Ronin Warriors: Gaiden

Following the, in the USA incredibly popular, Ronan Warriors anime series, a couple of movies where released, split into different OVA parts.

The first of these, consisting of 2 episodes of about 30 minutes each, was Gaiden.

Plot

In the summer of 1989, the troopers are celebrating Ryou’s birthday party, but Seiji is missing and the news speak of a strange killer in samurai armor wreaking havoc in New York. When the troopers realize it is the Kourin armor, they go to New York to investigate and encounter a mysterious enemy calling himself Shikaisen.  
He keeps Seiji captured and uses his dark magic to empower the Armour of Halo, but can`t tap into it`s full power without the warrior`s cooperation.  The other samurai meet Runa, and together they try and stop Shikaisen

Opinion

While I always thought the series a "knock off" from Saint Seiya, that doesn`t mean I didn`t enjoy it.  The OVA tells a nice little story, though being on the short side (again, like Saint Seiya movies) makes the battle scenes feel very rushed at times. Oddly enough, the "less spectacular" part one of this OVA is actually better in flow then the second part with the finale as such.
But all in all, it wasn`t the best of the franchise by far...

Rating: 5 / 10