Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers

Episode 7

Their base may currently be on rails, but the plotting of Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers feels like it's jumping the tracks sometimes. Last week's episode ended with the surprising return of a now-adult UllyJun, seeming to set up an analysis of the arc that led him to become a dumpy shut-in and how he might overcome that. But no, one vibe check from Nasti and some old-school-anime-art bonding is all it takes to knock Jun out of his funk so he can commune with the Divine World and point the Troopers at the real next plot point. It's a bit jarring, but I won't deny being somewhat relieved that the show opted not to make an entire episode's worth of jokes about Jun's weight gain and depression, breezing past his reintroduction before the opening credits—which both he and Shion have been properly added into, by the way.

However, the plot that Samurai Troopers delivers this week is uneven. Part of this is definitely down to my own personal reactions. Narratives that propose redemption or empathy with abusive parental figures generally can miss me. So Musashi and Yamato, in this episode, grappling with Complicated Feelings™ about Ujihara, the headmaster of their former orphanage, was always going to be an uphill battle for me. That said, I can see, objectively, where Samurai Troopers was coming from on this plot. The whole series thus far has been a story steeped in the connective trauma of generations and the expectations that later ones carry from previous ones. Musashi and Yamato's upbringing informs their current feelings of inferiority as Troopers. With the reveal that all of the human Troopers originated at this orphanage, it adds one more layer of laboring under those expectations and abuses for those characters—and runs parallel to Gai's own ongoing paternal struggles.

Also watch Kamen Rider Build, Shōgo Mutō had a whole thing in there about characters who came from a messed-up orphanage.

The pieces are there for Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers to make its point about the complexities of interfacing with an abusive parent, particularly if there's a divide between them being previously properly loving and their behavior shifting to abuse later on. As well, the death of Ujiyama paints another dividing line: how people hold their parents accountable for abuses in life but can choose to remember the nicer parts once they've passed on. It helps that Yamato and Musashi have different memories of Ujiyama's phases down to the gap in their ages, which accentuates the shared nature of familiar abuse survivorship and subsequent complex grief at the parents' passing. It's conceptually rich in the "dense topics tackled in a way that respects kids" style that I appreciate about Muto's writing.

However, said writing might be trying to smooth over those thorny complexities too much. The big reveal is that Ujiyama really only became abusive because he was being subliminally mind-controlled by the magical mirror he was protecting, along with the orphanage kids. It's a magical solution to absolve him of responsibility for his turn and give Musashi an out for compartmentalizing his feelings. It means there's no way to interface with the complexities of how abuse actually grows out of parents' own feelings, and must be forever intertwined with the memories of their survivors. Worse, it renders Musashi's emotional journey as he wrestles with his memories of Ujiyama as more of a shaggy dog story rather than a proper, satisfying arc.

I know part of me is just grouchy that the show swung for an abusive parent redemption story in the first place, but another part of me is annoyed that they missed after actually getting close. Yoroi-Shinden's use of old music as a storytelling motif returns with well-done recurring usage of "Yume wo Shinjite"...except not only do the unsubbed lyrics very nearly whiff the delivery of its big moment when it arrives, the subtitles even get the song's name wrong as "Yume o Shinjite"! This is one of the biggest songs in Japan ever, guys. It's from friggin' Dragon Quest, get on the ball. But the music in this whole episode, particularly the big fight scene, is just extremely cool overall, actually. There are enough bits like that for me to grab onto to stay engaged with Samurai Troopers at the moment. But from its handling of Jun being cringe despite him barely being here, to the swerves with the story of Ujiyama, I feel like it's jerking me around more than anything.

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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