''Yaiba'' (stylized as ''Y∀IBA'') is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Gosho Aoyama is a Japanese manga artist best known for his manga series ''Detective Conan'' (1994–present), also known as ''Case Closed'' in some English-speaking countries. As of 2017, his various manga series had a combined 250 million copies in print wo ...

. It was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...

'' from September 1988 to December 1993, with its chapters collected in twenty-four ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. It was adapted into an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series titled ''Kenyū Densetsu Yaiba'', aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

from April 1993 to April 1994. In 1993, ''Yaiba'' received the 38th

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan, Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being ...

for the ''shōnen'' 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.

Media

Manga

''Yaiba'', written and illustrated by

, was serialized in

's ''

'' 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 '' bunkoban'' 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.

Volume list

Anime

An 52-episode anime television series covered up to the Kaguya Arc entitled , produced by Pastel, aired on

from April 9, 1993, to April 1, 1994. The opening and ending theme songs are performed by Kabuki Rocks; and respectively.

Episode list

Reception

In 1993, ''Yaiba'', along ''

Ghost Sweeper Mikami is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina. It was published in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from May 1991 to September 1999, with its chapters collected in thirty-nine ''tankobon'' volumes. The series ex ...

'', received the 38th

for the '' shōnen'' category.

References

External links

''Yaiba'' at ''Web Sunday'' Museum
* {{Shogakukan Manga Award - Shōnen 1988 manga 1993 anime television series debuts Gosho Aoyama Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga TV Tokyo original programming Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga