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Reposting because my first review was done a bit earlier than it should.

Really strong start but goes down the hill on the last episodes. That is how I describe the second season of Hanyou no Yashahime.

As I said in my review from the first season, my final score for this show is not a 10, but I will keep it until the end because even though I think it does not deserve a max score, it still keeps a lot of the original Inuyasha and can still bring a lot of enjoyment from old fans in general. I would say this second season's real score ... is, again, around an 8.

It starts literally right where the first season ends since it ended with A HUGE cliffhanger. The first season's writting was all over the place at the start, but at the very end it started to grow and it only gets better through the second season. It was fun to see the anime's score growing slowly each episode, which only shows how people were actually getting convinced by its writting and pace.

For me, the first arc of this season is amazing and even after the end of said arc (around ep 12) the story keeps a strong pace for a few episodes, before going back to its roots. In other words, to its rushed pace like how it was when season 1 started. Said that, I would still state that the anime is still great up to around episode 18, which is actually a lot if you consider the total of episodes.

The problem is everything that happens during those last 5-6 episodes. People change minds like they change clothes (well, not a good comparison since people do not actually change clothes in this anime) and everything scaled up just too fast. Small threat to huge threat, to small threat again to world-ending threat. It is all over the place. At some point you realise that even the characters are tired and just want this mess to end already, antagonists included. The big highlight from these last few episodes is Sesshoumaru, but I will hold myself from giving spoilers and just say that, for me, he carries the show in the mid of all this mess at the ending.

Talking about Sesshoumaru, the characters here are mostly good. Not taking into account that most of the characters' development is sacrified to rush the ending, most of the characters have a good development and you just get really happy for Sesshoumaru at the end. His growth is probably one of the best you will ever see and Yashahime gives it a beautiful end. Other characters that I loved were Zero and Setsuna and their development was great as well. I even found myself liking Towa a bit through the end even though she was far from being one of my favorites.

Inuyasha and Kagome are ways more present here than in first season but since the main focus are the three main girls and specially Sesshoumaru's family, they are still treated as just side characters and I do not see any problem with that, they were the main focus on the OG anime, so lets give others some spotlight this time. Moroha is not treated like a comedy relief anymore and she has the proper development she deserved back in season one. She is not one of my favorite characters but is still a fun character and I can understand the many reasons why she is a fan favorite. And we finally get to see Shippou again, he worked a lot through the end fo the story.

The animation is fine. This anime is more focused on its story that we do not have that many fights we had in the first season. The important fights in the first arc of second season are just ok and the final fights at the end are actually good. Specially when Sesshoumaru is involved.

The OST though. If there is something that they nailed (again) is the soundtrack. Some small rearranges from the OG Inuyasha and some new music are simply amazing. Some moments at the end of first arc just made me cry because of how they nailed the story and music to make it emotional. Oh, that Sesshoumaru (always him) theme playing when he fights...
Not to mention that I enjoyed a lot both Openings and Endings. Have no complaints about this show when it comes to its overall soundtrack.

Even though Takahashi-sensei was only watching over the planning/writting and wasn't directly involved in this anime outside from the character design, it still holds up a lot from the Original Inuyasha and I had a lot of "oh that's so Inuysha" moments while watching it. Yes the story ends almost abruptly, but the reason is probably because they were not planning for a third season, so they had no other option other than rush it, unfortunately, because would they ever keep the quality they had up until a bit over half this season, I would not bother a season 3. But right now, I'm fine with they way it ended.

It might not be the greatest of the sequels, but it was still great to see our loved characters back with a different background, now focused on their kids' journey.

Let me state some things first:

Inuyasha is my favorite anime/manga of all times and I waited for a sequel or at least something new about it for more than 10 years. And honestly? It delivered.

Do I really think this show deserves a 10?
No. I would say it is an overall solid 8. But damn I enjoyed this show ways more than I ever thought I would. So I'll keep my 10.

Now, about Hanyou no Yashahime.

It starts giving us a little bit of what happened after Inuyasha with the old cast and then we have our new generation cast to take the show. And I can ... say that the entire new cast is pretty enjoyable and we frequently have some nostalgia moments with our old friends showing up once in a while (sometimes personally, sometimes in flashbacks).

At the start, the pace is kinda fast on how things are dealed easily but that only adds to our 3 heroines, as they develop upon that. I would say that Moroha is one of the most enjoyable characters of the first half of the anime. From the second half onwards, we get more details of what happened and why a lot of things changed. With that, Sesshoumaru gets more screen time as well.

As Moroha is pretty enjoyable, is important to notice that ever since this anime got announced, it was stated that this would be "Sesshoumaru's daughters' story". Every single episode starts talking about "Towa and Setsuna", so it got me surprised on how people would constantly complain that in some moments, the two of them would get more screen time than Moroha. She is part of the main cast, but this is not her show.

About Towa and Setsuna. The other two of our new main heroines.

Sesshoumaru's twin daughters and the center of this anime's plot. I love Setsuna's design as she is basically a female version of Sesshoumaru. Her more cool character that actually hides a huge dere inside remember very well her father too. The way she learns to trust Towa and even Moroha only adds to her development and she was my favorite character of this entire show.

Said that, is Towa who gets more attention for the most of the time. Even though all three are half demon Yashahime (Moroha is actually a fourth of a demon), she is clearly THE main character here. We don't see her change too much like Setsuna, but still she is a lovely character who cares a lot about her friends and specially her sister. Some people complain about she being too naïve or making some stupid decisions, but lets be fair, the old Inuyasha characters had a lot of this derp moments as well. This isn't something new to the series.

About the villains.

Though the side villains are quite annoying (and honestly, this is another thing that is not new to the series), the main "bad guys" are pretty much likeable.
I don't have the same "shit I want this guy dead so hard" feeling I used to have when Naraku was the main villain. Instead, I feel the new characters the same way I felt his creations were in the original manga. They were enemies that needed to be fought, but they still have something likeable about them (damn I cried when Kagura died back then).
They are interesting characters and every one of them have and objective in mind and I enjoyed a lot seeing our heroines fighting them during this show. Sesshoumaru showing some times added more intensity and nostalgia to the whole setting.

Finally, the plot.

This is where things get a bit confusing for some people when it comes to the anime's pace.
We usually have some episodes to add development to the main cast and them some episodes to give us a bit more of background of what's going on. These changes made some people feel it was rushed sometimes and super slow other times.
In my opinion? Even though it felt a bit fast at the start, it was pretty well balanced overall.

For last, I would like to point out that if there is something I didn't liked about this anime, it was episode 19. Would recommend everyone who plans to watch this show to just skip that. I am still trying to understand exactly what were they planning with that, can't even call it a filler. Though, there certainly are people who loved that, so I'll respect everyone's opinion. Said that, everything that comes after that episode is gold and the anime closes perfectly for the incoming next season.

If you really enjoyed the old one, you will enjoy this one as well.