FIF#258-Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers

It’s been decades since five young warriors dawned magical Samurai Armor and stopped a demonic invasion of the Human World.  Now Tokyo waits with baited breath, training new generations of Samurai Troopers for the day when the evil would return, and this time, they’d be ready.  But they aren’t ready enough.  When demons begin pouring into the streets and the chosen team fails horribly, the true successors to the Samurai Armor must unite and stand on the frontlines of a new war against insurmountable odds just like the warriors of old.

 
When I heard that there was a new Ronin Warriors series on the way late last year, I was hesitant but still a bit excited.  The original series still stands as one of the seminal titles that got me into Anime.  Hell I still remember watching it in a rare syndication run years before the show arrives on Toonami in the late 90s/early 2000s.  So what was the new project going to be I wonder: a remake with new animation?  Given the new lease on life classic titles have gotten like Rurouni Kenshin, that’d be cool.  Oh wait…it’s a sequel?  Well that could be…oh wait…no.  After the first episode I have some serious doubts about this one, very serious doubts.
 
Just about everything is wrong with the first episode of this Samurai Troopers sequel from the setup to the characters to the needlessly overly violent action.  Setup: train a new generation of Samurai Troopers for future threats like Talpa and his Dynasty, and theyre government funded.  Unlikely but ok.  Characters:  At one point you kind of get the frustrations of the new team for not being able to unlock their armor when an actual invasion happens.  But when 4/5 of the same batch are seen looting dead bodies and trying to escape the carnage?  Did no body check to see that these candidates aren’t psychopaths who are hungry for glory and violence?  So they aren’t the actual main characters, but this crazy human turned demon is? What? 
 
Finally, the Violence.  Fun Fact: the original Ronin Warriors is one Anime from back in the day that didn’t need to be as heavily censored as Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing when it was first broadcast in the States.  It had action but little if any blood.  The new Samurai Troopers goes super hard on the blood and gore like it’s trying to be the new edgy younger brother who thinks upping the rivers of red will make it cooler and more appealing.  That might work for something fresh and unfamiliar like Chainsaw Man.  But with Samurai Troopers/Ronin Warriors, there’s an expectation.  Wanna be a bit more bloody, ok, but wholesale slaughter?  Nope.
 
Suffice to say, unless I’m really, really, really curious, I’m gonna pass on Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers.  It’s a terrible example of a creative team trying to update and add too much of what they think fans want in a full blown sequel to a classic Anime title…and they get it all wrong right out the gate.  The only reason I might consider a review is simply because back in 2020 I did look at all of Ronin Warriors, the series and the OVAs.  It’s been a while so I’ll remind you two of those OVAs got a 0/10 for various reasons.  Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers would have to really impress the hell out of me to even get a 2/10 if it starts this bad.