Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 25
半妖の夜叉姫 弐の章 01
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi episode 25

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With the yashahime defeated, Kirinmaru pays respect to the slain Setsuna and leaves. Sesshoumaru arrives and hands the broken Tenseiga to Towa. He tells her that only she can bring Setsuna back to life. Towa unsheathes the broken blade. She attempts to cause her youki to make an energy blade form.

Toutousai flies in with Jaken, wondering who’s wielding the broken Tenseiga. After an abusive chat with Moroha, Toutousai says he needs three days to repair Tenseiga. However, in one hour, Tenseiga will not be able to revive Setsuna. Towa’s grief causes her youki to slowly form an energy blade on Tenseiga. However, she’s unable to see the minions of the netherworld to slay them. Thus she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to cut, as Sesshoumaru did to bring back Zero.

While Towa struggles to maintain the energy blade on Tenseiga, Toutousai examines Setsuna’s broken naginata. He decides to create a new blade for the naginata so that Setsuna can carry it with her in the afterlife. However, he needs Moroha to protect him from the youkai and other evil that will come when he starts work. Meanwhile, Towa is now able to see the netherworld minions, but she is unable to do anything as she’s weakening.

Hoards of youkai and evil spirits swarm, so Kirara and Moroha start slaying. Unfortunately, they are overrun. Meanwhile, the netherworld minions start carrying Setsuna away. This causes Towa to kill them. She passes out, but Sesshoumaru catches her. He lays her next to Setsuna. Then after calling to Setsuna, Toutousai flings her the new naginata, and she slays the youkai hoards. Sesshoumaru gives Tenseiga to Toutousai and leaves.

Toutousai has some advice for Setsuna, and some to pass to Towa. Moroha is bummed Toutousai has nothing for her.

Thoughts/Review:

We get a new season of Yashahime goodness. But since the splash pages don’t denote a new series name (some preliminary stuff did), I will go with the continuation naming scheme and episode numbers. As such, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 25 was a pretty good way to get things started.

Setsuna Returns

One of my laments from the end of the previous season was that the writers went out of their way to show that Setsuna would be brought back to life. As such, it is no surprise that in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 25, this happens. Further, it isn’t surprising that Towa is the one to do it.

While I have not liked the push to have Towa be a Mary Sue character, in this instance, I don’t believe the Mary Sue moniker applies. As I saw it, Sesshoumaru knows Towa has the ability to create energy blades, using her own youkai energy (youki). Thus, Sesshoumaru uses the moment to force Towa to “sink or swim”, which is typical of him. Yet at the same time, he isn’t so standoffish from his daughter that he doesn’t offer her advice or prodding when needed. I loved that.

When Towa passes the test and brings her sister back, Sesshoumaru is there to catch Towa. It is Sesshoumaru who ultimately calls to Setsuna to waken her. Then I think Sesshoumaru gives Setsuna her initial test with her new naginata, which she passes when she slays the youkai hoard. Since both girls passed their trials, and Setsuna was alive again, Sesshoumaru leaves without so much as a by your leave. But that’s Sesshoumaru for ya.

A New Quest

I have to admit, I thought for sure that once Setsuna was brought back from the dead, the girls would set out to retrieve the Rainbow Pearls. However, other than recap at the beginning of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 25, the Rainbow Pearls were not a thing. Indeed, Toutousai sets the girls on a new quest. I’m guessing the Rainbow Pearls will still have to be found, but not immediately is the word.

So now the girls are out to find a Kyuyokon root in order to get Setsuna a better sword. Since Toutousai upgraded Setsuna’s naginata, I’m guessing they’ll go back to him to have him build Towa a sword. But for now, they have to visit Bokusenou (Bokusen-oh as the anime spelled it). The name sounded familiar so I did look it up. And indeed, this is the intelligent tree youkai from Inuyasha.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Work is insanely busy, so let me wrap up with some final thoughts.

• Considering the somber tone of Setsuna’s death, and the desperation of Towa to bring her back, the slapstick humor elements with Moroha getting whacked repeatedly by Toutousai felt out of place.
• Speaking of Moroha, it did kinda suck that Toutousai seems to be going out of his way for Sesshoumaru’s daughters.
• I like the new OP/ED music. The Inuyasha franchise frequently seems to have music that I end up buying.
• And while on the subject of the ED, I loved seeing the yashahime in modern times, wearing fashionable clothing, while going shopping in an apparent trendy part of Tokyo. More than that, it made me want to see the series shift to the modern times for a bit. I think it could be interesting having a youkai threat in the modern era.

In the end, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 25 was a decent episode on the whole. Setsuna is brought back to life. Towa gets some “sink or swim” training from her father. And Moroha gets to be the butt of slapstick humor. Now, onto the new quest.