I want to see him hugging Moroha, just lifting her up and engulfing her.
I want to see him training with her, improving the moves she already knows and showing her some new ones.
I want them to all share a meal together, figuring out the foods she likes and dislikes.
I want them to talk about what Moroha's childhood was like, working through everything InuYasha and Kagome had missed, all the big important milestones.
I want Moroha to come back successful and InuYasha to tell her how proud of her he is.
I want to see Moroha having fallen asleep and InuYasha watching over her. Maybe cradling her cheek with his hand.
I want to see InuYasha telling her about his own childhood, and the two of them bonding over shared trauma, but InuYasha struggling with knowing that had he and Kagome been around, she never would have felt so alone.
One of the things that bugs me about Moroha being the butt if the joke/the comic relief in Yashahime just... doesn't make a lot of sense?
Kagome and InuYasha are not particularly comical characters. They can be funny, like anyone can, but they were never the "light-hearted" character. InuYasha was troubled and strong. Kagome was hope and motivation, even purity. The combination of all those traits doesn't equal someone befitting of the role their daughter was placed in.
Now, if she were Miroku and Sango's kid? Sure. Miroku was often a source of comedy (and wisdom) and Sango was all about strength and family. That feels slightly more fitting.
But!, you say, Moroha wasn't raised by InuKag!
Sure. She was raised by Koga and Ayame, and later that white haired lady who was a terrible mentor and guardian. Yes, Moroha is cocky like Koga and stubborn like Ayame, but again, neither of those characters ever act as in a jester's role. And don't get me started on the other lady.
Plus, you're going to run her character in parallel to Toga? Make a clear bond between them? Toga was the King of Drama Kings, sure, but never a man of comedy.
Hanyo no Yashahime is the sequel to the classic anime InuYasha, in which a teen from present day travels back to Feudal Japan where demons and magic are very much a reality. The sequel follows the children of the main characters from InuYasha and puts them on their own adventure to save the world.
Note: All opinions are my own. This is a critical review of entertainment media, and will include criticism. If you do not agree, then simply ignore.
The Plot
Early on, it was established that Towa and company would seek out the dream butterfly and get back Setsuna’s dreams/sleep. Treekyo told them they would have to defeat Sesshomaru and Kirinmaru. After many episodes, this plot line was unimportant and almost discarded. Passing and fleeting, the true motive of the girls quest is sporadic and mentioned sparingly, and for many episodes it seemed they were only there to slay high level demons.
Mysteries and questions were extremely abundant and established early on, and as the episodes went by, it was clear they wouldn’t be answered. At least this season. One thing the fandom has noticed is how many questions there are, and how in some crazy way sunrise managed to withhold all answers and key plot points from the plot for so long. Treekyo? Not that important apparently. Her prophecy? Never mentioned again. The dream butterfly? Seen not explained. It’s connection to Kirinmaru and Zero? Contradicted in the show. InuYasha and Kagome? Just as forgotten as Moroha when there is a fight.
The pacing of this show was all over the place and inconsistent, providing too much focus on filler in some episodes and not enough plot in others. And in the episodes where we got to come back to the main story, we would get info dumps. I mentioned in my mid-season review how info dumps are cheap in the scheme of writing and plot outline, and I’ll say it again because I was surprised as the episodes went on how inconsistent everything was getting.
Now, don’t get me wrong, InuYasha had lots of fillers too, but unlike Yashahime, they established a lot of exposition and plot within the first 12 episodes; we got the main characters and their ambitions/conflicts, the main villain, the dual antagonist (Sesshomaru, at least he was a villain for a bit anyway) and the basics of the magic system was established and explained. Yashahime did set up the character’s goals, but the character’s quickly seemed to forget them, while in InuYasha their goal of finding the jewel shards was always at the forefront of the majority of the episodes. The main villain was supposedly Kirinmaru (his careless attitude throughout most of the show did not provide the antagonistic “high stakes”) and he sent demons to battle the girls, but the girls were so overpowered and perfected their powers so quickly that the demons provided no real challenge or added any stakes or drama.
The ability/powers of characters were retconned. This was odd and not something I expected. One of the most notable examples is how certain abilities are apparently genetic and inherited through dna instead of through the swords that harbored them like the original series established. An example is Moroha’s “Crimson Backlash Wave” where it mimics the ability Tessaiga has where it sends an opponent’s own demonic attack right back at them, destroying them with their own demonic energy. Moroha does not use Tessaiga, she uses Kurikaramaru. The backlash wave was said to be unique to Tessaiga, and only able to be used with Tessaiga, but that lore was weirdly chosen to be retconned. It is unclear wether or not this will be expanded upon in season 2.
In episode 19 of Yashahime, there was blatant homophobia and transphobia. No excuse, there was. InuYasha also had homophobic and transphobic characters. Yashahime could have changed that, but it perpetuated that instead, and it was extremely disappointing. In episode 20, Shiori, a beloved character from the original series, is shown changing into her human form during a solar eclipse. Yashahime chose to whitewash the character by lightening her dark skin. In InuYasha, several characters had darker skin, like InuYasha himself, and when he turned into his human form, his skin would stay the same. There is no excuse for this. Both of these episodes blighted Yashahime’s potential to step away from those things, but it continued to do it instead.
The final episode of the show was fast and full of unanswered questions. The dream butterfly was still not explained, Rin did not wake up, InuYasha and Kagome were not even mentioned, let alone released, and Kirinmaru parented Towa and Setsuna better than their own father. Zero flees, using spider silk (she strangely has many parallels with Naraku, even down to spider imagery) and sets herself up to be the main villain. And Setsuna dies, and Sesshomaru doesn’t seem that worried at all. It was interesting however to see Kirinmaru fight the girls, and he basically began teaching them about their moves and powers. Another interesting aspect was how Sesshomaru is apparently, potentially, time traveling. He shows up and hands Towa the Tensiaga, and the rain stops, and when she takes it, the rain starts again. Towa looks up and it is shown Sesshomaru has vanished instantaneously.
The Characters
Towa Higurashi: In the first two episodes, Towa was portrayed as a tomboy who kicked ass and cared for her family. She was confident and had ambition. Once she came to the feudal era however, her entire personality changed. Her surroundings and the people/beings she met were indeed something she had never encountered, but she suddenly became a moralist, and cautioned Setsuna and Moroha to never fight, despite she herself being notorious in modern day for fighting bullies and bad people. It is almost like her fighting persona in modern day had never happened. Overall, it felt her character was overly gullible, and though she meant well, her sudden drop from “school fighter” to “naive moralist” was odd and seemed to contradict the character they set up in the first three episodes.
Setsuna: Like father like daughter, Setsuna retains her father’s most iconic personality traits, and is focused on her ambitions and remains cautious around people and demons alike. She was, perhaps, the one out of the three princesses to have the most backstory and character focus (despite Towa being the main character) The mystery of her connection with the dream butterfly was genuinely interesting, though it did feel like it dragged on for too long in certain aspects (some lore even felt contradicted) Writing wise, Setsuna felt the most consistently written character of the three girls, both in personality and in development.
Moroha: The perfect mix of her parents, Moroha has had little to few familial relationships and friendships in her life. Her goal of earning money seemed petty at first, but when Moroha finally got her own episode, it was revealed to have a deeper meaning. That episode highlighted Moroha’s strength and perseverance. What was a poor move on behalf of Yashahime’s writers was the strange choice to constantly omit Moroha from vital fights (and even basic fights) It happened pretty much every time, and Moroha was never around for key information about her parents or their quest. It is unclear why her being there for the information would be a bad thing. Her relationship with Towa and Setsuna was shallow, and their bonding had no real emotional impact. In fact, Towa and Setsuna openly mention how they need her for her abilities, not because they like her. The one episode they tried to make them bond fell flat due to the lack of build up and relationship development.
Conclusion
Hanyo no Yashahime was inconsistent and fell flat with several character relationships and motivations. Plot point execution was sporadic and lacked emotional depth and coherent understanding, leaving viewers more confused than awed. Characters from InuYasha were out of character and felt hollow; some of them were not even involved as much as one would think and one didn’t even show up. Kirinmaru is perhaps the most interesting new character to come out of the series, and his respect for the Great Dog Demon has led him to enter a deal with Sesshomaru, and even protect the three princesses. This contradicts several actions he took, and makes a compelling mystery in certain aspects. In conclusion, the show felt rushed and lacked emotional and character depth, and presented several problematic and harmful themes.
Note: Again, all opinions are my own. You are free to comment, but please be respectful.
that meme i shared really just got me thinking, bruh, if sessrin is canon it must be the worst ship in the show. like legit the worst. sesshomaru just deadass abandoning his kids like a deadbeat dad would show he don’t give a fuck about humans let alone hanyou, let alone his hanyou children. It would show he didn’t even care about rin enough to raise their kids after she got yeeted into the tree or whatever happened. I hope sunrise does better tbh. otherwise this show is gonna be pretty boring and even more whack than it already is. that would be a complete 180 for sesshomaru development as a character.
My current Yashahime theory is that this whole mess is just someone’s awful fever dream.
The unaging faces, the return of so many previously dead yokai, unchanging and recycled clothing patterns, plot lines that are disjointed and make no sense, nonsensical and out of character behavior, easily resolved conflict, or conflict that ends by -FLEEING THE SCENE ALL TOGETHER-
Y’all on the last episode... MYOGA is going to wake up covered in sweat and swear off drinking the blood of poison frogs for the rest of his life.
We know that the Grim comet approaches earth every 500 years. Since Towa is 14, and the comet was seen when the twins were born, so we now have the exact number of years for the time leap – 486 years.
In episode 4, Moroha says that she is older than the grandpas by “around 450” which was odd.
Then in episode 23, we have Osamu Kirin say that the comet usually appears every 470 years, and it is appearing after 500 years in the modern era.
If the comet was coming on time, the time leap would have been 486-30 = 456, in line with what Moroha said.
Why do we know the comet approaches the earth every 500 years? – Riku. Riku is already infamous as a manipulator, so I’d go with Kirin’s comet period. So, Riku is somehow involved in the inconsistent nature of the comet’s duration. Either he is making it seem like additional 30 years have passed or even he has something to do with that gigantic windmill. Which sounds plausible because he had already mentioned that he shares the same goals as Kirinmaru. But it is murky waters as to what is it that they want.
Bigger Question:
How the heck would Moroha know that she is “over 450” years old? (Kagome?) I mean if she calculated the difference, it should have been 500 years right? Or is Kirin misunderstanding? I feel like Moroha knows more than she is letting on. Don’t know if it’s intentional or not.
