realm”. I’m getting the feeling we’ll be
hanging around here for the rest of the series…at least the scenery isn’t
bad. Now I do understand that Cye, Sage
and Kento being in Talpa’s hands is a serious matter. I’d want to go rescue them ASAP too. But man oh man did Ryo and Rowen need a
better plan. I mean, theyre stepping
right into Talpa’s domain, the seat of his power and the resting place of his
entire army. Why the hell didn’t they
expect to see a sea of Demon Soldiers charging them en mass before surrounding
them? That’s just…that’s not a great
plan guys. And naturally, it’s an
endless sea of enemies, so hitting them with two mega attacks isn’t going to
cut it. Plus, there’s a Demon General
with a cool sword forged by Talpa himself from Cye, Sage and Kento’s power
waiting for them too. To use one of my
favorite quotes ever, “You know, for a minute there, I thought we were in
trouble.”
I think the bad guys shined more than the Ronin Warriors
in this set of episodes and im not bothered by that. It’s good to see the teams main rivals back
with new ways to make their lives hell and the introduction of Kayrua was
pretty solid despite her overwhelming skillset.
Anubis being back in action helped balance Ryo and Rowen pretty much
running headfirst into suicide mission to save their friends. The battlefield has changed and it looks like
Ronin Warriors is saving the best for last.
The beginning of the end starts Monday right here at the Gundam Anime
Corner, see ya then.
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