Episode 6 – Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon – The Second Act

Here’s a side effect we never thought of: now that Setsuna is able to sleep, that also means that she can be kidnapped in her sleep! Gosh, what a wonderful turn of events for the character – now she, too, can experience life as a damsel in distress, just as women of the time were expected to be! All kidding aside, though, it does feel as if there’s at least a minor statement being made in the beginning of this episode when Setsuna is snatched by Princess Aiya’s ninja as she slumbers. Aiya wants Setsuna to take her place during etiquette lessons while she goes off and has a brief moment of freedom. She tells Setsuna that basically her entire life and education is about being groomed to become the bride of some random man her father chooses, and while I’d hesitate to call Aiya a particularly trustworthy character, she does make a very good point. Her life is constrained by expectations that Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha are exempt from as the children of Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru; being not fully human, they aren’t subject to human norms, despite their fathers’ relatively exalted status. It’s a real bullet dodged for the girls and a good lesson in the difference between what it meant to be a “real” princess versus a fictional one.

That, sadly, is the most interesting part of the episode, although it’s by no means terrible; it just feels like a bit of a step back after the previous two. It’s also not really about any of the girls – by most measures, this is a Hisui episode, because he’s been duped into being the etiquette teacher in his older sister Kin’u’s stead. I do feel bad for him, though, because it cannot have been easy to grow up in his family, as he relates in pained tones. Kin’u and Gyokuto have rather more of their father in them while Hisui seems to take more after his mother and maternal uncle, and while in terms of romance Miroku and Sango work, in a sibling relationship that kind of dynamic has to be a lot more difficult.

If that was the point of the episode, it does an okay job of it. There’s a clear contrast between the twins and Hisui, and his lamentations to Setsuna do give us a lot of information about his life. None of that feels particularly relevant to the rest of the plot, nor does it do much to convince me that he and Setsuna are endgame, but it is at least interesting. It’s also nice to see that his sisters really do care about him, since they jump into the fray when he has to save Aiya (stupid, annoying Aiya) from Takonyudo, an octopus monster who also seems to be an allusion to Wanyudo – a yokai who’s a monk’s face in a flaming oxcart wheel. (Presumably it’s just sort of a joke reference and an excuse to dress a giant octopus like a monk; Takonyudo doesn’t seem like his job is to take sinners to hell.) Then Kin’u takes his pay for it, so at least she’s still true to character.

The more likely design of the plot, however, was to show that Setsuna’s going to have to really adjust to being able to sleep. She blames her kidnapping on the fact that she can sleep again (and she’s not wrong), and the episode ends with her getting out of bed to play the violin as a form of self-soothing. As far as changes go, being able to sleep may not seem huge, but to Setstuna it means an increased vulnerability, proven by the fact that she was taken in her slumber. She’s not used to being vulnerable, nor does it fit with her image of herself. Realizing that sleep is good and that this isn’t some sort of punishment may take her a long time – and if she still can’t save her mother, it’s going to take even longer.

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Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon – The Second Act is currently streaming on
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