My Thoughts on "Yashahime" So Far

Note:

 

This was originally posted on DeviantART on Saturday March 26, 2022. I don't remember which date I actually wrote it because I don't have it saved in my Drafts app. I don't even remember I wrote beforehand on Drafts or if I wrote straight on DeviantART. That is something that I used to do, where instead of writing my reviews or articles on Drafts or Notes, I would write them directly on DeviantART as journals. Meaning that the original copies of some of them are only on DeviantART and no where else. So, this might be one of those, but I'm not sure. March 26, 2022 is kind of a long time ago, I don't really remember that much from that time. 

Anyway, why am I posting this? Because I need to post some anime content on this blog, since I've been just focusing on cartoons all this time. Plus, I didn't really feel like posting any of the other reviews or opinion journals that I've written in 2022 and 2023 that I have listed on my To-Do List, Devotion, Tenchi Muyo!, and Komi Can't Communicate. I will post those at some point, just not now. Right, I felt I posting my Yashahime review. I wrote a second one after I finished watching the second half of Season 1, because Viz Media split the seasons in two parts, so they released two separate Blu-Ray sets 💿 for each season. So, Season 1 got split into two and go released on two separate Blu-Ray sets 💿 and Season 2 got the same treatment. So, it's four Blu-Ray releases 💿 in total. I will post my review of the second half of Season 1, but I have to get this one out of the way first.

I may also post the Inuyasha reviews I wrote on and for DeviantART too, but I'm still not quite sure yet. I'll have to see how I feel after I post the reviews for Yashahime. I am currently on Season 2, but I'm waiting until I can buy and watch the second half of Season 2 to write a review for that season and the show as a whole. I don't want to do what I did with Season 1, and review the first half, and then wait to watch the second half, and then write a review of the second half. That's too much, and I won't have as much to say if I review each half of the season separately, than if I just review the season as a singular whole. 

I mean, they are supposed to seen and reviewed that way, but I can't do that because of the weird way Viz Media decided to review the two seasons of Yashahime. I do not understand why they chose to release the two seasons in two parts each. Why not just release the entirety of Season 1 on one Blu-Ray set 💿 and then the entirety of Season 2 on one Blu-Ray set 💿. It saves a lot more time and effort on the part of the manufacturers and it saves money 💵 for the consumer since they only have to buy two Blu-Ray sets 💿 for each season. 

I mean, that's pretty much the way that they released Inuyasha, even if all the Inuyasha Blu-Rays 💿 they released weren't listed or categorized by season. They categorized them by volumes, and they didn't delineate between the 4 seasons. The released the fifth season, The Final Act separately as its own thing years before they released any of the other seasons. In fact, The Final Act isn't even counted apart of the main series of Inuyasha. It's counted as a separate series since it came out years later after the main series of Inuyasha ended with the fourth season. 

But anyway, weird release methods aside, you're probably wondering what Yashahime even is since I've been talking it and Inuyasha throughout this whole note. I really didn't explain it that much in the review itself since I wrote it with the idea in mind that those reading it were already familiar with it and and knew what it was. But, I recognize that a lot of people probably have no idea what Yashahime even is because I'm willing to bet not a lot of people have seen it outside of the core Inuyasha fanbase.  

Basically, it's a sequel series, a spin-off to Inuyasha, a fantasy Shōjo and Shōnen anime based on a manga by a female mangka ♀︎ named Rumiko Takahashi (or Takahashi Rumiko if we were to use the Japanese naming convention 🇯🇵) that's set mainly in Feudal Japan 🇯🇵. I say it's both a Shōjo and Shōnen anime because the show (and the manga as well) appealed to both boys and girls ♂︎♀︎, any by extension men and women ♂︎♀︎. Boys and men ♂︎ liked it for the action and the fantasy elements, while girls and women ♀︎ liked it for the romance and shipping opportunities 🥰. 

Rumiko has written more overtly romance manga 🥰 that were just meant for girls and women ♀︎, some of which got adapted into anime, such as Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, and Mermaid Saga. But, this was one of the ones she wrote that was appealing to males and females ♂︎♀︎. Another one of them was Ranma ½, which particularly gained a bit of a cult following with the LGBT community 🏳️‍🌈, particularly the transgender community 🏳️‍⚧️ because of its premise and themes about a guy ♂︎ turning into a girl ♀︎ and grappling with his gender identity since he has the magical ability to switch from being a boy ♂︎ to being a girl ♀︎. 

Which is kind of a bit more of a curse since he didn't choose to have that ability, it was forced upon him, and it only happens under certain conditions. He only turns into a girl ♀︎ when he gets wet 💦. Like, if he takes a bath or a shower 🚿🛁 or if he's in the rain 🌧️, or he gets water 💦 splashed on him, then he'll turn into his female alter-ego ♀︎. Then, there's Rin-Me, which seems to be like Ranma ½ but without the genderbending elements. It even features a redheaded male lead ♂︎ just like Ranma ½ does. Maybe, it's a sequel or spin-off to Ranma ½, I don't know.

Inuyasha was basically about this girl ♀︎ from the modern day named Kagome who ends up getting sent back in time to the Feudal era of Japan 🇯🇵, where she ends up getting caught up in this conflict between humans and demons. She meets up with a male half-demon ♂︎ named Inuyasha (which is where the title comes from), and the two of them go on a journey to find the missing pieces of this mystical item called the Shikon Jewel which increases the power of demons and half-demons and grants power to humans. 

She also learns of her own special heritage as she is the reincarnation of a priestess named Kikyo, who was the protector of the Shikon Jewel and was in love with Inuyasha 😍, until one day, he tried to steal the Shikon Jewel, and laid waste to her village in the process. Of course, later on in the show, we learn this whole situation was misunderstanding, that Inuyasha and Kikyo were set-up by the main villain, Naraku to hate each other and kill each other. But, at the beginning of the show, we don't know that, and we're just lead to assume that Inuyasha went bad, or was always bad, and had double-crossed Kikyo to get to the Shikon Jewel. 

So, she shots with one of her arrows, which she imbued with her own purification aura, and can purify demons or remove demon auras. Inuyasha gets pinned to the Tree of Ages 🌳, and is placed in a state of suspended animation essentially for decades in the Feudal era, and centuries in real time. But, Kikyo is fatally injured during the altercation. I don't remember it was something that Inuyasha did her or if was something Naraku to her. Either way, Kikyo succumbs to her wounds, and dies with the Shikon Jewel in her possession. That's how she gets reincarnated as Kagome, and why Kagome has the Shikon Jewel inside of her at the beginning of the show. 

But, despite her being the reincarnation of Kikyo, Kikyo does come back in the show, and becomes a recurring character, when she's brought back to life by this witch, who wanted to use her for something, I don't remember what exactly. Whatever the reason, Kikyo's brought back with an artificial body made of soil, bone, and clay, and is basically an undead apparition. She isn't really alive per se, and she can only sustain her body by stealing souls from others. If she doesn't consume souls, then her body wither away, and she'll die again, being sent back to the afterlife. But, don't worry, she only steals souls from people who are already dead, mostly dead women ♀︎ since she's a woman ♀︎. 

Anyway, being that she is a reincarnation of Kikyo, Kagome has all of her abilities and more, as she can purify demons, and remove demon auras using her sacred arrows, which are just regular arrows that she imbued with her purification powers, her pure aura. This makes her an invaluable member of the team, as these abilities make her pretty much invulnerable to most demon attacks, and demon corruption. Demons that wish to do her harm, or corrupt her have to try extra hard to do so. Speaking of the team….

Along the way, they befriend a couple of other warriors such as a female demon slayer ♀︎ named Sango and a male monk ♂︎ named Miroku, and a mischievous and cowardly fox demon named Shippō, who's only a young child. He joins the team after they find him on their journey, and help him avenge the death of his father. Together, they must collect the pieces of the Shikon Jewel before an evil half-demon named Naraku and his minions find them and reassemble the Shikon Jewel and corrupt it with his evil essence. But, they face off against other villains and gain other allies along the way too, like Inuyasha's older full demon brother, Sesshomaru and his vassal, Jaken, who is also a demon. 

Now, despite the fact that they're called demons, they aren't actually demons, not in the typical Western sense. They're actually yōkai, which are different from demons, or oni as they're referred to in Japanese folklore 🇯🇵. They changed the name to demons in the English dub because Westerners really don't understand a yōkai even is, and they're not particularly easy to explain since it's such a broad term that encompasses a wide range of different mythological creatures and figures. Not even the Japanese 🇯🇵 themselves can clearly define a yōkai and what it is and what it isn't, at least, not in a way that I find satisfying. 

So, they used a word that most Westerners would understand a lot better, which in this case, was demon. Everyone knows what a demon is, even if they're not particularly religious. I think even the subbed version of the show with the Japanese audio uses the word "demon" instead of "yōkai" for similar reasons. Some concepts just don't translate that well across cultures, and yōkai is one of those (kind of). I'm sure for a lot of people, Yo-kai Watch was their first introduction to the idea of yōkai, even though they were technically first introduced to yōkai in Inuyasha, even if they weren't actually called yōkai.

Anyway, Yashahime is essentially a sequel to that show, Inuyasha. It's set years after that show ended, and it's focused on the children of the main characters. Towa and Setsuna are the twin daughters of Sesshomaru and Rin, a girl ♀︎ that he met and befriended as a child (the girl ♀︎ was a child, not him) during the events of Inuyasha, and Moroha is the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome, who decided to stay in the Feudal era to be with Inuyasha and become a priestess at the end of the original series, leaving her old modern life behind. Which makes Moroha the first quarter-demon in the franchise, as far as I know. Together, Towa, Setsuna, Moroha set off on a journey of their own to find their lost parents, who went missing years ago after each of them were born. 

The three of them got separated from their parents at a young age, and the whole show is about them trying to find their parents, while also trying to stop a new villain, Kirinmaru and his sister, Zero, who are both echoes of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's dad's past. Well, technically, Towa and Setsuna already know where they're parents are since their mom, Rin is being held in suspended animation inside the Tree of Ages 🌳 (the mystical tree 🌳 that allows people of specific bloodlines 🩸 to travel to and from the Feudal era and the present day) because Zero put a curse on her (spoiler alert ⚠️), and their father, Sesshomaru is roaming the countryside with his loyal vassal, Jaken, and he intervenes once in a while to help them out. 

Because that's what parents do, they help out their kids when they really need it…most of the time. If they're good parents, they'll do that, but if they're bad parents, they won't do that, and Sesshomaru is a good parent, even if he is distant and somewhat estranged from his kids, estranged on purpose. He keeps his distance from his daughters, just like his father kept his distance from him growing up. A very hands off approach to parenting. Sesshomaru started off as a villain in Inuyasha, but then slowly but surely evolved into more of an antihero as the show went on. And in this show, Yashahime, he's pretty much a hero. A hero of few words, but still a hero nonetheless. Any darkness or edge that he had in the previous series is pretty much gone in Yashahime.

While on their adventure, Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha meet plenty of other characters. Some are returning characters from Inuyasha, while others are new characters created specifically for this show, and also the manga since this show has a manga too. I actually don't know which came first, the manga or the anime. I have a feeling the anime came first, and then they turned it into a manga because I don't remember hearing about the manga. I just remembering hearing about the anime, and I just figured that they made a sequel to the Inuyasha anime without adapting any sort of preexisting source material. 

Like, there was no Yashahime manga to adapt, so they just made the anime because the Inuyasha anime was popular, and they wanted to bring it back by making a legacy sequel to it. And then, Yashahime was so popular (at least in Japan 🇯🇵), they decided to make a tie-in manga for it. That's what I'm thinking, but I could easily be mistaken. Or it could be that they made the manga to promote the Yashahime anime before the anime really came out, and then, when the anime premiered and wasn't as much of smashing success as they had hoped, they were just stuck with this manga tie-in. If you know which came first, the manga or the anime, please me know in the comments. 

Whatever the case, Yashahime features new characters as well as old characters that Inuyasha fans know and love. A lot of the new characters in the show are children of some of the old characters from Inuyasha like Miroku and Sango's children. They have a son named Hisui and two twin daughters named Kin'u and Gyokuto. But, some of the new characters are completely new characters, who have no familial ties to the ones from Inuyasha such is the case with Takechiyo, who is technically a feudal lord himself. 

He's a tanuki (raccoon dog) and is the lord of a clan of tanuki called the Mamidara clan. But, he sort of relinquished his claim to the throne so to speak, and handed the reigns to his younger brother, Kikunosuke, who is the de facto lord of the Mamidara clan since his older brother, Takechiyo wanted to continue being a bounty hunter. They dedicated five episodes to that plot line. It was the C plot in five episodes in the second half of Season 2, and it really didn't amount to much. To put it simply, Yashahime is basically like every next generation fan fiction come to life. It's basically Inuyasha next gen fan fiction made real.

Now, when Yashahime first premiered back in 2020, it was a bit controversial. It was controversial because of the pairing of Sesshomaru and Rin, who, again, was a child in the original. People thought it was a bit creepy and uncomfortable that these two characters would hook up when one of them was a child when they first met each other, even though they're both adults in this show, the age gap is still tremendous. Sesshomaru is thousands of years old, while Rin is 18 years old. Yes, 18 is the legal age of consent, you considered an adult at 18, but people these days still find it "questionable" or uncomfortable when an 18 year old hooks up with someone who's decades older than them, like in their 30s or 40s. 

Now, is Sesshomaru and Rin's relationship a bit weird? No. The only thing that made it kind of weird is the fact that they became a romantic couple 🥰 and had kids. When they were just friends and travel companions, it wasn't weird. Sesshomaru was kind of like a surrogate father to Rin, he was her guardian, and then in-between Inuyasha and Yashahime, he became her lover 😍? That's the only part that I would agree is kind of weird that Sesshomaru went from being Rin's guardian and protector, to being her lover 🥰 and she ended up having his babies. That's such a weird and uncomfortable shift in that relationship that would be weird even if they were same age and there was no significant age gap.

Give the man ♂︎ credit though, at least he waited until she was an adult to have a kid with her, two kids rather. And at least, he waited until she was 18 and not 16 or 17. Some girls ♀︎ back in the Feudal era of Japan 🇯🇵 got married and had kids when they were 15, 16, and 17 years old, when they would still be legally minors in our time. So, this sort of thing was common during those days, and I think that's what the writers were trying to convey that this was a different time, and they don't necessarily operate or think the same way we do. 

But, they made it a little bit more palatable by having Rin be 18, the legal age of consent in most countries in the world, including Japan 🇯🇵. The age of consent in Japan 🇯🇵 is 18, not 15 like some people have tried to say. I think it used to be, but they raised it to 18 since 18 is the standard for most of the world. Besides, even before they raised the age of consent to 18, it was still illegal for you get with someone younger than that. Like, if you were a foreigner and you came to Japan 🇯🇵, you couldn't just get with a 15 year old or a 16 year old and have sexual relations with them, no. That was still illegal and bad. Sex tourism was still outlawed in Japan 🇯🇵 even before the age of consent was officially bumped up to 18. 

So, is the relationship between Sesshomaru and Rin as bad as people have made it out to be? I would say, for the most part, no, but I can't see why people would be uncomfortable with that relationship, especially with our society view relationships where there's a significant age gap, even if both partners in that relationships are adults. People of my generation are making relationships with age gaps kind of taboo. Like, they don't like relationships between 18 year olds and 25 year olds or 20 year olds and 40 years olds or 30 year olds and 60 year olds, yada yada. 

I personally don't see an issue with relationship with significant age gaps, so long as both partners are legal adults and neither one is a minor. I mean, my grandparents had a significant age gap between them, and they're relationship was pretty healthy and lasted 40+ years. If I had a problem with relationships with age gaps, but was okay with my grandparents' relationships, I would be a hypocrite. 

Speaking of inappropriate or controversial things, I edited this reviews slightly. I mean, I always edit them to remove typos and mistakes or add words I forgot to add, or add new sections and paragraphs. Well, this time, I'm removing stuff because I mentioned a let's just say NSFW website, and I talked in length about a certain character having NSFW content made of her and me liking it. I'm removing these parts because I don't want this review to get flagged. My Armageddon ☄️ review got flagged because I also mentioned an NSFW website by name and I used the P word (I think you can guess which one given what NSFW means) in the note, and I edit that part out just to get the age restriction lifted. So, I'm trying real hard to avoid that happening. I'm already kind of pushing by talking about ages of consent and age gaps in relationships.

But, it's not a big deal for me to remove these parts from the review because I'm not particularly proud of them anyway. I'm glad these parts are out because I was kind of embarrassed that I wrote them. It made me feel dirty after writing them, even if I wasn't saying anything particularly bad. Yes, I was saying that I like NSFW content, and I liked NSFW content of this character, but I was also saying that I only liked it if the character was aged up 18 years or older. 

The point I was trying to make was that I only like NSFW content if the characters being portrayed are 18 years or older, and I always try to make sure that the artist who drew the art does draw characters that are 18 years or older, and that they aren't drawing anything illegal. And if they do happen to draw a character's underage in the source material, in the original movie or show the artwork is based on, then they age them up to be 18 years or older rather than keeping them the same age or appearing the same age and still drawing them that way. 

Sometimes, NSFW art doesn't quite reach those standards, and I try to avoid the ones that don't or the ones that blatantly break the law. Even though I'm not sure how such illegal art would end up on those sites since those sites are legally obligated to make sure the illegal stuff doesn't end up on there. And if it does, then that means they aren't doing their job that well. I didn't convey that point as eloquently as I might've wished and I kind of went too far when talking about that character, and it distracted from the review, and I didn't want people think any sort of way about me, or assume that I'm a bad guy and I'm up to no good or something. Even in my follow-up review, I kind of overcorrected by talking about what I said and making a big deal about it, and it made me kind of look worse. Talking about NSFW content doesn't do me any favors, it makes me look bad and it makes me feel bad afterwards, and I'm better off just avoiding that topic whenever possible. 

So, I'm glad to have that part removed, and I will also remove any and all references to that part in the second review I wrote for Yashahime. But, besides that more uncomfortable stuff, I also included a bonus review of another anime that I had seen at the same time, Akudama Drive. I bought that anime before I bought the part 1 Blu-Ray 💿 of Yashahime, and I absolutely hated it. I say it all in that review, so I won't reiterate what I said. I wrote a follow-up to that review, I might consider posting on here, perhaps even right after I post this review. Speaking of which, same goes for my review of Yashahime itself. I won't say anymore about the show that I haven't already said in the review itself, and make the review redundant. So, I'll just let you read the review now.

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(This is the wallpaper for Yashahime, specifically, Yashahime Season 1.) 

 

Well, just as I promised, I'm going to tell you what I think of Yashahime...so far. I bought the first half of the first season on Blu-Ray because Viz Media decided to release it like that. I don't know why split the first season into two parts. Why not just release the full first season in one Blu-Ray? I mean, it's not like the first season is still on going. The first season is complete, and the show's on its second season, so why not just release the whole thing instead of doing this stupid thing of releasing it in two parts?

Especially since they have a special edition Blu-Ray that comes with a booklet, a poster, a postcard, and a slick case, and that costs close to $70.00 (which is the one that I bought)? Why not release the full season for that, and just release the two parts for the regular Blu-Ray? I don't know, it's weird. But, enough about Viz Media's weird Blu-Ray releasing methods, let me talk about the show itself.

So, I only have the first part of the first season which means I only got a 12 episode sample of this show. Which is a good enough sample size for you to see if you like the show or not. And I definitely do like it, I think it's pretty good. I was a bit hesitant to watch it because I liked Inuyasha so much, and I was worried that this show would tarnish Inuyasha, or at least, hurt my enjoyment of it or my perception of it I guess.

Plus, I wasn't fully on board with the whole next generations thing having the show focus on the children of the characters from Inuyasha. They did the same thing with Naruto, with Boruto, where it's focused on Naruto's son, Boruto. I've never seen Naruto or Boruto, and I don't intend to because I have no interest in either. But, the next generations in that turned me off. I know I did some My Little Pony next generations stuff when I was into My Little Pony and I was involved in the fandom, but I've grown past that and I'm no longer a Brony and I probably wouldn't do any of that again.

But anyway, this show's a little different from Boruto because Boruto was actually based on a manga. It started out as a manga in 2016, and then it became an anime the next year, 2017, and the anime and manga are running at the same time. Yashahime is only based on the Inuyasha anime, and is only a sequel to the Inuyasha anime. It is not based on manga series, it is just an anime series, and even now, there is no manga series to go along with it as far as I know. If I'm wrong on that, let me know.

I also wasn't completely sold on the things they added or changed within the lore form Inuyasha or the new main villain, Kirinmaru. But, after finally watching it, I can safely say that all my concerns have been laid to rest. I'm still not completely sold on Kirinmaru as the main villain for this show. He still seems like a significant downgrade from Naraku to me. But, I'll see if my view on Kirinmaru changes once I see more of him once I'm able to see the rest of the season, when Viz Media released part 2 to season 1.

I do like the three main protagonists so far, Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha. They're all pretty enjoyable for the most part, Towa's a bit too pacifist and naïve for my liking, especially considering the era that she's in, but I like her, she's cool. She's bit more feisty and tough than I thought she would be. I thought she would be some whiny character who was weak and always needed help, and just completely useless without her travel companion. I guess, what I was expecting her to be was the female version of Shinji from Evangelion. But, luckily she isn't that.

I don't have much to say about Setsuna, other than out of the two of them, her and Towa, she is definitely the most like their father, Sesshomaru. And I like Sesshomaru, he was my favorite character in Inuyasha, so I like Setsuna as well since she almost exactly like him. She definitely balances out Towa and Moroha.

Speaking of which, I even like Moroha, who was a character that I wasn't sure if I was going to like from what little I saw of her. I thought she was going to be annoying, but no, she isn't. She's actually pretty cool, and fun. She definitely lightens the mood, and brings some levity and personality to the trio.

I don't really understand the whole Benniyasha thing, why does she actually become a different person or it is just name or persona she adopts when she wants to busy? If it's the former, how and why does she become a different person just she puts on red lipstick 💋, not even on both of her lips, just her bottom lip? Does that rainbow pearl give the red lipstick 💋 special properties that changes Moroha into a more powerful version of herself? That's the only thing I can think of. But, why use a different name after using the magic lipstick 💋?

 

I don't know, it's weird, but what about the other characters in the show? I think they're all pretty good for the most part. I really like that little squirrel guy, I forget his name, but he always tags along with the three girls when they go out hunting demons or doing some other task, to watch Moroha to make sure she collects the bounty and pays up. She's a bounty hunter, and she owes this one guy with a beard a lot of debt, and is trying to pay him back, and the squirrel guy is there to keep an eye on her and make sure does the job right.

There are few returning characters from the show, like Kohaku, Kaede, Myoga, and Kirara, it's nice to see them, but they don't get a lot of focus or screen time. Most of the show remains focused on the new characters, instead of the old, which is probably for the best. I mean, the show's called Yashahime, not Inuyasha.

Speaking of which, I still don't know what the title means, like who is Yashahime? Is it Towa? Setsuna? Moroha? Is it all three of them? Or is it a character that we have yet to see in the show? Or is it not actually a name and is just a title that's bestowed upon someone? I do not know. I'm guessing it's probably Towa since she's by far the main character in this entire show. She's the first new character we see, we focus way more on her than the other two girls. Characters keep referring to her as a princess. Plus, the first show's title was a character's name, Inuyasha's. So, if anyone's going to be Yashahime, the Half-Demon Princess, it'll probably be Towa.

There's some other unanswered questions, like what happened to Inuyasha and Kagome? Where are they? Where is Shippo during all this? Is he an adult or he still the same age he was in Inuyasha and does he still look the same? And where did Miroku and Sango disappear off to? I'm guessing that last question will be answered in the next episode after the one I just watched a few days ago, but still, why did they disappear? They have kids, and it appears that Kohaku was the one who raised them to adolescence.

Why would they dump their own kids onto Kohaku, just so they can go fuck off and go on some nomadic journey? What kind of sister is Sango? Was she like, "Hey, little brother, can you raise my kids for me? I'm going to go with my husband, Miroku on some crazy nomadic monk journey and I probably won't see you for a very long time. Thanks a lot, bye! 😁?"

But other than that, I'm enjoying the show so far. I will definitely keep watching from here on out, as long as Viz Media keeps releasing Blu-Rays for all the seasons. I'm going to support physical media as long as I can possibly can. I will not let streaming completely kill off Blu-Rays or physical media or any kind. We need to keep things physical, not always digital all the time. Digital is good, but not all the time, and not for everything.

Oh, and one more thing: Why isn't the intro song, "New Era" by the SixTONES available on iTunes or Apple Music? This is a new J-Pop song that came out in 2020, that is an intro song for a new popular anime show that also came out in 2020, and is a sequel to another popular anime show that came out in the 2000s, and is apart of a really popular multimedia franchise comprised of manga, anime shows, anime movies, video games, and even audio-only CD dramas, not to mention lots of merchandise. It should be available, and it's pretty outrageous that it isn't out on iTunes. I would download that puppy in a heartbeat 🫀.

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Note: 

 

(This is the poster or cover art for Akudama Drive.) 

 

 

I didn't mention this before, but before I watched Yashahime, I actually watched another anime series, or at least, I tried to, Akudama Drive. I bought Akudama Drive at Best Buy two or three days before I bought Yashahime, and it was initially a toss up between the two. I chose Akudama Drive first because it was cheaper than Yashahime, it only like 40 something bucks, whereas Yashahime as I said was $69.99, almost close to 70 bucks. And after I watched Akudama Drive, I can safely say that I regretted that purchase 😒. The show downright sucks, one of the worst anime shows I've ever seen. It's only a 12 episode series, but I didn't even get through and make it to the 12th episode, that's how bad it was.

 

I hated all of the characters, I wanted them all to die, and they didn't (most of the time). Every time you think a character might die, that fucking doctor lady swoops in and brings them back to life with her magic stitching abilities that she even uses on herself! Like literally, this doctor lady literally gets cut in half, and by the next scene, she's perfectly fine, she just stitched her two halves back together. The same thing happened to another character, Cutthroat, the crazy white-haired serial killer who looks and sounds like Kaworu, and has a creepy and annoying infatuation 😍 with the female protagonist of series, who's name I forgot.

I don't remember all of the characters' names because I hate the characters so much and they're not worth remembering. He gets cuts in half too, or he gets decapitated, and the doctor lady somehow brings him back to life just by literally stitching his head or his body parts back together. I know, this is an anime, and a crazy, weird sci-fi cyberpunk world, but that shit just completely destroys my suspension of belief, like that's going way too far for me. It takes away the tension and danger, because none of the Akudama crew can die, they can all be saved and bailed out by the doctor lady who's OP for no reason.

On top of that, the story sucked, like I was not engaged with it at all. It so clichéd, like there's really nothing new, like I've seen all this before in other, better anime shows and movies. I mean, it's one thing for an anime to have unoriginal, clichéd plot that we've all seen before, if they did something new with it, and added some nice twists and turns, or at least something unique.

But this show doesn't do that, there's nothing unique or special about this show. And the little unique things they do in this show are not very good, and are infuriating or don't make any sense. As soon as they got done with the train heist 🚅, and they found out who the talking robot cat 🐈 was, I was done, like I was done! I didn't want to watch the show anymore after that, so I just took it out of my PS4 and put it back in the case.

I tried to return it to Best Buy to get a refund, but I don't have the receipt, my grandma lost it, she doesn't know what she did with it. I still bought Yashahime, but since I couldn't return Akudama Drive, I didn't get my $40 back and now I'm stuck with it; at least until we can find the receipt. But, Yashahime is way better than Akudama Drive no question about that, go watch Yashahime instead of wasting your money and time with Akudama Drive 💵⏰.

I didn't even really have any expectations for this show either. Like with Cannon Busters, I only learned about this show from an Amazon ad that I got in my email, and I thought it kind of looked interesting. It was a futuristic, sci-fi cyberpunk show, and I like sci-fi and I like cyberpunk so I thought that I would give a shot. But, even with little-to-no expectations, I was still disappointed with what I saw 😑. 

 

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Link to Follow-Up post on Akudama Drive: 

 

https://jedithescribe.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-could-make-akudama-drive-better.html

 

 

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Link to "Further Thoughts on Yashahime": 

 

https://jedithescribe.blogspot.com/2024/04/my-further-thoughts-on-yashahime.html