I'm just curious...do some people here recall the OG Samurai Troopers from back in the 80s?

This one came up during the year I was born (1988), but I saw the dubbed version in the 90s and then some years later, I borrowed a few DVDs which had both the dub as well as the original Japanese version.

I was introduced to it with the 90s English dub and eventually got to see the original Japanese dub. Blew my mind away when I was invested in learning about Japanese VAs and learned Takeshi Kusao was Trunks from DBZ and Ryo as well as Nozomu Sasaki who voiced Tetsuo in Akira was Shin.

Comrade,

I'm the biggest Samurai Troopers fangirl you know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szDfBBh4RtM

Looks like the new show is going to be putting a stronger emphasis on comedy. I'm okay with this; a major problem I had with the OG is the lack of levity and chance for everyone to develop outside of fighting, mostly relegated to the (recorded post-series) audio dramas.

Man, the art for this is really bugging me. Something about the thick black outlines around the characters gives me mobile game vibes.

Yeah, I'm okay with this new generation of the team having some banter/dynamic different from the OG team as well.

Yeah, it looks like they're using cel shading when they have their Yoroi Gears on, but classic 2d hand drawing when not. Doesn't bother me personally, but understandable.

Well the originals just all fell in immediately so it's nice to see some actual friction in the new team.

It's a very peculiar mix but it doesn't look bad at all to my eyes.

Yeah, it's not super noticeable like Transformers Energon/Super Link. :lolol
That said, cel shading seems like a tricky technique to master.

And I just noticed in one of the scenes where Kaito and Musashi's faces appear in speech bubbles, an unidentified character with oni horns on his headband wearing supposedly brown Yoroi Gear is with them. I wonder what that's all about. Maybe we'll get extra troopers as part of the supporting cast? Kind of like Jabu and his crew in Saint Seiya.

So a bunch of model sheets and notes got leaked a while back...

(Highlight for spoilers)

If you notice the pink-haired girl's jacket, you'll notice it's the YST logo... sort of. Basically in the 37 years that've passed, a government organization called "DST" was established for the purpose of countering otherworld threats, which means there's plenty of redshirts to fill out the ranks in addition to the Troopers themselves.

Whaaaatttt

Yeah there is A Lot going on that hasn't been officially shown yet ;)

Big big news today. First off, new trailer, this time with an emphasis on showing off the new villains, and an air date (AT LAST) of January 6, 2026:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loJ05nefclc

An announcement of Choudan Kadou Yami Masho Anubis:

https://i.postimg.cc/d14p0SMz/o1440192015679745711.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/wMrrXyjk/o1440144015679742786.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/zD24ZMFQ/o1440144015679749182.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/ZK1g0dgv/o1440144015679742807.jpg

And at last, apparently a special preview screening of episodes 1-3 of YSST on 12/23.
https://x.com/samuraitroo_pr/status/1995780477807198299

Just a little over a month left... I'm so excited :D

The preview also will have Hiiro Ishibashi who plays Gai and Ayumu Murase aka Don Murasame aka Shoyo Hinata who plays Musashi make an appearance. And from the look of things the four Mashos will be succeeded by ten warriors based off of the Sanada Ten Braves. So far, we have Sasuke, Saizou, Kamanosuke, Seikai-nyuudo, and Isa-nyuudo revealed.

We also have Ramaga instead of Arago. It's interesting how much everything is almost like a funhouse mirror of the originals; recognizable, but distorted and exaggerated ever so slightly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP-bP5dET_k

Just a couple more weeks. The things I heard from the preview event earlier this week are... promising.

Opening clip has been revealed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHUPdA8H6qk

Okay, the person in marketing for Sunrise who planned to release this for New Year's Day and their boss who greenlit the idea both deserve a raise on their next performance evaluation. This one's a banger. :rock:

Other than that... highly likely Ryusei (the mentor guy wearing the Senkou Yoroi Gear aka the green one that succeeds Kourin/Halo) is gonna get Battle Cossack'd or unable to don his Yoroi Gear because of shenanigans and Shion takes over, right?

Now if only they actually put some money into marketing and figuring out who the f**k has the NA streaming rights. :mad:

That's the running theory in no small part due to the fact that Kouya as worn by him features the mon on the shoulders, but they're absent on Shion's version.

There was a similar situation in Gundam 00, come to think of it, to those related to the color green. :lolol

A little over 36 hours until air and still nothing from Crunchy as to whether or not they have the rights...

It's now live -if completely unannounced - on Crunchyroll.
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G...murai-troopers

So it's now airing subbed on Crunchy and I have seen it and

Yeah. Yeah this one's got The Juice.

Okay yeah today was... THAT was a lot all at once and I'm pretty sure I can call where this is going from here, but damn that was a lot of new developments I hadn't expected, but as the saying goes...

https://content.imageresizer.com/ima...hat-meme-9.jpg

Good to actually have a demonstration of how wide the gap is between a full-geared Samurai Trooper and a "normal" human is, though.

So, Kaito is the Banjyo of Yoroi Shinden and Gai is the Gentoku + Sento-hybrid.

We've also got shades of Sentou in Mirei, I'm pretty sure Yamato is going to pull Banjou duty, and then there's one more that we have yet to see...

Also given what we know of Kaito from promotional materials, he's also got a bit of Kazumi going on.

Addicted to this song. For those wondering what One or Eight is supposed to mean, it's a literal translation of "Ichi ka Bachi ka (一か八か)" which is a saying in Japan that is close to the English expression "All or Nothing" or "Do or Die." It's a saying that originates from the dice gambling scene during old-timey Japan, supposedly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw45Q_mr0_M

I'm not much for modern J-pop or anything like that but the show's song choices so far are absolutely blowing me away.

Oldies J-pop songs that were featured so far.

Episode 1 - Namida no Request by The Checkers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7MHXbsT3J4

Episode 2 - TOKIO by Kenji Sawada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUfTDQru5yI

Seriously, at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if they inserted songs by Koji Kikkawa (yes, our very own Kamen Rider Skull was a charismatic singer first back in his heydays), Yutaka Ozaki, or BOOWY in future episodes. Looking back, I'm surprised episode 2 didn't use this song, considering the plot for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLbWXxj8T5I

So we're now in uncharted territory; the first three episodes were previewed during an event late last month, so anything beyond today is effectively unknown. I can say for certain we're still missing a few scenes from the trailers (namely the ones featuring Shion) but what happens from here... That's entirely up in the air.