Yaiba

Yaiba (stylized as Y∀IBA) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from September 1988 to December 1993, with its chapters collected in twenty-four  volumes. It was adapted into a 52-episode anime television series titled Kenyū Densetsu Yaiba, aired on TV Tokyo from April 1993 to April 1994. A second anime adaptation has been announced.

By May 2024, the manga had over 17 million copies in circulation. In 1993, Yaiba received the 38th Shogakukan Manga Award for the category.

Story
Yaiba Kurogane is an adventuring boy who knows how to be a samurai and little else. Yaiba lives with his father, Kenjurou, in the forest. One day, while Yaiba was eating, a troop of gorillas came to attack. Yaiba and his father escaped and hid inside a box, but they did not know that the box was full of pineapples and was going to be transported into the city. In the city, Yaiba finds out that he is a legendary warrior and has to fight the evil of a demonic looking high-school student named Takeshi Onimaru.

The people that Yaiba meets along his journey to become a true samurai encourage him, train him, or inspire him to greatness, though at heart he is still a child, and his incredible skill with a sword is matched only by his kindness towards his friends. Though he tends to leap before he looks, and his thick-headedness tends to turn potential allies into enemies, his friends soon clobber him, and salvage the situation. This unlikely group embarks on a host of incredible adventures where they meet legendary figures from Japanese history, and finally overcome impossible odds, and put everything on the line, to save the entire planet from a threat not of this world.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama, Yaiba was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from September 7, 1988, to December 1, 1993. Shogakukan collected its chapters in twenty-four volumes, released between April 18, 1989, and February 18, 1994. Shogakukan republished the series in a 10-volume edition from December 14, 2001, to August 10, 2002. Shogakukan launched a second edition of the original 24-volume from July 15, 2004, to April 18, 2005.

Anime
An 52-episode anime television series, titled Kenyū Densetsu Yaiba (剣勇伝説YAIBA), produced by Pastel, aired on TV Tokyo from April 9, 1993, to April 1, 1994. The opening and ending theme songs were performed by Kabuki Rocks; "Yuuki ga Areba" (勇気があれば) and "Shinjigakunaki Tatakai" (神智学無き戦い) respectively.

A second anime adaptation, with supervision from Aoyama, was announced in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on May 8, 2024.

Reception
By May 2024, the manga had over 17 million copies in circulation. In 1993, Yaiba, along Ghost Sweeper Mikami, received the 38th Shogakukan Manga Award for the category.