Content Warning: Epilepsy warning at start; lechery as comedy; alcoholic parents as comedy
What’s it about? Kurogane Yaiba lived by the rules of the jungle and the tutelage of the world’s most irresponsible father Kenjuro. Lacking any formal training and living on instinct alone, Yaiba is a fish out of water upon returning to Japan despite calling himself a “samurai.” Kenjuro feels fit to entrust his son to his old buddy Mine Raizo, much to Raizo’s chagrin, and thus starts Yaiba’s new chapter in life seeking ever stronger rivals in kendo that he had never met before in the wilds.
Do you ever wish you were back in the 80s? Do you yearn for a time when anime was hand painted? Do you desire a story about a boy, a girl, his pet tiger and cartoonish antics? Well, Yaiba is exactly that. The fact that it’s back some 30 years later is a clear sign that the anime industry is hungry to cash in on nostalgia after seeing how well Takahashi Rumiko’s works are doing now that her core readership in the 1980s are hitting that age range when their 401ks are about to mature.
But unlike Those Obnoxious Aliens or Ranma ½, Yaiba might be a bit more obscure to English language audiences, because there wasn’t quite as big of a cult following for this show compared to other early 1990s classics. Still, the pedigree is there.
Aoyama Gosho, before starting his long-running hit murder-mystery thriller series Case Closed, drew the samurai action battle manga for nearly five years from 1988 to 1993. The property inspired an anime and video games, enjoying moderate success in the early 1990s, perhaps even influencing why Aoyama was chosen to draw the key art for Square Enix’s 1994 RPG-epic Live A Live’s samurai and ninja-filled Edo-era arc.
While Yaiba, for me, isn’t particularly the most inspiring or ground breaking manga of its era, it solidly feels like a fondly remembered, but overall irrelevant story of its time. It was Shonen Sunday’s answer to Dragon Ball, and if I could ever compare it with any other manga, I would call it the Rave Master of its time. It had the spunky protagonist boy with spiky hair, a naggy but lovable heroine who really doesn’t do much, cool animal sidekicks, and battle after battle with ever stronger enemies that keep showing up for reasons™.
And for all that I remember and appreciate from tangentially experiencing this IP as an elementary schooler, Yaiba hits right. Studio Wit brings a distinctly hand-drawn feel to the remake in presentation. The art style is a bit more cartoony and old-school, harkening back to that 90s children’s anime feel. This is all pretty cool and translates well. Takayama Minami (the voice of Conan in Case Closed and Tendou Nabiki in Ranma 1/2) reprises her role as Yaiba 32 years on, although it’s really too bad that Horikawa Ryo (the voice of Heiji in Case Closed and Pipimi in Pop Team Epic) appears not to have been recast as Onimaru.
It still gets the all-important vibes right though, and that’s something to commend when the show anachronistically crams the Tokyo Skytree in to assure you that this show takes place in current day Japan and not 30 years ago, which kind of makes sense because canonically Yaiba takes place in the same time and universe as Case Closed.
Still, the show is exactly what you expect from a 1990s battle shonen anime, and that’s not exactly great either. The show opens with an epilepsy warning, and boy does it deserve it as the screen flashes colorfully in an epic battle.
Just the same, Yaiba is an innocent little wild child who does not understand modesty, and that translates to 90s era ecchi humor as Yaiba curiously feels up Sayaka, and apes his sexist father’s cat-calling because he was once taught “girls love that kind of thing.” Yaiba’s perversion in innocence is one thing, but his father is the typical neglectful and irresponsible alcoholic deadbeat also played for comedy.
These things haven’t quite aged well, and it is a hindrance for an otherwise fun little romp, because Yaiba is a pretty solid show otherwise.
I’m not particularly sure why Yaiba needs to be remade in 2025, but it’s certainly a nice surprise. Perhaps that Yaiba crossover in Case Closed back in 2018 reminded enough people that the children yearn for more comedic battle shonen stories. Good on them for that, because I do hope more people get to know about this story. It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s got action!
I’ll certainly buy into the nostalgia bit and be picking it up in the meantime. I’m just praying to god that Aoyama doesn’t take this opportunity to reveal Yaiba is somehow also blood related to Shinichi and Kaito Kid as well, because I’ll scream if that happens. I’ll scream.
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.