English Dub Review: YAIBA: Samurai Legend “Episodes 1-12”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Yaiba’s (Erica Mendez) journey to becoming a true samurai takes him from his home in the jungle to a bustling city full of rivals, friends, and ancient powers.

Our Take:

YAIBA: Samurai Legend is the second anime adaptation of a manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama.  It is directed by Takahiro Hasui, with Touko Machida writing the scripts.  It is produced by Wit Studio, known for creating other anime shows such as Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, Ranking of Kings, Spy x Family, and Suicide Squad Isekai.  Yoshimichi Kameda designed the characters and served as chief animation director, and Yutaka Yamada and Yoshiaki Dewa composed the music.

YAIBA has been one of the essential roles of 90s anime, particularly in its first anime adaptation, which ran from 1993 to 1994.  However, I didn’t realize it existed compared to my experience with Pokémon and Dragon Ball during that era.  That is, until its latest iteration from Wit Studio was released back in April, which is aiming to conclude its 24-episode season sometime next month.  But it looks like the series, which continues the trend of rebooting 90s anime for new generations, isn’t waiting until then to release the English dub version for the season’s first half.  If you’re wondering why they couldn’t just release the English dub alongside the original version when it first came out, your guess is as good as mine.

For those unfamiliar with the series, YAIBA: Samurai Legend chronicles the tale of Yaiba Kurogane, a carefree yet reckless young boy striving to become a samurai under the mentorship of his father, Kenjurou (Craig Lee Thomas), within the forest.  However, an incident resulted in them being transported to the city in Japan, forcing Yaiba to adjust to city life with unexpected help from Sayaka Mine (Rebecca Wang), the daughter of his father’s friend.  Things take another unexpected turn when he recklessly challenges a swordsman named Takeshi Onimaru (Alan Lee) to a duel, which ends in the latter’s humiliating defeat.  As a result, Onimaru stumbled across a mystical wind katana called the Fujinken that transforms him into a demon.  This forces Yaiba and his unlikely allies to embark on a journey to master the thunder sword, Raijinken, and defeat Onimaru and his menacing oni army.

In typical anime fashion, YAIBA follows the basic narrative of an impulsive and innocently arrogant protagonist striving to become a mighty hero through their battles against formidable enemies.  In this case, Yaiba’s egotistical and gullible actions resulted in him creating a merciful foe out of Onimaru, leading him on a coming-of-age adventure to correct his mistakes and become a true samurai warrior.  Of course, it isn’t without the support of his allies, including his mentor, Musashi Miyamoto (Christopher Corey Smith), and some of the reformed members of the Eight Ogres, such as a frog ogre.  This harkens back to similar anime, such as One Piece, but it also treats fans of the source material to a nostalgic throwback to its first anime adaptation, both in terms of stylization and comedy, yet with a modern flair.  Of course, for the latter, I’m not just referring to its cartoony dynamic slapstick but also Yaiba’s pervert-like innocence regarding his “fascination” with the girls, particularly Sayaka.

While the gags involving discomforting sexual harassment may have been deemed acceptable in previous adaptations, the 2025 version may not have realized that times have changed since then.  I can argue that this type of humor retains the amusingly wacky charm, primarily due to its English voice cast, including Erica Mendez as Yaiba and Christopher Corey Smith as Miyamoto.  However, I can also admit that it may have relied a bit too much on its dated roots to evoke the appeal of Yaiba’s “curiosity” towards girls.  Aside from that, though, YAIBA provided the usual zany and stylistically energetic pizazz fans might expect from other versions, such as the 1993 anime.  I would even say that it might also be enough to convince newcomers, including myself, to join in on this mystical samurai quest.  Despite the pacing feeling a bit rushed at times, especially in its first episode, the show’s first half is a surprisingly entertaining start to this familiar journey.  

One of the notable reasons is the animation from Wit Studio, which is known for producing some impressive presentations in other anime shows.  Given my experience with Spy x Family and Suicide Squad Isekai, Wit Studio seemed like a suitable choice for emphasizing the anime’s wacky and action-packed style filled with vibrancy and lively energy.  Unsurprisingly, upon watching the first few episodes, its presentation managed to meet my given expectations.  It conveyed the zany, simplistic, and graphically dynamic art and character designs presented in the source material, as well as those from the previous anime produced by Pastel.  At the same time, it provided a few modern touch-ups in the lighting effects and color palettes to replicate a similar look from recent anime adaptations.  The result is another testament to Wit Studio’s impressive ability to inject energetic flair and radiance into the comedy and swiftly stylized action sequences, particularly Yaiba’s duels with Onimaru in episodes 2 and 11, which were some of the highlights of the season so far.

Speaking as someone who hasn’t watched the previous adaptation, I was pleasantly surprised at the first half of YAIBA: Samurai Legend.  It provided the elements fans enjoyed from the source material, such as its zany characters and art style, while offering plenty of modernity and a few touch-ups in the animation to entertain the newcomers.  The pacing can be a bit rushed at times, and the humor involving Yaiba’s “intrigue” with girls might be seen as “dated” by some viewers.  Thankfully, they were easily sliced down by the show’s highly entertaining plot, fun and wacky slapstick, and superb animation from Wit Studio.  If the second half were to follow those similar footsteps, especially for Yaiba’s quest to find the Dragon God Orb, it’s possible we could be looking at another successful revival of an iconic piece of 90s anime nostalgia.