The Return of My Very First Anime: Ronin Warriors

Greetings, ladies and gents!  Part three of Flashback February will cover another eighties anime, and a bit of a favorite of mine.  This show may not be very memorable, but those who grew up during the late nineties with the early days of Toonami may remember this show.  It also holds a very special place in my heart, but I’ll get to that later.  For now, let’s armor up for the action packed show, Ronin Warriors.

Ronin Warriors, also known by its Japanese name Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, starts on an ordinary day.  Then, everything changes when the dark forces of the Netherworld quickly take over.  Led by the evil Talpa, he and his four Dark Lords plan to take over the world and also restore Talpa’s own body with the Nine Armors of Virtue.  However, standing in his way are five teenage boys- Ryo, Kento, Cye, Rowan, and Sage- with five of the Nine Armors of Virtue and powerful weapons.  They also gain help from a teacher named Mia Koji, a young boy separated from his parents during the takeover named Yuli, and a mysterious monk called the Ancient One.  Together, the five warriors make it their mission to save humanity from the Netherworld and stop Talpa at all costs.  This anime not only ran a 39 episode show from 1988 to 1989, it also came out with three OVA series within 1989 and well into the early nineties.

This is definitely an eighties anime through and through.  With that much said, these are animes that I often give some leniency to because anime was still under development at the time.  Still, I give Ronin Warriors a 3.5 out of a five star rating.  Again, there is some leniency to that I have to give to this show.  In my opinion, anime before the mid to late nineties was still under development.  So of course animation is always going to be a little under par.  But still, that’s only with animation.  Still, there are some good things that this show has.  The story is pretty entertaining for the most part.  It’s a nice attention grabbing show that keeps viewers wondering what will happen next.  And ladies, it has five hot guys in samurai armor!  What girl otaku doesn’t like that-at the least?  Also, this show does have some pretty big credentials.  The show is said to be created by Hajime Yatate, the mastermind behind the legendary Cowboy Bebop.  Yeah, pretty big deal.  So in short, the show definitely has its high points.  But then again, it does have its low points.

Probably one of the not so fantastic points to this show is probably the story.  Granted, it does have its entertaining moments, but it still could use a little more.  Going back to my leniency on eighties anime, animation is often times not taken into consideration because it’s still pretty rough.  When this is taken into consideration, the story then becomes the focus.  In other words, when I look at an eighties anime, I look at the story, not necessarily the animation.  So, did Ronin Warriors have a spectacular story?  No.  But, it’s not terrible by any means.  It could have been better thought out and developed.  Also, compared to the OVAs, the original show gets blown out of the water, both in story and animation.  Then again, most OVAs tend to be better than the original show.  Still, that’s not to say that the series shouldn’t be seen.  In fact, you would be completely lost with the OVAs if you had not seen the series first.  The series is still a treat for those who like the older shows, and certainly will not be a disappointment!

Now before I close with the usual, I wanted to share a little something about this show.  You may recall at the beginning of this post that this show was a bit of a personal favorite.  Why?  This was actually one of the first anime shows I had ever seen.  Though being seven or eight years old at the time I saw it, I didn’t really know that it was anime until later.  Still, I loved it!  In fact, I had a big crush on Sage for a while!  Two years ago, I re-watched this show from top to bottom, and also saw the OVAs.  To this day, it’s still a pretty darn good show.  So obviously, Ronin Warriors has a very special place in my heart.

So, to close, Ronin Warriors is definitely an eighties anime with action, excitement, and of course, hot teens in armor.  What’s not to love?!  Now, for those who are interested in seeing this show, or perhaps revisiting it, I have seen many of the episodes on YouTube.  Purchasing the show, however, is another story.  I have primarily found any known copies of the show on Amazon.  Still, the number of copies is probably few in number.  Anyways, that ends this week’s review.  This is also my last review for Flashback February, which means next week will be Character of the Month-yes, I’m doing a Character of the Month for Flashback February.  Stay tuned for that and anything else that comes up!

-Hanime on Anime

Ronin Warriors Toonami Promo