Yaiba: Samurai Legend

Episodes 1-3

Despite being an anime fan for a couple of decades at this point, I've never really engaged with Case Closed. I read a bit of the manga as a teen and liked what I read, but even by the late 2000s, it seemed too daunting a task to try catching up with the series, so most of what I know about it is purely through cultural osmosis. As such, I also don't know much about Gōshō Aoyama's writing style beyond being good enough at writing weekly mysteries to keep Case Closed going for decades, so I went into this one completely blind. However, while I may not know much about Case Closed, I am a big fan of old school battle shonen. While I have mixed feelings on the whole modern trend of big reboots, they did lead me to coming across the 2020 version of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, which ended up being one of my favorite anime of the past few years. Because of that, I've been excited to check out this new version of Yaiba ever since it was announced, and I was looking forward to seeing if lightning could strike twice with getting another cool shonen revival.

Based on the first three episodes, I'm a bit more mixed on it than I was hoping to be. The biggest draw of this show so far is its presentation, and Takahiro Hasui and his team at Studio WIT have pulled out all the stops for a top-notch production. Takahiro Hasui was previously a director on Studio BONES's adaptation of Mob Psycho 100, and much like that show, it takes advantage of its relatively simplistic character designs to dish out some incredibly fluid and bouncy animation. The character animation is goofy and expressive, and the show is willing to squash and stretch its cast in a way that feels more like I'm watching an episode of Looney Tunes than a modern anime production, and helps to give it a unique look. That classic cartoon energy to the visual presentation also helps when it comes to selling some of the show's comedy, and moments like Yaiba bouncing on top of a moving truck only to slam straight into a highway sign, or his new companion, Sayaka, getting zapped with lightning when she tries pulling out one of the show's magic swords, make for some of the best slapstick I've seen from an anime in quite a while. You'd think all that goofy animation and slapstick would hurt the quality of the show's fight scenes, but they look as incredible as everything else. The high concentration of action smears does a lot to help make them feel more kinetic and easy to follow. Even in a season with shows like GQuuuux or Anne Shirley, this might be the standout when it comes to raw animation quality, and that almost makes it worth the price of admission on its own.

Good as the show looks, though, I'm not quite sold on the story, and especially Yaiba as a character. He feels as though he's molded in the same Kid Hero archetype as Goku from the early parts of Dragon Ball. While I don't necessarily mind that kind of character, it's easy to make them feel obnoxious when handled badly and Yaiba is skirting that line for me. Like Kid Goku, he's a simple little guy who was raised in the jungle, loves to fight, and doesn't know the first thing about social etiquette, which causes him to lack a lot of common sense. On paper, this all seems like it would make for a fun character, but in practice, he's annoying, as he's stubborn to a fault, doesn't respect boundaries, and just does whatever he wants with no real consideration for the consequences. Its especially frustrating when it comes to his dynamic with Sayaka, as from the moment he meets her he either drags her into his antics against her will or sexually harrasses her for being the first girl he's ever met, and while I can get not wanting to modernize this new version too much, it does feel like an aspect of the series that might have been better off staying in the 80's.

Thanks to all that, my favorite character might be the show's villain, Onimaru, a kendo prodigy who Yaiba attempts to make into his rival. He's a bit arrogant, sure, but he is otherwise minding his own business before Yaiba bursts into his life, trying to fight him every five minutes. By the time Yaiba starts laying pit traps or messing with his chickens to coax him into a match, it's hard not to feel sorry for the guy. If anything, by the time Onimaru stumbles across an evil sword called the Fujinken that offers him great power in exchange for transforming him into an oni, I found myself rooting for, rather than against him, and wasn't too broken up when his new abilities allow him to defeat Yaiba with relative ease

While a lot of this might sound like I dislike this show, I am still mostly having a good time despite its flaws. The visual presentation is doing a lot to keep me invested, and for as much as I liked Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, even that took a few episodes to find its footing, so I'm willing to give this a little leeway since older shonen properties like these do sometimes take a bit to get going. With that in mind, I do appreciate that this show does seem to be moving at a good pace, and with Yaiba already having his own magic sword called the Raijinken in hand, I'm glad that we at least won't have to wait long to get all of the crazy sword fights the opening theme is promising. Although I'm not quite as impressed with this show as I was hoping to be, it's still pretty fun, and if the characters can get on par with the level of the show's presentation, it might have the potential to make for a solid modern classic.

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Yaiba: Samurai Legend is currently streaming on Netflix and Hulu on Saturdays.