©SUNRISE

The "gritty reboot"—a pop-cultural phenomenon ingrained off and on throughout history. Anime is no different. Just the past years have brought viewers such examples as a dark, deconstructed take on the Super Sentai setup in Go, Go, Loser Ranger!, for however well that turned out. So the time was coming, apparently, to do a follow-up to 1988’s Yoroi Den Samurai Troopers (aka Ronin Warriors), and the production powers-that-be seemingly saw fit to tackle the tropes from that angle. Your heroes will turn out to be naught but cynical poster boys for hire, who would happily bury you under rubble and steal your stuff before they consider saving you from monsters.

That, of course, is only the opening salvo of this new Samurai Troopers, as the fake-out heroes end up messily murdered by the end of the first episode, but the real replacement is hardly a reconstructive subversion. Gai is an actual demon, indulging his own self-aggrandizing brand of violence in his superpowered smackdowns, kept in check only by a shock collar on the team’s mobile train base after their home proper was taken out in an earlier demon attack. He’s not here to help, and his teammates, who might be more predisposed to it, are made up of rejects and backups who are already chafing under their traumatic responsibilities. The government sponsoring them is almost certainly the real villains of some sort. The cynicism persists. It’s 2026, after all, why would anything nice happen?

So it’s a testament to the confidence of this follow-up that Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers not only works, but still actually feels "cool" and "fun" in the face of all the overbearing grit and cynicism. Gai might not have the sort of sense of justice to motivate him to help Kaito fight his undead grandma for the regular, "right" reasons, but he can appreciate the power of old-school rock and roll. That’s a reason to persist, and live, and keep fighting. But even then, as the third episode demonstrates, Gai’s motivations and loyalties remain nebulous. Sure, he was faking his attack on Musashi here as part of a broader gambit to motivate Yama to transform, but will that always be the case? It provides just enough of a question to give the show some edge, compared to Ryu seemingly straight-up predicting what Gai’s character arc would be earlier in that third episode. Like the first episode’s fake-out heroes, whom I was totally fooled by for a moment, it keeps the audience guessing in what could have been a more straightforward Sentai-styled superhero show.

Being a follow-up as it is, the idea of legacy seems like it will be a driving one for the new Samurai Troopers. It’s baked into the narrative at multiple levels, with Musashi and Gai both having chafed under some level of daddy issues. Never mind that virtually all of the new Troopers are alternate replacement team members of some sort, forced to question if they’re "good enough" to step into the hero role. It’s generational, especially when audiences see that Yama and Musashi were inspired by a mysterious man who’s almost certainly one of the original 1988 Samurai Troopers.

This also brings in the question of how much familiarity a new audience needs with that old show to parse this sequelized series. Having barely remembered a couple of episodes of Ronin Warriors from my childhood, I can tell you that Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers seems pretty easy in the context, with a functional infodump at the beginning. Things might resonate better for folks who have the full picture of a returning character like Nasti Yagyu (who has an incredible name and looks pretty amazing for presumably being in her 50s), having grown into a leadership position with an eye for what makes good Trooper recruits. Really, it could just serve as motivation to go back and watch the old show as it’s conveniently uploaded next to this new one on Crunchyroll. That’s what I’ve started doing, and as I continue, I hope it’s an illuminating experience. It’s neat seeing that the original Yoroi Den Samurai Troopers could be just as surprisingly serialized and moody in its storytelling as its sequel anime, plus I find it funny that after four Demon Generals didn’t do the trick in the old show, the villains have bumped the number up to ten. I can absolutely understand why they thought it was worth bringing this classic back.

That said, not being fully familiar with the old anime means that I (and any other new viewers) might be momentarily confused with a character like Shion showing up at the end of the third episode. He’s referred to as having used to be a Samurai Trooper, necessitating a quick search to see if that means he’s a character from the original show or if they just mean he was a Trooper in the context of this new series (I checked, it’s the latter, by the way).

Worshipping at that altar of classic flavor does bring up one dent in the armor of this new treatment, which isn’t the anime’s fault at all, actually. Licensing rights, as they often do, have prevented the subbing of lyrics of all the classic J-rock songs that have popped up in the series, which is a real travesty for anybody easily trying to glom onto the context of the historical vibes being presented here. I referenced the power of rock and roll earlier, and music is poised to be an important element of Yoroi-Shinden. And while I can mark out to recognizing "Linda Linda" by THE BLUE HEARTS, that’s not going to apply to every song for everyone. I get this subbing issue, for once, probably isn’t on Crunchyroll, but it’d be nice if they could work something out sooner rather than later.

At this point, though, those kinds of contextual hang-ups are minor and not enough to deplete my enthusiasm for this new Samurai Troopers. The action’s been dynamic and visceral so far—I don’t think I’m getting over Gai hacking the hands off all the faux-Troopers in the first episode. And I love how hard the colors pop in this new art style, that’s important in granting a legacy series like this its own identity. This is a reboot that’s a rocking good time, and I haven’t even managed to pick out a best boy yet! I’m leaning toward Ryusei, though he sadly seems like he might not be long for this world. I’m excited and worried to follow this show along and see if I’m right.

**Rating: **

• Yoroi Shin Den 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. *

Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.