Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 31
半妖の夜叉姫 弐の章 07
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi episode 31

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Towa and Setsuna are atop a towering rock, playing their instruments,  when a rock golem attacks them. After a battle, Setsuna defeats it by cutting it in half. Towa takes pity on it, so the rock golem takes advantage of this and attempts to kill her by merging and then exploding itself. Setsuna tells Towa that Towa should probably return to the modern world as Setsuna can handle things.

Elsewhere, Moroha disguises herself as a Kasa-obake (umbrella youkai) and learns she has obtained a legendary status in the youkai community, thus they avoid her. Meanwhile, the child tankuki youkai Takechiyo  arrives and hires Moroha to be his bodyguard.

Still elsewhere, Riku escorts Rion to Zero’s residence, making sure to stay out of sight. Riku uses a looking glass to make contact with her aunt. Zero is pleased to see Rion and gets briefed on the situation. She agrees to consider Rion’s request to stop Kirinmaru, but has a warning for Riku and Towa.

Meanwhile, Kohaku takes Hisui to visit Towa and Setsuna. There, they challenge Towa and explain how her greatest weakness is never retreating. After proving this to her in a training session, Kohaku elects not to bring Towa on their next mission.

Back with Moroha, Takechiyo introduces her to Hachiemon. This former vassal of Miroku is excited to see Moroha and talks to her about her parents. That night, the group attempt an assault on the castle at Mamiana Island, the deposed Takechiyo’s former home. Moroha gets captured.

Elsewhere, the rock golem boss shows up. Towa’s aggressive attack leaves her open to attack. However, Towa easily defeats the boss golem just the same. Nearby, Rion and Riku observe the battle and determine Towa is not a protector, but needs protecting.

Thoughts/Review:

My primary complaint with the Yashahime series is that Towa has been written to be a Mary Sue character. In Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 31, the writers seem to realize the trap they’ve fallen into, but can’t help themselves in having Towa still be a Mary Sue.

Mary Sue, Now With a Flaw

I really hate how the writers have gone so far to make Towa a Mary Sue character. As I’ve stated before, it makes huge sense for Moroha and Setsuna to be skilled warriors. They’ve learned to tap their youkai powers to varying degrees. On the other hand, Towa was in the modern word, and outside of her unusual strength (thanks to her youkai blood), she wasn’t trained in battling or slaying youkai. Yet time after time in Yashahime, Towa is THE girl to save the day ’cause clearly, Setsuna and Moroha are chumps.

That said, in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 31, the writers seem to at least recognize that they’ve written Towa badly. They should have made her a fish out of water character who has a desperate desire to never be parted from her twin sister. They got the later part correct, but the former part got flushed down the toilet for whatever whacked reason.

Still, the writers are attempting to tap into Towa’s insecurities and her clinginess to Setsuna. As such, Kohaku schools her on how open she leaves herself thanks to her aggressive, “no retreat” combat style. Because of this, the youkai exterminators find her unreliable. (Shame they didn’t spot this earlier.) As such, it seems Setsuna is going on the mission and Towa will be left behind.

And yet despite giving Towa a flaw, when it came to fighting the boss rock golem, Towa is still Mary Sue. Sure, the rock golem landed a massive blow on Towa thanks to the opening in her combat style. But the writers just couldn’t help but have Towa be Mary Sue when in fact Setsuna should have been the one to kill the beast.

Monster Farm/Monster Rancher

Speaking of the rock golem in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 31, I couldn’t help but think about Golem from Monster Farm (aka: Monster Rancher), which I reviewed here. They don’t exactly look the same and they certainly didn’t act the same. But there were similarities between the two.

However, what made me laugh out loud a bit was seeing the yellow eyeball at Mamiana Island. This reminded me of Suezo in Monster Farm. Sure, the eyeball didn’t have the protuberance Suezo has, and the eyeball had a red iris rather than a yellow one. However, seeing how two different monsters reminded me of Monster Farm makes me think that Yashahime‘s writers were paying homage to that franchise.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

The smegheads at Monstercat have me in a foul mood, so I better wrap up my review here with some final thoughts.

• I got a kick out of seeing Moroha disguised as a Kasa-obake. I really like how the Yashahime staff have been bringing in youkai elements from classic, Japanese mythology.
• Speaking of Moroha, I loved the moment when she spoke with Hachiemon about her parents. it is unfortunate that she believes them to be dead. However, I hope she gets to actually meet Inuyasha and Kagome before the season/series is over.
• Since Moroha is off being Takechiyo’s bodyguard, and Setsuna is going to be heading out with the youkai exterminators, I hope the writers don’t have Towa be a Mary Sue and bail the other girls out of problems.

In the end, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 31 wasn’t a bad episode. The writers did give Towa a combat flaw, but still couldn’t help themselves and had her Mary Sue through it just the same. Now that the girls are going to be separated, I’m hopeful for some good character work.