Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers

Episode 11

See, this is what I was talking about! Bumping Mirei's tragic execution into this next episode to be cleared early before moving on just absolutely saps the climactic gravitas from the moment. Never mind the fact that this winds up also serving as the debut showcase for the big, cool, final power-up that is the Armor of the Supreme Emperor. Now, tying the appearance of a shiny new toy in with a heavy character moment like this is another known maneuver in Shōgo Mutō's playbook, but that doesn't mean that play always goes off without a hitch. In fact this one totally feels like it fumbles the ball as they're closing in on the endzone. Just awkwardly finish off the emotional arc around Mirei then let the characters head up the stairs to the final boss. See ya.

"Perfunctory" is the best way to describe this seemingly penultimate episode of the season, which is never a great thing for an episode. So many elements feel like ticking obligatory boxes as the writing just realizes it's heading for a finish. I was just questioning how the political undertones of Yoroi-Shinden seemed to have totally tapered off, only for the cynical politician guy from the beginning of the show to call up Nasti and randomly declare that he likes the Troopers and is proud of them now. The reason that's there? Because that guy, plus a bunch of others, gets unceremoniously demonified a little later in the episode, so they felt the need to blurt out that kind of character growth for him.

So it goes for the aforementioned bunch of others, the side-est of side characters, whom Gai even calls out he has barely any connection to. On the one hand, him being horrified by their inhuman transformation speaks to his developed empathy for humanity itself—that's a key part of his character arc the whole show has followed. But on the other hand, it still calls out how nothing these people were, serving only as sacrifices in a show where plenty of other characters have already been sacrificed (Ryusei, Mirei) or had their characterizations sacrificed (Nasti, Jun) at the altar of the alleged development of the central Troopers who haven't gotten much for them anyway just due to the packed-together pacing of Yoroi-Shinden.

This episode tries, a little bit, I'll admit. Partway through, right after merking Mirei, the boys are back to bantering and joking in a way that feels positively dissonant, but that turns out to be intentional. Yamato forcing himself despite being hit hard adds a little dash of retroactive drama to him, since "likes Mirei" made up roughly 50% of his personality previously. And all the extras getting transformed into demons is a decently calculated plan by Ramaga—I'm amused at him fully understanding the special heroism powers the Supreme Emperor Armor runs on. It makes sense for a guy who's been riding around in the body of the original Good Guy all this time.

So it's not that the show is devoid of ideas, it's just that it lacks the time, space, and structure to articulate them effectively. Case in point: the Armor of the Supreme Emperor. This is that most tenuous type of team-show power-up, which strips the other members of their abilities to boost the central leader figure to singularly fight on their behalf. So the boys all stand around in their underoos while Gai does all the work while narration assures us the whole squad is "doing their best" in this climactic situation. It's awkward, so maybe it's for the best when the plot twist is that Ramaga steals the armor for himself and they have to fight him together anyway.

The structure of defeating Ramaga is equally jumbled. I understand this legacy series probably was never going to actually kill off the classic hero of the original franchise, but it stings just a bit that Ryo is the one guy where the Troopers figure out the proper way to use the sacred sword to cleanly cleave him from his possession instead of killing him. Ryusei and Mirei have every right to be salty if their ghosts are watching all this. But then of course Ramaga turns out to have another health bar even though possessing someone to exist is kind of his whole thing, just so the writing can chart an easy path to a team-up with Ryo for the final final fight next week. Like I said, perfunctory.

Some of this is all explosive and colorful as it ought to be, but the rocky road for so much of Samurai Troopers has absolutely taken the sheen off of other parts of it. Even the fancy CGI for the Secret Arts attacks looks crumbier than usual in this episode somehow. I guess a cynical regard for everything it's done is to be expected when this show has cynically killed off or dumped all over any characters or concepts I'd previously been interested in. Even the new Troopers themselves can hardly be assed to engage with the emotional beats of this episode beyond Yamato's momentary acknowledgement of his sadness or Gai admitting that he has, in fact, undergone a character arc in this show. It feels like a plate of neon-armored spaghetti thrown at the wall over the past three months, shattering people like plates in their wake as they saw what would stick on the way to this big cool moment of the old main character and the new main character standing side-by-side saying their catchphrases together. Who knows how things will actually shake out next week, but I can't say I expect it to mean or matter much. Maybe there will at least be a cool song.

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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