Yaiba: Samurai Legend

Episode 9

Many of my most consistent complaints about this show have been that it moves a bit too fast, and that we don't spend enough time on Yaiba's development, so I was a bit surprised to get an episode that mostly addresses both. Now that the gang has returned from Ganryu Island and Yaiba has come closer to controlling the Raijinken, he must now perfect a new sword technique to face Onimaru. While that doesn't exactly make for the most exciting episode, it does provide the show with a much-needed opportunity to slow down and set the stage for the big showdown.

Before jumping into the training, we get to see Sayaka's family react to the weird animal people and the old man she's brought home with her, as they try to wrap their heads around them. Her grandma's reaction to Musashi in particular makes for a good laugh, as she imagined him as a bit of a silver fox, and the reality of what he looks like is so cruel that she nearly has a stroke. In the middle of all this, we also see that Kojiro is hanging out with everyone as he managed to cozy up to Sayaka's family. Of course, this is all a ploy to poach the Raijinken from Yaiba, but everyone else is none the wiser. It's great trying to see him trying his darndest to maintain the facade. As Yaiba starts working on a new technique, his efforts fall short as the best he can come up with are gimmicks like blinding people with a flashlight or spinning his body like a human Beyblade, and Musashi is none too impressed. Eventually, Yaiba gets a literal flash of inspiration after seeing some lightning, and comes up with a move called the Lightning Slash that cuts at the opponent faster than the eye can see. The only problem is that Yaiba's attacks are just a bit too slow for Musashi's liking, and Yaiba has to figure out a way to cut faster.

In the meantime, Kojiro keeps looking for opportunities to swipe the Raijinken, but whether it's trying to sneak up behind him or steal it while Yaiba's taking a bath, he just can't get the kid to let go of it. With Yaiba getting closer and closer to mastering the Lightning Slash, Kojiro decides that his only remaining option is to “help” Yaiba train in the hopes that he can just kill him in the process. This goes about as poorly as you might expect, as not only does Kojiro fail to hurt him, but seeing Kojiro's attacks up close ends up being the last piece of the puzzle Yaiba needed to master his new technique. As much as Kojiro views Yaiba as a nuisance, we do start to see signs that he might be warming up to the little guy, and while him genuinely switching sides feels a foregone, having him fake being friends with the gang until it happens seems like as fun a way as any for that to play out. I hope that's the direction this goes in.

Beyond that, there isn't too much else to mention about this episode, but I'm pretty okay with that. While none of the action was as flashy as the previous episodes, it was nice to focus on Yaiba trying to improve without the show needing to juggle several other plots on top of that. It even provided a couple of moments of growth on Yaiba's part as we see him taking his training more seriously by refusing food from Sayaka when Musashi tells him not to eat till he comes up with a new move, and later deciding to let Sayaka hold onto the Raijinken since he knows he can't control it yet. This isn't a lot, but it shows that Yaiba is learning to practice some degree of restraint (though maybe not enough since part of his “training” here involves him and Musashi trying to peep on Sayaka), and since Yaiba has generally behaved by just doing whatever he wanted up to now, it does go to show that he's maturing at least a little bit. Hopefully, that'll continue as he and the others finally prepare to face Onimaru, and after finally getting a much-needed cool down, I'm ready to see the show firing on all cylinders for whatever that battle entails.

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