Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers

Episode 10

I've liked Mirei a lot. She's been a consistent bright spot in the thoroughly inconsistent Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers. Just this episode features her dressing in gyaru style, getting wasted, and ranting about how much she likes tying people up. She's great, which means it was probably only inevitable that she wasn't long for the world in this series. Ryusei's axing on account of how cool he was was more telegraphed from his position at the beginning, so I couldn't let myself get that attached. But Mirei's now-seemingly imminent demise feels like more of a knife-twist. It's clearly the point, and means the show is functionally hitting the emotional resonance it's striving for, but still. Dang.

Granted, Mirei still hasn't actually been killed off as this episode cliffhanger-cuts to credits, so there's still a chance of an escape clause. On the other hand, it means that, instead of the tragedy of Mirei being fully resolved within this episode's arc, it might be awkwardly amended early in the next episode. Yoroi-Shinden's pacing is never beating the allegations. But for what is here, it's a strong effort from this show.

I'd honestly already guessed from the ominous episode preview and "Sacrifice" title last week that this episode might wind up with Mirei being taken out. So Samurai Troopers does cleverly avoid making things too obvious too quickly as it gets underway. Mirei even had some death-flag dialogue with Yamato, but because the show does its now-trademark holding of this info behind a flashback until right before the relevant moment, it avoids making things apparent too early and turning the proceedings into a dread-cliche waiting game. Dread still builds up around Mirei's transformation and confrontation with the Troopers, pointedly mirroring what happened with Ryusei. But it feels more naturalistic, with the flashback to her dialogue with Yamato used more to codify her character and add depth to her actions in the moment instead. It's an uncommon win for this show's approach to structure! It does mean that this week's classic rock song, Misato Watanabe's "My Revolution" also winds up held back ahead of the foreshadowing, but so also is the way of this show.

The confrontation with Mirei is also framed as a 'challenge' following up on the preceding one that Ramaga sets up for the Troopers. Now, these kinds of tests capping off a training loop have been a fixture of Yoroi-Shinden for most of its run, as the boys master things like their armor, their special attacks, and coming to grips with the controlling powers of the sacred treasures. This trial-based approach to growth and arcs could be similarly glimpsed in (what else) Kamen Rider Build, and it definitely works better in a longer series like that (or indeed, the original Samurai Troopers) where there's more breathing room for the characters and the major peaks they're surmounting. It thus feels more repetitive here, as getting to use their Supreme Arts was already something touched on for the Troopers, so Ramaga throwing this challenge at them to master them in an illusory world separate from the virtual one they already trained in feels like a redundant loop-around.

Again, a bit of self-awareness about where the plot is at this point helps it out. The growth spurred for the Troopers in this case is specifically acknowledging what a disaster of a team they've been—structurally true for the show as much as it has been for their character dynamics. The writing has been loosey-goosey enough about "embodying the ideals of samurai" that it could be argued this group is only slightly better than the fake-out team from the beginning of the show.

Now that I think about it, that whole plot point makes less sense the further the show gets away from it and into elements like "The Troopers were all orphans who were predestined to be part of the team" and "Nasti was being manipulated by the jewel to gather Troopers and send them into the Demon World."

Yoroi-Shinden is going to be a weird show to assess as a whole after all that, but on an episodic level, this particular point passes the vibes test. The current team of Troopers is a discordant group of inconsistent weirdos—the messiness of their dynamic has always been a point. And if they don't embody true samurai ideals, they do still have the baseline bonds and morals of a kids' show superhero team, which are earnest and worthwhile for what they are. It works on the level of bluntly articulating important subjects for the youths that Muto's writing usually succeeds in. And with these declarations, the boys doing their Supreme Arts in unarmored human form gives the whole thing the air of a Super Sentai finale.

It's cool enough on its own, but as I said, rather skewed in the big picture and stymied by not knowing precisely how Mirei's situation will feel once resolved. Even an awareness of its messiness and pacing issues can't fully save Yoroi-Shinden from the effects of its messiness and pacing issues. Compared to how frustrated I was with the show a few weeks back, I'm at least back to wanting to like it right now.

Rating:

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Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris loves transforming heroes, but hasn't been able to make time for Toei's stuff recently, so he'll settle for following these Warriors what are Ronin. Follow him on his BlueSky if you're interested in his opinions on other niche nerdery.

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