onin Warriors, Known in Japan as Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (鎧伝サムライトルーパー, Yoroiden Samurai Torūpā,? lit. "Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers"), is a Japanese manga and anime series created by Hajime Yatate. The anime was produced and animated by Sunrise, and aired across Japan on Nagoya Television from April 30, 1988 to March 4, 1989 and has a total of 39 episodes.
Ronin Warriors was produced by Graz Entertainment and distributed by Cinar, and it was recorded by the Ocean Group. Ronin Warriors first aired on American television during the summer of 1995 and subsequently appeared on the Sci-Fi Channel, Fox, and later, Cartoon Network. The series was released on DVD in 2002, including the original Japanese version with English subtitles on the reverse side of the disc.
The opening and ending sequences and the eyecatches were replaced with new ones, and the Japanese title cards were removed; there were no substantial cuts to the bodies of the episodes and the episodes retained most of the original music.
Three direct-to-video sequels were produced: Gaiden (Begins), Kikōtei Densetsu (The Legend of the Inferno Armor) and Messēji (Message). There is also a YST manga as well as numerous novels and audio dramas based on the anime. While all the sequels have been released on DVD, the manga and audio dramas have not been made available in English.
Premise
Talpa, the demon lord of the Netherworld, is bent on conquering the mortal world. Standing against Talpa and his four Dark Warlords are the five Ronin Warriors, each in possession of mystical armor and weapons. They are assisted by Mia Koji, a young student-teacher, and a mysterious warrior-monk known only as The Ancient.
Legend of Hariel
A character conceived in the dubbing of Samurai Troopers, Hariel was created to prevent viewers from being confused when Ryo called upon the powers of the five armors to create the Inferno. Hariel's origins are also considered to be a request by the toy companies that made the Ronin Warrior action figures so consumers would not be confused by two versions of Ryo dressed in the Wildfire armor and the Inferno armor.
According to the character Badamon, Hariel is said to be the 'last wearer of the armor of Inferno' and that he was both Dark Warlord and Ronin Warrior. He is considered to be a great warrior and possibly haunts the white armor with his life force, making it possible that Ryo could be possessed by Hariel while wearing the white armor and making him a dangerous threat to the Dynasty.
In the original Japanese version, there was no "Hariel". The Sun Yoroi, Kikoutei, was formed from the souls of all five Samurai Troopers fused into a single being. It took some time for Ryo to gain control of Kikoutei, which at first was something of a berserker. According to some accounts, the original ending of Yoroiden-Samurai Troopers involved the destruction of all five Troopers, with Jun ("Yulie") finally defeating Arago ("Talpa").[citation needed] However, the series was popular and the creators then repeated the second-from-last episode, giving them time to reanimate the last two episodes and creating the super-fusion Kikoutei armor as a deus ex machina to save the Troopers.
The Heart of Ancients/Jewel of Life Legend
The English dub/original name of the stone used to bind the power of the Nether Realm. In both versions, this stone, a purple magatama rested in an ancient temple at the bottom of a lake. The reformed warlord Anubis/Shuten used the power of the Ancients/Kaos staff to reach it.
According to the character Badamon, the Jewel of Life is one of the three weapons that could destroy the Nether Realm. The Armor of Inferno, the Soul Swords of Fervor, and the Jewel of Life.
Though most of its powers are unknown and only a few have been seen in the show, the Jewel has the power to create a shield, blind enemies, destroy the spirits possessing soldier's armors, banish Netherworld priests, and for a short time, seal Talpa's power to keep him from defending himself against the final attacks of the Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers.
One considered use of the gem was to prevent Ryo from dying in the final attack when he was sucked into Talpa's body in the last battle. The Jewel came to life at the same time the Ronin Warriors went to attack Talpa and saved Ryo from being killed by his friend's weapons.
The Jewel took the place of the Ronin Warriors in the second half of the TV series as a means to protect Mia and Yulie.
The Armor
When Talpa was defeated in a previous attempt to conquer the human world, his spirit was sent to the Netherworld, but his armor, which was charged with demonic power, somehow remained behind. In order to prevent Talpa from returning to the human world, The Ancient diffused it into nine separate suits of armor.
In the original Japanese version, each set of armor is infused with one of the Confucian, or Bushido, Virtues: Jin (Righteousness), Gi (Justice), Rei (Courtesy), Chi (Intellect), Shin (Faith), Chuu (Loyalty), Tei (Obedience), Kou (Reverence for elders), and Nin (Tolerance). Two of these were changed for the American version: Chi became Inochi (Life), and Rei became Chi. Kou is translated as Piety, and Nin as Serenity.
The nine sets of armor have a number of special properties and they can be put on in an instant by calling out the name of the armor and its associated Virtue. For example, Ryo dons his Wildfire armor by calling out "Armor of Wildfire, Dao Jin!" In the Japanese version, the command used to summon the armor is "Busou (armor name)!"
In the English version, the Ronins say the phrase "Dao" followed by their kanji when they are calling their armors. For instance, Ryo would say "Dao Jin!". Literally translated, it would mean "The way of Virtue." It, therefore, becomes an appropriate description of Ryo himself, since by calling the armor, he is following the path of virtue. "Dao" was taken from the native Chinese religion of "Daoism". Also, if Ryo were to say Busou Rekka ("rekka" being the Japanese word for "wildfire"), the literal translation would be "To Arms, Wildfire!" or "Arm Wildfire!"
The armor also enhances physical strength and endurance, for example increasing lower-body strength to allow the wearer to run at high speed and jump great distances or allowing the user to ignore harsh environmental conditions such as lack of air, or extremes of heat and pressure. Each set of armor also has a unique fighting technique, typically referred to as hissatsu waza, which would mean something like "Critical Technique" or some such in English. It is later revealed that the power of the armor is known as 弾動力(Dandouryoku). Dandou is the Japanese word for the science of ballistics and ryoku is the word for "power" or "strength". Nasti then comments that the power of the "white armor" should probably be called 超弾動(Choudandou). This literally means "Super Ballistic" or "Ultra Ballistic". When Ryou is in the Solar Armor (輝煌帝, Kikoutei) his technique then becomes 超弾動双炎斬 (Choudendou Souenzan), the "Ultra Ballistic Twin Flame Slash". Each of the five Troopers becomes capable of enhancing their techniques in this way eventually.
Each of the five Ronin armor sets (Wildfire, Torrent, Hardrock, Strata, and Halo) have elemental affinities: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Light. Each armor can draw power from its respective element to give the wearer a power boost.
The four Warlord armor sets each have an affinity for one of the seasons: Cruelty with Spring, Illusion with Summer, Venom with Autumn, and Corruption with Winter. Each set also represent a different animal: Cruelty is an Ogre, Illusion is a Spider, Venom is a Snake, and Corruption is a Jackal or Wolf.
