Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 30
半妖の夜叉姫 弐の章 06
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi episode 30

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ninja kidnap the deep-sleeping Setsuna. When Setsuna finally wakes up, she finds Princess Aiya there, dressed in more commoner clothing. Further, Setsuna discovers she’s wearing the elaborate kimono of a princess. Setsuna is going to leave, but is convinced to say after a tearful tale of forced marriage from Aiya. As such, Setsuna agrees to sit substitute for Aiya’s etiquette lessons from a nun who’s never met the princess.

Aiya escapes with her guards while the “nun” turns out to be Hisui. Much like Setsuna, Hisui got conned into taking over the job from his sister, Kin’u. Since Aiya’s father has been spying on them, Hisui decides to teach Setsuna the art of the waka poem. Further, he explains that his father, Miroku, was keen on making sure his kids were well educated.

Hisui then tells Setsuna how he found his path in life as a youkai exterminator. As they talk, one of Princess Aiya’s guards returns to report that she has been captured by a youkai. Hisui leaves a dummy of himself with Setsuna so he can save the princess and not reveal her absence to her father. When he arrives at the coast, he finds that the octopus youkai Takonyudo has captured Aiya.

Hisui battles without much success. His sisters Kin’u and Gyokuto arrive to help. Hisui is stunned to discover Aiya is enjoying the adventure. He slays the youkai and catches her. As such, Aiya develops a crush on Hisui. Kin’u and Gyokuto recognize this and encourage Hisui to take the princess back on Kirara. Aiya’s father drags her off for a scolding.

Later, Setsuna is training when the relieved Towa finds her. Setsuna is a bit annoyed by Towa’s clinginess. That night, Setsuna has insomnia, so she plays her violin at the Tree of Ages.

Thoughts/Review:

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 30 may have been a mostly filler episode, but I actually enjoyed it quite a lot.

The Princess and the Commoner

As I watched Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 30, I couldn’t help but think of the Mark Twain story The Prince and the Pauper. This is only natural since Princess Aiya had Setsuna dressed in the elaborate kimono that Aiya normally wears. Further to that, while Aiya doesn’t wear Setsuna’s youkai exterminator clothing, she does wear more “commoner” clothing, howbeit, much nicer versions.

When Princess Aiya first appeared in the series, she was just an amusing, over the top character with a cliched ojousama laugh looking to get a bit of revenge on the yashahime for ruining one of her kimonos. In this episode, I can’t help but still like her. She wants a bit of adventure outside her luxurious abode, and she certainly got that.

I really liked the unexpected (though maybe I should have expected it) crush Aiya has on Hisui after he rescued her. Hisui, in a somewhat typical guy fashion, doesn’t notice Princess Aiya shift in feelings for him. But his sisters notice this, which was amusing.

I guess Hisui is still officially Aiya’s instructor. As such, I wouldn’t mind seeing Aiya return and Hisui coming to realize Aiya’s feelings for him. At the same time, it could be very interesting to have things play out so that Hisui has to deal with the prospect of Aiya being married off to some lord.

Princess Setsuna

I have to say, Setsuna looked very cute and regal in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 30. And while the episode may have been filler, Setsuna gets a bit of character work done in the episode. For a start, her time with Towa has softened her quite a lot. A year ago, Setsuna would not have acquiesced to Aiya’s request to take her place and lessons.

In addition, Setsuna starts pondering the concept of family after hearing Hisui speak of his. She never knew her mother or father growing up. She only briefly knew her sister before they were separated. Although Sesshoumaru may have been keeping tabs on Setsuna, she was unaware of her mystery benefactor in the hanyou village. And even now, she still has a difficult time dealing with Towa.

Ultimately, Setsuna is really feeling the weight of Sesshoumaru killing the Dream Butterfly. The clock is ticking to save her mother, but she doesn’t know how to do that. Thus now that she can sleep, she has a bout of insomnia, driven by worry. Still, I liked how she dealt with this by playing her violin at the Tree of Ages. And I get the sense Rin is aware of this.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I know this is becoming a repeat thing from me, but work has me going crazy of late. As such, let me wrap up my review with some final thoughts.

• Moroha only scored a cameo this episode. And we learn that she still owes 1 ryou to Jyuubei. But all of the intelligent youkai run from her. That cracked me up.
• Towa got a bit larger of a cameo. Thankfully, she didn’t rain on Setsuna’s parade.
• Hisui’s sisters are a riot. They really take after Miroku in terms of mischievousness.
• Can we say something about Aiya’s worthless samurai? She’s the daughter of a deputy shogun. She’s actually a princess, since they call her Aiya-hime. As such, the samurai attached to her should be really good. Sure, they might not be youkai exterminators, but they should at least put up a fight, rather than leave their katana sheathed when Aiya is captured.

In the end, I rather enjoyed Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 30. In addition to being fun, I like the character work for Setsuna and Hisui.