The TV anime YAIBA: Samurai Legend, based on the original manga by Gosho Aoyama, has launched a new space project. To celebrate the announcement, a new space-themed illustration drawn by Aoyama, a teaser promotional video, and comment videos featuring Aoyama and promotional ambassadors Haraichi have been released.
Season 2, titled the Kaguya Arc, will premiere on January 9, 2027. The story moves from Earth to space, where a three-way battle begins between Kaguya, the ruler of the Moon who awakens after a thousand years of sleep; Yaiba, who aims to become the world’s greatest samurai to save Japan; and Onimaru, who seeks to conquer the world.
To reflect the scale of the upcoming season, the YAIBA: Samurai Legend Space Project has been launched. The new illustration features Yaiba flying through space with the Dragon God Sword alongside Kaguya, who will play a central role in Season 2.
Space-themed illustration drawn by Aoyama:
Comment Videos:
The teaser PV was filmed at Rocket Plaza and the Space Dome inside the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)‘s Tsukuba Space Center. It offers a first look at the project’s concept and hints at what fans can expect in the future.
Teaser PV:
As part of the project, promotional materials for YAIBA: Samurai Legend, including the new space illustration, will be sent to the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which orbits approximately 400 kilometers above Earth.
A special envelope containing the promotional materials has also been revealed. Designed to resemble a top-secret space mission, it features the messages “TOP SECRET” and “OPEN ONLY IN SPACE.”
More information about the project will be shared as astronauts take photos and record their activities with the materials aboard the Kibo module after they arrive at the ISS.
The project is being carried out through JAXA’s paid Kibo utilization program.
Main Visual:
CAST:
Minami Takayama as Yaiba Kurogane
Manaka Iwami as Sayaka Mine
Yoshimasa Hosoya as Takeshi Onimaru
Katsuyuki Konishi as Kenjūrō Kurogane
Junichi Suwabe as Musashi Miyamoto
Isshin Chiba as Kagetora
Kōsuke Echigoya as Shonosuke
Atsushi Miyauchi as Raizō Mine
Rina Satō as Shizuka Mine
Kimiko Saitō as Fuji Mine
Takeharu Ōnishi as Gerozaemon Geroda
Shūhei Sakaguchi as Kumo Otoko (Mr. Spider)
Kana Ichinose as Namako Otoko (Mr. Sea Cucumber)
Gō Inoue as Sasaki Kojirō
Sayaka Senbongi as Nadeshiko Yamato
STAFF:
Director: Takahiro Hasui
Series Composition: Toko Machida
Character Design / Chief Animation Director: Yoshimichi Kameda
Art Director: Yusuke Takeda (Bamboo)
Music: Yutaka Yamada, Yoshiaki Dewa
Animation Production Cooperation: Studio Kurm
Animation Production: WIT STUDIO
Aoyama debuted the series in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday in September 1988, wrapping it up in December 1993 with 24 compiled book volumes. This success led to a 52-episode anime adaptation airing from April 1993 to April 1994.
VIZ Media has acquired the license for the anime and describes the story as follows:
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!
Source: @YAIBA_PR
© Gosho Aoyama/Shogakukan/ YAIBA Samurai Legend Project
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