C&C - Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon - "Inuyasha: Since Then" (SERIES PREMIERE) [6/26]

[Nobodyman]

So is this their idea of a double date?

It's a Malboro!

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Yeah, we don't do jewels anymore. Not after that whole Naraku debacle.

Most people just do dinner and a movie on date night.

YES! There's a "sit boy"! I was waiting for that.

"You know, this makes me geel a bit nostalgic right now."
Join the club.

 

[Space Cadet]

There's that "sit boy!" catchphrase that we know and love!

 

[Nobodyman]

No shikon jewel, but Inuyasha still has his "sit" necklace.

"This makes me feel a bit nostalgic somehow"
You don't say.

Towa, Setsun, and Moroha. It looks like these are our heroes.

Girl power!

Okay, maybe next week we can spend some time developing the actual main characters.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

So they brought her along to give them a spoiler alert?

These must be the new girls.

Damn, this franchise has good taste in credit sequence music.

 

[Space Cadet]

The ending song("Break" by Uru) is excellent.

 

[WickedChild]

So I see I wasn't going crazy when Miroku shows up later on and is clearly NOT voiced by Kirby Morrow, when I was positive it was him in this first episode. So sorry to hear about what happened to him.

Also, I'm almost positive David Kaye is back (on loan from John Oliver I guess) as Sesshomaru, which I was delighted to hear.

 

[Grenzer]

So I see I wasn't going crazy when Miroku shows up later on and is clearly NOT voiced by Kirby Morrow, when I was positive it was him in this first episode. So sorry to hear about what happened to him.

Also, I'm almost positive David Kaye is back (on loan from John Oliver I guess) as Sesshomaru, which I was delighted to hear.

Yup, it was Kaye. He returned to the role after a near fifteen year absence.

 

[PicardMan]

Okay, bear in mind that this sequel is actually for a different audience than the original in mind. The original was a shonen with a mostly female following (at least in America), The creators of this show state that they are actually are trying to aim it at little girls. In America, it seems to be aimed at 30ish year old nostalgic women (hence some forced s bombs in a little girl's show). A great deal of the disappointment, anger, and backlash of anime fans is because the nostalgic adult crowd has higher expectations for the show, rather than the lightweight, little girl show we actually got. It seems fans who know the intent of the series are more forgiving. As for if the "it's for kids" excuse justifies the writing decisions, we'll have to wait and see. Considering this episode was a nostalgic OG Inuyasha throwback, this episode is not much like the actual rest of the show at all. Let's see how people react to the real premiere next week.

 

[Nobodyman]

The creators of this show state that they are actually are trying to aim it at little girls.

Which is why this episode had graphic scenes of people being decapitated and reduced to a pile of bones.

 

[PicardMan]

Which is why this episode had graphic scenes of people being decapitated and reduced to a pile of bones.

That's Japan for you. Where violence in children's cartoons is perfectly okay. At least there's very little blood in this series. We see how so many Japanese children's cartoons are banished to Adult Swim and don't get to be shown on American children's television.

About the names over the characters thing. If you thought that MHA was bad about that, this show is even more egregious. I guess Japanese television producers think kids are really dumb or something.

 

[Mr. Anime]

The real big problem that Yashahime has is the thing that lots of people criticized Inuyasha back in the day for. The plot never seems to advance at all. Remember how the Inuyasha-Kagome-Kikyo love triangle never seemed to resolve or Naraku just wouldn't die? Yashahime has that problem in spades and even worse because it doesn't even have a manga it needs to stay behind.

 

[Space Cadet]

That's Japan for you. Where violence in children's cartoons is perfectly okay. At least there's very little blood in this series. We see how so many Japanese children's cartoons are banished to Adult Swim and don't get to be shown on American children's television.

About the names over the characters thing. If you thought that MHA was bad about that, this show is even more egregious. I guess Japanese television producers think kids are really dumb or something.

My favorite recent culture difference thing between Japan and America is in America, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is rated R while the movie got a McDonalds Happy Meal tie-in in Japan.

 

[WickedChild]

Okay, bear in mind that this sequel is actually for a different audience than the original in mind. The original was a shonen with a mostly female following (at least in America), The creators of this show state that they are actually are trying to aim it at little girls. In America, it seems to be aimed at 30ish year old nostalgic women (hence some forced s bombs in a little girl's show). A great deal of the disappointment, anger, and backlash of anime fans is because the nostalgic adult crowd has higher expectations for the show, rather than the lightweight, little girl show we actually got. It seems fans who know the intent of the series are more forgiving. As for if the "it's for kids" excuse justifies the writing decisions, we'll have to wait and see. Considering this episode was a nostalgic OG Inuyasha throwback, this episode is not much like the actual rest of the show at all. Let's see how people react to the real premiere next week.

Yeah, I don't buy that. The level of action and violence in this show is roughly the same as before. The demons are about as menacing as before. There is less fanservice, but there wasn't a ton in the old show to begin with. But the main reason I don't buy the "for little girls" classification is that there is zero romance in this show. Like, not even a tiny hint of it. I mean that's the reason the old show was popular with girls in the US right? That's the most shocking thing to me about a follow-up to Inuyasha. If anything it feels like it's more tailored towards boys than the old show for this reason.

It's also in a way my real problem with the show - the chemistry between the 3 leads is a flatline. I actually think they are each individually interesting characters and generally well written, but as a group there's just none of the humor, personality, drama, conflict etc between them that we are accustomed to with Inuyasha/Kagome/Miroku/Sango/Koga/et al. Bottom line, I just don't have fun watching them interact. And I don't even think you HAVE TO have a romance/love triangle to achieve that, but it sure wouldn't hurt!

And BTW yes, I have seen the whole season, and the idea that the show fails because it's somehow dumbed-down or kiddie-fied from what the old show was is a load of baloney. That's dumb, typically inarticulate fanboy nerd-rage, probably born out of the fact that we get very little of the old characters or cheap fanservice-y callbacks throughout the season. That's something I should warn new viewers about up front - this first episode is misleading because it makes you think the old cast is gonna have a major role, but they very much don't. A little more towards the end but still very much not for the bulk of the screentime.

 

[marklungo]

The level of action and violence in this show is roughly the same as before.

Then why does the promo say TV-MA, a rating the original show never got IIRC? Either it's a mistake or there's at least one episode with a content level above the original series.

Anyway, I like what little we've seen of the new characters so far, but I know we've got a lot more to learn about them. Looking forward to future episodes despite all the criticisms.

 

[PicardMan]

Okay, I've been looking around and trying to find where I found the claim that Yashahime was aimed at a young female audience and it's the reliable, no citation required source known as TVTropes, even attributing this factoid to Rumiko Takahaki, who has little actual creative involvement and using the fact that it is aimed at Pokemon as evidence. There are some violent scenes in Yashahime, but I don't remember as much blood so this claim seemed plausible. I always found the "it's for little girls" something the defenders say rather than detractors. Maybe the inevitable Yashahime manga will prove if it's aimed at a male or female audience.

 

[Nobodyman]

The real big problem that Yashahime has is the thing that lots of people criticized Inuyasha back in the day for. The plot never seems to advance at all. Remember how the Inuyasha-Kagome-Kikyo love triangle never seemed to resolve or Naraku just wouldn't die? Yashahime has that problem in spades and even worse because it doesn't even have a manga it needs to stay behind.

At least this show isn't 200 episodes long.

My favorite recent culture difference thing between Japan and America is in America, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is rated R while the movie got a McDonalds Happy Meal tie-in in Japan.

Well, it's not like we've never tried to market R-rated movies to kids before.

 

[WickedChild]

Then why does the promo say TV-MA, a rating the original show never got IIRC? Either it's a mistake or there's at least one episode with a content level above the original series.

It's either a mistake or it's stupid. I've seen the full season and nothing remotely MA happens. I wouldn't say anything remotely MA happens in Inuyashsa either. Then again, Adult Swim's S&P seems to have the pearl-clutching sensibility of the Parents Television Council when it comes to content rating.

Okay, I've been looking around and trying to find where I found the claim that Yashahime was aimed at a young female audience and it's the reliable, no citation required source known as TVTropes, even attributing this factoid to Rumiko Takahaki, who has little actual creative involvement and using the fact that it is aimed at Pokemon as evidence. There are some violent scenes in Yashahime, but I don't remember as much blood so this claim seemed plausible. I always found the "it's for little girls" something the defenders say rather than detractors. Maybe the inevitable Yashahime manga will prove if it's aimed at a male or female audience.

Well whoever's saying it, it's not true. It seems like the classic case of fan nerds elevating the "seriousness" of the old thing they love in their mind in order to feel better about themselves for obsessing over a children's cartoon. Inuyasha is a children's cartoon, so is Yashahime. It's not like there's a lot of blood in Inuyasha (and when there is it's usually demon's blood, don't know how much that matters). But there's plenty of limb-slicing, live-burning, and even a bit of sex slavery in Yashahime, just like in the old show.

That said, while the lack of Rumiko's involvement doesn't mean anything insofar as the the level of violence/graphic content, it would actually go a long way in explaining my real complaint, i.e. lack of character dynamic. That's usually her biggest strength in most of her stories. You'll never be bored with a real Rumiko cast, though you probably will be with this.

At least this show isn't 200 episodes long.

Well, it's not like we've never tried to market R-rated movies to kids before.

HA - good catch there. Though I feel bad that I have to mention that commercial is from 1993, thus probably promoting the PG-13 rated Robocop 3 that came out that year.

And as soon as I finish typing that I find this:

 

[SpaceCowboy]

This first episode was like watching an epilogue to an epilogue of the Final Act series. I guess after the first two series, I've gotten burned out on Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, et al. Their story is closed. This show would have been more engaging if it was just the three new leads from the get-go. Then again, two of them seem just like clones of Inuyasha and Seshomaru. Hmmm.

My favorite recent culture difference thing between Japan and America is in America, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is rated R while the movie got a McDonalds Happy Meal tie-in in Japan.

In Japan, Seth MacFarlane's Ted and its sequel were marketed to children as well as adults.

 

[marklungo]

Then again, Adult Swim's S&P seems to have the pearl-clutching sensibility of the Parents Television Council when it comes to content rating.

I'd rather have Adult Swim running uncensored content with a TV-MA rating than editing shows to get a lower rating.