Malifaux are not Ronin in the traditional sense, even book 1 says they are Ronin in that they are wandering mercenaries. Malifaux Ronin are not displaced Samurai, they're all fugitives working as hired guns to survive. They have their parallels like prefer suicide over the noose, but they're not wandering to find a new master. The new Ronin don't look like wandering criminals, they look like belles who took up swords instead of claws.
Its more noticeable in the art, than on the models. Its just one of those things I find odd with a lot of the art complaints is that for every thing they point on the new sculpts, there usually something just as bad in the old sculpts.