Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 43
半妖の夜叉姫 弐の章 19
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi episode 43

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

In the present, Kirin-sensei slays youkai lurking in places like the sewers. Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha arrive in the present, via the Sacred Tree. Mei greets them, soon joined by Moroha’s grandmother and great grandfather. After a brief chat, the trio set off to find Kirin-sensei. At school, Towa has him come to the roof, where they inquire about the Grim Comet. He is truthful with them, and proves it by slaying some crow youkai that appear as well as apologizing for being the cause.

After learning that Kirin-sensei loves modern earth and wants to protect it, the yashahime agree to work with him to destroy the Grim Comet. First, he tells them they need to protect a concert, where Towa’s adoptive mother will be playing. At the concert venue, they do find some low-level youkai, whom they slay. Inside, they meet with Moe, who’s happy to see the girls. When Towa mentions youkai, Moe thinks they already know about the show.

During the concert, the yashahime continue to slay youkai. Kirin-sensei does too. However, Kirinmaru contacts him, attempting to use him to get to the present. Kirin-sensei rejects Kirinmaru. Further, the injured Riku appears in the time vortex to take Rion from Kirinmaru.

Back at the concert, the yashahime stop real youkai from attacking. Kirin-sensei is happy at how powerful the girls are. The Grim Comet is now visible and is close to striking Japan. As such, the group head to Tokyo Tower to gain altitude to deal with it.

Thoughts/Review:

While this wasn’t a character-driven story, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 43 was a better written action story, though not perfect.

Youkai in the Present

Sometime back, I did express a wish to see the yashahime be in the present and having to deal with youkai there. Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 43 did just that, though maybe in not quite the way I expected. There is a plot convenience to the youkai appearances in the present. Outside of Kirin-sensei hunting youkai on his own, youkai apparently only show up where the plot needs them to be.

For example, the crow youkai conveniently show up and attack while the yashahime and Kirin-sensei are talking on the roof. This gives the yashahime a reason to trust Kirin-sensei, despite him being a part of Kirinmaru. And since Towa’s adoptive mother (and Moroha’s aunt) Moe is having a concert along with a boy idol band, well, naturally youkai will show up there. And the concert will have a youkai theme ’cause “reasons”.

These are minor complaints, and I do appreciate how the battles weren’t boring, tedious things, but rather did feel like a part of the story. However, at the same time, how many other youkai are not only appearing in modern Tokyo, but throughout modern Japan? Who’s dealing with them as the Grim Comet approaches and causes more youkai to appear?

Kirinmaru

It is interesting that both rejected parts of Kirinmaru turn against him in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 43. As I suspected, Riku was not dead and now has Rion. So I guess the two of them won’t appear in the modern world. Still, I think Rion would have loved to have seen the modern world in the way that Kirin-sensei has.

And speaking of Kirin-sensei, he too opposes Kirinmaru by not providing an anchor for Kirinmaru to hone in on. It looked like the writers were going to have Kirinmaru just possess Kirin-sensei and make the teacher a puppet. But so far, they haven’t gone down that route, and that’s a good thing.

As to Kirinmaru, I honestly can’t say if the writers will have him appear in the modern world or not. I’m leaning toward “not” at this point. That would drive him over the edge and have him go nuts. And then the yashahime would have to return to the past to solve things, then hook  up with their respective families.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, despite some plot issues, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 43 was a fairly enjoyable episode. It didn’t suffer from tedious, shounen battles, and the fights that did happen actually felt in service to the plot.