Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon grabbed the attention of all Inuyasha fans between 2020 and 2022, bringing back some beloved characters for a continuation of their stories, while simultaneously introducing a plethora of new ones to keep things interesting.
In Yashahime, viewers are introduced to Setsuna and Towa, the twin daughters of Sesshomaru, who naturally take up most of the spotlight as protagonists of the series. As viewers quickly realize, their past is far from clear cut, particularly the matter of who their mother is, which remains a mystery for quite some time in the anime. It’s not until episode 15, “Farewell Under the Lunar Eclipse,” that the audience gets a confirmation of what most already predicted — Rin is the mother of the twins and Sesshomaru’s wife.
While some considered this the obvious answer to the mystery, the decision to officially make Rin and Sesshomaru a couple stirred up controversy due to the past the two share. What exactly is that past, though? As those who watched Inuyasha likely recall, Rin was a side character in the anime and manga, who we get to slowly get to know throughout the series. While not among the strongest of characters, Rin was certainly an interesting one to watch on screen.
What do we know about Rin?
For those who don’t recall or who jumped into the anime without watching its predecessor first, Rin is a human from a small village, who became orphaned after her parents and brother were murdered. Despite being a child at the time, Rin lived a lonely life from then on, frequently abused by other villagers who considered her strange for not communicating with them. Rin first met a wounded Sesshomaru in episode 35 of Inuyasha, when she was around nine years old, while the demon was 19 (in human years; in reality, he was over 100 years old, at the very least). After he saved her life by resurrecting her, Rin took to following Sesshomaru around from place to place, and the two grew to care for each other.
It wasn’t until the end of Inuyasha, when Rin was around 14 and settled in Kaede’s village, that their connection began taking a romantic route, with Sesshomaru occasionally dropping off gifts for her. Even so, a large portion of fans reacted negatively to the hints that the two had a romantic future ahead, and understandably so, considering Sesshomaru closely watched Rin grow up for five years. Yashahime‘s production studio, however, shrugged off all criticism when creating the sequel, opting for making Rin Sesshomaru’s wife once she becomes an adult.
Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon is currently available for streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll.