#but i'm a yashahime manga truther so

[aqours]

The more I think about, the more I think Sesshomaru's biggest problem in Yashahime narratively is that in the second half especially he really had nothing to do. It's another thing I appreciate about the manga tbh, the fact that he's doing stuff. And we can blame this on anything: whether or not a third season was intended but cancelled due to the company merging, Hishida's extremely divergent opinion on Sesshomaru and the metaplot around Second Act, but regardless of what it's blamed on I think Sesshomaru's biggest issue was that he really had nothing to do until the very end.

Early Yashahime hinted that Sesshomaru would inevitably become an enemy of the girls be Treekyo (also originally meant to be a villain), but his role in S1 was largely being Kirinmaru's lapdog: he even outright asks if Kirinmaru basically has any errands he wants him to carry out after the first time he confronts the girls. He's basically a forcibly chained dog forced to become subservient because Zero essentially had him by the balls by using the lives of his family as hostage. Sesshomaru was put into a position where he could barely do anything because doing so would sign an instant death ticket for his wife, and even his children (and we do see that he both paid for Setsuna's upkeep and tried to train her from afar as a child) would be put immediately on a horrid radar if he acted out. That is until the end of S1 when Rin makes it clear that nothing could be worth Towa's and Setsuna's safety and Sesshomaru makes it clear he's finally had enough of this bullshit and makes it quite clear he will kill Zero no matter the cost, even if it costs Rin her life, because that is Rin's own desire at this point for the sake of the kids. S1 is showing the one arrogantly proud Sesshomaru who once would have scoffed at the idea of loving a human (let alone having children with one) and gladly would have left her to her fate now forced to bow down to a heel because of the compassion he learned while only being able to give very distant support to the yashahime until he's able to bequeath the broken Tenseiga to Towa (WHICH SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO KEEP). It's tragic, seeing that the result of him learning what made him a better person (but I think too many of us forget this isn't his default to all humans). Maybe it's not something everyone liked, but I thought it was a nice tragedy.

Then Second Act comes and Sesshomaru really has nothing to do until the end. He helps give direction to the girls but doesn't really do a lot. Season 2 really hammered in the rite of courage and cowardice thing, which is fine on paper, but it also reduced Sesshomaru to an extremely passive role except for a few key scenes and the very end. Rather than hunting down Zero to settle things once and for all, potentially creating a rift with his daughters who are now learning more about their mother and yearn to resolve this another way. He doesn't really do much until Rin is saved and then takes the frontline against Kirinmaru who never even got a rematch with the girls despite that being in the third OP and is overall not- that consequential. His role is more or less just to create a fight that firmly solidifies that he is the strongest character currently alive in the Inuyasha/Yashahime universe in terms of pure fighting ability (except maybe pure yokai Inuyasha if both were unarmed, but you can argue that if he's armed with Bakusaiga he'd come out on top), but that's kind of it. He doesn't really have any major plans than "Well hopefully Setsuna the girls Setsuna and Towa Setsuna can save Rin," and tell Moroha were to go too.

Dunno. Feel like that was my biggest gripe more than anything with Sesshomaru in S2. It's like that meme with "C'mon... do something..." but then when he did start doing something it was kinda just shounen action, which was really cool, but doesn't really say anything about his character. It's no wonder Towa was so conflicted about Sesshomaru not really doing anything by the end. Girl was pissed and it's kinda hard to blame her.