The daughters of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha set out on a journey transcending time!
In Feudal Japan, Half-Demon twins Towa and Setsuna are separated from each other during a forest fire.
While desperately searching for her younger sister, Towa wanders into a mysterious tunnel that sends
her into present-day Japan, where she is found and raised by Kagome Higurashi’s brother, Sota, and his
family.
Ten years later, the tunnel that connects the two eras has reopened, allowing Towa to be reunited with
Setsuna, who is now a Demon Slayer working for Kohaku. But to Towa’s shock, Setsuna appears to have
lost all memories of her older sister.
Joined by Moroha, the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome, the three young women travel between the two
eras on an adventure to regain their missing past.
(Source: Viz Media)
I was prepared to be a lot harsher on the show before I watched the finale, but then I watched the finale and had a really good time, so I don't know. This show is unambiguously really flawed in several ways I'll discuss as I continue the review, but overall it was really fun to have a female-led adventure show and I really liked the cast of second generation characters and their chemistry. ...second generation being the operative term here. I'm one of those weridos who was drawn by the fact that I really liked Towa's design and wanted to see what adventures she'd get up to even if I didn't watch or read Inuyasha proper. Like the most complete exposure I've had is reading a Let's Play of the PS2 game where you got to play a self-insert. I do wonder if that made me enjoy it more given that I didn't have the baggage of wondering what the original cast was getting up to or that I wasn't really pressed that Sesshomaru is a bad dad or so on. I dunno, I did like what I saw of Miroku now that he isn't a sex pest, though I found myself not particularly fond of Sesshomaru himself. And it's not even related to the elephant in the room of Towa and Setsuna's mom's identity! ...okay no, that's part of it. Honestly, I understand they were pandering to the shoujo wish fulfillment fantasy of "I want to grow up and and marry the immortal expressionless bad boy who's protected me since I was young! It's fine, he's been nineteen for a millennium, so he'll still be nineteen when I'm... however old I am!" But I don't know, the Hikaru Genji method is still kind of a bad, creepy look even when I know it's probably meant to be the Twilight problematic immortal husband fantasy instead of the Usagi Drop problematic fantasy. But this ain't about the characters from Inuyasha, this about the characters from Yashahime, and I love them! The best is quite obviously Moroha, who is always simultaneously the stupidest and smartest person in the room and has absolutely perfect gremlin energy, but I see people being down on Towa and Setsuna and I don't know, I like those girls. Towa's a little dim and naive, but like, she's a jock. It's fine. She doesn't know anything about all this demon stuff, she just wants to resolve her childhood trauma and rekindle her relationship with her sister. I expected Setsuna to be a boring lineface type, but I think she's actually pretty fun to watch because she's clearly an edgy teen trying too hard to be cool, but you can see her subtly melt a little bit when a little girl is like ONEECHAN YOU'RE SO COOL. The rest of the cast is... more of a mixed bag of really good and really nothing, honestly. Riku was consistently the most interesting character outside the main trio to me, and it was a lot of fun to watch him scheme and backstab his way through things. I'm mixed on his relationship with Towa but I don't know, I could be sold on it? Zero was a pretty neat villain even if I feel like her motivations were kind of eh, and I really hope to see more of Miroku's daughters next season because they seem fun. On the flip side, man, Hisui and his gang of demon hunters are super boring even when they get some focus. The Four Perils are a victim of the show's inscrutable pacing that I'll discuss a little later, and... I'm not super sure how I feel about Kirinmaru? He felt like he very suddenly went from a laconic villain who almost felt like he was having weird memory issues to almost trying to be a Demons Have No Sense of Right and Wrong sensei to the main trio. I like that he feels like a very grey morality character, but... hm. Okay, here's the part where I get into what I think the show's big issue is: it feels like they started out pacing the show like the original Inuyasha but with more of an initial bunch of mysteries for the characters to solve, which I actually kind of liked. After the gang rejects the Tree of Eternity's quest and decides to do their own thing, you get to learn one or two things about them or the plot every episode while they have monster of the week adventures. Then, around the big backstory episode halfway through, it starts to feel like they realized they might not get a second season so they doubled down on trying to include everything they possibly could? The Four Perils felt like they were supposed to be more important than they ended up being, particularly Konton, so their deaths felt weirdly sudden. I know that starts before the half point of the series but Konton felt like he was the one that was being set up to be the primary midboss and then he gets suddenly killed off? I think the most egregious point was Moroha's backstory episode, which felt like it was meant to be a two-parter except part one got axed. I'm pretty curious about the behind the scenes of this show's production because I genuinely can't tell what conditions the crew was working under. Moving on from discussions of the plot and characters, man, they really did save the entire show's animation budget for the fight with Kirinmaru, huh. I spent the majority of the show being really unimpressed with the show's animation, especially when it came to the more monstrous creatures. Totetsu's design was kinda neat but his mouth didn't move at all? Is that an intentional choice or just limited animation? Man, this is probably an unfair comparison, but I was watching Jujutsu Kaisen and Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai at the time and their monsters are really beautifully animated, so the way a lot of the critters in this show were animated were kind of a letdown. The music's pretty alright, with bangers of OPs and EDs and pretty solid (if somewhat repetitive) in-episode music. So yeah, the show does have some failings, but I've gotta admit I was super hype seeing Towa going absolutely feral and unlocking her demon form in the last episode, and I really wanna see more of this cast's adventures. I'm glad a second season was, indeed, greenlit so that the cast can have a little more room to breathe and develop, and... maybe I'll go back and watch Inuyasha proper someday? Maybe? I don't know, I like Not-Sex Pest Miroku.
~~~**This review contains mild spoilers for Yashahime: Half-Demon Princess**~~~ img520(https://otakukart.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yashahime-princes-half-demon.jpg) *Inuyasha* was somewhat of an important anime for me. It was one of the first anime that I went out of my way to watch. It was also one of the first anime that I identified as an anime instead of a cartoon. Thus, *Inuyasha* was among the shows that cemented my status as an anime fan. I was enthralled by the moody, creepy tone of the show. I was amazed by the seemingly limitless world Takahashi and the anime staff had created. I was drawn in by the spectacular action and the exciting adventure. I loved the cast of characters-that-weren't-named-Shippo. And yes, I of course patiently waited for Inuyasha and Kagome to officially become an item. I fondly remember going to my tiny, local library at the time, downloading episodes so I could watch them later on my Acer Aspire One since I didn't have internet at home. All that said, I wouldn't call *Inuyasha* my favorite series by any stretch. It's certainly not a bad show, but it *does* drag and it just didn't grip me the same way *Ranma 1/2*, *Code Geass*, or *Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood* did. I'm definitely nostalgic towards *Inuyasha*, but not to the point where I hold it on a pedestal. My history with *Inuyasha* is important context for my feelings towards *Yashahime*. In fact, I'd say this is important context for *any* review of this show, because from what I've seen, practically no one in the western fandom is watching this show as a standalone. Feelings toward *Yashahime* seem to be *extremely* tied to one's feelings towards *Inuyasha*. At the end of the day, it's still its own show, with strengths and weaknesses unconstrained from its predecessor, but the amount of leeway you're willing to give said weaknesses, the amount of weight you're willing to give said strengths, depends on your view (or lack thereof) of *Inuyasha*. I liked *Inuyasha* enough to immediately be on-board with its sequel series, *Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon* when it was announced out of the blue in May of 2020. I was optimistic: after all, I was never one to balk at the [mere](https://anilist.co/anime/104051/Magia-Record-Puella-Magi-Madoka-Magica-Side-Story/) [existence](https://anilist.co/review/3981) [of](https://anilist.co/review/5670) [a](https://anilist.co/review/3555) [sequel](https://anilist.co/review/6501). I was just happy to see that *Inuyasha* would continue in some form and I was excited to watch the next generation of a show that I enjoyed. Making matters better, despite being anime-only, it was stated that original mangaka, Rumiko Takahashi, would be heavily involved in production. This seemed to confirm that, if nothing else, *Yashahime* would be authentic. To an optimist, this seemed to confirm that *Yashahime* would be good. img520(https://i.redd.it/5p0rg3ahefo61.jpg) And I have to say that it *was* good, or, at least, good enough. It's certainly not perfect by any stretch; but neither was *Inuyasha*. For better and for worse, this feels like a continuation of *Inuyasha*, warts and all. Fortunately, I didn't find the warts bad enough to ward me away from the show. *Yashahime*, taking place over fourteen years since the end of *Inuyasha*, follows Towa, her demon-hunting twin-sister Setsuna, (both are the daughters of Sesshomaru) and their bounty huning cousin, Moroha (Inuyasha and Kagome's daughter). When they were young, Towa and Setsuna were caught in a forest fire and seperated from one another. Towa soon finds herself sucked into a time portal and teleported centuries into the future where she is found and subsequently adopted by Sota Higurashi. Despite being a half-demon, she's raised in the modern era and told to hide her powers, much to her chagrin. When Towa is fourteen the portal to the past opens once more, reuniting her with her half-sister, who seems to have forgotten her, as well as introducing her to her cousin. When the trio return to the past, they are summoned by the spirit of the Tree of Ages. The spirit requests for them to slay their father as well as the dastardly Demon Lord, Kirinmaru. The three refuse and after they leave, we see Rin trapped in the Tree of Ages. The trio decide to forge their own path, with Towa deciding to search for the Dream Butterfly, which may hold her sister's suppressed memories. As the three journey, they find themselves clashing with Kirinmaru's servants, who wish to destroy the trio, referred to as "half-demon princesses", for their leader. img520(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Kr4EZ-M0A14/maxresdefault.jpg) I loved the main trio, the eponymous *yashahime*. I liked Towa's kind and gentle nature, which contrasted nicely with her relatives' more cutthroat and/or cold personalities. It's somewhat underutilized, but I enjoyed the fact that she's a temporal fish out of water in both eras, thus making it more apparent why she clings so strongly to Moroha and Setsuna. I also thought it was really cool that Towa is intentionally not traditionally feminine in design nor personality. It's pretty admirable that the show doesn't feel beholden to restrictive ideas of girlhood, though I suppose Takahashi has always been good at this. Moroha is an absolute treat and she quickly became my favorite *Inuyasha* character. She's cheerful, endearing in her knowledge of demons, cocky, and rowdy, with her boisterous nature contrasting nicely with Towa, who's more lax, and Setsuna, who's more aloof. She really commands a presence that the other two don't, drawing you into her antics. Finally, there's the aloof, no-nonsense Setsuna. While I admittedly found her a bit boring, I can't deny that I enjoyed seeing her dynamic with the others and it was nice seeing her gradually "thaw." While the original cast don't appear too often (a fact I'll get into momentarily), it's always nice when they do. I definitely thought Kirinmaru was a fun antagonist by the end of the show's run even if he seemed a bit bland at first. I hope I don't sound negative when I say that the main trio carry this anime — how much you like it is really determined by how much you enjoy their personalities and their dynamic with one another. This statement in-and-of-itself isn't really a knock on the show; it's very clear that, more than anything, the show is preoccupied with the girls' relationship. I personally loved them as a group and even if every interaction wasn't phenomenal, seeing the three interact with each other every week quickly became a comforting ritual. I came to see *Inuyasha* continuation and I stayed to watch these cool demon girls vibe with one another. img520(https://i2.wp.com/butwhythopodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ErWBuCgVcAIu9Qt.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1) I'm pleased to say that the world of *Yashahime* is as interesting as it was before in *Inuyasha*. It's expansive, with colorful demons around every corner. We also get to learn more about how the world of demon lords work, thanks to the presence of Kirinmaru and his entourage. *Yashahime* has essentially the same sense of adventure that I know and love. The show's various moods, at times whimsical, sometimes adventurous, and other times creepy, is thanks in large part to returning composer, Kaoru Wada. All of these aspects serve to make the show feel authentic; stylistically, *Inuyasha* fans should have no trouble getting into *Yashahime*. The fights were also pretty good. 9 times out of 10, they're not phenomenal, but they're animated well enough and always managed to hold my attention. Much like its predecessor, the cast of *Yashahime* use interesting attacks, some of which return from before. There's nothing quite as iconic as the OG cast’s Iron Reaver Soul Stealer, Wind Scar, Wind Tunnel, or Backslash Wave, but I'm sure that's half because I haven't had to hear them for almost two-hundred episodes and half because I haven't heard the new attacks in English. And now onto the less good stuff. They're probably more numerous than things I like, and it's a testament to how much I enjoyed the character dynamic that I walked away liking this show overall. img520(https://i1.wp.com/unitedsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Yashahime_Review_Sucks_Bad_Good_Moroha_Towa_Setsuna_Inuyasha.png?fit=660%2C374&ssl=1) Before I talk about anything, I have to address the elephant in the room that is the parentage of the twins. In this show, Sesshomaru and Rin (or Sesshorin) is canonized as a ship. It might seem like a minor thing but this *has* broken the show for many people. Some have even called for Takahasi and Sunrise to be *boycotted* due to this revelation. My thoughts and justification of said thoughts regarding the matter are irrelevant — you'll have an opinion and my words won't convince you otherwise. While I thought the pairing was really the most logical choice, narratively, on the onset, it's certainly not ideal and I have to jump through some hoops to be somewhat comfortable with it. As for the show itself, it can feel really meandering. Its monster-of-the-week format doesn't do it much favors in terms of being interesting. *Yashahime* very quickly shuffles into a routine and if you're not one-hundred-percent onboard with this routine, then it *will* get boring, eventually. Deviations from said routine are sporadic; there aren't really "arcs" that spice things up to look forward to. The plot barely moves forward; during a given episode, it doesn't feel like we're any closer to a goal. Like I said before, how much you like seeing the main trio bounce off of one another will make or break this show for you, because for more episodes than not, that's essentially all you have. img520(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G54z537HEQg/maxresdefault.jpg) This is a legitimate critique, but what gets me are people somehow acting like *Inuyasha* didn't have the same issue. If you take off your nostalgia goggles, you'll realize that the the pacing of *Inuyasha* was absolutely atrocious. In *Inuyasha*, things could get boring quickly if you weren't a fan of the monster-of-the-week format. *Inuyasha* has a metric ton of filler that you probably won't notice as an anime-only watcher because it fits in so well with the format of the original manga. *Inuyasha* takes forever to reach its destination. There's no reason the manga went on for *twelve years* for a conclusion that readers largely could predict when they first picked up the manga. *Inuyasha* is the quintessential "it's about the journey rather than the destination" manga, with the character dynamics and development being the main takeaway from the show. If this sounds familiar, you'd be correct: this is *Yashahime*. If nothing else, *Yashahime* is on-brand. And it's fine to criticize this show for taking what didn't work about *Inuyasha* — after all, a sequel should improve upon the predecessor, and *Yashahime* shows that the *Inuyasha* format doesn't quite work in the modern age. What annoys me, however, is that people act like these traits aren't in *Inuyasha*, calling *Yashahime* an anomaly. Many criticize *Yashahime* as being ill-defined, which is a bit unfair as *Inuyasha* took a while for its plot and characters to solidify, yet no one acknowledges it. I can see if this was going to just be one-season, but come on, this is a sequel of *Inuyasha*, everyone knows it's going to last forever. I have to admit that some of my fondness comes from feeling the need to defend it from the double-standard of many *Inuyasha* fans… ...but this defense can only go so far. *Yashahime* certainly has its own, unique problems. For one, I struggled to think of a conclusion for my synopsis, because there's no impetus for a journey. The trio kind of just stumble upon things. While *Inuyasha* and *Yashahime* both feel meandering, *Yashahime* takes the cake for not having a strong, unified goal for the main characters. Setsuna just slays demons as assignments come up and Moroha hunts demons for their bounties. Towa, at the very least, does have the ambitous goal of finding the dream butterfly, but it really doesn't amount to much when she's not actively looking for it. She kind of just tags along with the other two in hopes that she'll just happen to find relevant information. While having them refuse the Tree of Ages’ request did a good job of establishing their characters, it absolutely neutered a solid goal. img520(https://static3.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Yashahime-23-2-1.jpg) With the trio consisting of the children of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, you'd think their family would come into play more. This is unfortunately one of the show's big missteps. The cast of *Inuyasha* is criminally underutilized; both as characters and as impetuses for the *yashahime*'s developments. It would be nice to see how Inuyasha, Kagome, Rin, and Sesshomaru work as parents. Unfortunately, all of them save for Sesshomaru are indisposed before the show begins and the trio know next-to-nothing about them. This would be fine...if there weren't characters that could logically inform them about their parents. Miroku, Kaede, Kohaku, and Sango aren't ever too far from Setsuna, yet they don't talk to her about her parents. Hell, despite being good friends with them, they don't seem to inquire about their parents, nor indicate that anything's wrong. Towa lived with the Higurashis, yet she doesn't seem to think anything of Inuyasha and Kagome. Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha themselves don't really seem interested in their pasts, which is extremely unsatisfying to watch. This is where the show's relation to *Inuyasha* really hurts it — if you watched this show first, you wouldn't be attached to the original cast, thus it wouldn't feel so frustrating to see the characters be so blasé about their family. As is, for most viewers, there's a nasty disconnect between what the characters want and what *you* want the characters to want. *Yashahime* creates a bit of a mystery as to what happened to the original cast, but it feels cheap because it would be quick to figure out if *anyone cared as much as they should*. Besides feeling unrealistic, the lack of interest on the girls' part robs them of *yet another* potential goal. img520(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EGADTglg-aM/maxresdefault.jpg) The lack of drive from the characters is made all the worse due to the relative lack of stakes. The girls usually can very handily defeat anything that's thrown at them. The characters rarely have to train and in general, nothing feels tense. The pacing certainly doesn't help — most of the time, a conflict is neatly wrapped up in an episode, ensuring that viewers are seldom on the edge of their seat. By the time you get to the final third, *Yashahime* starts to feel like it's running on fumes, with the trio the only thing keeping viewers coming back. The showrunners seemed to realize this, as we *finally* get an episode dedicated to the events with the original cast that led to *Yashahime* proper. There are also episodes dedicated to Moroha, Setsuna, and the villains' backstories. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed these episodes, they felt a bit too little, too late and I would have enjoyed them more earlier. Additionally, between these more important episodes, there are *still* episodes that feel extremely inconsequential. From my laundry list of complaints, it might be hard to fathom my final score (because I *know* you already scrolled down to see it). You're doubtlessly wondering how in the world can I come out liking this when it ends up being so messy. As, I said, I really enjoyed the interactions between the three leads. Beyond that, while I'd prefer consistently good quality (or at the very least, having the lull episodes more evenly spread out), the last stretch *does* make up for a lackluster beginning. I don't *dislike* the backstory episodes; they just came a bit late for my liking. We finally get two-parter episodes and the last two episodes are really great. img520(https://media.comicbook.com/2020/11/yashahime-english-dub-preview-1243868-1280x0.jpeg) This culminates in a finale that hits all the right notes for me. We see genuine development from both Towa and Setsuna, the trio's relationship is very well executed, the plot actually moves forward, and there's a breath-takingly awesome fight. The episode is also very visceral — I remember seeing Setsuna's wound and saying, "oh damn, that's...gnad," somehow mixing both "bad" and "gnarly." Despite the show's flaws, after seeing that wonderful shot of Sesshomaru giving his sword to his daughter and after seeing the post-episode announcement that there’d be a second season ([as I knew it would)](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/09/99/47/0999475525c3542f240649cd16fcbb45.jpg), I knew I'd be coming back for more; not because I felt obligated to, but because I genuinely wanted more *Yashahime*. This isn't to say the episode was perfect — the strength of the characters are called into question and the motivations are ill-defined, for one. Unlike with *[Destiny](https://anilist.co/review/10290)* however, thinking about the ending didn't make it unravel for me. I could think about it a bit, understand its flaws, then realize I still love the episode despite them. I appreciated the spectacle before me. The last episode, and perhaps *Yashahime* as a whole might be a bit of a "turn your brain off show." And I hate to say that because it sounds disparaging and the last time I said that, I ended up being [ so very, very wrong](https://anilist.co/review/3675), but I think it applies here. There's not *much* to *[G-Gundam](https://anilist.co/review/3900)* but I still love that. Whether you like to admit it or not, *Inuyasha* wasn't the absolute smartest of shows either, but it worked. *Yashahime* might not be great, but it's pretty fun at times. img520(https://64.media.tumblr.com/14650cf177cdcad23818f339ee2b9d80/e76340ffa80b052a-76/s1280x1920/64848599e93af4b932a816c66abc2108629b5813.png) *Yashahime* isn't by any means a masterpiece. I wouldn't even call it great. It's meandering to the point of numbness for most of its run, it underutilizes series veterans, character motivations are seldom used to drive the plot, and its adherence to its monster-of-the-week setup can make it extremely monotonous at times. There are times when *Yashahime* gets downright *bad*. Despite all this, I don't think *Yashahime* deserves all the derision and exhaustion that's lodged at it. I think a lot of the trouble comes from comparing it to *Inuyasha*. Part of me wants to say that this show is a better watch if you're not so hung up on the fact that this is a sequel to *Inuyasha*. I want to say that this show works better on its own and that comparison, ever the thief of joy, is what hurts this show, more than anything. But that's a moot point because, as I stated, it feels like *practically everyone* who watched this show watched *Inuyasha*. And why wouldn't they? This *is* a sequel, after all, so even if it should draw-in new fans, it should also satisfy fans of the original show — comparison is inevitable. Finally, and this is the kicker, I'm not entirely sure that the show *would* be a better watch without the connection to *Inuyasha*. I'm sure the show is *fine* on its own, but its biggest draw is its connection to the previous series, regardless of how satisfying that connection ends up being. I don't know if anyone (at least in the Western sphere) would even *watch* *Yashahime* on its own. Beyond that, the trio's relation to previous characters and the desire to see them meet said characters is easy engagement and endearment. Just look at my praises; a lot of them come from the fact that this feels like *Inuyasha*. That said, as I've spent this review showing, this is a double-edged sword, with the handling of the the returning characters, the trio [growing up orphaned](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HappyEndingOverride), and the SesshoRin situation being just a few points of contention born from its proximity to its predecessor. So, for better and for worse, the show is made and broken by its relation to *Inuyasha*. At the end of the day, *Yashahime* is nothing groundbreaking, neither as a sequel or as a standalone property. The things that work only *just* offset the many, many things that don't. But what can I say, at the end of the day, this is a show that I enjoyed, despite its flaws. Even if it's not my favorite of shows, like *Inuyasha*, I can see myself watching this for a long time because of the characters. *Yashahime*'s a hard show to hate, a bit of a hard one to love, but an easy one to like well-enough. ~~~img200(https://i.imgur.com/hBHIhmG.png)~~~ img520(https://wallpapercave.com/wp/wp7787153.jpg)