The opening six episodes grab you with pure adventure energy that doesn't need complicated plot machinery to work. Yaiba and Onimaru's rivalry has the kind of uncomplicated heat that makes you want to see them fight again and again, each encounter a legitimate escalation instead of filler. The animation bleeds 90s shonen DNA through modern technique, which means every sword clash lands with weight that genuinely lands. The story is straightforward enough that it never gets in the way of what the show actually does: turn two kids with swords into a reason to keep watching.

Kurogane Yaiba spends his days in a tropical jungle practicing swordsmanship with his father, Kenjuurou, hoping to become a real samurai and knowing nothing of the modern world. A twist of fate lands the two in Japan, where Yaiba ends up living with the Mine family, who have ties to his father. He wins his place there by defeating the dojo's top student, and his wild, reckless ways keep the Mines' daughter Sayaka constantly bewildered. Tagging along with her to school, Yaiba loses to the kendo expert Takeshi Onimaru and accepts him as his new rival. When Onimaru inherits his family's sword and gains demonic powers, Yaiba must train harder to overcome him. Their repeated clashes coincide with the reawakening of two ancient blades, the Fujinken and the Raijinken, in an action adventure that mixes fantasy with comedy.