Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 36
半妖の夜叉姫 弐の章 12
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi episode 36

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

After Towa’s capture, the “scent” of her pain makes Nanahoshi very happy. As such, he constructs a stage so that they can play out more of Towa’s memories and misery. Zero explains that her purpose in putting Towa through this is to make Towa experience suffering before Zero kills her.

As such, Nanahoshi shows when Souta found Towa to her teen years. Towa’s adoptive family do love her, but Towa is alone and ostracized for her obsession over losing Setsuna. Zero Zero uses the Gold Rainbow Pearl to show Towa that Setsuna forgot about Towa and lived a relatively happy life in the hanyou village, all to fuel negative emotions from Towa.

Riku and Rion arrive to stop the enraged, fully youkai powered Towa from killing Zero. Towa kills Nanahoshi, but Riku protects Zero from Towa’s blade. Riku tries to reach Towa by telling her that killing Zero will kill Rin.

Elsewhere, Sesshoumaru flies at breakneck speed to Setsuna’s location in the north. Jaken loses his grip and falls to the ground. He hits the flying Takechiyo, knocking the tanukuki and Moroha down as well. When Moroha hears that there’s a danger to Rin, she demands to know more.

Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru reaches the youkai exterminators and they face a hoard of goblin-like oni. He dispatches Setsuna to see her mother and save her, then helps the youkai slayers. Setsuna arrives at the Tree of Ages and has a brief chat with her mom. Rin forbids Setsuna from cutting the fate line between her and Zero as it won’t lift the curse. Instead, she wants Setsuna to save Zero.

Thoughts/Review:

In terms of timelines, the writers may have played things a little fast and loose. However, that didn’t stop Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 36 from being a really good episode that just smoked by.

Sesshoumaru

I had previously mentioned that I wanted Sesshoumaru to go  into “engraged Papa” mode and come to Towa’s rescue. However, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 36 has him go a different route that makes more sense. And, it in no way reduces the feeling of Sesshoumaru acting out of love for his wife and daughters. We see this when Sesshoumaru starts flying so fast, even Jaken can no longer hold onto Sesshoumaru’s Mokomoko-sama (the fur muff).

Sesshoumaru sought out Setsuna in order to free Rin from Zero’s fate-line connection. That way if Towa killed Zero, Rin would still live. And that’s where Sesshoumaru’s mission made more sense. He could not go “full Papa” on Nanahoshi and Zero simply because it would kill his wife.

That aside, I really loved the moment when Sesshoumaru acknowledge Kohaku. It really felt like Sesshoumaru not only acknowledging his former companion, but also a fellow warrior and man. When Kohaku suggested that they work together to slaughter all of the goblin oni, I wondered if Sesshoumaru would leave or not. Instead, Sesshoumaru seemed to take out some frustrations on the goblin oni, and I loved it!

Setsuna and Rin

I have to say that Setsuna’s discussion with her mother Rin didn’t play out like I thought in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 36. On one hand, things did start as expected. Rin was happy to see her daughter for real. And we learned that through the Dream Butterfly, Rin had been able to follow Setsuna’s life.

However, where things went in an unexpected direction is the mercy Rin wanted to show Zero. Despite the evil that Zero had inflicted upon her, Rin wants Setsuna to save Rin and thus help Towa. This is the correct attitude to have, but man, speaking for myself, this would be very difficult to do.

Towa

This brings us to Towa. Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 36 decided to backtrack and actually show us the torment Towa was put through by Zero and Nanahoshi. In doing so, we got a glimpse of Towa’s life, growing up in the modern world. And we also see how her obsession over losing Setsuna kept her isolated, save from her adoptive family.

Since reuniting with Setsuna, Towa has been very clingy to her. And I understand why. The guilt Towa felt over letting go of Setsuna’s hand has plagued her for about 10 years or so. As such, Towa is determined to never be separated again. Yet she was forced to part from Setsuna due to her “weakness”. (I put that in quotes ’cause the writers like to make her a Mary Sue.)

But while Towa has been unable to move forward since being separated from her sister when they were small children, Setsuna did move forward. And that has clearly bothered Towa on a subconscious level.

And now, Towa has gone into full, enraged, youkai mode. That is, of course, what Zero wanted. Now Towa won’t listen to reason and if she strikes down Zero, well, Zero doesn’t care. She will have piled more guilt and anguish on Towa since killing zero kill’s Rin.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I’m insanely behind because of work. Nevertheless, let me wrap up with some final thoughts.

• Jaken falling and landing on Takechiyo and Moroha is a huge bit of plot convenience. However, the writers made the moment full of pratfall humor. And lets face it, they needed Moroha to get sucked into helping her cousins. So all is cool.
• Hats off to the writers for establishing the hand cream scent earlier so that Riku and Rion could track Towa.
• Zero is going full power now. I know Rin wants to save her, but at the same time, I kinda want to see Setsuna sever the fate line, and Sesshoumaru just go ape.
• I wonder what Rin is having Setsuna deliver to Towa.

In the end, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 36 was a very fast-paced episode that smoked to the end. I have to say, the writers have really stepped up their game so far in this series.