Plot: Hearing the story of Setsuna’s plight, Towa plans on heading back to the feudal era with Setsuna and Moroha to find the dream butterfly and kill it to restore Setsuna’s memories as well as her ability to sleep and dream.
Utilizing the power of the still-alive Root Head demon who was merged with the Tree of Ages, they all take their leave, promising to return to Towa’s family someday.
However, when they go through the portal, they’re stopped midway by the spirit of the Tree of Ages who has taken on the appearance of Kikyo since some of her spirit was embedded in the tree when she pinned Inuyasha to it with one of her sacred arrows.
The spirit of the tree has a request for the daughters of Sesshomaru – find and slay the dog-demon beast, Kirinmaru, a demon who was matched in power only by his counterpart, their grandfather Inutaisho. Sesshomaru is unable to defeat him, so the task is being passed on to them. Setsuna refuses, explaining that it’s Sesshomaru’s responsibility and they shouldn’t have to do his work. Towa, however, wants to complete the task until she learns that Sesshomaru will, too, have to be slain.
As punishment for defying the spirit, it sends them to the location of the Root Head within its body. However, the three manage to slay the demon, later realizing that this means they destroyed their only means of returning back to the modern era.
The spirit of the tree has a one-sided conversation with Sesshomaru as he lurks in the shadows wondering what will become of the woman slumbering before them if things don’t go as planned….
Breakdown: Excuse me for a second.
*deep breath*
RIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!! That comatose woman has to be Rin, right? It looks like what I would picture an adult Rin to look like. What happened to her? Is Sesshomaru being blackmailed or something right now?….Is she their mother? I continue to be confused.
Anyhoo, this is more or less a segue episode to get us back to the feudal era so we can have all dem adventures, but there is a little more action and advancement. Mainly, the battle with Root Head which debuted a new attack for Towa, which, for some reason, is another energy dragon thing like Moroha’s, though Towa’s is blue as opposed to red. I really don’t understand why these dog demons keep displaying dragon powers. Is Setsuna going to get a gold one?
Also, we learned of Kirinmaru, who sounds like a pretty severe threat, going after space and time and whatnot, so I guess they justified Towa getting all freaked out over modern stuff in the feudal era from the first episode. Although, I can’t help but get a slight sense of laziness in that he’s the OTHER great dog demon. I don’t remember a lot about Inutaisho, but I’m pretty sure someone would have mentioned another great dog demon in the interim. And where exactly has he been for the past 20+ years? Is this another one of those weird situations where a villain just chills until the person or persons who are the only ones who can defeat him are of an age where they can defeat him and then he’s like ‘Ya! NOW is the time to strike!’
We still haven’t met him, though, so how good of a villain he’ll be is yet to be seen.
I love how Moroha pointed out that she wasn’t Sesshomaru’s daughter so it seemed like “Kikyo” wasn’t asking anything of her and was annoyed. The spirit replied that she’d basically be addressed in a minute….and she never was. Like, what the hell? Is it just because Setsuna and Towa refused the request so the spirit of the tree was just never able to ask anything of Moroha? Moroha was still on board with the whole thing because she’s awesome, but she was basically just accepting THEIR mission. I mean….technically, you can give the request to all three of them as she’s also a descendant of Inutaisho. Is it really necessary for descendants of Sesshomaru specifically to be the chosen ones here? It can’t be because of pure blood since they’re half-demons….
And now for Twix’s random musings of the episode.
– How long have Moroha and Setsuna been staying with Towa and her family? Because Setsuna, with no formal training beforehand, has learned how to play a song on the violin fully and seemingly flawlessly. Moe, who is a concert violinist I guess, calls her a one-in-a-hundred prodigy, but even prodigies wouldn’t be THAT good in what seems like a day or two.
– Why is it that Setsuna and Moroha aren’t confused at all by stuff in the modern era? Everything used to confuse the hell out of Inuyasha, but Moroha not only knows what a credit card is, but also uses it easily to go on a shopping spree by herself.
– SOTA NEVER TOLD TOWA ABOUT KAGOME OR SHOWED HIM PICTURES OF HIS SISTER?! ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING HE ALWAYS SUSPECTED TOWA CAME FROM THE FEUDAL ERA?! WHAT?!?!
– It is really adorable that Moroha actually loved the weird gift Grandpa gave her as opposed to Kagome who would always either trash his gifts or feed them to Buyo. It was a great moment for both of them.
– Speaking of Moroha in relation to her parents….uhhh why does she have absolutely nothing to say about discovering the names and relatives of her parents? Does she just not care? Does she not have questions about her origins? Likewise, why isn’t Kagome’s family asking Moroha any questions like how Kagome is, what she’s been up to over the past nearly two decades, if she has anymore children etc?
Also, Moroha may or may not have mentioned to them that she doesn’t know Kagome, meaning she never met her mom and her family should be up to their elbows in worry right now in regards to her current whereabouts and condition.
Setsuna and Towa are just kinda falling into information about Sesshomaru, but they also don’t ask many questions about their parentage…..such as, I dunno, just throwing this one out there….who their mother might be. *shrug*
Also, would it make sense or not that Moroha should be able to piece together that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are siblings and that Inuyasha’s her father? She seems to know plenty about Sesshomaru (she even knows his scent somehow) and she seemingly heard of Kirinmaru, so she should know about Inuyasha. Even without those factors, wouldn’t Inuyasha be a bit of a legend in the feudal era?
I can’t imagine Sota and the others didn’t mention Inuyasha likely being her father…..Then again, they’re obviously not very good in the communication department. They’re just like ‘YOU’RE KAGOME’S DAUGHTER!’ and everyone left it at that apparently.
– They really couldn’t go the entire series without showing that same tired shot of Kikyo pinning Inuyasha to the Tree of Ages…Do I get some sort of achievement for viewing it a million times? Because I have to be close by now.
– Why do we need the name plates popping up on everyone? On their introductions, I get, but literally every time we see a character for the first time in an episode we have to put their names on screen. It’s episode four, I’m pretty acquainted with them. I didn’t see a nameplate on Rin, though. Ya know, the one person actually showing up for the first time since episode one.…
All in all, it’s a solid episode that served its purpose and had some great and cute moments interspersed within. And thank god Kikyo didn’t actually come back. I was probably blowing everything out of proportion before, but I can never be too sure with this franchise….Although, I was kinda right about her blowing off Moroha.
I’m not sure why the spirit needed to take on any form at all, though. Can it not just be a mysterious booming voice or something?
I don’t know how long this series is meant to be, especially considering there’s no manga to gauge anything from, but it seems we’re heading for the more episodic approach soon, and I don’t know when we’ll be formally introduced to the main villain or how long it will take to get the MacGuff—Dream Butterfly.
But who cares? Next episode seems Moroha-centric and I am HERE for that!
Rating: 7.5/10
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The Anime Madhouse 