English Dub Review: Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon “Secret of the Rainbow Pearls”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

In a flashback, we’re informed of Kirinmaru’s plan to fight the Great Dog Demon at his full strength, only for their battle to end before it begins in a fire.

Lady Zero is so distraught she begins crying, and creates the Rainbow Pearls with her tears and the Shikon Jewel. Riku believes them to be lovely back then, and in the present day, vows to gather them back together.

Also in the present day, Setsuna issues a stricter than usual warning to Towa to stay put for the night, since it’s a new moon. Kaede comments that Towa looks like Rin with her black hair. She also reveals that Rin had gone missing 14 years ago.

Towa dreams about the Dream Butterfly, and wakes to see a vision of it in real life. Despite Setsuna’s warning, she follows the vision to the Tree of Ages, where Riku is waiting for her.

Our Take:

The overall moral of this episode is that Towa is a cheeseball.

While it’s still not super clear if she’s into Riku romantically, her willingness to gift him her silver pearl seems significant.

This episode is also one that seems to interfere with (or, I guess to put it generously, “build on”) the timeline original series.

Riku’s motivations still remain unclear. And his origin story is murkier than ever, despite the reveal that he used to work for Kirinmaru and Lady Zero.

Is he, like, a golem or something? He and Tōtetsu both refer to him being a “puppet”, and he even explains to Towa he’s simply an imitation of a living being.

My girl, bless her heart, is dumb, so she simply uses that moment to tell him to be himself, rather than asking “uh, wtf are you then?” So that’s either not important, or we’ll find out more soon.

Moroha is in full comic majesty, yelling “STAY DOWN, YA TURD” while finishing off Tōtetsu. He may have been a two-bit villian, but I’m sad to see him go, and without even an AMV set to “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd to memorialize him properly.

As per usual, there’s not a lot explained this episode. But overall it was entertaining, and I’m looking forward to mysteries about Lady Zero, Riku, and Rin in upcoming weeks.