WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, Season 1, now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.
Yashahime, the sequel to the hit anime Inuyasha, stars three half-demon princesses who are also cousins. Towa and Setsuna are the half-demon daughters of the dog-demon Sesshōmaru and the human Rin. Meanwhile, their cousin Moroha is the quarter-demon daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome. In Season 1, the trio join forces to defeat demons and uncover their family's mysterious past. As Season 2 begins to air, here's everything you might have missed or forgotten about from Yashahime Season 1.
In Japan's chaotic Feudal Era overrun by demons, three half-demon princesses experience turbulent childhoods without their biological parents. Given the constant threats to their safety from their father's enemies, Towa and Setsuna were raised in a forest for protection. However, a fire threatened to burn down the forest while they were sleeping and the twins get separated. Towa was suddenly transported to the modern era's Shinto shrine, where the Higurashis still live. Kagome's younger brother Sōta is now a married adult with his own child, and he instantly understands the young Towa's situation when she suddenly appears in front of the Tree of Ages.
While Towa is raised in the modern era by the Higurashi family, Setsuna is secretly guided by Sesshōmaru to a safe and hidden village for half-demon children run by the adult Shiori. Meanwhile, Moroha is taken to the Wolf-Demon tribe under Kōga's protection after Kagome and Inuyasha are trapped inside the Black Pearl by Sesshōmaru. Despite the three cousins being raised by completely different people, they fatefully come together when the Four Perils are after them. They spend Season 1 of Yashahime going on missions that are given to Moroha as a bounty hunter, as a way of making money while tracking down Kirinmaru and their enemies.
Toward the end of Season 1, Riku successfully collects all the rainbow pearls for his beloved master Zero. When he reveals the pearls to Zero, she's shocked; Setsuna takes advantage of the situation by finding an opening to kill Zero. However, it's soon revealed that Zero's life is connected to Rin's as she walks through the afterlife with the joy of knowing Rin will die with her. Not willing to let his wife die, Sesshōmaru rushes to the scene to revive Zero with his Tenseiga sword. When Zero is resurrected, she vows to kill Sesshōmaru's daughters and breaks his Tenseiga. Longtime fans of Inuyasha noted the poetic symbolism that saving Rin's life was both Tenseiga's first and final act.
In the Season 1 finale of Yashahime, Kirinmaru is angry at his older sister's actions and scatters her rainbow pearls again to leave her powerless. Once Zero leaves to find the pearls again, Sesshōmaru and Riku also depart and leave the half-demon princesses to fight Kirinmaru on their own. Setsuna eagerly agrees to undergo this "rite of courage and cowardice" to prove herself, but she's shockingly killed in battle. Set on revenge, Towa turns into her full demon form and Moroha turns into Beniyasha, but they're still unable to defeat Kirinmaru and avenge Setsuna. Season 1 ends on a major cliffhanger when Sesshōmaru shows up in the rain and gives Towa his broken Tenseiga.
