In samurai media, people may have often come across the term ‘ronin’, be it mentioned in passing or displayed right in the title like the movie 47 Ronin. While regular samurai serve their local lord, ronin lack a master. They may have been banished from their clan, or the clan was killed off, but whatever the reason, ronin are left to wander the land in search of food, board, and work.
In other words, Yukimura from Sengoku Basara wouldn’t count because he serves and lives with his master Takeda Shingen. But Lone Wolf & Cub’s Ogami Ittō would because he was left with nothing but his son and his sword. Or at least he would if Lone Wolf & Cub got animated. Luckily, there are many more ronin in anime, and these are the best ronin of the bunch ranked by their strength, abilities, and fame.
7 Masanosuke Akitsu - House Of 5 Leaves
Based on Natsume Ono’s seinen manga, House of 5 Leaves followed Masanosuke Akitsu. He’s an adept swordsman, but his anxious, timid personality got him fired by his shogun. Feeling unwanted in his hometown, he made the move to Edo (present day Tokyo) to find work. Instead, he finds the 5 Leaves Bandits. Their leader Yaichi hires Akitsu to be his bodyguard, which he accepts, unknowing of the group’s crimes.
Even as he learns more about the 5 Leaves, Yaichi, and the reasons for his misdeeds, he sticks by his side. They leave him conflicted, as he doesn’t approve of them, yet he can’t abandon the group either. To do that would be just as bad as he gave his word to protect Yaichi. His dilemma and the way he handles it shows off his growth as a person alongside his fighting skills.
6 Goemon Ishikawa XIII - Lupin The 3rd
Though he doesn’t use the term, Lupin and Jigen’s sword-swinging accomplice fits the ronin bill as a wandering, masterless swordsman. Lupin had to earn Goemon’s respect as he originally opposed the famous thief. Even after they began to trust each other, he’d only assist Lupin when his situation got really dire. Until then, Goemon wanders the earth on his own whims, preferring to live like his feudal ancestors than join modern society.
He’s a master of kenjutsu, aikido, and karate, and his Zantetsuken sword can cut through the strongest materials. But he prefers to use non-lethal means to defeat his foes, often shredding their weapons and clothes than their flesh. His only weakness is that he’s too trusting of women, and is often easily distracted by them. He’s just less of a perv about it than Lupin.
5 Yasuke - Yasuke
Whether the historical Yasuke counted as a samurai depends on how pedantic people want to be, as he wasn’t part of the nobility, or in a civil or military position. But he did serve Oda Nobunaga, one of Japan’s great unifiers who cared little for small details like that. Yasuke became Nobunaga’s retainer, fought for his cause, and served the Oda clan after his death. That was enough for the 2021 Japanese-American anime to make him a fearsome ronin.
When the Dark General Akechi betrays Nobunaga, Japan falls to his new master, Yami no Daimyō. Nobunaga’s retainer, Yasuke the “Black Samurai”, fought off the General’s forces, then went into hiding as a boatman to escape his past. Decades later, he’s tasked with getting a sick girl called Saki to a doctor. She has a power that could defeat Yami no Daimyō and free Japan...if she survives to use it. Yasuke has to make peace with his past to save the future.
4 Jin - Samurai Champloo
With a name like that, viewers would expect there to be at least one ronin in the show, and so there is. Mugen seems like he'd fit the bill as he’s irreverent, brash, and rebellious. But nope. As ex-samurai, ronin used to be part of Japanese nobility, like knights in medieval Europe. Mugen was born a commoner, and then he went lower as a sword-swinging vagrant. It’s actually his best frenemy Jin who’s the ronin of the lead trio.
Despite being as stoic as one can get, he was forced to kill his master in self-defense when he tried to kill him for defying his plan to train assassins. Jin went from being his star pupil to a traitorous fugitive targeted by his old colleagues and by other swordsmen seeking his head. It’s an ironic fate for him as he has a strong sense of justice, rarely hesitating to cut down anyone who abuses the innocent or poses a threat.
3 Afro Samurai - Afro Samurai
Yasuke has the advantage of being (loosely) based on a real person. But as far as black ronin go, the most famous and formidable has to be Afro Samurai. Created by Takashi Okazaki, his adventures blended chanbara action with hip-hop culture in Nō Nō Hau magazine 6 years before Samurai Champloo began broadcasting. The 2007 anime brought the character to life by putting Samuel L. Jackson in the title role, and using music by RZA for the soundtrack.
Afro is a samurai-turned-ronin after his father Rokutaro is killed by a gunman called Justice. He did it to claim the Number 1 Headband, an item said to grant its wearer divine powers. Afro swears to avenge his father, but the only way to challenge the new Number 1 is to find the Number 2 headband. Only then will he gain the strength to “duel with a god”. The only questions left are who has that headband, and whether the journey to claim it be worth it or not.
2 Manji - Blade Of The Immortal
Manji has a high spot on this list for someone who didn’t get animated often. Hiroaki Samura’s manga Blade of the Immortal was widely acclaimed across its 19-year run from 1993 to 2012. It gained a live-action movie in 2017 that put Takuya Kimura (Judgment’s Takayuki Yagami) against Sota Fukushi (Ichigo from the live-action Bleach movie). But it only had one 13-episode anime series in 2008, and a 24-episode ONA in 2019.
Manji’s big advantage is that he’s immortal. Sort of. After he caused the death of 100 samurai and his sister, the nun Yaobikuni infused his body with “sacred bloodworms”. They can heal Manji's wounds so well they can reattach severed body parts. The only way he can regain his mortality is if he kills 1,000 evil men. Unless the other ronin have a maximum-security prison’s worth of katana fodder, he’d be the strongest of the bunch. Save one.
1 Jubei Kibagami - Ninja Scroll
For anime fans of a certain generation, Ninja Scroll was as much of a must-watch as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and the Street Fighter 2 animated film. Or indeed any of director Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s action anime like Wicked City and Demon City Shinjuku. It told the story of Jubei Kibagami, who gets pulled into a conflict when he saves a kunoichi called Kagerō from a band of ninjas.
Jubei gets blackmailed into helping the Tokugawa shogunate when their spy Dakuan poisons him. He’ll only get the antidote if he protects the shogunate against a supernatural band of ninja known as the Eight Devils of Kimon. This includes their leader Himuro Genma, Jubei’s former master turned immortal. Aside from his cult fame, Jubei’s experience in handling unkillable foes would give him the chops to chop Manji and the other ronin up to the top spot.