#just to clarify my take on infant nutrition is 'fed is best' but obviously formula did not exist in the feudal era and more importantly the

[wisteria-underground]

Some thoughts on Hanyo no Yashahime ep. 15 (some serious, some not):

1. Hats off to Riku for being at least a mildly interesting OC. I care about his motivations enough to keep watching the show, which is more than I can say about most anime-only characters. Congratulations to Riku and his amazing eye makeup, here’s to the rest of the season

2. Inuyasha finally got to live the life - more or less - that he and Kikyo originally dreamed about, and I think that’s nice! He has a little house with a garden, and a “job” exterminating demons, and a local community of friends and neighbors, and friends from further afield who come and visit him, and his social circle is a nice mix of humans and youkai. Inuyasha is fully and (by the looks of it) happily integrated into his found community without having to sacrifice either his demon or human side, and I THINK THAT’S NICE

3. In modern times, Kirinmaru would be known as “our family friend” and Sesshomaru would be obligated to introduce him as “Uncle Kirinmaru - well, not my real uncle, I just call him that because he’s known my dad for, like, forever” 

4. At first blush, this would make Zero Sesshomaru’s mean auntie, but what with the whole “humiliated by your father” line and the Gold and Silver jewels being made from her tears, I suspect she’s actually a jilted lover - or would-be lover - of Toga’s who now lives to stir up trouble for his kids. Toga probably tossed her aside for Izayoi and she’s clearly still salty about it

5. Rin’s childbirth scene is the worst thing I’ve seen in a long time, but not for the reason everyone’s fighting about. It unfortunately exposes two major flaws, one of writing female characters in the shonen genre, and one of Rin’s character specifically. The first problem is that shonen writers usually have no idea what to do with pregnancy and childbirth, because, I suspect, they have no actual interest in the mother’s experience; for them, pregnancy and childbirth serve purely as plot devices, and the postpartem female body becomes a problem to be gotten rid of as soon as possible.

Usually this is ‘solved’ by killing off the mother right after giving birth. Rin escapes this fate, only to be subjected to having both her babies and her agency taken away. Shedding a single tear? Uttering such an inane line as “I have faith in Sesshomaru-sama” when he didn’t say a single word to her after what was likely hours of being in labor? I confess that this is the point when I lost it and just started laughing, the scene was so bad-hilarious. Nobody is this long-suffering and trusting about being ignored by their husband as he silently kidnaps her children literally from under her nose. Nobody. Rin was done dirty by this scene, and it just underscores the misogyny running through the shonen genre.

Unfortunately, this scene also doubles down on Rin’s role as a device for Sesshomaru’s character growth, which is itself pretty problematic. Her (multiple!!) deaths in IY prompt Sesshomaru toward emotional turning points in his character development, and here again in HNY her confusion and sadness over losing Towa and Setsuna lend pathos to Sesshomaru’s actions. We, the viewers, know that Sesshomaru is hiding the twins away so that Kirinmaru and Zero can’t find and kill them; I think the writers somehow wants the viewer to feel anguish on Sesshomaru’s behalf that he must commit such a seemingly cruel act for the sake of his family’s safety and can’t tell anyone about it because he’s such a tough guy loner etc. etc. But instead it comes across as confusing and unnecessary, especially since Kagome already knows the whole story and asks Sesshomaru point-blank about it. [Edited to add]: This model of stoicism-as-masculinity has not aged well from the original IY run. Female characters should not have to passively accept pain and confusion inflicted on them by male characters in the name of male characters acting “for their own good.” Sesshomaru’s refusal to communicate anything, ever, is not a romantic character trait: it does not make him mysterious or cool or badass, it just makes him kind of an asshole to the people he supposedly cares about, and I hope the rest of the series will actually grapple with that. Sesshomaru, in this scene, kicks off a whole chain of events that end up going disastrously for his family. One daughter stuck on “the other side”? One daughter with her memories and sleep stolen? His wife stuck in a tree? I have a hard time believing all of that was planned. The whole scenario is contrived and stupid and I hate it. 

6. Not least because Sesshomaru’s proposed solution makes no sense! What are these babies going to eat? Where will they sleep? If Sesshomaru is ok with bringing newborns into a forest and leaving them under a tree, why wouldn’t he just bring Rin at the same time and make her recuperate from - again- a physically grueling ordeal under said tree? It’s not like he knows what the heck childbirth involves anyway! His whole decision-making process is bizarre and confirms my suspicion, held for some 15 years, that Sesshomaru is not some cool lone wolf type who has it all together, but instead is merely a fuck-up like the rest of us. As any quiet person (*raises hand*) knows, a great way to pick up a reputation for being ‘aloof,’ ‘cold,’ or ‘intimidating’ is to say as little as possible, even if on the inside you are hopelessly just trying to keep your head above water. 

This is HNY Sesshomaru in a nutshell:

Where were you going to get all of these things, Sesshomaru?! Oh that’s right you didn’t think that far ahead DID YOU?!????

7. If Sesshomaru is at his mom’s house, and Jaken is at his mom’s house, then who is watching the babies????? (Tbh probably Sessho-mama)

Anyway this episode was A Mess but it was nice seeing Inuyasha and Kagome again. More of them and the rest of the original gang, please!