Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to check back in on the freewheeling adventures of Yaiba, Sayaka, and their increasingly bizarre companions, as we screen a fresh episode of Yaiba: Samurai Legend. When last we left off, Onimaru’s ominous octet of oni had been largely dismantled, mainly owing to the fact that none of them were particularly threatening or malevolent in the first place. Seriously, a sea cucumber? Onimaru, I don’t know what you were expecting.
All of that felt perfectly in line with Yaiba’s fast-paced, lighthearted spin on shonen drama, a style that calls to mind the rambling, playful early days of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball. With much of modern shonen aspiring to a self-seriousness their narratives cannot begin to justify, it’s refreshing to see a show that’s just having fun with the template, offering endearingly non-threatening villains and then eagerly inviting them to join the good guys. And of course, all of this is made far more appealing through the kinetic animation and lush background design of Takahiro Hasui’s impressive adaptation, which is clearly and effectively conjuring the nostalgic aesthetics of ‘80s anime. I’m all for this reappropriation of dormant yet enduringly compelling styles, and eager to see what nonsense Aoyama cooks up next. Let’s get to it!
Episode 6
We drop down in Nagoya, where the gang are enjoying some local snacks. Even Yaiba taking a bite here is ornamented with some delightful squashing and stretching
Sayaka posts some pictures to Instagram. Sorta comforting to consider how easy it is to modernize this narrative; the accessories and fascinations of teenagers may change, but adolescence is what it is
Mr. Slug makes his dramatic reappearance, realized through a dramatic fisheye shot that makes him as large and imposing as possible
But now he has a shell! How will they salt him now!?
Easily, it turns out. Fortunately, he’s just the opening act for our incoming vampire, who’s introduced through a dynamic cut realizing him reflected in the glass of these tall buildings. I suppose that means he’s just vampire-themed, not an actual vampire
Even by Yaiba standards the boarding feels particularly sharp this episode – lots of interesting angles and quick transitions that emphasize the sense of dynamic motion, as well as dramatic low-angle shots with exaggerated foreshortening that create a greater sense of threat and impact for these oni
Apparently this episode was boarded and directed by Yuji Tokuno, a relatively new artist who has nonetheless directed episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen, Fire Force, and One Piece. He’s clearly got a gift for energetic action boarding
Neat trick of using shadowy clouds of bats to facilitate transitions centered on this vampire oni
“The Unexpected Mr. Bat”
More angular, aggressive compositions as we return post-OP. This first layout is excellent, using the sharp angles of Yaiba’s hair, eyebrows, and sword to create a unified V shape, leading the eye first down to his blade, then up the line of the blade itself. The overall effect emphasizes Yaiba’s killer instinct in this moment; his entire form is a knife aimed at his opponent
Our foe actually calls himself “Bat Guy” in English. Love his shades
His mannerisms are delightful in general. His voice actor’s going all-in on the absurdly over-enunciated English interjections
Ooh, another excellent visual trick – having this screen-in-screen of Yaiba’s reaction cut through the composition like a bolt of lightning, emphasizing the absurd speed of this exchange while making the reaction itself look like a blade cutting through Yaiba’s body
Nice expression work as Yaiba bitterly inspects his injury. Good to see more of a range out of him, now that he’s actually being pressured in combat
Their aerial battle embodies this production’s signature blend of old-fashioned animation techniques and new digital innovations, as their dramatic smears and Kaneda poses are captured by a spinning camera facilitated by the massive CG building beside them. The building does a fine job of lending some perspective to this exchange, giving us a sense of their actual speed and motion relative to a stable object
I also like that Yaiba’s limitations here are so physically coherent – first he cannot fight his opponent because he can’t take to the sky, now he can’t unleash his powers because his “wings” limit his range of motion
Musashi introduces himself in kabuki style, with the speedlines transitioning to the orange-green-black combo of kabuki curtains. I wonder why those three colors came to symbolize kabuki theater?
And Mr. Bat just immediately goes into adoring fanboy mode at meeting a famous swordsman. Love this guy, we need to keep him too
Lovely shading effects for Frog and Sea Cucumber’s response to Musashi being turned by the enemy. The looseness of these scribbles and the variable line weight used to create heavy shadows really bolster the intensity of their expressions
God, these aerial sequences use the city backdrop so well. This episode’s really setting a new standard for this production’s action scenes
Another nice mix of low-angle and fisheye shots to convey Mr. Bat as master of this city, lording over it from above and dominating the composition from below
I like that our frog buddy is just doing the Thriller dance in the background
The aftermath offers Yaiba and Sayaka one of this production’s rare, precious quiet moments, as they stare down at the canal and consider their next move. The icy blue night colors fit their mood well
Man, the layouts are just a delight this episode. Mr. Bat’s return is realized through a multilayered composition that uses our heroes in the foreground as bookends to frame his triumphant appearance in the distance, with the darkness of their discussion now pierced by the cold blue light emanating behind him. Smart use of wracking focus, echoing this episode’s general tendency to link all its transitions with tricks of visual geometry, always leading the eye towards the next subject
With our team on the run, the compositions then shift to emphasizing their entrapment, with Sayaka captured among the wooden slates of this window like she’s looking through prison bars
Yaiba creates an opening by hiding in the top half of a suit of samurai armor. As with his initial clashes against Onimaru, Yaiba is specifically defined as a master of trickery – using whatever traps he can conjure, or whatever underhanded schemes might give him an edge against his opponent. It’s a sharp, intentional contrast with the straight-laced Onimaru, and it’s something Musashi has even praised him for – his understanding that only victory matters, and thus any method you can use to put your opponent off balance is fair game
Nice smeary character acting for Sayaka as she searches for Yaiba in the heavy wind. I do wish she had something meaningful to do in this encounter; considering Yaiba’s trickery makes him both brains and brawn, she feels unfortunately superfluous
Ooh, love this shot panning slowly across the floor behind Sayaka, painting the battlefield itself as a magenta void in the distance. The imitation of focal depth, the wood grain effect on the floor, it all feels extremely cinematic
“We’re coming, Yaiba!” Excellent, now Sayaka gets to spearhead the comeback sequence. There we go!
This fight continues to make strong use of the physical environment here, consistently complicating their exchanges through descents between rooftops, physical barriers, and hiding places. This is an excellent way to add unique dynamics and a sense of coherent progression to a fight; many great martial arts films are built off an understanding of scenery as an inherent source of conflict (Jackie Chan in particular loves this stuff, falling closer to Buster Keaton than his contemporaries)
“You’re a sore loser, Thunder Boy!” Yep, that’s Yaiba’s trick. His style is the law of the jungle – a win’s a win, whether that win’s achieved via trickery or after a lot of running away
Speaking of trickery, his victory is achieved the same way – by recognizing and exploiting Mr. Bat’s weakness to the sun
In spite of his victory, Yaiba seems troubled, saying he “doesn’t have time for girls right now.” This fight demonstrated his current weakness
And Onimaru is… becoming a nationally beloved public figure? You know what, these days I’d buy it
And Done
Whew, that was one hell of an episode! In fact, I’d say it was Yaiba’s most impressive excursion so far, combining endless flourishes of fluid, character-rich animation with imaginative, energetic direction to pull off the show’s best battle to date. All this aerial and rooftop commotion made phenomenal use of Nagoya as a setting, which in turn facilitated Yaiba’s characteristic reliance on trickery and shameless jockeying for situational advantage. Putting Yaiba on the backfoot really amplified the tension here, and Yuji Tokuno capitalized on the situation to construct an episode where every composition told its own story, carrying the action forward with ever-amplifying visual energy. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that guy!
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