Daemons of the Shadow Realm debuts on Crunchyroll April 4. New episodes will follow every Saturday.
The premiere episode of Daemons of the Shadow Realm has everything you’d want in a premiere episode. It introduces compelling characters, gives them some big problems to solve, and presents a vast world with interesting mythology and history that’s intriguing enough to want to keep watching. It has more in common with Attack on Titan or even the pilot for Lost than, say, Demon Slayer, with some shocking twists that set the stage for a must-watch anime.
From the opening scene where we see a woman giving birth to twins that are said to “divide night and day” and “will command the Daemons someday,” Daemons of the Shadow Realm gives enough hints to its larger world of supernatural beings and untold dangers without outright spelling things out to the audience. When we jump forward in time 16 years, we learn that one of the twins, Yuru, is now a teenager working as a hunter for his isolated village. Meanwhile, his sister Asa is kept hidden in a cage, with most people in the village having never laid eyes on her.
There is an economic approach to worldbuilding and storytelling in this episode, slowly building up to a big reveal in the most efficient way. At every turn, it is clear there is more to this village than it lets on, from the way the adults constantly give each other secretive looks and the mentions of “the world below” to the seemingly single trader who brings trinkets and even shamans when needed, as well as the way Yuru and others look up at the sky and talk of dragons when seeing condensation trails of some unseen creature.
The show is adapted from the manga of the same name by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa. Immediately, Arakawa’s style is felt throughout the episode, most notably in her recognizable character designs. The anime is produced by Bones Film, a subsidiary of the same studio that made both adaptations of Fullmetal Alchemist, and it shows in the vibrant colors, attention to backgrounds, and dynamic action.
And make no mistake: Once the bodies hit the floor, Daemons of the Shadow Realm kicks into high gear. In an instant, the premiere pulls a twist worthy of Lost, and whatever it was pretending to be up to that point goes out the window. It opens up a myriad of possibilities for what the rest of the show will be, raising some fascinating questions about the nature of the show’s world and how it works. The shift in tone is seamless, with the first half establishing how quiet and idyllic Yuru’s life is before taking that away with brutal fight scenes. The action is kinetic and hard-hitting, with the use of vibrant colors making the violence pop even more. We see a bit of the titular daemons, who act kind of like Stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and manifest different powers. Unfortunately, some of the 3D used in the second half of the episode doesn’t work, but at least it’s used in quick shots that don’t linger.
By the end of the episode, we have an idea of where the story might go (at least in its first story arc), the dynamic between the main characters, and the abilities we’ll encounter. At the same time, the doors are wide open for a show full of surprises; this isn’t Fullmetal Alchemist, and that’s okay. But much like that show, Daemons of the Shadow Realm is clearly an anime that’s more than meets the eye, with a fascinating and complex world worth exploring.
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