We’ve had a recent influx of anime remakes and reboots, from the works of Rumiko Takahashi to the ongoing Star Blazers reimagining. These new series allow classics to get a fresh coat of paint and a little extra wiggle room. Better still, it makes the series more accessible to a new audience. Among these retro series getting a new lease on life is YAIBA: Samurai Legend. And yes, it is very worth your while.
Based on the 1988 manga by Detective Conan creator Gosho Aoyama, this series is full of fun, action, and silliness. It’s also one of the most beautiful anime we’ve seen in the past two seasons. With a month left in the summer season and nearly 20 episodes ready for you to binge, here’s why you should be checking out this series.
Looney Tunes Goofiness
On the surface (and indeed on the regular), YAIBA: Samurai Legend is an extremely silly show. Its protagonist is a young samurai raised in the jungle. He has no social graces, most of his friends are literal animals, but boy can he swing a sword. And now he’s in modern-day Japan to train. This means a major headache for schoolgirl Sayaka Mine and her family. But things immediately get worse.
Yaiba starts school life by picking fights with Onimaru, a tough upper-classman who takes everything extremely seriously. He’s so serious about getting whaled on by this pint-sized samurai that he literally becomes a demon about it. As the series continues, Yaiba will do battle with a variety of legendary samurai and animal people. Like a sea cucumber. And “Mr. Bat,” a literal bat… person. Those he doesn’t outright obliterate, he often befriends, filling the Mine house even more.
High Action
Considering the whole show is about samurai and demons doing battle, YAIBA: Samurai Legend is naturally full of massive battles. But don’t let the goofiness of the series fool you. In this new version, silliness coexists with absolutely gorgeous animation. WIT Studio has gone all out, transforming these over-the-top battles into sheer eye candy.
In its second cour, things have gone even bigger. With a series of magic orbs in play, Yaiba can now unlock elemental powers. Orbs of fire, water, transformation, giant size, and (most recently) darkness all affect the field. Most of all, they create more opportunities for animation that swings between jaw-dropping and goofy. (Though the latter is mostly when Yaiba transforms into a boat or a weird baby dragon.)
Memorable Characters
YAIBA: Samurai Legend is packed to the gills with characters, and more keep arriving. That’s what you get when you keep befriending your enemies. At the core, though, are Yaiba, Sayaka, and their immediate friends. Two of those immediate friends are the legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto and Sasaki Kojiro, each with their own goals and personality issues.
As stacked as the cast gets, the people at the core remain the most important part of the series. Yaiba is slowly growing up, learning to value the people he cares about and use his strength for them. Sayaka is starting to get used to her less normal life, guarding the magic orbs and even venturing into battle at times. While the action and the silliness are always at the front of the episodes, these core relationships are lovely to watch grow.
YAIBA: Samurai Legend is now streaming on Netflix.
We’ve had a recent influx of anime remakes and reboots, from the works of Rumiko Takahashi to the ongoing Star Blazers reimagining. These new series allow classics to get a fresh coat of paint and a little extra wiggle room. Better still, it makes the series more accessible to a new audience. Among these retro series… Otaku USA Magazine