Wit Studio has released a new trailer for Yaiba: Samurai Legend, revealing a release window for the highly anticipated anime series.
Yaiba: Samurai Legend isn't actually a new series, but rather a reboot of the original anime adaptation of Gosho Aoyama's 1988 manga Yaiba. The original series was produced by Pastel in 1993 and ran for 52 episodes.
Now Wit Studio, best known for their work on Attack on Titan and Spy x Family, are taking their shot at the series. And we won't have to wait much longer.
The new trailer not only gives us a fresh look at the modern reboot's art style but also confirms that Yaiba: Samura Legend will premiere in April 2025. The series will broadcast in Japan on Yomiuri TV and Nippon TV, but there's no word yet on a North American release.
The trailer also reveals two new additions to the cast: Katsuyuki Konishi (Ashikaga Takauji in The Elusive Samurai) as the voice of Kenjuro Kurogane and Junichi Suwabe (Sian Lablac in Bye Bye, Earth) as the voice of Musashi Miyamoto. They join previously announced members Minami Takayama as Yaiba Kurogane (she was the original voice actress), Manaka Iwami (Akane in Oshi no Ko) as Sayaka Mine, and Yoshimasa Hosoya (Reiner in Attack on Titan) as Takeshi Onimaru.
Based on Gosho Aoyama's manga that ran from 1988 to 1993, Yaiba: Samura Legend follows the story of Yaiba Kurogane, a boy raised in the forest by his father with hopes of becoming a real samurai. Yaiba returns to city life in Japan and ends up battling a kendo expert named Takeshi Onimaru to a stalemate. As a result of their frequent clashes, two ancient powers are awakened and unleashed. The official website for Yaiba: Samurai Legend teases the synopsis:
Yaiba Kurogane has spent his days training in the jungle in order to attain his goal of becoming a real samurai.
By a twist of fate, he returns to Japan and starts living with the Mine family, who are connected to his father, Kenjuro.
Yaiba constantly baffles the Mines' daughter Sayaka as she witnesses his wild and reckless ways.
One day, Yaiba tags along with Sayaka to school and has a fateful encounter with Takeshi Onimaru, a kendo expert.
Yaiba and Onimaru repeatedly clash, and as if in response to their search for strength, two ancient powers are unleashed: the Fujinken, the Wind God's Sword, and the Raijinken, the Thunder God's Sword.
Both supernatural blades that have jolted the world since ancient days have reawakened…and the truth behind them is revealed!
Yaiba: Samurai Legend is being remade at Wit Studio. The series is directed by Takahiro Hasui (Mob Psycho III) with series composition by Toko Machida (Kemono Michi: Rise Up), character designs and chief animation direction by Yoshimichi Kameda (Mob Psycho 100) and music by Yutaka Yamada (VINLAND SAGA) and Yoshiaki Dewa (Hell's Paradise).