Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 09
半妖の夜叉姫 09
Hanyou no Yashahime episode 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Jyubei has a high-paying bounty for Moroha, to deal with a powerful youkai that destroyed a military fortress. Moroha wants Towa and Setsuna to help her, but the sisters aren’t interested. As such, Moroha leaves in a huff and is depressed that her cousins don’t appear to be her friends.

Meanwhile, Towa asks Jyubei about the Dream Butterfly. He suggests they put out a bounty, equal to what Moroha would earn on her current bounty hunt. As such. Towa and Setsuna track down Moroha, who’s happy to have them along.

The trio find the Four Perils youkai named Konton. He is horrified to learn there’s a bounty on his head. He summons Kaze no Shishi (Wind Lion) and Kaminari no Shishi (Thunder Lion) to aide him in the fight. Moroha discovers that Konton’s armor cannot be penetrated. A young turtle youkai (Meiouju) child named Meifuku shows up to help the trio escape certain defeat.

After hearing the child’s story of how Konton defeated his father and took the youkai turtle shell, the trio return with Meifuku. Battle resumes as Towa uses her abilities to infuse Konton’s armor with youki. That allows Meiouju to communicate with his son. They are able to defeat Konton and get the shell back, but Konton is able to flee to safety. That means no bounty.

Thoughts/Review:

Moroha is simply the best in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 09. You can’t change my mind. 😉

Mary Sue Setback

In terms of how I like the characters of Yashahime, it would be Moroha, Setsuna, and then Towa. Unfortunately, the writers at Sunrise have pushed Towa to Mary Sue levels, and that has made her even less desirable, even though her quest is an honorable one.

For Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 09, Towa is still pushed as the Mary Sue, “I will save the day yet again, even though I shouldn’t be able to ’cause I’ve lived a sheltered life in the modern, youkai-free world.” And it is still frustrating that the writers harm Towa as a character by making her the end all, be all character.

However, I wonder if the writers started questioning their decisions. I say this because while Towa is doing her Mary Sue thing and saving the day, she ends up being saved by Setsuna and Moroha. And it is this pair of trained, youkai killers who defeat Konton. And that makes sense. Hopefully, Towa will be less Mary Sue and more of a real character.

A Bit of Moroha Love

Moroha may be a legal adult in the time frame that Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 09 is set. That said, she’s still a 14-year old girl at heart. So while she has a lot of bluster, much of which is not idle boasting, she also has a sensitive side.

In the previous episode, we saw that Moroha was sent away as an infant and thus never knew her parents. I presume the tanuki clan raised her. I can’t imagine Miroku and Sango raising Moroha as I would think Moroha would be a youkai hunter, not a bounty hunter paying off some debt to Jyubei.

Still, one thing this episode made clear is that Moroha has longed for friends and companions. Despite her bravado at being Beniyasha, able to handle things on her own, she was quite lonely. Not that she’d admit this to her cousins, of course. As such, I found Moroha’s reaction the Setsuna and Towa changing their minds to work with Moroha to be natural and a bit funny.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review with some final thoughts.

• Myouga shows up again. I can’t help but like seeing the flea youkai around.
• I thought I recognized the turtle youkai Meiouju. That’s because another Meiouju was in the Inuyasha series.

In the end, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 09 was an enjoyable episode. Thankfully, Towa’s Mary Sue elements were dialed back a bit. Further, Moroha got a bit of character love.