Ronin Warriors



Ronin Warriors (known as Yoroiden Samurai Troopers in Japan) is a 39-episode anime produced by Sunrise in the late 1980s; it is a Shonen series that centers on a group of young men who don transforming mystical armors. It was designed to capitalise on the success of THE show about young men who don mystical armors -- but with Sengoku flavor! The show was brought over to the US in 1995 as Ronin Warriors and meshed well with the post-Power Rangers wave. The American dub is notable as one of the least Macekred Anime-to-American TV adaptations of its time in terms of cuts; the name changes, on the other hand, are many and varied.

The villain of the show is Master Talpa, supreme lord of the demonic Underworld, who spends most of the First Arc as a floating demonic mask (with an inexplicable-yet-menacing Welsh accent in the American dub). The first episode has him barging into the mortal world and setting up his phantom stronghold. Bearing witness to this horrific event are Bratty Half-Pint Yuli (whose parents are captured during the invasion of Talpa's forces) and Mia Koji, a young student-teacher and researcher of ancient Japanese legends and antiquities. Also witness to this event are five athletic young heroes in colorful armor, one of whom (Ryo) is wandering the city with an enormous white tiger by his side. When Mia and Yuli find themselves threatened by soldiers of Talpa's Dynasty, Ryo and the other young heroes step in to rescue them. Sensing trouble, Talpa casts the young heroes to the four winds for their trouble; Mia and Yuli take it upon themselves to find and reunite the Ronin Warriors so they can prevent The End of the World As We Know It. Opposing the heroes' quest to defeat Talpa are his four powerful warlords, who each have the power to work his will and unleash unspeakable horrors upon the world. (Of course, the heroes have Yuli on their side, so things pretty much even out.)

This series is probably one of the more famous anime of the '90s; with its enjoyably cheesy dub, it helped pave the way for the later anime boom that was to come. It was syndicated on many TV networks and was an early staple of Toonami (where many fans were likely exposed to it). Due to fan demand, Bandai released the entire show on DVD, giving fans both sides of the coin thanks to the existence of double-sided DVDs: on one side of the disc was Ronin Warriors, and on the other was Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (subbed and completely uncut). After the release of the series, Bandai released the OVAs (complete with a new dub) and then eventually released the series and the OVAs together in a huge collector's set. The individual DVDs benefit from having a "flip" cover: one side is the Ronin Warriors cover, and the other side is the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cover, and while both sides share similar layouts, the back-cover text and the logos are in line with each specific version of the show (right down to episode titles and character names).

This series provides examples of the following tropes:
"Sekhmet: Feel my venom, biting into your flesh!"
 * The Abridged Series: A fairly recent addition, actually, and still not beyond its first episode as of...two years in. First part of the first and only episode is right here.'
 * Also, Sage's Mental Notes can be found on Youtube. Not quite an Abridged Series, but very funny.
 * There's also dutchmcgee101's Alternate Ronin Warriors, also on Youtube. Also not quite an abridged series in the strictest sense, but it's worth a look.
 * Accent Adaptation: Rowen, who is from Osaka, is given a New York dialect in the TV series; by the time the first OVA comes out, he has a new voice actor who drops the dialect all together. Cye has a British-English accent to emphasize on his polite nature. Talpa has a Welsh accent just for the hell of it.
 * Air Vent Passageway
 * Alien Sky: Talpa/Arago's castle looms in the sky over Tokyo, surrounded by greenish Ominous Clouds. Those clouds seem to follow the antagonists wherever they go.
 * The sky in the Netherworld is a golden nebula-scape - one of many signs that our heroes aren't in Kansas anymore.
 * All There in the Manual: In-depth background information on the characters and the armors can be found in Japanese publications and official novels written by script writers for the TV series. While general information about the characters can be found on the Internet, good luck finding translations of the novels which feature actual stories about the warriors' home lives.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Shades of this the Warlord Sekhmet/Naaza, though the show never draws attention to it. Not only is Sekhmet the name of a goddess, but his "snake-like" physical traits include large eyes with pink-shadowed lids. A lot of his taunts towards the heroes tend to be a bit suggestive.

"Rowen: It looks like I'm falling for you, Kayura!
 * The English dub may have noticed this and given his character a deep, manly voice to counteract it.
 * Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The Jewel of Life/Heart of the Ancients.
 * Anime Accent Absence: The few foreign characters who appear don't seem to have any trouble understanding or communicating with the Ronin Warriors.
 * Mia (or Nasuti in this case), who was born and raised in France, also speaks without any noticeable accent.
 * Anime First: The two-volume manga that followed was an adaption of the TV series and aimed at a younger male audience. The one volume manga Shin Yoroiden-Samurai Troopers published afterward was based on the TV series but disregarded the events of the OVAs.
 * The Archer: Touma/Rowan had a huge longbow as his weapon.
 * As Long As It Sounds Foreign: The transformation sequences use a stock phrase, "Armor of X! TAO Y!!" where X is the name of the character's armor and Y is their virtue. That "Tao Y" part was invented for the dub, and it's odd in a few ways.
 * The "Tao" part is actually Chinese. The Japanese equivalent of Tao, pronounced Do, is seen in the word Kendo. This could be plain ol' Did Not Do the Research, but considering that the staff went to the effort to give Tao the revised "dao" pronunciation, it seems unlikely.
 * The "Y" part uses the character's original Japanese virtues even though the dub switches their English equivalents around.
 * Actually not. Rowen says "Tao Inochi" and Sage "Tao Chi" -- "Lifeforce" and "Wisdom" respectively.
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Baseball Episode: Occurs in one of the two closing credits of the TV series, and the same scenes are recycled in the end of episode 39.
 * Battle Aura: The nine armors tend to give their wearers this in tense situations.
 * Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon
 * Big Eater: Kento.
 * Bizarrchitecture: One of the hallways in the Netherworld transforms into Escher's famous room.
 * Blade Run
 * Body Horror: Just check out the manga. The citizens Arago kidnapped had it easier in the anime.
 * Bottomless Magazines: Rowan. Justified since his armor magically generates an infinite supply of arrows.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy:
 * Mukala qualifies for this
 * By the Power of Greyskull / Calling Your Attacks: The series makes extensive use of Stock Footage for transformations and signature attacks, so
 * Cast Full of Pretty Boys
 * Catapult Nightmare: Ryo does this a couple of times.
 * Cherry Blossoms: Seen during the armoring up sequences.
 * The Chosen Many: In episode 31, Badamon informs the three Dark Warlords
 * Code Name: The four Warlords have these. You didn't think those were their real names, did you?
 * The Ronins could also be considered to have these as sometimes they are simply referred to as their armor name.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: The five Ronin armors are all bright, primary colors. The Warlord's armors tend towards darker colors.
 * Combined Energy Attack: The heroes combine their powers to form the White Inferno armor.
 * Convection, Schmonvection: The shows twists this around so much. When the heroes are split up, Ryo is found in an active volcano. His power is fire based, so the lava makes his mystic armor stronger, but it gives off heat. When Anubis throws two unarmored characters into the volcano, Ryo dives after them but realizes that his armor's heat will kill them if he grabs them, but the fact they're in a volcano doesn't bother him.
 * Well, it was a bit of a tough choice: let them fry in the volcano or fry them himself. In the end, Ryo loses the armor in order to save them.
 * Conservation of Ninjitsu: In the first episode, the Warriors have trouble with a single Dynasty Mook. Later in the series, they're massacring armies of them. To be fair, occasional (unsuccessful) attempts to subvert this trope occured.
 * The first episode itself could be a subversion, as that particular mook was using Anubis's weapon.
 * It was also explicitly stated that the more the Warriors fight, the stronger they become. That may very well have been their first battle (with the Dynasty, at least).
 * In the original Japanese version, Ryo states that the fight was the first time using his Finishing Move.
 * Teamwork also comes into play later on in the show; the Ronin spend the bulk of the first episode in a pissing contest with each other.
 * Costume Porn: This show loves showing off the completely kickass armors the heroes trot around in. Specifically, it shows photos of them posing. Que the Fangirl Squees.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Kento.
 * Dark Action Girl: Lady Kayura.
 * The Dark Side: The armors of both the Ronin Warriors and the Dark Warlords can be used for either good or evil depending on the will of the user; if evil thoughts cloud one's mind, they can be turned to working for Talpa. (The dub script had several Shout-Out lines to Star Wars in recognition of this.)
 * This is due to the armors' origins:
 * Deadly Dodging
 * Demonic Possession: This happened to Mia's grandfather.
 * Dismantled MacGuffin: The nine armors, which . Inverted, as they actually do something.
 * Elemental Powers: The five Ronin armors are based directly on classical elements: Fire, Earth, Light/Lightning, Air/Void, and Water. The Warlord armors are based on the seasons as well as creatures: Spring/Ogre(Oni), Summer/Spider, Autumn/Serpent, Winter/Wolf.
 * Eleventh-Hour Superpower: The Armor Of Inferno.
 * The Empire: The Evil Dynasty
 * The End of the World As We Know It: Tokyo becomes a ghost metropolis in the first episode and most locales are bereft of Muggles.
 * Epic Fail: Episode 6: Sage tries to break open the boulder Kento is trapped in with his sword, but bounces off. Episode 11: The heroes attempt to transform, but nothing happens because the area had a Power Nullifier.
 * Episode 16: Ryo and the other Ronins storm Talpa's palace, complete with Theme Music Power-Up. He then proceeds to execute his signature attack on the castle in order to force Talpa out.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Literally..
 * Specifically, it forces him to hold the Idiot Ball
 * Evil Feels Good:
 * Evil Is Dumb: Anubis becomes more powerful, with only a Kayura and Talpa himself being legitimate threats to him. It's justified, though, as he's the strongest of the four Warlords, and becomes even more powerful after he.
 * Evil Twin: Red Torrent and The Black Armor of Inferno.
 * Executive Meddling: Playmates Toys, the manufacturer for the toys, insisted the show make up a new character for the Inferno armor version of Ryo, thinking the target audience would get confused why there are two Ryo figures. This resulted in the dub-only character of Hariel.
 * Eyecatch: In the original Japanese version, different eyecatches were used for different story arcs.
 * Faceless Goons: Faceless because they're just disembodied spirits in armor, save for Talpa's Four Dark Warlords (who are human).
 * Fighting Down Memory Lane: Basically the whole concept behind the Message OVA.
 * Five-Bad Band
 * Bigger Bad: Talpa
 * The Big Bad: Anubis
 * The Dragon: Sekhmet
 * The Evil Genius: Dais
 * The Brute: Cale
 * The Dark Chick: Lady Kayura
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Ryo
 * The Lancer: Rowan/Cye
 * The Smart Guy: Rowan/Sage. More arguably Sage, as he's usually the first one to suggest a plan, find the traps, and see through the illusions.
 * The Big Guy: Kento
 * The Chick: Mia
 * Foe Yay: The official Ronin/Warlord rivalries are sources. The rivalry between Anubis/Shuten and Ryo breaks the mold, but takes the Foe Yay to the next level. Rowan and Kayura definitely had their moments of this too.
 * Foe Yay: The official Ronin/Warlord rivalries are sources. The rivalry between Anubis/Shuten and Ryo breaks the mold, but takes the Foe Yay to the next level. Rowan and Kayura definitely had their moments of this too.

Kayura: You know I'll only break your heart!"

"Rowan: Lady Kayura... she's a girl!"
 * It doesn't help that both of their voice actors share the same last name (possibly married?).
 * Follow the Leader: Five guys wearing armor? Saint Seiya, anyone?
 * Four Is Death: The Four Dark Warlords.
 * A possible heroic version is the Inferno armor. To use it, Ryo needs to absorb the energies of any four of the other eight mystic armors.
 * Fridge Brilliance: Why can Kayura handle just about anyone save ? Because.
 * Also, why is the final battle with Talpa such a Tear Jerker?
 * Full Potential Upgrade: Ryo eventually needed new swords to go along with the Inferno Armor.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: One of Kayura's transformation sequences leaves her temporarily, yet noticeably nude. And yes, this episode was aired on Toonami multiple times.
 * Good Weapon, Evil Weapon: All of the armors.
 * Gratuitous Japanese: Mostly averted as the Japanese comes in small, managable bites. The TV series dub pronunciation of Ryo (Rye-oh) plays it straight, though.
 * Grievous Harm With a Body: When your opponent is an evil spirit in a giant suit of armor, you gotta expect he'll grab one of your party and use him to club the rest of you...
 * Heroic BSOD: Most of our heroes suffer from one at least once, but the most notable case occurs when Dais successfully tricks Kento into thinking his armor is slowly turning him evil (and this was before the Ronin Warriors learn of . Yuli snaps him out of it.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: The Ancient, and later
 * Heel Face Turn:.
 * Hotblooded Sideburns: Ryo, Kento, Cye, and Cale.
 * Seiji and Nasuti have minor flirtation in YST which is completely removed in the dub. Rowen is also part of a fan preferred couple with Lady Kayura, despite the fact she is physically twelve. However, both of these pairings as well as Ryo's relationship with Luna are often ignored by fanfiction writers in favor of homosexual relationships.
 * The Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga calls the series a "rite of passage" for Yaoi Fangirls.
 * I Have the High Ground: Practically all of the warriors.
 * Image Song
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: Many fans didn't believe the show would ever be put out on DVD. And while the entire animated series was eventually released on DVD in the early 2000s, within the last few years, Bandai Entertainment decided not to retain the rights to the show.
 * Last of Her Kind: Lady Kayura,
 * Little Miss Badass: Lady Kayura is physically twelve years old, but only a handful of the cast can fight her and not get stomped into the ground. The final battle could've ended in half the time if the writers didn't abruptly take her out of the plot.
 * Limited Special Collectors Ultimate Edition: In 2003 when the DVDs were released in Japan, fans got their hands on posters and limited edition anniversary cards (the latter was only if fans sent in special request cards on time).
 * Limited Wardrobe: When not in their armors, the Ronin are always seen wearing the same civilian clothes. Except for the ending,
 * Mia and Yuli also tend to always wear the same thing, even if they have access to other clothes.
 * The Load: Yuli and Mia. Mia's case smacks of Real Women Never Wear Dresses as she makes appreciable contributions to the team, but not through combat. And by the end of Message, Yuli manages to start taking his own levels in badass.
 * Losing the Team Spirit:
 * Mad Scientist: Shikaisen's cohort in the first OVA is simply referred to as "The Mad Scientist."
 * Master of Illusion: Dais. He puts the nin in ninja.
 * Meaningful Name: Many of the character's names were changed, leading to unfortunate subversions, while others were left intact.
 * Subverted:
 * Anubis - Originally Shutendouji, an oni from Japanese folklore. Guess what armor he wears.
 * Cale - Originally Anubis. His association with darkness and wolves paralleled the Egyptian god's association with jackals and the black of decay.
 * Sekhmet - Originally Naaza. Naaza/naga is a Japanese word for serpent and his armor is snake-like.
 * Dais - Originally Rajura, being a Japanese word for a type of spider, and guess what? He wears spider-like armor.
 * Played straight with the last names of the protagonists, who share the last names and are all descended from famous Japanese warriors. Sage Date from Masamune Date, etc.
 * Merchandise-Driven
 * 2009 and 2011 have revealed brand new Ronin/Trooper action figures.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Big time.
 * No Export for You: Good luck finding the manga.
 * Althought the pages are not in English, the manga can be found here with summaries in English.
 * Noble Demon: Lord Saber-Stryke
 * Non-Human Sidekick: White Blaze and Black Blaze.
 * Not Quite Dead: Talpa and the Warlords
 * Anubis comes back wearing the Ancient One's attire
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Rowan/Touma is said to have an IQ of 250 (and his virtue is originally Wisdom), and yet he tends to make the dumbest remarks and decisions(such as incriminating himself in the 1st OVA).


 * That comment might have been made because of Rowen's surprise that Kayura's a young girl instead of a full-grown lady like her title suggests. Also, that was said the first time he had actually seen her-previously he had only heard her voice and seen her silhouette.
 * Intelligence and common sense are not related in any way.
 * However, wisdom and common sense tend to go hand-in-hand.
 * This could also be a result of Good Bad Translation: it's handled a little more gracefully in the original, where Touma expresses surprise that Shuten and Kayura are human as opposed to the dub's "You're a man!"/"She's a girl!".
 * Official Couple: Mukala and Nadia, though the majority of the North American fandom tend to forget the OVAs exist and focus on shipping the Ronin Warriors with Mia and Kayura, or with each other, or original female characters.
 * Older Than They Look: Inverted with Lady Kayura who's actually younger than she looks. She looks like she's in her late teens, but is physically 12 years old.
 * Depending on how you interpret their physical ages versus how long they've actually been alive, the Warlords and Kayura can both invert this and play it straight -- Anubis is physically 17, but has been alive for centuries thanks to Talpa.
 * One-Man Army: Each of the Ronin is capable of laying waste to countless Dynasty soldiers.
 * "On the Next...": Left out of the English dub and DVDs for the TV series, yet left intact for the OVAs.
 * The Other Darrin: A rather extreme, albeit brief example, occurs in the American dub. According to several sources, the entire primary cast had head colds when they were recording the first couple of episodes, and the studio had to use temporary replacements; this explains the Vocal Evolution witnessed between episodes 1 (primary cast), 2 (the replacements), and 3 (primary cast).
 * The OVA series also makes do with replacing a few of the characters' voices.
 * Painful Transformation: Watch anytime Ryo assumes either of his armors, seems pretty painful to him. The others as well to a lesser extent. but maybe YMMV.
 * Definitely in pain when he's.
 * Parental Abandonment: Yuli, briefly, although he gets them back later on. Also, all of the Warriors. They're only 14, people.
 * Passing the Torch: Manga only
 * In the spinoff manga, Shin Yoroiden-Samurai Troopers
 * The Power of Friendship
 * Powered Armor: Subverted, since the armors operate on magic rather than technology. However, they do share similar qualities in that they can withstand intense heat, allow breathing underwater, and possibly even fly (Strata).
 * Confirmed in the Tenkuden Drama CD: it details the incident where Touma first used Tenku to fly.
 * Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Kento can't summon his Armor of Hardrock after Talpa tells him (falsely) that the armor is inherently evil.
 * Recruit Teenagers With Attitude: Hoo boy, do they ever. It's especially bad in the first episode.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Well, it could be argued that
 * Rewarding Vandalism: In the second episode, Mia and the Ronin Warriors are seen stealing food from subway vending machines. And yes, they get away with it.
 * To be fair, they're in an empty city and most likely have no hope of getting food by any other means.
 * Ronin: Averted. Despite the group's name, there is no indication they are former vassals of a feudal lord.
 * One could argue that
 * A Ronin is a 'master-less samurai' (literal meaning is 'wave-tossed man'). While the term does typically refer to a samurai who had a master and then lost him/her, the meaning has become somewhat garbled, in that it could also refer to a samurai who never had a master in the first place. Ronin are also frequently portrayed as being either bodyguards or mercenaries.
 * You could even go so far as to say that the Ancient One is their master, and that our heroes didn't become true Ronin until To justify why they were always called Ronin, the Ancient One had a tendency to do all his work behind-the-scenes, giving them the appearance of being master-less.
 * Required Secondary Powers: As powerful as the White Armor is, Ryo's Wildfire swords aren't able to handle that power, requiring Ryo to get the more potent Soul Swords Of Fervor to fight on.
 * Roof Hopping
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: Talpa and the Evil Dynasty, which were sealed by the Ancient over 1000 years ago.
 * Self-Constructed Being: Talpa
 * Shirtless Scene: Ryo after his nightmares. Also happens to the other four
 * There's also Lady Kayura during one of her transformation sequences.
 * Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Averted because the series begins before the Japanese school year officially starts. The OVAs conveniently take place during school vacations.
 * Simple Staff: The Ancient One carries a khakkhara (monk staff), complete with its characteristic rings. However, it wasn't always a staff; back when Talpa first tried to conquer the Earth, it took the form of a sword with the rings around the hilt.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Mia and Kayura are the only two females in the main series.
 * And on opposite sides, no less. That is,
 * Sparkling Stream of Tears: Episode 39 of the TV series and episode 2 of Gaiden are quite sparkly.
 * Spirit World: The Nether Realm. Is said to have been peaceful before Talpa took control... sounds familiar.
 * Stock Footage: The series is probably one of the Grand Champions of this.
 * Story Arc
 * Super Mode: The Inferno Armor.
 * Super Strength: All of the fighters have great levels of superhuman strength, though it's stated in official canon sources that Kento is physically the strongest.
 * Then there's Mukala
 * Team Spirit
 * Ten Minute Retirement: After the second OVA,
 * Totally Radical: Good lord, the English dub. Just see for yourself
 * Transformation Sequence
 * Transformation Is a Free Action because either the enemies are willing to wait and fight a fully armored Ronin to get a better challenge out of the battle, or possibly the actual armoring up sequences only take mere seconds in the real world.
 * And subverted in the third episode: Ryo tries to take the stance to get his full armor back on.  is having none of that.
 * True Companions: The Ronins form this as almost all of them come from various broken homes.
 * 24-Hour Armor: Subverted; while the Ronin and Warlords wear their full armor during battles, they wear smaller, form-fitting "underarmor" the majority of the time.
 * Weapon of Choice: All of the main cast has unique weaponry; katana, yari (spear), kusarigana (sickle-chain), nodachi (two-handed sword), yami (longbow), and many more.
 * Justified in two cases: Shin's family traditionally trained in the yari and bo, and Seiji's family trains owns a kendo dojo. Admittedly, their associated weapons (trident and greatsword) don't quite fit, but the training is there.
 * The Vamp: Lady Kayura, so very much.
 * The Worf Effect: This happened more often once the White Armor showed up. The Saber Stryke arc justified this as Ryo's normal swords were getting progressively damaged from channeling the White Armor's power.
 * Worthy Opponent: Saber Stryke and, to an extent, Anubis.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: This becomes a developing theme throughout the series.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Rowan (blue), Naria from the second OVA (blue), Sekhmet (green), and Dais (White-Haired Pretty Boy).
 * Lady Kayura fits neatly into Shiny Midnight Black; Kento and Anubis/Cale are more hair color dissonant versions of the same.
 * Sage has an Implausible Hair Color, especially in YST.
 * Your Mom: In the heat of battle against Cale, Ryo slings the insult "your mom wears army boots" at Cale.
 * Younger Than They Look: Lady Kayura is well developed for a 12 year old.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Mia used the belted dress-shorts and boots version.