Yaiba

File:Yaiba-vol-1.jpg

Yaiba Manga, Volume 1

YAIBA was the second ongoing manga series created by Gosho Aoyama. It ran from 1988 to 1993 in Shonen Sunday and later had an anime known as Kenyuu Densetsu Yaiba (剣勇伝説YAIBA ,lit. Ken'yū Densetsu Yaiba, Swordsman Legend Yaiba) that ran from April 9, 1993 to April 1, 1994. The manga was collected into 24 volumes originally and released three more times after that: the wide version (12 volumes), the paperback version (10 volumes), and re-release version (24 volumes). A video game for the Super Famicom, as well as a game for the Nintendo Game Boy, were also both released.

The story was about a young samurai and his adventures in modern day Japan. There have been numerous references to it in Detective Conan.

Plot Summary

In order to train his son, Yaiba Kurogane, to be a great samurai, Kenjuro Kurogane raises him in the African wilderness. But during training one day, they (along with their new pet tiger Kagetora) are caught in a box of pineapples about to be shipped to Japan. At the Tokyo airport, Kenjuro runs into his old kendo rival Raizo Mine and his daughter, Sayaka. Kenjuro leaves Yaiba with Raizo and Sayaka (despite their protestations) and heads off on a journey.

Meanwhile, Yaiba makes instant enemies with Sayaka's school's kendo star, Takeshi Onimaru. After losing in a duel to Yaiba, Onimaru begins training with his family's Fuujin-ken (Wind God Sword) and becomes possessed and starts to take over Japan. To combat this, Yaiba seeks out the Raijin-ken (Lightning God Sword) and is trained by the legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto. Onimaru sends wave after wave of minions after Yaiba and his friends, leading to a final showdown at his flying castle.

In Part 2 of the story, Yaiba's use of the sacred Dragon Orbs to help defeat Onimaru reawakens the evil princess of the Rabbit People, Kaguya. Kaguya seeks out the youth of all of the women of the world for herself. Ultimately, Yaiba has to join forces with Onimaru to defeat Kaguya and her strongest minion Gekko.

Characters

See also: List of minor Yaiba characters

Cast of Yaiba: Yaiba (foreground); Musashi, Kojiro, Sayaka, Namako-Otoko, Gerozaemon, Onimaru (background, from left to right)

Yaiba's Group

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Yaiba Kurogane	--	Main character of the series who travels to Japan to become a samurai.
	Sayaka Mine	--	High school student and only daughter of the Mine family.
	Kenjuro Kurogane	--	Yaiba's and Moroha's father and Raizo's old rival.
	Musashi Miyamoto	--	Legendary swordsman who took it upon himself to guard the Raijin sword and acts as Yaiba's teacher after Yaiba obtains the sword.
	Kojiro Sasaki	--	Musashi's famous rival, revived by Onimaru to defeat Yaiba. Kojiro makes several attempts to defeat Yaiba or at least steal the Raijin sword, but ultimately he ends up joining him against Onimaru. He fights using an extendable sword and is a notorious womanizer.
	Jubei Yagyu	--	The famous historical one-eyed samurai, revived by Onimaru using a wolf as the host body. Though he usually looks like a normal human being, he becomes an uncontrollable werewolf when drunk. Because they have the same master (Musashi), he reforms and joins Yaiba after losing to him.
	Kagetora	--	Yaiba's pet tiger. In the manga, Yaiba meets Kagetora in the jungle after Kagetora attempts to eat him and vice versa. Kagetora then accompanies Yaiba on his journey to Japan.
	Shonosuke	--	Yaiba's pet vulture. The circumstances of how and when Yaiba met Shonosuke are never explained in the manga or the anime adaptation.
	Gerozaimon Geroda	--	A frog man, originally one of Onimaru's minions, revived by using a normal frog as the host body. After losing to Yaiba and learning from another minion that Onimaru views him as expendable, he reforms and joins Yaiba for the remainder of the series. Although mostly comical, he has been shown to be a skilled fighter, mainly using his sticky tongue and a battle axe to fight.
	Namako-Otoko	--	Another one of Onimaru's former minions who sides with Yaiba. He is mostly inactive after reforming but is usually seen on Sayaka's shoulder. His name literally means "Sea Cucumber Man".
	Moroha Kurogane	--	Yaiba's long lost little sister, raised by their mother to hate Kenjuro. She joins her brother for the final arc of the manga.

Onimaru Faction

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Takeshi Onimaru	--	Main antagonist of the series and Yaiba's rival. After obtaining the Fuujin sword, he becomes a demon determined to take over Japan.
	Kumo-Otoko	--	Another of Onimaru's minions, he ends up becoming his right hand man and secretary. After his introduction, he is mostly comical and is rarely shown to be competent at anything. His name literally means "Spider Man".

Dragon God Orbs Arc

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Professor Kanabo	--	Genius professor recruited by Onimaru and Kumo-Otoko to strengthen Onimaru Castle's defenses with the Onimaru Cannon and to repair the Fuujin sword.

Kaguya Arc

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
60px	Kaguya	--	The empress of the moon, ruler to a race of bunny people living on the moon, and the second major antagonist of the series. Awakened by Yaiba using the Dragon Orb, she and her army seek to invade the earth. Her kiss can drain a person's youth.
60px	Tsukikage	--	Kaguya's right-hand man and Gekko's older brother. His name literally means "Moon Shadow".
60px	Gekko	--	Kaguya's most powerful warrior, an anthropomorphic rabbit with a scar over one eye. He is ruthless and so powerful that Yaiba and Onimaru have to team up to stop him. His name literally means "Moonlight".
60px	Mangetsu	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "Full Moon".
60px	Mikazuki	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "Crescent Moon".
60px	Shingetsu	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "New Moon".
60px	Hangetsu	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "Half Moon".

Oda Nobunaga Tournament Arc

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Soshi Okita	--	The final antagonist of the series.

Others

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Raizo Mine	--	Sayaka's father and Kenjuro's old rival. A kendo master, he now runs his own dojo.
	Shizuka Mine	--	Sayaka's mother.
60px	Sayaka's Grandmother	--	Raizo's mother who runs the Mine household. She is very knowledgeable in kendo and even trains Yaiba a bit before Musashi appears. She is commonly referred to as Goinkyou (ご隠居 ,Retired Person)
	Ayame Onimaru	--	--
	Takeshi's Grandfather	--	--

Chapters

Volume 1-10 - Chapters 001-099

Vol.	Chapters	Japanese		English		Plot
		Release date	ISBN	Release date	ISBN
01	1-9	April 18, 1989 July 15, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122271-4
02	10-19	June 17, 1989 July 15, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122272-2
03	20-29	August 18, 1989 July 15, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122273-0
04	30-39	October 18, 1989 August 6, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122274-9
05	40-49	December 14, 1989 August 6, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122275-7
06	50-59	March 17, 1990 August 6, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122276-5
07	60-69	May 18, 1990 September 17, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122277-3
08	70-79	July 18, 1990 September 17, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122278-1
09	80-89	October 18, 1990 September 17, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122279-X
10	90-99	February 18, 1991 October 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122280-3

Volume 11-20 - Chapters 100-209

Vol.	Chapters	Japanese		English		Plot
		Release date	ISBN	Release date	ISBN
11	100-110	May 18, 1991 October 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122561-6
12	111-121	July 18, 1991 October 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122562-4
13	122-132	September 18, 1991 November 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122563-2
14	133-143	November 18, 1991 November 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122564-0
15	144-154	January 18, 1992 December 16, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122565-9
16	155-165	April 17, 1992 December 16, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122566-7
17	166-176	June 18, 1992 January 14, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122567-5
18	177-187	August 10, 1992 January 14, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122568-3
19	188-198	November 18, 1992 February 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122569-1
20	199-209	February 18, 1993 February 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122570-5

Volume 21-24 - Chapters 210-255

Vol.	Chapters	Japanese		English		Plot
		Release date	ISBN	Release date	ISBN
21	210-221	May 18, 1993 March 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123231-0
22	222-232	July 17, 1993 March 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123232-9
23	233-243	October 18, 1993 April 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123233-7
24	244-255	February 18, 1994 April 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123234-5

Story Arcs

1. Eight Demons Arc (Lightning God Sword / Wind God Sword)
2. Onimaru Castle Arc
3. Dragon Orb Arc
4. Kaguya Arc (Dragon God Sword / Demon King Sword)

• <Anime ended here>

1. Pyramid Arc (Supreme King Sword)
2. Underworld Arc
3. Great Dragon Arc
4. Nobunaga Tournament Arc (Wood Sword)

Yaiba in Detective Conan

• In volume 2 of Conan, Yaiba is seen playing on a TV. Likewise, in the last episode of the Yaiba anime, Conan and Ran are seen on a TV.
• The characer Kamen Yaiba is a parody of Kamen Rider using Yaiba instead of Rider.
• In the first OVA, Conan vs. Kid. vs. Yaiba, Mitsuhiko lends Conan all 24 volumes of Yaiba. Also, various characters in the Yaiba series play a major role in the OVA.
• Ran's cell-phone strap has a key-chain figure of Namako-Otoko attached to it.
• At the Halloween Party Murder Case, people dressed as Onimaru, Gerozaemon, Kumo-Otoko, the kappa Kerokichi (a one-time character) can be seen.
• The names of the characters in the movie Star Blade VI are rearranged versions of the historical names in Yaiba and have similarities to each character: Dark Sashim (ダーク・サシム) is Musashi (ムサシ) and uses two swords, Bay Jew (ベイ・ジュウ) is Jubei (十兵衛) and has an eyepatch, Kisasa (キササ) is Sasaki (Kojiro) (佐々木) and uses a long sword, and Dark Takio (ダーク・タキオ) is Okita (沖田) and resembles and evil god.
• In the Onsen Murder Case, Professor Agasa invents a device for testing onsen temperatures and quality that is designed to look like Ishikawa Goemon, but rather than a traditional Goemon design it resembles the revived Goemon from the Dragon Orbs Arc.
• Many of the same voice actors appear in Yaiba and Detective Conan: Minami Takayama (Yaiba and Conan), Kotono Mitsuishi (Sayaka and Kir), Ryo Horikawa (Onimaru and Heiji), and Unsho Ishizuka (Raizo and Nakamori). Other DC actors voiced one-time characters in Yaiba: Kappei Yamaguchi (Kerokichi and Shinichi/Kaitou Kid), Wataru Takagi (Starfishman and Genta/Takagi), and Fumihiko Tachiki (Yakitori-kun and Vodka).

Yaiba in Magic Kaito

• In chapter 18 of Magic Kaito (which the first Conan OVA is based on), Kid attempts to steal a sacred sword from the Mine house and ends up fighting Yaiba. Also, Kuroba and Nakamori are mentioned in the the final chapter of Yaiba.

Gallery

Yaiba in Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory.

Onimaru vs. Yaiba.

See also

• Manga
• Gosho Aoyama

External links

• Yaiba on Wikipedia.