The creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa, has returned to our tv screens with a new ongoing show: Daemons of the Shadow Realm. It currently has 7 episodes out as of writing this, following a pair of twin siblings as the protagonists.
I will be going into spoilers for the episodes out so far, so if you haven’t seen it and want to, I recommend it!
The Story So Far
The twins, Asa and Yuru, were born in the day and night respectively. This makes them very valuable as they can acquire powers and are constantly at risk of being abducted.
We initially follow Yuru, who lives in the Higashi village with Asa, or so he thinks. The anime raises a lot of questions immediately, like why is Asa locked up in a cage when Yuru can roam freely? It’s soon attacked and Yuru’s world as he knew it is destroyed.
The real Asa came to the village during the attack, simply to see that he’s alive and wanted to reunite with him after so many years. As it turned out, the Asa Yuru thought he knew was a daemon as a decoy. The real Asa and their parents fled the village years ago, leaving him behind for reasons we don’t know yet.
It’s tragic. Asa knows more about what’s going on and adapted to the modern world, whereas Yuru was isolated his whole life. It’s a great setup for a sibling story and watching them hopefully reunite and bond again.
We also meet Yuru’s daemons, Left and Right. They were statues who guarded the village until Yuru and Tadera summons them. They all flee the mountain, and Left and Right become his protectors.
Tadera and another character, Hana, takes in Yuru to protect him from the Kagemori and many other foes who wants the twins powers. Yuru isn’t satisfied and sneaks out, and runs into Jin, who is part of the Kagemori. After a battle between them and all of their daemons, Yuru decides to wants to go to their compound and talk to Asa.
They reunite, but it’s strained as Yuru doesn’t seem to totally accept that she’s his real sister. He also discovers that their parents are gone and have been since shortly after Asa was taken from the village.
Perhaps the two can bond together by figuring out their parents whereabouts. I also hope we get more insight on what’s going on, as we are just as confused as Yuru.
Where we leave off in the show, Asa explains that a year ago, she died, and came back to life by obtaining Break, her power. As the twins born from day and night, they can die once and obtain this power. Yuru wasn’t told about this previously, but if he died, he could obtain his power, Seal.
Why these powers are so important is hard to say at this point in the show. Where I left off in the show is Tadera coming to retrieve Yuru. Tensions are high as neither clans trust each other. They settle for having breakfast together, which Asa is ecstatic about.
So Many Questions
Daemons is such an interesting show so far. As Hiromu Arakawa is behind it, the author of Fullmetal, I’m confident that this will turn into another spectacular anime. It’s got so many unanswered questions from the jump that are slowly being revealed over time. There’s an intriguing premise of twins who know each other. But, they were separated at a young age, one of them not even aware it occurred. It’s a lot for anyone to have to reconcile with.
I’m excited to see how this story progresses. What more danger awaits the twins? Will Yuru be able to trust his sister and rekindle their bond together? And what is with the clans and them being at odds. There’s isn’t a clear cut villain in this show yet. It’s hard to see whether or not Tadera or the Kagemori clan has good or bad intentions. Perhaps both mean well and there’s an even larger force at play we haven’t seen yet.
Daemons drops every Saturday on Crunchyroll and will run for 24 episodes. As we’re just a quarter of the way through its runtime, I’m excited to talk more about it once the season concludes.
