News about Ronin Warriors / Yoroiden Samurai troopers.
Last Thursday the 13th of April was a sad day in this show’’s history. Norio Shioyama, character designer for the Samurai Troopers TV show and Gaiden, was killed in an apartment fire along with his wife. He was 77. Thank you for your contributions to this wonderful series we all love. Rest in peace.
News story found here: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-04-13/armored-trooper-votoms-character-designer-norio-shioyama-passes-away/.114754
It is a good time in the fandom. At 7PM on Wednesday January 18th, Crunchyroll added Samurai Troopers to their streaming catalog. All 39 episodes of the TV series are available. Yes this means only the subtitled version (since it’s from Discotek Media’s release). I haven’t seen any news yet if the OVAs will be added to streaming.
There probably won’t be a dub version of the TV series added until Discotek Media can manage to get access to the dub’s license. That’s if it proves worth their while to do so. If they can’t get enough interest to pay back their returns for putting the sub together, they will think there’s no one interested in having the dub. Or they will think that far too few people are interested to make the cost and effort worth while. Note this is my own opinion, and not the opinion nor statement from Discotek Media. Still interest + revenue can only equal continued work on this series going forward.
Regardless this is very good news. It is the first time the series has ever been available for streaming. (At least in the US.) This from a series that never saw a US VHS release. (Remember this series originally aired on TV in 1995.) The first US DVD release didn’t happen until 2002. While that DVD release brought us the release, and dub (!), of the OVAs (YAY!), Bandai stopped producing those DVDs soon after the DVD series set was released. It’s taken until 2015 to have someone pick up the series in some form again for another US DVD release.
As such, this is a day I never thought would ever truly happen. (I’ve pinched and slapped myself a few times, and checked repeatedly to make sure I wasn’t dreaming all this.) This series has a small but faithful following. It doesn’t have the power of some bigger series like Sailor Moon nor Evangelion. So for this series to finally reach this point is a huge achievement.
If you are someone rediscovering this series, or finding it for the first time, I want to welcome you to the fandom. (And well thank you for finding my site.) Feel free to browse here and explore other websites on my links page.
To the long-time fans: We finally made it to this day.
Websites have started listing the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers TV Series DVD for pre-order. The retail price will be $59.95. I’ll update this list as more information comes in. Current sale prices are as of this blog post and thus may change.
Direct links may or may not work. I’m not sure if the URLs I’m finding are temporary or permanent. If the direct links do not work, go to each retailer’s main page and search for Samurai Troopers TV.
Remember that this DVD set is Japanese language with English subtitles only. Discotek Media is still working out issues for the license of the dub Ronin Warriors. If those issues are resolved, Ronin Warriors will come out as a separate DVD set.
Amazon.com – Direct link. Current price $59.95
Barnesandnoble.com – Direct link. Current price $52.88
Bestbuy.com – Direct link. Current price $42.99
CDuniverse.com – Direct link. Current price $42.95
Deepdiscount.com – Direct link. Current price $46.60
Discotek Media – Direct link. Current price $39.95
Fye.com – Direct link. Current price $50.98
Rakuten.com – Direct link. Current price $35.03
Rightstufanime.com – Direct link. Current price: $36.99
The Yoroiden Samurai Troopers TV Series DVD Collection will be released on April 28th. Retail price will be $59.95. As I have done for the OVA Collection, I will make a separate post for when the TV series is available for pre-order.
Also if any additional images for the TV series set get published, I will edit this blog post and add those images.
Please remember that this set will be the Japanese version only with English subtitles.
Still no word on any progress with Discotek getting the license for the Ronin Warriors dub. I recall fairly recently reading online that the English dub was changed/edited so it could not fit on the same DVD as the original Japanese version. So the dub would have needed to be released separately anyway.
Update: 3/30/15 – TV Series artwork (official): Source Twitter 1 and 2
Websites have started listing the OVA DVD for pre-order. The retail price will be $34.95. I’ll update this list as more information comes in. Current sale prices are as of this blog post and thus may change.
Direct links may or may not work. I’m not sure if the URLs I’m finding are temporary or permanent. If the direct links do not work, go to each retailer’s main page and search for Samurai Troopers.
Amazon.com – Direct link. Current price: $24.47
Barnesandnoble.com – Direct link. Current price $24.95
Bestbuy.com appears to have a listing that’s probably for the OVA. Direct link. Current price: $22.99
CDuniverse.com – Direct link. Current price $29.09
Deepdiscount.com – Direct link. Current price $25.29
Discotek Media – Direct link. Current price $24.95
Fye.com – Direct link. Current price $29.98, Member price $26.98
Rakuten.com appears to have a listing for the OVA DVD. Direct link. Current price: $20.43
Rightstufanime.com – Direct link. Current price: $20.99
Personally, RightStuf has always been an excellent company to deal with. So they get my business.
Today Discotek Media posted the official artwork for both the TV Series Collection and the OVA Collection on their Facebook page. Check them out all their splendor!
Click on the images to see the full size image on my photobucket account. When on photobucket, move your mouse over the image and click the zoom icon to see the full size.
Discotek Media also once again confirmed that the Complete TV Series will be the Japanese Language version with English subtitles. “We are still working on clearing the Ronin Warriors TV that will be a separate release if cleared.”
And don’t worry I will be posting information about pre-ordering these when the information becomes available. That info will be in a future blog post. 🙂
See further updates under RW/YST News category.
Update: More OVA images found on Twitter.
Update: 3/30/15 – TV Series artwork (official): Source Twitter 1 and 2
Discotek Media responded to their release schedule post on Facebook. They have changed the release date for the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers TV series until April. Reasons for the delay are currently unknown.
It is still expected that the TV Series Collection will be the Japanese version of the series only. (Obviously with English subtitles.) There is no further word on any progress with Discotek Media acquiring the license for the Ronin Warriors dub.
See further updates under RW/YST News category.
According to Discotek Media’s facebook page, the “11 episode OVA DVD Collection” is scheduled to be released on February 24th 2015. There is no word on the TV series set. The TV series release has been delayed. Pre-orders for the OVA set is not yet available, and details on the cost of the collection is not mentioned.
Discotek Media confirmed the OVA DVD Collection will have the Japanese version with English subtitles and the English dub.
Some people are already leaving comments on Discotek’s Facebook post asking about the TV series. If you wish to leave a comment for them as well, please remember to be polite and respectful. We want to keep any association between them and this fandom as positive as possible. Thank you.
See further updates under RW/YST News category.
