Long ago, there existed an evil spirit that waged a war to conquer the human world. Defeat drove him back to the realm of darkness, but not before vowing to return and exact his revenge. A thousand years later, the world has all but forgotten the name of Arago, Emperor of Doom. When black clouds smother the bright city lights of Shinjuku and a sinister laugh drowns out the dying hum of electricity, people around the world plunge into terror, unprepared for the evil spirit's return.

Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers is a sequel anime of theYoroiden Samurai Troopers series. The anime series is streaming onCrunchyroll on Tuesdays.

First of all, I have to make it clear how wrong it feels to watch an HD-qualityRonin WarriorsSamurai Troopers withoutOptimus Prime growling in the foreground about how I'm set to get my mind blown watching “Five guys…versus a thousand demons!” Still, far be it from me to complain (too much) about a good thing. It's 2026, and we've got a brand new generation ofSamurai Troopers to kick off the new year. So, how does this venerated mashup of samurai heart and Super Sentai soul translate to this modern era?

I'd say the outlook is pretty darned good, based on this first episode. Now, it's been a very long time since I've sat down to watch any of the originalSamurai Troopers, so don't expect me to catch any callbacks to old characters or plot points, as this does seem to be a sequel set in the same universe as the first show, but I can tell that this is going for a much more modern, borderline satirical tone. I'm pretty certain that the toon from the 80s didn't feature quite so many blood spurts and graphic decapitations, and I'm damned sure that the OGRonin Warriors were not a squad of pathetic government stooges who get horrifically murdered by the spiky-haired demon boy who also turns out to be the real Red Trooper. Thankfully, despite this edgy and shocking subversions of the classicSamurai Troopers formula, I don't think this new series is trying to take the piss out of its forebears in a disrespectful or irritatingly “meta” fashion.

Rather,Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers is taking its world-building and progression of the universe's story fairly seriously, which I really like. I am very eager to learn more about how the Troopers lost their way over the last three decades, and how our hapless survivor Musashi will end up getting roped into joining the real team alongside this scary new guy. It's compelling stuff, all around, and the story's boldness is bolstered by some literally bold visuals. The strong linework and vivid colors ofYoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers really pop off the screen and give the series a strong visual appeal, with the added bonus of making the 2D and 3D elements of the samurai-on-monster action blend very naturally.

Overall, I'm very happy with the return of theSamurai Troopers after all these years, and I don't think it's just the nostalgia talking. I can see myself happily keeping up with these new heroes and their demon-hunting adventures, even if it is going to be a royal pain in the tuckus to constantly be erasing and correcting the show's title every time I instinctually refer to it asRonin Warriors. Definitely check this one out if you could use a dose of pure,Toonami-era goodness injected straight into your eyeballs.

Here it is: the first big surprise of the season. Up until this point, every show has unfolded pretty much exactly as I expected. The ones I expected to be good have been good. The ones I expected to be bad have been bad—or mid at best.Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers, however, barely registered to me. A sequel to an 80's tokusatsu anime that I never watched, even when it aired in the US? Pass.

Except nothing is truly a pass when you're working on ANN's preview guide. While this subjects me to a lot of crap anime and stress every quarter, I am in this moment grateful for it, because this was one of the best premieres so far—and in a genre I'd normally never touch.Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers trades on nostalgia at times, with Gai's penchant for humming 80's anime theme songs, but more than that, it's a surprisingly brutal reimagining of what the world would look like over 30 years after the originalSamurai Troopers drove the evil spirits back to the demon realm.

Throughout the episode, it tiptoes along the line between a more adult reimagining of a children's show and edgy nihilism—a line I had long since suspected had ceased to exist. Since humanity won the war, they've kept a team of 15-year-old boys as a symbol of peace and order. But you know what happens when you lionize a group of teenagers and treat them as heroes without giving them any actual responsibilities? Nothing good! While the surprisingly bloody violence starts immediately, the Troopers' twattishness rolls out slowly. The script and action constantly kept me guessing about where things would go next, balancing predictability with revealing new elements bit-by-bit.

WhileJournal with Witch blew me away with its environments, transitions, and character acting,Samurai Troopers is the most visually impressive and inventive action series of the season. The thick outlines around the character animation, rather than separating them from their environment, gave them and their motions a satisfyingly solid, meaty impression: bold lines against bold colors in a bold world. When a hunk of concrete fell and hit a character in the head, I felt it. The direction conveys a rare confidence for a new entry into a beloved franchise; such series tend toward obsequity, afraid to disrupt long-established fan expectations.

I still don't know anything about the originalSamurai Troopers orRonin Warriors. Maybe the tone is in keeping with how the franchise has been for its entire lifespan. If that's so, I need to check it out, becauseYoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers is a keeper for sure.

What is a hero? Plenty of media have tried to answer that question, fromBeowulf on up, and in pop culture, comics, anime, and manga have certainly used it as the basis for a wide variety of stories. And in the first episode of this series, the people behind theSamurai Troopers learn pretty emphatically what it isnot: someone you pay to be the heroic face of your organization. It doesn't matter if the organization is fighting a legitimate evil; if the people you've hired are more interested in media coverage and how cool their armor looks, they're probably not actual heroes. And if they're not, that makes them bad guys for the real hero to take out.

It's reasoning so silly it shouldn't work, but somehow this episode not only pulls it off, but makes it hard to look away from. Everything about theSamurai Troopers is so clearly crafted to present a specific image that it hits that much harder when their true colors are revealed. From the first exclamations of the public saying things like, “I thought they were just in commercials!” to the Troopers grumping at their handlers about their lack of robot armor, it's clear that there's a major disconnect between what the Troopersare and what they're meant torepresent. It feels like a condemnation of commercialism to an extent, as well as a statement about taking things at face value.

More to the point, when your “heroes” are easily taken out by the guy raised by demons, you're probably doing it wrong. Gai, who is plainly going to become one of the protagonists in the next episode, starts out attacking humans until he's basically shot out of his brainwashing. He may only save Musashi because he's hungry and wants the food near where he's buried, but the fact of the matter is that hedoes save him and dispose of the so-called heroes who are more interested in looting than saving. He and Musashi are being set up as complementary forces: Gai may not care about much, but Musashi really believes in the power of heroes. They temper each other, or at least they will if Gai ever calms down.

This episode also feels like an homage to 1980s music. All of the demons have what look like CDs of Japanese hits of the decade, and you don't have to have grown up in the 80s to know that the music is pretty damn catchy. I'm not sure how the musical element will work going forward, but it's certainly interesting. That goes for the art as well, which makes its thick black outlines work and has a flair for dynamic action. (And blood. Lots of blood.) I don't remember much of theToonami run of this series' predecessor, but this is shaping up to be good, grim fun. I'm not sure I'll end up sticking with it (blood's not my thing), but I'll definitely give it another episode.