Review of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon

Man, this was such an average series. Painfully average. And this coming from someone whose childhood anime viewing experienced started out with Inu-Yasha, being one of the anime that really hooked me in. This was a weak, weak follow up. As with all sequels, I'll assume you know the events of both Inu-Yasha and The Final Act for the purposes of this review. Story: Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon takes place many, many years after the events of The Final Act. Sesshoumaru now has twin daughters - Towa and Setsuna. When they were young, the forest they were in was burned downand subsequently split them apart from each other. While Setsuna was simply cast off to a different part of the woods, Towa was thrown back through the old Bone Eater's well back to Kagome's old timeline. There, she was raised by Souta, now an adult with a wife and daughter. Ten years later, Towa goes to school in the modern day. One day, she discovers Setsuna, as well as Inu-Yasha's daughter, teleported through time right to where she is. However, we soon discover that Setsuna doesn't remember her long lost twin sister. Together, the three of them travel back to Feudal Japan era to find out how to recovery Setsuna's memories.

The story is such a mess throughout the series, though it has some okay spots. A few episodes in, we discover why Setsuna doesn't remember Towa, but even when our characters have this new goal in mind, they take such a long time to get to where they want. This was a problem with the initial Inu-Yasha series, in that the pacing was such a slog. Multiple episodes play out in a monster-of-the-day fashion, which I didn't see working, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't... at all. One of the reasons is because Moroha's storyline has her incurring a debt from her old master. The entire thing was horribly uninteresting and her inclusion in this series almost makes you forget that she's Inu-Yasha's daughter to begin with. And while we're talking uninteresting, can we talk about how boring the three girls' weapons are? They don't have interesting backstories and outside of the powers the girls' themselves have, they don't even look cool.

I'd be remiss to not mention the effect that nostalgia plays in this series because it does, at least, pull off some of it quite well. All three daughters do inherit powers that are similar to their fathers', and they go as so far as to give Moroha some of Kagome's priestess powers too, which I thought added a nice touch to her character. They also reference the events from the third Inu-Yasha movie multiple times, which I thought was really cool too. That movie was easily my favourite, and to refer to it on multiple occasions was a bright spot in a story structure that was really lacking in just about every other corner. Aside Sesshoumaru, other characters like Miroku, Sango and Kohaku have minor roles in the series, but I don't love that they left whatever's going on with Rin out of the picture. My guess is that that's a topic for the sequel - or it better be. Another surprise side character from the Inu-Yasha makes an appearance in one of the middle episodes, but I'll leave that for you to watch for. I was excited to see her, in any case.

By the time we reach the finale, we aren't even sure if we've answered some questions, backed onto the fact that these fourteen year old half demons, or quarter demon in Moroha's case, somehow manage to have flashes where their power equals that of Kirinmaru, the supposed villain for this series. I really don't understand how they thought this made sense, plot-wise. Towa somehow also adjusts extremely quickly to fighting with a sword she never once wielded, which also bugged me. There are so many flaws with the story and you can really tell what happens with this type of story when there isn't a source for this type of thing. (4/10)

Characters: Towa's a fine lead, and to be honest, I'm glad they focused on Sesshoumaru's daughters rather than Inu-Yasha's. It changes the series up a little bit and we know pretty much everything about Inu-Yasha already, so giving story to Sesshoumaru's "line" was a nice decision - ignoring the fact that it was poorly executed. Towa's obviously aware of her unusually heightened reflexes and strengths before Setsuna and Moroha pop up in the present day, but it feels like she doesn't think things through very well. Setsuna grades out a little better, in that she makes more sound decisions, all while having a gentle side. I couldn't get a proper read on Moroha because her storyline was such a disaster. At the very least, you can see her exciting side coming from Inu-Yasha.

The series basically has seven villains. Kirinmaru is the main one, a lord demon that once fought Inu-Yasha's father. He was okay, but we don't learn enough about him. His sister, Zero, has wildly confusing objectives, and his right hand man - Riku - is also confusing in how he acts. Kirinmaru's four "Prime Evils" are incredibly bland and are basically just stronger demons that you could easily see being done away with from the likes of Inu-Yasha if he wanted. None of them rise to the level of Naraku, or even the army of seven. It's not close. Other side characters are also pretty meh, and mostly aren't worthy of mention anyway. Characters as a whole are fairly mediocre and have weak backstories, for the most part. (5/10)

Art: Maybe I'm forgetting something, but I don't recall The Final Act looking so ugly at some many points during the series. It feels like they really rushed out the middle portion of the series in particular, because body proportions look messy at certain times, as well as finer details. These are mostly solved by the time we reached the end though. Many of the action scenes don't inspire much confidence and aside from the last battle of the season, aren't exactly exciting to watch. (6/10)

Sound: Where this series didn't completely bomb is with it's sound. Kaoru Wada returns to be in charge of the music, and it mostly keeps to the same style as the Inu-Yasha series. I wouldn't say there were many super exciting tracks, but keeping the same feel was a plus for me. I actually really liked the first OP, New Era by SixTones, as it has the same feel that Change the World did. The other OP and both EDs were also just as solid. The VO cast was unsurprisingly strong. Crispin Freeman (Kirinmaru) and Morgan Berry (Moroha) were easily my favourites here. I've been a fan of Freeman since his work with Blood+ and Witch Hunter Robin, and to see him get a huge role that he completely knocks out excited me! Morgan Berry was amazing with Moroha and starting to be a bigger and bigger fan of hers too. I did not think they'd be able to get Richard Ian Cox (Inu-Yasha) and David Kaye (Sesshoumaru) back, as both don't really do much dubbing work anymore, but I'm glad they both returned. Kira Tozer (Kagome) sounds really awkward though, even in the limited role she has here. Moneca Stori has since retired from voice acting, so it's unsurprising that they had to recast her. Ian James Korlett (Miroku) was fine, but he's certainly no Kirby Morrow, who tragically passed away after only voicing for the first episode in which Miroku appeared in. Erica Mendez (Towa) and Kira Buckland (Setsuna) as the leads do a solid job here as newcomers to the series and also grade out quite well. (9/10)

Overall Enjoyment: To say I was disappointed with Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon would be an understatement. There's just so many uninteresting story lines, no real story structure, sluggish pacing and uninteresting characters present here. Nostalgia only takes you so far and this series had a ton of hype when it was first announced, which was not met at all. It's possible I watch the sequel series, but it's definitely not my priority. If you were a fan of the main series, movies and / or The Final Act, I think you'll be left sorely disappointed with Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon. (5/10)