''Ronin Warriors'', known in Japan by its original title , is a Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

series created by

Hajime Yatate is a pseudonym for the collective contributions of the Sunrise animation staff. Name "Hajime Yatate" is considered to be named after a quote of Matsuo Bashō's ''Oku no Hosomichi'': Credited series This collective entity is credited as the ...

and animated by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

. The television series, co-produced by

Nagoya TV JOLX-DTV, virtual channel 6 (UHF digital channel 22), branded as is the Chūbu region flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network, owned by the , with its headquarters in Nagoya. It is broadcast in Aichi Prefectur ...

, aired across Japan on the All-Nippon News Network from April 30, 1988, to March 4, 1989 for a total of 39 episodes. A manga adaptation was serialized on Kodansha’s ''

Comic BomBom was a monthly Japanese children's manga magazine published by Kodansha. It was first published on October 15, 1981, and ceased publication in 2007. A web version of the magazine has been published on Pixiv Comic since the end of July 2017. Simi ...

'' from November 17, 1988 to April 5, 1990 and the chapters collected into 2 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes.

Plot

Talpa Talpa may refer to: Places * Talpa, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * Talpa, Teleorman, a commune in Teleorman County, Romania * Talpa, a village in Cândeşti Commune, Botoşani County, Romania * Talpa, a village in Bârgăuani Com ...

, the demon lord of the Netherworld and ruler of The Dynasty, 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.

Media

Manga

Anime

''Ronin Warriors'' was originally licensed in the United States by

Graz Entertainment Graz Entertainment is an American licensing and distribution company, run by Jim and Stephanie Graziano, which obtains and provides programming and licensing rights for children's television animation. They currently control ''Z Blade'', ''The Attic ...

and distributed by

Cinar Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX ...

(now

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of childr ...

), and it was recorded by the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

-based

Ocean Productions Ocean Productions, Inc., is a Canadian media production and voice acting company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, that is part of the Ocean Group of businesses. Ocean Group is involved in intellectual property acquisition and development, ...

cast. ''Ronin Warriors'' first aired on American television during the summer of 1995 and subsequently appeared through syndication, as well as the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

(1995),

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. ...

(1996) and later on Cartoon Network (1999). The series was released on DVD in 2002, including the original Japanese version with English subtitles on the reverse side of the disc. On September 4, 2014, North American anime licensor

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...

announced their license of the original Japanese anime (''Yoroiden Samurai Troopers''), and planned to release the series on DVD in 2015. Discotek has said that on their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

page that they have no plans to release ''Ronin Warriors'' until they clear issues with the dub. Discotek has also licensed the OVAs and includes both Japanese and English audio as well as English subtitles. However, by 2021 the issues had been resolved and the series' English dub had a

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

release on December 28, 2021. Crunchyroll later added the anime series for its streaming. The English dub is legally available on streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video, RetroCrush, and

Tubi Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

. The opening and ending sequences and the

eyecatch In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper, or break-bumper (often shortened to bump) is a brief announcement, usually two to fifteen seconds in length that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercia ...

es 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

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

sequels were produced: ''Gaiden'' (''Side Story''), ''The Legend of the Inferno Armor'', and ''Message''. There are 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.

Music

*''Yoroiden Samurai Troopers Debut Album: Kimi o Nemurasenai'' ( King Records, December 21, 1988, 4 weeks on Oricon chart). (4 weeks on Oricon chart, ranked as high as 44). *''Yoroiden Samurai Troopers: Best Friends'' (King Records, June 5, 1989). (4 weeks on Oricon chart, ranked as high as 12). *"Stardust Eyes" is the opening theme for episodes 1-20 is while the ending theme is "Faraway". Both were composed by Mariko Uranishi. "Stardust Eyes" is highly influenced by the UK number 1 single

It's A Sin "It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, ''Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's ...

by Pet Shop Boys *"Samurai Heart" is the opening theme from episodes 21-39, while the ending is "Be Free" both were composed by

Hiroko Moriguchi (born June 13, 1968 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan), better known by her stage name is a female Japanese singer and tarento. Moriguchi is affiliated with the talent agency NoReason Inc., where she also serves as Second Production Departm ...

. *''Gaiden'' would have "Stardust Eyes" and "Faraway" for its opening and closing theme for its first episode, and have "Samurai Heart" and "Be Free" for its second. *''Legend of the Inferno Armor'' would have "Stardust Eyes" for its opening theme and "Samurai Heart" as its closing theme for every episode. *For ''Message'', the opening theme is "Tsukamae Teite" and its solo on episode 5 is "Hoshi no Lullaby", both by Kaori Futenma.

Video Game

In July 2020, a crossover with Ragnarok Mobile was launched.

References

External links

* * {{Toonami Cartoon Network 1988 anime television series debuts 1988 manga 1989 anime OVAs 1991 anime OVAs Anime with original screenplays Bandai Entertainment anime titles Bandai Namco franchises Discotek Media First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Mass media franchises Samurai in anime and manga Shōnen manga Sunrise (company) Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment Television series by DHX Media Television superheroes Tokyo in fiction Toonami