WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 10 of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, "The Gold and Silver Rainbow Pearls" now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, Animelab and Hulu.
In Yashahime, the demon-of-the-week fights reflect the relationships of the characters. The latest episode is no exception, with two entwined snake demons named Kinka and Ginka attempting to fight to the death. As the episode goes on, they realize that even though they don't get along with each other, there is a bedrock of love and trust beneath. Sound familiar?
The basic set-up of Episode 10 has the princesses going on a bounty for the demons Kinka and Ginka. These two snake demons are tangled up at the tail, members of the Ka tribe. Demons of their type are bound to their siblings at birth, and cannot rest until one has killed and consumed the other. As the princesses fight them, Kinka and Ginka realize that they possess rainbow pearls, and agree to team up to steal them.
The central conflict between Kinka and Ginka throughout the episode allows Towa and Setsuna to understand their own relationship a bit better. Kinka and Ginka relish their eternal battle -- but when they possess Towa and Setsuna to steal the pearls, the two sisters are staunchly opposed to their forced fight, even as their bodies violently act it out. Even if Setsuna acts as if she doesn't care about Towa, she has absolutely no interest in hurting her, and both sisters resist the possession with all their might.
Of course, the twin serpents succeed in taking the pearls anyway, which leads to the surprisingly brutal final fight of the episode. As Kinka and Ginka return with the pearls to their clan chief Lady Joka, she reveals that she is not the nurturing motherly figure they expected, and turns on them. She mentions something cyptic about getting revenge on Sesshomaru here -- though we don't get any answers about what that might be here. Perhaps there's a bigger story here, or maybe it's just that Sesshomaru isn't the best at making friends.
As Kinka does his absolute best to save his brother Ginka, who he now realizes he does care for, Setsuna has a very important moment. Seeing Kinka try to save his brother, all while enveloped in fire, she has a flashback to the fateful forest fire which separated her and Towa. Her memory, which she claimed doesn't exist, is still clearly out there somewhere -- and she starts to realize the bond between her and her sister. Towa flashes back to this too, though of course it isn't news for her. She's already certain she loves her sister and wants to support her.
The half-demons eventually defeat lady Joka and retrieve their pearls, but in another way they are too late. Ginka dies, and Kinka reveals that as a result his time is over as well. It's a fairly downbeat ending to the episode -- the two demons crumble to ash, realizing too late that they needed each other after all. Still, the entire battle and its effects will clearly stay with Setsuna and Towa, as they realize that they needn't end the same way themselves.
