Yaiba: Samurai Legend

Episode 10

After several episodes of increasingly wacky villain of the week setups, it's finally time for the big showdown between Yaiba and Onimaru…well, almost. While Yaiba's plan to attack Onimaru's castle from the skies and head straight to him seemed like a smart move, this show wouldn't be a proper battle shonen if we didn't have at least a little bit of stalling before a major fight, so Onimaru drops Yaiba and the others down some trap doors so he can throw a few more minions at them. Because of that, this episode ends up feeling more like a distraction, but to its credit, it does at least manage to be fun.

With everyone separated into groups, they all end up dealing with a new group of baddies called the Four Devil Kings. With a name like that, you might assume that the threat here is a lot more imposing than usual, but Yaiba: Samurai Legend is still a very silly show. We get one of the goofiest groups of bad guys imaginable. How goofy, you might ask? These dark scourges of evil include a giant anglerfish, a gorilla that turns into a discount Superman, and a giant chameleon wearing some Napoleon cosplay named Chameleon Bonaparte (I can only pray the dub does the right thing and gives him an unexplained French accent because otherwise what's even the point), with those last two being as entertaining as they sound. An odd lineup of villains to be sure, but it's hard not to respect this show's commitment to pumping out the goofiest ones imaginable.

The honor of fighting Chameleon Bonaparte goes to Yaiba and Sayaka, and he proves to be a slippery little devil as Yaiba has trouble sensing his presence, and can't manage to hit him. Sayaka decides to lay a trap so Yaiba can catch him, and while this mostly works, he decides to transform into Yaiba to confuse her. Given how most interactions between Yaiba and Sayaka go, I was bracing for the solution here to involve some form of fanservice at the latter's expense, so I was pleasantly surprised when she just asks them a math problem and points out that only the real one would get it wrong as Yaiba then swiftly beats his imposter. This isn't an exceptionally funny punchline, but it's certainly better than the alternative, and I did at least get a chuckle out of it, so I'd say this segment got the job done.

The bigger highlight here actually ends up being the fight with the Superman Gorilla, as he's pitted against Musashi and Kojiro. Although this seems like it'd be an easy win for them, these two are at each other's throats so much that it doesn't take long for them to start fighting each other instead, and leave poor Chimp Kent as a third wheel. In the middle of all this, Kojiro remembers that he's only here to steal Yaiba's sword, and with this being a great opportunity to get Musashi out of the way, he decides to team up with the gorilla to take him down. This team-up makes Kojiro's victory all but certain, which is why it's such a hilarious left swerve when Kojiro's final attack ends up accidentally knocking out the gorilla instead. The look on both of their faces pretty much says it all, and given how unexpected this development was, there's only one thing for Kojiro to do: say that this was all part of the plan and that he was simply pretending to betray Musashi because he'd never do anything bad to his new pals. Even though I'd predicted that Kojiro might end up faking his way into being a genuine ally, I didn't think the show would be able to mine something this funny out of it, and it's the most I've laughed at any of this show's jokes since it started. Although Musashi decides to buy into Kojiro's story for now, it's clear this won't be the last time he has to prove his “loyalty,” and I can only hope that whatever else the show has in store for that can keep up the good humor.

Sadly, the fight with the giant anglerfish isn't nearly as funny as the other two, as Gerozaemon and Yaiba's animal pals mainly just try not to get eaten before the others come to their rescue. On the bright side, this is at least made up for by the appearance of the last of the Four Devil Kings, which turns out to be none other than Mr. Spider. More accurately, it's Mr. Spider piloting a giant turtle mecha that later becomes a giant spider mecha, and this battle ends up as ridiculous as it sounds. Not only does it make for a fun little cartoon fight, but it also gives us the closest thing we've gotten to 2D robot mecha animation in quite a while. Even if it's just for a wacky spider robot, I can't help but respect the animation staff for how hard they're committing to this show's production. Great as this setup is, it doesn't last very long as Yaiba promptly drops it down Onimaru's castle, and this episode ends up right back where it started with Onimaru and Yaiba staring each other down. None of this with the feeling that this episode ultimately amounted to a twenty-four-minute distraction, but if we had to get one, I'm at least glad that it was funny. In terms of raw entertainment, I'd say this ended up being one of the show's better outings. Still, I would very much like to see the big Yaiba and Ominaru fight finally play out, and with how good this show looks on the regular, I'm extremely excited to see what the anime staff ends up bringing to the table for it.

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Yaiba: Samurai Legend is currently streaming on Netflix and Hulu on Saturdays.