Yaiba: Samurai Legend is, in theory, something akin to my ideal anime. A battle shounen action/adventure (emphasis on adventure) series with at least some degree of a romance element speaks to me on a primal level like nothing else. As for this one in particular, while I can certainly say that it’s more than just the Dragon Ball clone it initially presents itself as, it also falters in more areas than I would have liked. Yaiba is a bit more of a precocious prankster than the mostly innocent Goku, but that tradeoff does come with a bit of lost charisma as well, and the factthat the show’s main villain becomes mostly uninteresting as soon as he becomes the main villain was a bit of a letdown, though most of the side villains more than kept up their end of things. Sayaka also became a huge sticking point for me since…well she basically does nothing. I am more than willing to ride the Yaiba/Sayaka romance despite a bit of a rushed ramp-up in the middle section, but the fact that she literally becomes his ball carrier for half the series is immensely disappointing despite her being introduced as a practitioner of kendo much like Yaiba.
Fortunately, this also turned out to be one of the flashiest and consistently high-value productions of the year. Pairing Aoyama Gosho’s distinctive and appealing character designs with the full force of Wit Studio makes for a delightfully eye-grabbing experience front to back, though I also can’t deny that there were points where I reached a state of sakuga overload and felt my eyes glaze over, especially as the power creep turned into a full-on rocketship to the Moon in the last two episodes. This is not a show that’s going to give me everything I want despite how much I crave it, but what it is giving me is still fairly satisfying for now. Hopefully the next season will delve further into what sets this series apart as a battle shounen classic.