REVIEW: ‘Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon,’ Episode 18 – “Sesshomaru and Kirinmaru”

To the collective “finally!” from many fans, Towa and Setsuna meet their father in Yashahime Episode 18. It isn’t as exciting as many likely hoped. The anime-original serves as a sequel to Rumiko Takahashi’s Inuyasha series. From Sunrise, it follows the original cast’s children, specifically Sesshomaru’s twin daughters. The other leading lady is Moroha, the girls’ cousin and quarter-demon. Towa was separated from her sister across time, and Setsuna lost her memories to the fabled Dream Butterfly. Seeking answers, the girls journey around the Feudal Era to track down the demon Kirinmaru.

There are definitely moments that will be fun for longtime fans of the franchise. Towa and Setsuna attempt to sniff out the rift of demonic energy in order to get out of Konton’s trap. Setsuna mentions that it is an ability of their clan. It kind of works, although some will remember how long it took Inuyasha to master this technique. At this point, it feels a little pointless to keep nitpicking the show for these details. Its writing is incredibly weak, but this reviewer sticks around for the nostalgia and leading ladies. The fight with Konton has some decent action sequences, although wraps up oddly abruptly for an antagonist who was present multiple episodes. Once again, the show fails to make its antagonists interesting, which removes a fair amount of emotional investment from battle scenes.

The big confrontation here is with Kirinmaru, who decides to confront the three girls once and for all to determine if they are the ones prophesied to kill him. This is the first fight in a while that feels decently high stakes compared to the others in the show. Yashahime Episode 18 actually requires Moroha, Setsuna and Towa to unleash a decent number of moves to stay alive. It is a little odd that Moroha uses her rouge with no thought to a few weeks ago when her mentor told her that it was destroying her humanity. Ultimately, it is one of the better fights of the anime.

The real moment everyone was waiting for is Sesshomaru. He is still on the “Bad Anime Dads” list, not providing any sort of emotion or regard for the girls besides preventing them from dying. Jakken shows more affection towards them…JAKKEN. Anyway, it is implied there is more to the story (again) and that Kirinmaru might have something on Sesshomaru. It is ultimately another frustrating moment, because every time Yashahime teases a reveal, it pulls back at the last second and leaves the same questions. At this point, as a reviewer, I’ve hit the “acceptance” stage of grief. The ladies themselves are great, and deserve more.

Yashahime Episode 18 finally has the three girls confront Kirinmaru and meet their father. In standard fashion for the writing of this anime, it doesn’t answer any of the question it teased resolutions to. The fights themselves go back-and-forth between decent and abruptly anticlimactic. At this point, those who are enjoying Yashahime will likely really enjoy this week, while those continuously frustrated will get more of the same.

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon is streaming now on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.