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... solid shounen action with a flavor of older days.⏎ James Beckett ⏎ Rating: 4 ⏎ If Yaiba: Samurai Legend existed in this modern, easily-accessible, and translated form when I ⏎ was a wee lad of the 90s, I might just have made it my entire personality. I mean no disrespect ⏎ to the original Yaiba adaptation from 1993, but I was only one-year-old, then, and I didn't live in ⏎ the Philippines, so this is my first proper introduction to Yaiba Kurogane and his hack-and-slash ⏎ adventures. Besides, I have to imagine that Studio Wit is adding something unique to this ⏎ version of the story with their brand of gorgeous, stylized spectacle. ⏎ My favorite thing about this premiere is how it captures the feeling of reading thrilling action- ⏎ adventure comics as a kid. The vibrant colors, punchy choreography, and fluid animation all ⏎ speak to the way the scenes would come to life in your head, even if they just existed as static ⏎ black-and-white s on the page. Yaiba is a spunky little dude, after all, so his story should ⏎ harness the innate power of adolescent playground imagination. ⏎ The way the story plays on the clash of old-fashioned samurai adventures and modern ⏎ Japanese culture is very appropriate, too, given how much this anime feels like a synthesis of ⏎ classic 90s vibes and modern aesthetics. Yes, I am probably the ideal mark for this kind of ⏎ nostalgia bait, but just like the recent Urusei Yasura and Ranma ½ revivals, I think there is ⏎ something to be said for injecting some of that classic comic-book goodness into our modern ⏎ anime landscape. More spiky hair, I say! More goofy hijinks; more wacky cutaways to bulging ⏎ eyeballs and frog-mouthed shock whenever our hero does something rascally. ⏎ For as much as Yaiba appeals to my inner child, I can't say whether or not the very kid-oriented ⏎ storytelling and pacing will be something I can keep up with week after week for however many ⏎ months this series is set to run. It will, however, make for a prime binging opportunity whenever ⏎ I am at home with a cold and need something that is innately comforting and rejuvenating to ⏎ recharge my batteries. More importantly, I can see this new version of Yaiba inspiring an all new ⏎ generation of children to fall in love with swashbuckling samurai cartoons. That right there ⏎ means that Yaiba is doing the Lord's work.