Review of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon

Spoilers ahead! Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi, or more simply, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, is in theory, a sequel to Inuyasha (and Final Act, if you're following the anime rather than the manga), set a little less than two decades in the future, and follows the twin daughters of Sesshomaru, and the daughter of Kagome and Inuyasha. In THEORY. In practice, it feels a lot more like someone's fanfiction. Plot holes abound, and the show barely has even a fraction of the original anime. Enemies are weak, old, beloved characters are practically nonexistent, and why the HELL do we have to have character introduction tags showing up at thestart of every single goddamn episode?! Do the creators think their watchers have the memory of a particularly dense sea cucumber? We don't need reminders of who everyone is over and over and over again!

Here are a few of the questions that have popped up.

1. Why does Towa wear a boy's uniform even when she goes to an all-girl's school? Why would a school like that even HAVE a boys' uniform? (The "explanation" is that it's easier to fight while wearing boys' clothes, but Kagome wore a tiny skirt all the time, and she never had a problem fighting.)

2. If the Mystical Macguffin in this story are supposed to be the RAINBOW Pearls (a very poor, watered-down version of the Shikon Jewel), why is one of them silver? I don't recall silver being part of any rainbow that I'm aware of. There's also a gold one, but I'll let that one slide as either yellow or orange.

3. Inuyasha and Kagome never once gave up fighting to protect those they cared for in the original series. So why, when they had what was probably the MOST precious thing to them (Moroha), did they just foist her off on somebody else to take care of when a new bad guy appeared? The Inuyasha and Kagome I knew never would have done something like that.

4. Why do Towa and Setsuna have red in their hair when no one in their ancestry had that color? I know, I know, "because anime", but I want an explanation, dammit!

5. How can Setsuna play the violin perfectly after what is, at best, a few days of practice? Even half-demons aren't THAT talented.

6. Towa doesn't experience the new moon in the present time? WHAT? Not being in her original era shouldn't matter! It's still the same world, with the same moon, and I'm pretty sure Inuyasha experienced his human form a few times while he was in the present!

7. Moroha doesn't experience the new moon at all, even though she's just a quarter demon? Shouldn't a period of humanity affect her even more than it would a half-demon?

8. WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THIS GODDAMN (plot device) DREAM BUTTERFLY?! Stealing a person's memories, I can buy, and making it so they can't sleep makes sense. But what the EVER LOVING FUCK does it have to do with whether or not the new moon affects her?! THIS MAKES NO SENSE! It seems like it can do anything and everything the plot needs.

9. Sesshomaru takes away the children that Rin carried for nine months just minute after their birth, and she doesn't have a single word of protest about this. I know she respects him, and he's a powerful demon, but if someone tried to take my newborn children from me without any kind of explanation as for why, I would raise unholy hell.

For the first season, at least, there's barely any overarching plot, and things are more 'monster of the week' than anything else. You don't even really get introduced to this series' big bad until towards the end, and he's...meh. He seems to be no threat at all, so there's no sense of urgency whenever he shows up.

On top of that, none of the characters have to really struggle. Not only are the enemies quickly and easily defeated, but they don't have to learn any new powers or abilities. They either already have them through inheritance, or they just...suddenly appear out of nowhere, and voila! new ability.

I've also noticed that the show it surprisingly bloodless. Not that the original Inuyasha was especially gory, but it's a little strange when Moroha's Blades of Blood feature absolutely no blood at all.

Then there's the fact that in a little more than twenty episodes, we get THREE reused enemies from Inuyasha. Mistress Centipede (now sporting three eyes), another one of those moth guys (seriously, how many siblings do those dudes HAVE? And he's even defeated the same way as the first one was.) and a demon masquerading as a priest.

And who thought it would be a good idea to start the second opening with flashes of Sesshomaru and a CHILD RIN, overlaid by images of Towa and Setsuna? As if that "relationship" needed to be any more creepy... At least with Inuyasha and Kagome, Inuyasha didn't spend years grooming her...

One of the positives, though, is that you occasionally get to see characters from the original series all grown up. Kohaku is one such, and a certain half-demon bat child is another. It's good to see them again, and she, especially, has an interesting little twist that comes with her.

Now, the characters.

Towa: She is the daughter of Sesshomaru, and the older twin of Setsuna. She's friendly and brave, unafraid to jump into a fight. At first, her sense of morality gets in the way, as she's constantly arguing with Setsuna not to kill their enemies, and it starts to become tedious when it happens over and over again. Finally, she becomes less of a pacifist. She wants nothing more than Setsuna's love.

Setsuna: The younger twin of Towa, Setsuna was raised by demon slayers, and learned their skills. A tsundere, she has very little sense of emotion, and is often cold towards others. She especially gets annoyed with Towa's attempts to get close with her. Thanks to something called a (Plot Device) Dream Butterfly, Setsuna is unable to sleep, and thus unable to dream. It also seems to have affected her memories.

Moroha: The daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome. While Moroha takes after Kagome in appearance, she inherited Inuyasha's personality. Loud, brash, and always itching for a fight, Moroha is a bounty hunter (though a somewhat poor one, if her constant lack of money is any indication).

Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango (whose title is relegated to "Miroku's Wife". That's it. Badass demon slayer who?), Shippo, etc: They might as well not even exist in this show. That's how little they show up. Kohaku, and Sango's son, Hisui, have a bit bigger presence, as Kohaku is now the leader of the demon slayers, and Hisui inherited the hiraikotsu from Sango (why she retired as a demon slayer, I have no idea).

Oh, and there's also some little tanuki thing that shows up from time to time, but he's seriously not important.

If you loved the original Inuyasha, you'll probably be infuriated by this meandering, nonsensical, at times rage-inducing anime. The character designs are good, and you'll hear some familiar music tracks, but that's really about all it's got going for it.