Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I\u2019m eager to return to the ongoing Yaiba: Samurai Legend, whose first episode offered a generous buffet of upbeat shonen staples and astonishing Kanada-style action. Shipped from his jungle home to Japan in a packing crate, Yaiba swiftly established himself as a gremlin to be reckoned with, offering a refreshingly guileless Goku-adjacent energy that was neatly complimented by his new housemate Sayaka. All the while, his journey was brightened and elevated by this production\u2019s simultaneously nostalgic and cutting-edge art design, carrying the pleasures of both Kanada\u2019s classic space action and Shonen Jump\u2019s \u201880s energy into the twenty-first century.<\/span><\/p>\n Our core team of director Takahiro Hasui and animation director Yoshimichi Kameda clearly know exactly what they\u2019re doing. Given his tenure as Mob Psycho 100\u2019s character designer, Kameda\u2019s distinct approach to this production demonstrates he is an artist capable of adapting his own techniques to the aesthetic and tone of his material, not just bringing original creator Gosho Aoyama\u2019s designs to life, but realizing them through animation techniques that harken back to the era of their initial creation. Through this approach, Yaiba represents a reclamation of treasured animation techniques much like Wit\u2019s prior Ranking of Kings, embracing the tools of the digital era while separating itself from their assumed aesthetic compliments. The more classic anime I watch, the more vivid techniques and embellishments I see that have tragically fallen by the wayside; through works like Yaiba, I am delighted to see these techniques returned to life, ready to dazzle and hopefully inspire a new generation of animators. Let\u2019s get to it!<\/span><\/p>\n Episode 2<\/b><\/p>\n We drop in at the Onimaru estate in the early morning, where Takeshi is already practicing his strikes in the predawn light. A man who clearly takes his formal practice seriously, the opposite of Kaiba\u2019s scrappy, \u201claw of the jungle\u201d-derivative style<\/span><\/p>\n Kinda funny how we\u2019re basically doing a Tarzan narrative, but our jungle man is also a samurai<\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s dictating a message to his sister, who appears to be either attending or hosting kendo seminars in Paris<\/span><\/p>\n Something I noticed with Sayaka\u2019s early-morning wakeup last episode \u2013 this production team is actually quite good at conveying a somber, contemplative vibe, dampening the sound design and embracing blue hues to create an overall sense of a world just upon waking. Given Yaiba\u2019s our protagonist, the show normally embraces a far more energetic, aggressive style, so I appreciate that we get these tonal counterpoints as well<\/span><\/p>\n His life is spartan in all respects, though he does keep a roost of pigeons on the estate<\/span><\/p>\n He mentions the national championship, saying he\u2019ll \u201cwin again\u201d this year. An early tournament would be quite illuminating regarding Gosho Aoyama\u2019s intentions for this story; it\u2019s still unclear if he\u2019s going to lean into crunchy, mechanically defined conflicts, or have Yaiba continue to achieve victory via sudden epiphanies like in the first episode. Many shonen dramas (Dragon Ball, One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, JoJo\u2019s Bizarre Adventure) eventually transition from the latter to the former, finding that you can only have your protagonist achieve a whimsical, spontaneous victory for so long before you need to establish a more stable mechanical framework for combat<\/span><\/p>\n Gosh, this OP\u2019s so energetic! It also shows off this production\u2019s mix of styles, ranging from the explosive energy beams of its Kanada moments to carefully realized emotional moments embracing all the scene-setting benefits of modern shading and post-production effects<\/span><\/p>\n Also seems like Takeshi will eventually be overtaken by some sort of demonic entity or something, judging by his resemblance to this theoretical OP villain<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFujinken Reborn\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We cut back on Sayaka shooing Yaiba away at school, only for him to run straight into Onimaru<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOnimaru the oni.\u201d Ooh, that one\u2019s gonna stick<\/span><\/p>\n Onimaru defeats him so easily they don\u2019t even bother showing it on-screen<\/span><\/p>\n Gosh, the incidental expressions of our leads are so charming, even with only minimal frames. I can see why Aoyama\u2019s characters are so beloved<\/span><\/p>\n Yaiba escalates the situation by stealing Onimaru\u2019s gear. Really nice quick cut as Onimaru bounds out of the building; his movements feel very true-to-life for an energetic teenager, and the racking focus here makes this one cut into something like a chase scene<\/span><\/p>\n And for our next flourish, they use a combination of shifting camera perspective and screen-in-screen partitions to maintain visual clarity as Onimaru is nearly caught under a collapsing wave of lockers. A scene that could easily be visually unclear or stilted is made into a dramatic highlight by maintaining the audience\u2019s perspective, keeping us aligned with Onimaru\u2019s shoulder as he dives gracefully beneath this trap<\/span><\/p>\n His leap from the school roof demonstrates another fusion of old and new, with slight perspective shifts making use of the school\u2019s digital set, alongside expressive posing flourishes as he adjusts his momentum<\/span><\/p>\n Yaiba\u2019s tricks still fall into \u201chow would I trap a jungle creature\u201d vein, leaving its style of action an open question<\/span><\/p>\n Nice trick of Onimaru\u2019s animation gaining more wild smears as he gets more infuriated by Yaiba<\/span><\/p>\n Onimaru heads to Sayaka\u2019s home, where he\u2019s challenged by her grandmother. Once again, I\u2019m impressed by how well this production uses its angular designs and animation flourishes to create strong, eye-drawing shapes in the composition, like how Onimaru\u2019s stare leads the eye down his sword to Sayaka\u2019s grandmother. Hiroyuki Imaishi doesn\u2019t really make my kind of stories, but he has a terrific eye for this as well<\/span><\/p>\n Oh my god, did Yaiba\u2019s buzzard Shonosuke just eat all of Onimaru\u2019s pigeons? That\u2019s definitely worthy of a lifelong grudge<\/span><\/p>\n Alright, he just bullied the pigeons, he didn\u2019t actually eat them. Still, jail for one thousand years for the buzzard<\/span><\/p>\n And of course, Yaiba thinks he\u2019s the victim in all this. One classic secret sauce of shonens is having a protagonist who kind of sucks, as demonstrated by the alternating brattiness, belligerence, and moral indifference of characters like Yuusuke Urameshi, Goku, Joseph Joestar, Monkey D. Luffy, Naruto Uzumaki, and many others<\/span><\/p>\n The pair swiftly attract police attention as they clash outside a nearby shrine<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFight with your sword, you cheat!\u201d Onimaru obviously favors propriety and accepted forms in all things, whether it\u2019s his kendo or personal life. In contrast, Yaiba favors expressiveness and creativity, embracing the scrappiness of a street (or jungle) fighter<\/span><\/p>\n Wonderful smeary distortions of this rickshaw as the pair battle behind it. Love how they\u2019re really embracing the environment here; not just creating a sense of depth, but actually choreographing a battle that constantly intrudes on background scenes, making the fight feel both more funny and more lively<\/span><\/p>\n Atop the bus, the camera swerves as the production relishes in the opportunities provided by Kanada-style distortion. It is profoundly difficult to rotate a camera around a traditionally animated character, given the redraws needed to maintain a coherent perspective \u2013 however, if those characters are distorted into pure splashes of color as they move, you can synchronize the camera movement with the bodily distortion to make for a much easier drawing process that actually evokes an even greater sense of kinetic energy<\/span><\/p>\n And of course, all of this is facilitated by the CG backdrop, which is wisely kept in half-focus to maintain a sense of aesthetic cohesion. An effective combination of old and new techniques<\/span><\/p>\n Once again, Yaiba does not consider himself limited by the rules of kendo, and starts throwing big ol\u2019 pieces of lumber at his opponent. This of course prompts some delightful squashing and stretching as Onimaru slashes and dodges the obstacles<\/span><\/p>\n Yaiba actually hides among the debris, and fires back by biting Onimaru on the head. Feral creature-ness aside, I wonder if this sequence was an influence on the Gon vs Hisoka fight in Heaven\u2019s Arena; Gon\u2019s backstory and fighting style actually feel quite reminiscent of Yaiba\u2019s<\/span><\/p>\n Yaiba \u201cwins\u201d his fight, but is promptly defeated by an overhanging traffic sign<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you did not beat him fair and square, then you did not win, my child.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf he can achieve stability way up on the roof, then he can attack from any position.\u201d So we are getting a touch of general combat wisdom at this point<\/span><\/p>\n Sayaka\u2019s got a nice new ensemble this episode. Hoping this is one of those shows where characters have aesthetics rather than costumes, though presumably Yaiba will just stick in his kendo robes regardless<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s trying to sharpen his perception.\u201d Yaiba does seem to have a natural instinct for productive training<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Onimaru has been driven fully insane by Yaiba\u2019s provocations, and now stands alone in a hall of candles, swinging at ghosts<\/span><\/p>\n He wakes from his nightmare and gets straight to training. Nice detail of the hastily repaired pigeon coop<\/span><\/p>\n Smashing a pillar in his front yard, he discovers a tunnel leading underground. Time for demonic possession?<\/span><\/p>\n The tunnel leads to a shrine with a sword and a grand statue of Fujin, the wind god. So presumably we\u2019ll be establishing a Fujin\/Raijin contrast for our leads. Shinto and Buddhist lore are regularly mined for shonen drama, capitalizing on the familiarity that even young Japanese children would have with the most major fables. Dragon Ball is obviously a take on Journey to the West, while One Piece\u2019s recent Wano arc basically ran through the story of Momotaro<\/span><\/p>\n The sword is, unsurprisingly, the Fujinken<\/span><\/p>\n Thus he claims the sword, as well as its demonic wielder\u2019s form<\/span><\/p>\n And Done<\/b><\/p>\n Whew, we are not wasting any time here, are we!? Just two episodes down, and Yaiba has already acquired himself a rival equipped with the legendary sword of the wind god, alongside a massive and frankly deserved Yaiba-related chip on his shoulder. Onimaru\u2019s formal introduction was an action-packed delight, and his battle with Yaiba across Tokyo demonstrated both the inherent appeal of its nostalgic animation flourishes, as well as how those old-fashioned tools can be repurposed and reinvigorated alongside the medium\u2019s modern innovations. The show remains visually compelling, and though Yaiba himself is frankly a bit much, I\u2019m thoroughly enjoying hanging out with Onimaru and Sayaka. Two episodes down and we\u2019ve already unlocked a demon blade \u2013 I don\u2019t know how Aoyama\u2019s planning to escalate from here, but I\u2019m eager to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n This\u00a0article\u00a0was\u00a0mad<\/a><\/em>e possible by reader support<\/a>. Thank you all for\u00a0all that you do.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14110225.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14111224.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14111916.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14112850.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14113717.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14114654.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14115654.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14120546.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14121126.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14122053.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14122550.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/April14123535.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n