Ask John: Why isn’t Samurai Troopers More Popular?

Question:
Why is Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers overlooked? Was it a popular show in Japan when it came out in the late 80s? If so, then why is overlooked in the US?

Answer:
Samurai Troopers is probably relatively overlooked in America for a pair of reasons. First, the series is old. The fact that an anime series is dated, by itself, doesn’t mean that it won’t gain a large fan following in America; however older anime series generally don’t become smash hits in America. The Cartoon Network broadcast of the 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam TV series was never finished. The current Cartoon Network broadcast and Geneon DVD release of the second Lupin the 3rd TV series from 1975 hasn’t created any sizeable waves. And the American TV broadcast and DVD release of St. Seiya, likewise, does not seem to have created very much of a stir in America. The fact that a series is old doesn’t mean that American fans won’t watch it or like it, but generally it seems as though most North American fans prefer more recent anime productions.

The second possible reason for the quiet response to Samurai Troopers is its very style. Samurai Troopers simply feels dated because it’s a super hero team show. Battle of the Planets introduced anime featuring a team of five costumed heroes to American audiences in the late 1970s. St. Seiya, Shurato, and Samurai Troopers were all released in Japan in the mid 1980s. Sailor Moon was essentially a female version of the same concept animated in the early 1990s. So regardless of its quality, Samurai Troopers simply gives the impression on being not only something that we’ve seen before, but also something that we’ve grown out of.

Samurai Troopers, like many vintage anime series, maintains a small and very devoted fan following among American fans, but the show just isn’t appealing enough to most contemporary fans to become a sensation. Even in Japan, where the series was popular enough to get a long TV series and three follow-up OAV series, Samurai Troopers is now a relatively forgotten title from 15 years ago.