This screenshot demotivational screenshot poster is highly Anti-Kaede. Sit back, relax, and revel in the evisceration I have in store for this pitiful excuse of a veteran shrine maiden who will never measure up to her late older sister Kikyou.
I am sure you are all aware that ever since I was between eleven and fourteen years old, I never cared for Kaede at all. I just thought of her as someone who thinks she is doing a good job in having Inuyasha and Kagome work together finding the shards of the Shikon Jewel, when it was Kagome’s fault for starting this mess. I remembered hating Kaede for always taking Kagome’s side and never listening to Inuyasha, thus constantly rewarding her and chiding him.
Nowadays, as an adult, my hatred for this shriveled, overstuffed, joyless, horrid crone has been more fully realized than ever. Granted, I did prefer Kaede when she was a child because she was quite inquisitive and seemed to have more of a sunny disposition and more sympathetic personality. However, when looking at her as the joyless old crone that she was, there were times I was praying for her death, especially during the events of Inuyasha: The Final Act.
Personally, I would not have minded if Kaede ended up dying of a broken heart after Kikyou’s final passing in Inuyasha: The Final Act episode 8. That would have closed her story and her history with her older sister, who was so much more of a shrine maiden than Kaede will ever b, and do so in a way that was actually more poignant than the show offered. But no! The mere fact that she stayed alive and kept Rin in the village was not only a huge screw-you to her “character arc” but also a huge screw-you to the deep, meaningful relationship Rin was developing with Sesshoumaru, who was her guardian and protector, thus saving her from death two times. Kaede was really not doing any favors for Rin at all and could have understood that Rin deserved to live with Sesshoumaru for good and for all.
To make things worse, when I found out that Kaede was still alive in the sequel Hanyo no Yashahime, I thought to myself, why on earth did she still have to live? Was her time on earth not fully satisfied? Did she not want to go to the afterlife with her dear older sister Kikyou? It would have made sense if Kaede just dropped down dead for good and for all because of her sheer incompetence and utterly flawed judgement of humans and yokai being together.
In conclusion, I never cared for this joyless old crone when I was younger and I still do not care for her to this day. There was a reason why she was the bane of my existence as someone who still enjoys Inuyasha and it is all due to her low-key intolerance of having humans and yokai co-exist, her constant favoritism of Kagome, Shippou, Miroku, and Sango and her constant reprimanding of Inuyasha even though he was actually in the right, and her utter failure to measure up to her much better and more dignified older sister Kikyou.
I hope you all enjoyed my evisceration of this insolent and joyless old goat and I will see you in the next submission. Take care and stay safe, everybody.
Kaede from Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Sunrise.
