Multi-generational follow-up to the Rumiko Takahashi hit also has a confirmed premiere date.
For anime fans, the last several months have been a string of one TV series or movie getting delayed after another. There’s finally some good news, though, as there’s now an official debut date for Yashahime, the follow-up to beloved mega-hit Inuyasha.
This isn’t a reboot, reimagining, prequel, or any other sort of one-step-forward-two-steps-back sort of deal, either. Yashahime is a direct sequel to Inuyasha, and as if that wasn’t enough to get excited about, the first preview video for the original anime TV series has been released!
“My name is Towa Higurashi,” the video’s narration starts off with. “Not gonna give you a hard time, but you ought to let me go right now. Once my friends get here, they’re not going to let you off easy.”
In a bit of script-flipping from Inuyasha, in which a Japanese high school girl was pulled into the past, Yashahime looks to be giving its most attention to Towa, a girl from Japan’s feudal Sengoku era who ended up in the present day, where she was raised by Inuyasha female lead Kagome’s family.
As Towa’s snowy white hair suggests, though, she’s no ordinary girl. She’s actually the daughter of Inuyasha’s charismatic antagonist Sesshomaru, and eventually she’s reunited with her non-identical twin sister Setsuna (who remained in the Sengoku period as a yokai hunter) and Moroha, the product of Inuyasha and Kagome’s love.
The trio of daughters aren’t the only offspring of the original cast carrying on their family’s monster-fighting traditions, either, as the video also gives us our first look at Hisui, the son of Inuyasha’s serious-minded Sango and oppositely-attracted monk Miroku.
▼ While his mom’s name means “coral,” Hisui’s is also the Japanese word for “jade.”
Also featured in the video is Kohaku, Sango’s younger brother who’s maintained a youthful appearance while picking up a facial scar since he was last seen in Inuyasha, and is now Setsuna and Hisui’s monster-hunting boss.
Oh, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out the return of Kirara, Sango’s faithful nekomata steed/companion, who’s now filling that role for her son.
Plot details are still pretty scarce, but the video does reveal that a piece of the Ne no Kubi, a seemingly inconsequential yokai from the original series, somehow tapped into the power of the Tree of Ages, forming a connection between the two time periods that Towa passed through ten years before the Yashahime story begins in earnest.
Other announcements include the lead voice actress trio (Sara Matsumoto as Towa, Mikako Komatsu as Setsuna, and Azusa Tadokoro as Moroha), and best of all, the anime’s premiere date: October 3, at 5:30 p.m., on Yomiuri/Nippon TV. Less than two months is a mercifully short wait, but if even that feels like an eternity to you, you can tide yourself over by checking off the episodes from our list of essential Inuyasha episodes to rewatch and/or a visit to one of the three real-world Inuyasha cafes.
Source: YouTube/サンライズ
Top image: YouTube/サンライズ
Insert images: YouTube/サンライズ, Yashahime official website (1, 2, 3)
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