Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 34
半妖の夜叉姫 弐の章 10
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi episode 34

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

It is new moon time. As such, Setsuna has reverted to human form in the snowy north. She writes out instructions for her fellow youkai slayers to deal with any onslaught that may happen. She then passes out from lack of sleep. The resident youkai of the snow lands, Yukinyuudou, smells Setsuna. He summons two small, worm-like, snow youkai known as sestujyuu to lead him to her.

Elsewhere, Zero uses her magic to summon and send lantern butterflies to find Towa. Meanwhile, the now human Towa walks with Riku and Rion. She worries about Setsuna, who’s experiencing being human for the first time, now that the Dream Butterfly is dead. Towa learns that Riku is actually the cast off horn of Kirinmaru. Zero’s lantern butterflies arrive, so Riku “kills” them. However, Zero’s spell is activated and Towa is taken to Nanahoshi’s mansion.

Near Mamiana Island, Moroha builds a hang glider to assault the castle. As she works, Hachiemon recounts how Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku dealt with the Shogen as well as the Mangetsu-Danuki. Kagome had sealed Mangetsu-Danuki, but after Inuyasha and Kagome disappeared, Shogen managed to free the youkai. Shogen then used the infant Kikunosuke to overthrow Takechiyo. Miroku saved Takechiyo and took him to Jyuubei for protection.

Meanwhile, Towa show up before Zero.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, we get a mini Inuyasha episode within the confines of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 34. And again, the new moon affects on hanyou come up.

Setsuna’s Path

Back when the series started, only Towa transformed from hanyou to human at new moon. (Why she didn’t do this in the modern world is still unexplained as far as I know.) However, Setsuna did not transform into a human. It wasn’t until we learned more about the Dream Butterfly and its effects on Setsuna that we came to understand why.

As such, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 34 is the first time she’s become human. I really liked how the first thing Setsuna has to deal with is the extreme cold of the north. Her youkai blood obviously keeps her warmer than normal in cold environments. But now she feels the cold and needs more clothing to try to stay warm.

I got a chuckle about her filling a whole lot of scrolls on how to handle any number of youkai that might attack while Setsuna was human. So far, only one is — Yukinyuudou, who seems like a version of the Abominable Snowman.

Towa’s Path

Zero presses forward with her plans against the hanyou, starting with Towa in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 34. We get to see more of Zero’s mage abilities. Since Towa had the Silver Rainbow Pearl, I’m guessing Zero was able to see modern times. As such, I’m pretty sure that’s why Zero targeted Towa first. Plus, Towa’s teacher, who’s also a detachment of Kirinmaru, is in the modern time. And if Zero recognized him, then she’d be even more interested in the future.

That aside, even though they haven’t done much, I kinda like the Towa, Rion, and Riku trio. The writers didn’t go all out, but they did give us a hint of the Towa x Riku romance. I really do hope the writers expand on this, especially since I’m guessing Riku and Rion will try to save Towa.

Moroha’s Path: An Inuyasha Tale

The core of Moroha’s part of the adventure is just her building a glider to assault the castle. And naturally, she got the idea from her brief stay in the modern era, after seeing it done on TV. That was fine in and of itself. And no doubt, we’ll get to see actual action in the next episode.

However, the writers decided to use Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 34 to give us a mini Inuyasha episode, thanks to Inuyasha and Kagome being Moroha’s parents. While we have had some Inuyasha love in previous episodes, this time, the writers decided to touch some of the other elements not previously touched. First was Inuyasha using his Kaze no Kizu attack on Shogen.

The writers even gave us some comedy, by having Shogen use the kitsune leaf ability to create hot, illusion, human babes to try to seduce Hachiemon and Miroku. For those who don’t know, it was a running gag in Inuyasha that Miroku would get tempted, even though he had a mutual, romantic interest with Sango. And speaking of Sango, the other part of the gag was her annoyance at Miroku’s weakness. And the writers brought that forth here.

Finally, Kagome got to be an integral part of the group since she sealed Mangetsu-Danuki into the painting. I liked that. Everyone had an important part to play.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 34 continues having the yashahime separated on on their own adventures. I for one am enjoying this a lot. Further, the writers also managed to inject a mini Inuyasha episode into the mix as a bonus. Good stuff.