English Dub Review: Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon “Curse of the Man-Eating Pond”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

A pancake eating incident sends Moroha running towards a pond for water. Towa manages to catch her before she can drink it. While the twins are distracted, the liquid consumes a bird, and even Moroha’s best interpretive dance explanation can convince them of the demonic danger.

Setsuna and Towa head off to get the details about their next demon hunting mission. Moroha heads back to Jyubei’s for the same reason.

The twins learn that the pond they were near is referred to as a “man eating pond” by the locals. When they head back to slay the demon, they find a young girl trying to prevent her older brother from avenging their parents, and suffering their fate in the process.

Meanwhile, Moroha is stuck with cleaning duty while Takechiyo taunts her.

After patching up the kids they found by the pond, Towa and Setsuna find themselves invited to dinner. The children’s grandmother serves the meal, and explains that the pond used to be clear before it got possessed. She further informs them that a sage used medicinal herbs to purify it. The twins stay the night, planning to take on the pond demon in the morning.

The next day, they’re readying their attack when Moroha happens by and decides to join them. Unfortunately, she’s quickly rendered immobile in a patch of herbs by the beast’s venom.

Towa seems immune to the Venom Serpent’s mist, and aids Setsuna with her attacks. But after a strike on the liquid, aka Drifting Pond, she realizes her immunity has a weakness to that form. The two twins have to work together to coordinate their attacks based on their strengths.

Thankfully, they’re able to do just that. Setsuna uses her cyclone burst to send medicinal herbs (and Moroha) flying. Her efforts purify and kill Drifting Pond, allowing Towa to take out Venom Serpent unhindered.

The siblings they rescued earlier, Chiyo and Hikomaru, join them while Setsuna plays her violin.

Our take:

Slapstick shenanigans reign in this episode right from the get-go. Notably, Towa’s ground-assisted Heimlich maneuver on Moroha. Whatever works, I guess!

There is just a touch more character development between Towa and Setsuna to balance out the goofiness. Their growing bond is once facilitated again by the struggle of another pair of siblings, and not even the grumpy twin can back flip away from it forever.

Despite being so close to the end of the season, plenty of mysteries still remain for this series. The fate of the cast from the original series (aka, the girls’ parents), the mystery of the rainbow pearls, and of course, whether Setsuna will ever regain her dreams and memories have all yet to be revealed. But the most pressing mystery, in my opinion, is how the hell is Towa keeping her suit so clean!? Is there some sort of feudal era laundry trick we need to know about?

I’ve seen a few critiques of this show’s episodes not making sense. Honestly, I kind of agree. Although I wouldn’t say it’s much worse than average for anime.

Obviously, it’d be great if every episode contained a solid amount of plot development (in addition to the humor and action, of course!) But unfortunately, most episodes of most anime are going to be at least a little bit of filler. It’s ultimately a matter of picking the filler you like.

I personally feel like newer series tend to be more guilty of this, and are far more likely to cram in a handful critical lines right at the end of a mostly dull episode (looking at you, The Irregular at Magic High School!)

This isn’t exactly the case for this episode. But I do have to admit that except for around three brief scenes between Towa and Setsuna about their slowly improving sibling bond, there’s not much else driving the plot forward. That said, if you, like me, are here for the action and sight gags, this week more than delivered. Oh, and Moroha’s “hoo yeah” during her and Towa’s victory high five was very Peggy Hill-esque (which is always a treat.)

Based on the preview for the upcoming episode, there’ll be some explanation about the rainbow pearls (if nothing else) here soon. It’s possible (dare I say, even likely?) there won’t be much of an elaborate or even satisfying reason for the existence of these Shikon jewel replacements, but that remains to be seen.