Content Warning: Wanton death and destruction, including the deaths of children for shock value; severed limbs, gore.
What’s it about? When the evil forces of the Demon Emperor return to once again ravage Tokyo, the Japanese government reveals they were preparing for just such an attack. As a purple mist enshrouds the nation’s capital and reveals gateways to a hell-dimension, the government funded Samurai Troopers jump into action! But do they really have the right guy to stop the invasion?
Hey y’all, Chiaki here pinch-hitting on reviews since there’s too much going on this season. The editors at AniFem threw this one to me and said “an OG anime nerd like you should review this.” So we loaded up Crunchyroll, typed “Samurai Troopers” in the search bar and watched. And we just gotta say: Wow. What a throwback. They don’t make anime like this anymore. It reminds me of this cartoon I saw on Cartoon Network when we were little.
We’re of course talking about the absolute classic: Samurai Jack. Mako was an excellent villain, god rest his soul.
What’s that Vrai? We watched the wrong anime? What do you mean this is a sequel to the original Samura Troopers? Hold on, let me catch up.
The original Samurai Troopers (Ronin Warriors if you’re old enough to have watched this on Toonami and are currently turning into dust reading this review) was targeted towards younger children. The show coming back three and a half decades after ending its original run in 1990, however, makes it clear this isn’t your daddy’s Samurai Troopers…
Or well, maybe it is. This is obviously being marketed to nerds in their 30s and 40s nostalgic for the white-hot shonen passion of the first series, but who crave the maturity of a jaded undercurrent of politics getting thrown in to explain that the infinite wealth of the bubble economy magical powers to fight evil doesn’t just conveniently materialize when you need it.
To that end, the prime minister of Japan glibly remarks all that money the country spent these last 35 years in anti-demon preparation seems to have paid off after all, as they can at least have a phone call with the Defense Special Cases Task Force commander to tell her, “What a way to discover how badly we really need it.”
It’s hard to tell, however, what message the politics will play in this series. More often than not, Japanese media has recently taken to portraying politics as an impediment to expedient action. As much as the telephone conversation shows the prime minister’s relief that they were at least somewhat prepared for the demon invasion, there’s some irony in the fact the task force is ultimately largely ineffective. Even their coveted Samurai Troopers, 15-year-old boys trained to fight demons, turn out to be nothing more than literal poster children.
There’s the possibility of something deeper to say here; however, it’s hard to say how much the Japanese government or the task force’s resources will play a role in the series.
Aside from politics, however, Samurai Troopers does deal in extremes. A lot happens over the course of the first episode, aptly entitled “prologue,” to set things up for whatever will be coming down the line. Rather than building it all into the story as it goes along, it barfs it all onto the page in one mighty hurl to introduce five Samurai Troopers, ten enemy warrior lieutenants, the demon prince, the demon and human commander of those rivaling factions, a quirky cool mentor guy, a sassy support girl, and a dude with extreme main character energy angry at the demons for killing his grandma — oh, and the Prime Minister of Japan, at least I think he’s the prime minister. Honestly he doesn’t really matter much at this point.
That’s a lot of people to throw out there in one episode, and like a quarter of them just die anyway.
Speaking of which, this show explicitly, viscerally, mercilessly kills a lot of people.
Going back to the musing of whether this is supposed to be aimed at older fans of the original show or not, I’d probably think twice before letting kids see the copious amounts of gore featured in Shinden Samurai Troopers. Whereas mass death was only implied in the original, we see a montage of the demons mercilessly committing genocide all over Tokyo. In an effort to express just how terrible these villains are, the show spares no expense to convey they are Evil with a capital “E,” killing children, destroying landmarks, and being absolutely unhinged while doing so.
It’s certainly a tonal shift and one that gives me pause. Is this an effort to make the franchise edgier, or is it to make it appeal more for adults? Either way, it feels like it misses the mark for me.
Moreover, it’s especially conflicting to be excited for this show when its literal protagonist ends up being a former demon. Gai, the Demon Prince, assume the Red Ranger role despite the fact we all saw him murder a bunch of innocent civilians just hours ago at the vanguard of the demonic invasion. Maybe there’s some kind of deeper lesson to be learned about his righteous fury, but I’m so far not really excited to root for the guy when there’s absolutely no reflection from him about the fact that he just killed like scores and scores of defenseless people.
That all said, there is one bright spot to all of this. In a show that carries so much nostalgia, they’ve kept the cameos to the original show to a minimum, and what is brought over seems to be some solid choices. Aside from the setting itself, only Nasti Yagyu, the perennial heroine observer in the original show, seems to be present this time around. What’s more, she now serves as the task force’s commander, giving her some actual power and responsibility in the series. This could lead to some very welcome balance in an otherwise male-heavy cast and story.
I’m not sure of what Shinden Samurai Troopers is trying to accomplish yet. While it’s a sequel to the original series, it’s also a fresh enough start for new fans. At the same time, the addition of politics and gore fundamentally shifts the tone of the story in ways that it feels alien to the original material. I keep finding myself asking: Who is this show for? How will this become something more than a flashy nostalgia cash grab? There’s potential here, but I can’t help but feel a little wary.
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.