REVIEW: ‘Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon,’ Episode 47 – “Father and Daughter”

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon (Yashahime) is a fantasy/adventure anime from Sunrise. With the Grim Butterfly temporarily trapped by the Demon Hunters, the world holds its breath as Towa, Moroha, and Setsuna struggle within it to stop the Degenerate Age from coming to be. Meanwhile, Kirinmaru and Sesshomaru have their long-awaited duel in Yashahime Episode 47.

For the second time in three days, I’m faced with attempting to talk about a spoiler-filled episode of anime without giving away any more than I most. Hopefully, my last attempt got me primed up for this story, and I won’t ruin anything for anyone. So, here goes.

Yashahime Episode 47 wastes no time in getting into the big hits of its narrative. Before the opening credits roll we see one significant battle from last week wrapped up surprisingly. The emotional intensity that this opening establishes is high and the episode in its entirety does a great job of maintaining this level of intensity.

While previous episodes have done a fantastic job of highlighting the expanded cast of the show, this episode dials it back, focusing on only the core characters. This is a great decision. With so many key plots coming together there wasn’t time to expand significantly beyond them. And with how well the show had already given the secondary cast their time to shine, it felt unneeded here.

The only primary character in this series I wish Yashahime Episode 47 could’ve found something more to do with is Moroha. While she is present at the episode’s major plot moment and does help out, much like last season’s finale, she is pushed back into a support role while the sisters take center stage. While one can justify this since the series has always been more about Setsuna and Towa, I still wish Moroha could get her moment to stand as an equal to the other two.

Perhaps the best part about this episode is that it guaranteed that this season would not make the same mistake as last season’s finale. Rather than postpone a true ending to the first episode of next season as its predecessor did, Yashahime Episode 47 assures that this season’s major plotlines have been wrapped up nicely and with another whole episode to spare.

The visuals throughout this episode do a great job of delivering all the significant story moments. The emotional content is delivered well and the combat moments hold nothing back to deliver the biggest hits of the series to date. This is especially true of the showdown between Kirinmaru and Sesshomaru.

When all is said and done, Yashahime Episode 47 delivers a great climatic episode to this season’s major plots. With only one more episode to go, Yashahime Half-Blood Princess looks to be going out on a high note.

Yashahime Episode 47 is streaming on Crunchyroll.