English Dub Review: Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon “Princess Aiya’s Beniyasha Hunting”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Hisui, Rokuta, and Nanasuke have been summoned, presumably by the shogun.

However, when they’re told to raise their heads, they’re shocked to see the shogun’s daughter, Princess Aiya, was actually behind the request.

She explains she’s set up a contest, and should they win, they can work for her father.

Unfortunately, the contest is a fight against bounty hunters, including Moroha. They agree. Takechiyo hands off a note to Moroha from the demon slayers.

Later, Hisui recruits Setsuna to face Moroha directly, since she’s too strong for their group to handle otherwise. Setsuna agrees, so long as they keep the fight a secret from Towa.

The teams gather on the battle field in a fog. The bounty hunters have erected a “castle”, and introduce themselves with dramatic flair.

The demon slayers forego the flashy intros in favor of an airstrike. They sending bombs flying towards their opponents, causing the group to scatter.

Moroha finds herself surrounded by flames. Luckily, Towa swoops in on Kirara to save the day.

But the victory is short lived, as Setsuna confronts the two, and even threatens to take Towa down if necessary.

Princess Aiya is bored by the talking, but delighted when Setsuna and Moroha begin to fight.

Towa breaks things up again, but when Hisui swoops in to “finish the job” against Moroha, she stands up against her sister in order to protect her cousin. But her valiant efforts seem to be in vain when Moroha suffers a strike from Hisui’s hiraikotsu.

Princess Aiya is delighted that Moroha has been served her “just desserts”. In her excitement, she reveals that the offer for employment for the demon slayers was a lie she made up. Kohaku, who’s standing nearby, confirms his suspicions, and proceeds to tell the others.

Towa is distraught about Moroha’s apparent fate, and even more so that it was simply in the name of money. She’s still upset when everything is explained, but is ultimately relieved that her family members are ok.

Our Take:

Filler episode gonna filler episode.

I’m assuming this one in particular is meant to serve as the equivalent for what’s normally the “baseball episode.” But y’know, with a (semi-plausible) feudal era activity.

Tying Princess Aiya back to some of the very first episodes by making her the daughter of Ogigayatsu Hiiragi Danjo (the deputy shogun of Kanto who had captured Towa, leading to Setsuna and Moroha to rush in and free her, with Moroha splashing some mud on Aiya’s kimono in the process) seems roundabout and unecessary, but hopefully it means we’ll be seeing more of these characters in the future.

Princess Aiya, for her part, is a classic anime villainess: vain, haughty, and boasting a high pitched laugh (OHOHOHO!) So needless to say she’s plenty of fun, and doesn’t really need a tie-in to previous episodes. ESPECIALLY just to reveal her whole grudge that lead to setting this whole battle royale in motion was due to Moroha getting like a single drop of mud on her clothes. Just like, have her turn out to be a demonness or random spoiled noble, why the weird vendetta?

Despite the slightly odd writing, this episode holds its own. The art is decent, and I even feel like Kirara’s moment with Towa almost makes up for the disastrous depiction in “Trap of the Two Perils”. *Almost.*

Where this episode really shines is the comedy, and of course, voice acting. The bounty hunters, including Lady, Ninja, Granny, and The Muscle are all essentially feudal era WWE characters, and play their parts with maximum style. It’s a little bit unclear as to how “in” on the plan everyone participating is, but constructing a decently realistic fake castle just for a tournament is impressive, and Lady doesn’t hesitate to let everyone know! The Muscle also reminds me quite a bit of Kuwabara, although he supposedly shares more similarities with Rumiko Takahashi’s character “Mr. Invader”.

Jalen K. Cassell’s casting choices shine in their variety, from Lady’s operatic trills to Granny’s cronish wisecracks. And he even steps up to the mic himself as demon slayer Rokuta (who’s had a line here and there in previous episodes, but finally a full conversation in this one!)

Overall, this is certainly one of the sillier offerings from this series so far. But it’s nice to get a lighthearted break from half demon drama to enjoy some good, old-fashioned running from oil bombs. The drama will be back in full (er, half?) demon force next week anyways.