Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 42
半妖の夜叉姫 弐の章 18
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi episode 42

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Takechiyo takes Setsuna, Towa, Moroha, and Jaken to Sesshoumaru’s mother’s palace. Jaken introduces the yashahime to her, getting quiet when reaching Moroha. Sesshoumaru’s mother sees that Akaru has chosen the trio. However, she says that within the Meidou lies a resentment from the youkai who’d not been able to use the Wheel of Time. As such, she summons Meidoumaru, an embodiment of said resentment. Sesshoumaru’s mother then tells the yashahime they have to defeat Meidoumaru.

Elsewhere, Kirinmaru tells Rion that he wants to go to the future to save it, after a plea from his arm (Kirin-sensei). Further, Kirinmaru wants Rion to come with him. She refuses, so Kirinmaru tells her he’s cursed Zanseiken, so that anyone not Rion wielding it will have their Kon stolen over time. Thus Towa’s body will become an empty shell and Kirinmaru can place Rion’s soul into it.

This enrages Rion and Riku who battle Kirinmaru. While Rion technically wins the fight, she cannot kill her father. Thus Kirinmaru causes it so that Rion is forced to stab Riku, apparently killing him.

Back at Sesshoumaru’s mother’s place, the girls battle Meidoumaru. Setsuna warns Towa about using Zanseiken after what it did to her before. Towa ignores this and fights. Moroha’s improved arrows weaken Meidoumaru. Towa uses Zanseiken to further weaken him, allowing Setsuna to cut his fate line, defeating him. Sesshoumaru’s mother warns Towa about the sword, telling her of the curse. However, Towa wants to master the sword.

The girls are sent to the Wheel of Time, which opens for them. However, Kirinmaru, which his unconscious daughter in tow, somehow manages to apparently get through the gateway as well.

Thoughts/Review:

After a long string of hits where the writers knocked things out of the park, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 42 is a step down due to cliched shounen fights and things happening ’cause “plot”.

Boring Shounen Fights

I suppose the young teen crowd watching Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 42 dug the cliched shounen fights, but I did not. Rion and Riku battling Kirinmaru was boring as all get out. I will admit that I was initially surprised the writers allowed Rion to technically defeat Kirinmaru. However, I quickly realized that of course they would do this and not have her follow through and kill her dad. Plot!

Then there was the arbitrary fight between the yashahime and Meidoumaru. Sesshoumaru’s mom comes off as just being a jerk in this. Not only does she not acknowledge her granddaughters, but because she wants to be entertained, she makes the yashahime fight Meidoumaru. When Sesshoumaru’s mother was spouting off about youkai resentment over not being able to access the Wheel of Time, I thought, “So? Sucks to be them!” But no, they need to fight the yashahime.

I guess Sesshoumaru’s mom was basically taking care of a problem in the Meidou…or rather having the yashahime do it. And in addition to being entertained, she could have been testing the yashahime. But otherwise, the fight was just mostly uninteresting to me.

Towa Must Mary Sue!

I hate “smacking” on Towa ’cause I want to like her character. But it always feels like the writers just need for her to be a Mary Sue character. That was the feeling I got in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 42. Granted, some of this may be my own irritation at the previous Mary Sue stuff she’s done. But her attitude regarding Zanseiken is what triggered it. Despite what it did to her before, she’s “I’mma use it anyway ’cause I’m the Mary Sue, bee-yatch!”

Later, when she learns of the curse from her grandmother, she’s stating, “I’mma master this thing ’cause I’m the Mary Sue!” And it is painfully obvious that she will master the sword ’cause the writers are so keen to make her a Mary Sue.

And finally, only Towa has faith in Rion, after the curse was revealed. Yes, a Mary Sue knows best. Well, to be fair to Towa, all of the girls should have thought about Kirinmaru and the possibility that he cursed the sword. But no one is thinking because we need some conflict between Rion and the yashahime. That way, Rion could decide to join her father or some rubbish.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Work has me insanely behind on stuff (I wanted to watch/review this Saturday), so let me wrap up my review of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 42 with some final thoughts.

• When Towa addresses her grandmother as “Obaa-chan”, I thought we might get the usual, “Don’t call me ‘Obaachan’!” joke. Instead, Sesshoumaru’s mother (who needs a bloody name for crying out loud) let it pass.
• I’m disappointed that Sesshoumaru’s mother didn’t acknowledge her granddaughters as such. Setsuna cut off Towa’s efforts at reaching out on a family level. But since Sesshoumaru’s mother decided they had time to battle Meidoumaru, she had time to acknowledge them as family.
• Although not unexpected, it still annoyed me that Kirinmaru managed to fly to the Wheel of Time, just in time. It would have been FAR more interesting if the Wheel had stopped his entry.
• As to Riku, I’m not sure he’s actually dead. He might be since that was kinda foreshadowed.

In the end, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 42 disappointed me as it fell back on boring, shounen battles and a villain who gets an objective ’cause “plot”.  Plus, I sense the writers really want Towa to Mary Sue, which annoys me.