Seeing Jun like that is actually heartbreaking. �� Do you guys think his trauma is just from the "failed trooper" backstory, or is it possible he actually witnessed Ryo getting possessed back then?
Also, if he?s a hikikomori living on the train, I?m betting he?s been hoarding the Armor gear (or at least the data for it) in his room this whole time.

Like I said, there was some stuff leaked a while back that definitely puts this in a much more tragic light, but I'm keeping my mouth shut until anything is confirmed.

So... the Heavenly Realm getting involved, let alone this early on, was definitely a surprise.

I'm getting some major Hazard Trigger vibes from all of this though...

Wouldn't be surprised if said Hazard Trigger situation results in Shion comes up with a solution such as divvying up the Haohtei armor somehow so that all five of them obtain its power to ease the strain, and they can only access it for a short period of time. They could express this by just repainting their respective armors in the Kikoutei color scheme. Or maybe a time limit is set up like a Makai Knight armor.
Either way, I suspect there will be at least an episode or two where they are trying to figure out how to use this thing.

Given the pacing of everything so far, I'd say an episode at most... unless that's something they decide to dedicate a chunk of the second cour to dealing with.

Given how Nasti's Showa style wake-up punch knocked some sense into Jun in a matter of minutes, likely. :lolol
That said, I think two episodes to flesh it out within the number of episodes it has left seems ideal, and this is including up to the supposed 2nd cour.

TIL white tigers of the mythical kind go for about 200 US dollars in the world of Samurai Troopers.

I mean given how often they pop up I'm sure there's plenty going around. Frankly I'm surprised you can just come in off the street and sell a tiger, no questions asked.

Or maybe he would've gotten more if he'd taken zoo credit.

Happy Birthday Gai! It's nice of the whole team to throw him a party, complete with cake, and Mirei even sang Happy Birthday to him! Though all he cares about is the retro games and food. Nice of Yamato to give him his massager, even if no one in their right mind would take it from him.

Of course Kaito isn't even in a festive mood, finding out he was adopted, that he doesn't even care about his precious Rock Hara Junior College DVD getting given away by Shion who..."borrowed" it from his room.

I guess it was too much to expect they could just summon the Armor of the Supreme Emperor just like that. They need the Sword of Domination to beat its fullest...and they also need White Blaze, the white tiger companion from the original series. But he's dead!?

What happened to Jun and White Blaze after the original show? Well, they went everywhere together, even to the point of compromising Jun's job prospects, but eventually after a revelation from the Divine Realm...JUN PUSHED HIM OFF A CLIFF. Now, obviously that wasn't enough to kill White Blaze, but THEN HE SOLD HIM TO A ZOO. JUN YOU DIRTY TRAITOROUS SCUMBAG!

I'm starting to have my suspicions about the Divine Realm. Do they really have mankinds' best interest at hear? Even Ramaga thanks to the Armor of the Supreme Emperor is going to bring about the end of the world, rather than save it, though maybe that's because he plans to use it in Gai's body to complete his plan?

It's no surprise Sasuke isn't keen on the idea of sacrificing the 10 Warriors to make Gai stronger, but it turns out that only the "last name" group is to be sacrificed...though that doesn't make Sasuke feel any better.

Now Gai and Shion are Rock Hara Junior College fans! No surprise too, they look amazing in those outfits! Too bad Kaito is surly about his grandma lying to him, and that's another thing for him and Gai to get testy over. But Musashi sure had an odd reaction to the DVD.

Those poor animals getting turned into puppets by Unno (Ryota Takeuchi!). Though Kaito has such a chip on his shoulder that he's acting recklessly, losing in both an archery fight against Unno AND a wind fight against a puppet chimera.

White Blaze, no! I mean, maybe Jun had this coming, but considering the Divine Realm basically told him to cast off all those he cares about and become a hikikomori...maybe he doesn't deserve this. But even after everything he did to him, White Blaze still cared about Jun.

Inmei (Takehito Koyasu!) from the Divine Realm is the one turning White Blaze into a more monstrous version of himself, to test the Troopers and their worthiness to wield the Sword of Domination, and on that front the entire team locks in and puts their all to free White Blaze! The Sword of Domination FINALLY purifies something successfully!

And it's also used to slay Unno...though it seems like it's bringing out Gai's demon side too. But hey, Kaito finally got over his beef with his grandma AND called Gai by name, so that's good.

So who has Nasti been working with behind the scenes from another world? Who has she been communicating with and what did they promise her!?

... I'm gonna go ahead and say I was not expecting a G Gundam reference in this episode, let alone series.

What's the next step in the Troopers' journey to be able to use the Armor of the Supreme Emperor? Why, mastering their Supreme Arts of course! And luckily Kaito memorized their attack names.

But before the team can focus on that, they have to address a traitor in their midst...Nasti!? Who has been working with Ramaga this whole time!? In her desperation to get Ryo and her boys back, she stayed in contact with Ramaga and even sold out Shion and Ryusei's team to fulfill Ramaga's objective of weakening the Sword of Domination. But just like the mirror and sword have corrupted others, so did the amulet on Nasti. How else could she keep going along with Ramaga after seeing all the people who have been killed in the process?

10 Warriors shower scene! Even if it's a tense conversation among the warriors as they recognize that Ramaga is going to sacrifice the rest of the last-namers, Kakei and Mochizuki, who are the only ones left to be former humans consigned to become demons for their crimes.

Just shouting out attack names isn't going to help them master their Supreme Arts, especially when team morale is so low. Shion especially just isn't feeling it, especially when Gai tells him he saw what really happened to his and Ryusei's team: Shion, so consumed by the Sword of Domination, ACTUALLY KILLED HIS TEAM. Poor guy.

Well, points to Kakei and Mochizuki for putting up a fight rather than get sacrificed...even if Ramaga just fuses them together into one giant monster to fight the Troopers anyways.

Nasti is obviously compromised so that leaves Mirei in charge! Even if no one other than Yamato takes her seriously! But she wants her boys to make it back safely!

If it's not the Kakei/Mochizuki fusion, it's having to battle Shion's original team now revived as zombies, and he can't bear to fight them...so Gai will slay them for him. He's not about to lose one of his own teammates, even if that also means making Shion kill him if the Sword of Domination makes him go crazy.

RIP Kakei and Mochizuki. To the bitter end you tried to protect the rest of your 10 Braves from suffering for Ramaga's plans.

Shion isn't about to lose another teammate, or kill them, so he uses his teams' armors to protect himself enough to save Gai! Cue triumphant fist bump!

Oh no, is Sasuske about to kidnap Mirei? Her Heroine status betrayed her! They even actually use footage for the next episode preview for once!

https://i.postimg.cc/KYbzJ4P9/image.png
https://i.postimg.cc/SKGK5qVN/image.png


So we have an official english logo now. No sign of "Ronin Warriors" in sight...

It's still hard to face the fact that Nasti was complicit in all the death and destruction Ramaga and the Demons perpetrated because she was working with them. Was she that desperate to get Ryo back? Or was it that and the charm itself? And now poor Mirei's gotten caught up in it.

The Armor of the Supreme Emperor is mighty indeed, and that's exactly what Ramaga wanted.

I...I can't believe they actually killed Mirei. They vaporized her! Even threw in a montage of moments that never happened on-screen before to rub it in! Come on!

Well, the Troopers are running on fumes and the remaining 10 Warriors...are getting their instruments ready for a concert while contemplating if their comrades' sacrifice was really worth it.

I'm not sure what fate is awaiting Nasti once this is all over, but at least Mr. Bureaucrat finally believes in the Samurai Troopers.

Nasti wasn't just working with Ramaga without a plan, she was using the bell Ryo gave her ala the Ancient One to try to bring Ryo back from within Ramaga...but is there anything of Ryo still left in there?

It's finally time for the Troopers' final battle with Ramaga! We even get a full multi-team armor transformation sequence! Too bad no matter how much of their special moves they unleash, they're not strong enough to make Ramaga even stand up from his throne.

And as if to add insult to injury, Ramaga shows that Demon Emperor Arago left a nasty parting gift to humanity...enough Demon Energy to transform all of Tokyo into Puppets. Everyone the Troopers have saved, so many innocent people, forcibly transformed into monsters...and there's nothing they can do about it. Gai has to face the empathy he's finally developed and Nasti has to face the consequences of her actions in the most horrific way possible. All the while the 10 Warriors pay accompaniment.

But this was all to draw out the Armor of the Supreme Emperor, armor that lets Gai hold his own against his father, but that's all so Ramaga could TAKE the armor for himself and become all powerful. That's what he wanted from day one!

And yet Nasti and Jun's efforts paid off. Ryo is STILL in there! And there's enough of him left to hold Ramaga back so Gai can use the sword to FREE RYO! And now Ryo and his successor can face off against Ramaga together!

THEY HAD RYO DO THE NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW!!!

I'm really not convinced Mirei is out of the picture - dead, sure. But gone? I have my doubts...

Yeah, I'm open to that possibility.

Just something about the way they have her walk off instead of fade out... Hrm.

Which has me wondering if this is a Dragon Knight situation and the people who die are actually vented like the riders of that show.

We've got another spirit realm involved, is all I'm saying. And hey, by the midpoint of Build we all thought we'd seen the last of Katsuragi...

Oh yeah there is no way she's staying dead.

Man this was... a lot. And I'm glad that they were able to get Nishimura and Sasaki back at the very least.

Daiki Nakamura I can see being replaced for the heinous stuff he did and being no longer active for now, Hiroshi Takemura was unexpected. Assuming vocal shift would be odd since Sasaki's voice changed drastically if you compare his voice during Yoroiden and, say, late 90s-ish.
Anyhoos, EPISODE 12 was 10/10. So much fan service for the OG fans, and that conclusion + cliffhanger was just chef's kiss.

Takemura isn't that big of a surprise considering he was already having second thoughts during the OVAs and has been in semi-retirement - his last role in anything was in a YST collab with the Langrisser mobile game in 2019. So him not appearing was kind of a given, getting replaced was a pleasant surprise.

As for Nakamura, it was a toss-up between replacement and Suddenly Mute since Seiji is both in and out of universe a whump magnet.

I see. That said, I think freakin Shuya Goenji and Hisashi Mitsui were good choices for Touma and Seiji, respectively. :rock:

Oh yeah they picked some good'uns to replace them, although I've seen some complaints about them not sounding like they "should" and it's like... mate, it's 35 years later and a VA change, what were you expecting? Even Nishimura, Sasaki, and Kusao sound much different now than they did in 88-91.

Gai has come a long way...singing 80's hits to lead a demon invasion of Earth, singing 80's hits while eating, to now teaming up with the OG Emissary of Fire Ryo to defeat his father !

Oh snap! Ryo summoned his armor! And it still looks amazing on him !

The remaining 10 Warriors hold our boys back while Ryo settles the score with Ramaga. Turns out all those years spent in Ramaga's body means Ryo can read him like a book and handle him easily! Too bad Ramaga's not done abusing the 10 Warriors because he grabs Saizo's body to puppet and give him a power boost. Will Ramaga's terrible treatment of his men never cease !?

But then White Blaze shows up with the cavalry...THE ORIGINAL SAMURAI TROOPERS. Seiji! Shin! Xiu! Toma! And while they're not 100% ready to fight Ramaga, they can do one better...summon the Dawn Armor so Ryo and White Blaze can finish this! Gai even throws the Sword of Domination so Ryo can unleash a Fatal Slash and beat Ramaga !

It would be satisfying to see Ramaga buried under his own castle, to see the 10 Warriors abandon him, but that would be too simple. He drains all his puppets to become strong enough for one last battle. A battle the next generation of Samurai Troopers have to fight .

The Divine Realm even interferes and gives the boys a power boost so they can armor up and unleash ALL their Supreme Arts to clean Ramaga's clock! Finally now he knows what it feels like to get dominated !

But then Gai gets run through and Ramaga finally possesses his body...which Gai was counting on, because he pulls a Ryo and retakes control, just long enough to have Kaito finish them both off. Even if it means he has to die, he'll do it if it means stopping Ramaga and atoning for all the innocent lives he killed. He truly gained empathy .

If his team is going to see him off, they're going to see him off by singing lyrics to his favorite song he didn't even know existed. And in Gai's "death" he turns to stone and the energy emanating from it restores all the transformed humans! Gai did it, he saved humanity !

But despite what happened, Kaito is convinced Gai is still alive. Good thing too because Sagume in the Divine Realm is acting kind of sus...and she's got Ryusei with her !?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGs_n8ZvwY0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dri1fgouQIg

Cannot wait for these albums to drop.

For those who didn't know or forgot, Hiiro Ishibashi aka the voice of Gai was the voice of Miguel in the Japanese dub of Coco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do11cjGNKnU

I now view that red jacket of his as a sign that he was destined to play Gai. :lolol