The Inuyasha Anime Doesn’t Need A Sequel
Yashahime is the sequel to Inuyasha. Though it had lofty goals to focus on the children of beloved characters from the original, it fell flat. The series tried to capitalize on Inuyasha’s success, but with various plot holes, inconsistency in animation, and info-dumping at the end of seasons, it would have been better had it not been made.
After The End Of Inuyasha
Yashahime is set somewhere around 18 years after the end of Inuyasha. The series follows the story of Sesshomaru’s twin daughters, Towa and Setsuna. Towa and Setsuna got separated when they were young. One was sent to the past and one to the future.
However, when Towa ends up back in the past, she meets up with her sister, only to realize she doesn’t remember her life or sister at all. The twins search for the memory thief, the Dream Butterfly, and meet up with their cousin, Moroha, the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome. Unfortunately, the girl doesn’t know much about her parents at all and is on a mission to figure out what happened to them.
Though throughout the series, you get to learn bits and pieces of the original Inuyasha characters, the story is heavily focused on the three girls as they try to find answers and recover their memories.
Yashahime Tried To Clear An Impossibly High Bar
It’s always hard to make a sequel. There were a lot of high expectations that the creators had to live up to. With the manga artist who originally wrote Inuyasha not involved in Yashahime, fans had set the bar rather high.
Unfortunately, Yashahime didn’t live up to the original, even when keeping expectations in check. Besides the fact that Inuyasha was a great show that wrapped up well and didn’t need a sequel by any means, there’s also the fact that the continuation was done poorly.
Uneven Animation Holds The Series Back
Animation alone is a major problem. While the style was meant to be modern, with nods to Inuyasha’s more classic style, it fell down on both counts. Some areas have incredible detail and movement; however, other areas, like the talking animation, are weakly done. With some well-done animation in some areas, the weaker animation stands out more.
Relies On Exposition Dumps
The plot often loses its place as well. Inuyasha had its fair share of fillers, but the story mostly progressed reasonably and made sense. Yashahime, on the other hand, has a lot going on at once, making the story bounce around. Additionally, many plot lines aren’t followed for a while or ignored completely until later, when all the information is dumped on the viewers at once.
Not Always Worth It To Continue The Story
Between Yashahime and Boruto, a sequel to Naruto, there seems to be a trend of taking beloved classics and trying to continue the story after the original ended. Unfortunately, for both of these shows, all it’s done is prove that it’s not easy to try and continue a beloved story years later, especially with the children of beloved characters. It’s best to leave the originals to themselves.
Inuyasha has a score of 7.86 on My Anime List and a popularity ranking of #238. However, Yashahime only has a score of 6.71 and a popularity ranking of #1797. If you want to see Inuyasha’s sequel for yourself, Yashahime is available to watch on Hulu.
