Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers

Episode 6

Perhaps unsurprisingly, things turn out a bit uneven for the Samurai Troopers with one member of the team dead. Feeling like an ostensible finish to an arc as it did, that last episode still had to end on an obligatory cliffhanger that continued straight into the escalations of this week's entry. Thus appropriately titled "RESTART," this episode shuffles elements around to give things another soft reboot. There's growth here, both preloaded by Ryusei and doled out by his apparent successor Shion, and it's generally good. The pacing just makes it feel more like disconnected parts of episodes rather than a whole unto itself. There's not even a classic Japanese rock song in it.

Yoroi-Shinden does get some nostalgic pop-offs in other ways, though. Just starting this episode by running old footage of the classic Samurai Troopers is a neat way to grab attention. Plus it really is purposeful in transitioning to new-style animation of the old Troopers and leading into fresh revelations about what happened to them. Obviously Ryo didn't actually turn heel of his own free will, with Ramaga instead just doing his body-surf possession thing to him. But it still does a neat job of uniting the generational struggle embodied by Yoroi-Shinden, as Gai is now fighting both his dad and the superhero he inherited his mantle (or armor) from.

It's a suitably dramatic escalation to arrive at, and it's almost immediately undercut by Samurai Troopers reminding viewers that it is still, in fact, a cartoon, with Ramaga letting the heroes live and retreating to gift them seven extra days of training to pull off a win. It's honestly to the credit of Shōgo Mutō's writing that this kind of contrivance feels like a swerve, since so much of the narrative of the anime otherwise felt more grounded in its gritty naturalism, magic demon-slaying armor and virtual reality training dimensions aside. With that in mind it's not a bad development—it's par for the course for this flavor of boys' battling show. My issue is more with the line it draws through the structure.

Whipping the remaining Troopers into shape naturally necessitates an outsider approach, and with Ryusei gone Shion is obvious as the choice to bring this. I like Shion! He's got cool fashion sense, and the way he was introduced into the show and led to where he is now give him a "Sixth Ranger" vibe despite theoretically always being meant as part of the core team. 'Theoretically' I say as a contingency, since the OP for this show still hasn't replaced the dear, departed Ryusei. Shion is sharing space with him in the ED, and he dons his green armor in this episode, so it's almost certainly a given.

Still, it puts Shion in an odd place in this episode, being the player the narrative focuses on as needing to bring the Troopers together, when he was an outsider with little interest in them before. It's understandable he's doing it for the sake of Ryusei, but it's still odd to see him propped up as the most super-awesome, guiding member of this team, like he doesn't have any training or improvement he needs to pursue on his own. The writing does make an effort to ease the transition, with Shion taking his cues from Ryusei's notes and being guided (as they all are) by the green guy's enduring spirit. That I'll roll with, as deceased characters who nonetheless continue to have tangible impact on the story are one of my personal favorite narrative devices.

Thing is, it makes Ryusei feel like the one the team is interacting with more compared to Shion himself. It is appropriate in places, I guess, given the Troopers' performance makes clear how much Ryusei was carrying the team. And Gai's training plotline, which feels like its own disparate thread in this episode, also comes at the behest of Ryusei's posthumous guidance. It's also probably the most compelling part, which indicates how uneven the Shion stuff is and how much meat there still is on the bone of Ryusei/Gai interactions. It's decidedly clever that Ryusei could only bring himself to employ a tough-love approach to Gai's training once he wasn't even alive anymore. And it's a powerful way to see Gai surmount his anti-human prejudices and confront his murderous tendencies like never before. I honestly didn't expect them to bring back the faux-Troopers from the first episode (lord knows they didn't deserve it), but that really shows how far Gai has come. And how worthy he's become in all that time.

Like I said, it's an episode of Yoroi-Shinden that's all over the place, though it covered bits I like all the way through. They even took a moment for the political elements this week, with the line about the government being less interested in aiding survivors of the most recent attack. I love the momentary close-ups on Nasti's face accentuating how tired she is after all this time, which jibes with this episode showing audiences how long she's grown into this professional leadership role. Mirei had some good moments too, including her grieving for Ryusei. But only making momentary time for all those bits speaks to the unevenness of this episode's plotting. Plus I have no idea what to think about where they're going with the reveal of the overweight, shut-in Jun leading into next week's episode. The future for Samurai Troopers as a story feels as uncertain as it does for the Samurai Troopers themselves. Hopefully there's still a strong spirit guiding them.

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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