Daemons of the Shadow Realm 1×15, 1×16 and 1×17 Review – “Yuru and Danji”, “Kagemori and Shingo” and “Crybaby and Naughty Child”

Daemons of the Shadow Realm anime season 1 episode 15, titled ‘Yuru and Danji’, episode 16, titled ‘Kagemori and Shingo’, and episode 17, titled ‘Crybaby and Naughty Child’, had a whole lot of action as a bunch of characters narrowed in on a specific location.

Due to Danji revealing his true nature to Yuru in the previous episode, I had been looking forward to seeing how the creative team would handle exploring Yuru’s emotions, especially because Yuru’s not the most emotionally vulnerable protagonist.

Yuru wanting to seclude himself to clear his head made sense. He used to walk around in the mountains while living in Higashi Village whenever he felt overwhelmed. According to Yuru, doing so helped make him more focused, aided by how there were a bunch of threats in the mountains that could kill him. Tapping into survival mode made things easier. However, this time around, even though Yuru walked away from his group, he was still inside a public park. Yuru also had a view of the city filled with people. Not being alone in the way he’s used to led to him remembering moments of friendship with Danji.

Danji was the one who promised kid Yuru that he would never be alone after kid Yuru’s parents ran away from the village. Danji had also always been around Yuru, even when Yuru was off clearing his head in the mountains. Yes, Danji was a Daemon, but I think even Yuru was aware that their bond was genuine. I liked how Yuru realized that he needed to have an actual conversation with Danji about their friendship and Danji’s lies for Yuru to accept the current situation. Ignoring the matter wasn’t going to help the childhood friends.

However, before Yuru could speak to Danji, the little Daemon had already set off to find Fake Asa. Danji did ask Ken to tell Yuru that he was sorry for lying to him. But yeah, those two needed to have an in-person conversation soon.

With Dera telling Yuru about Ivan attacking Higashi Village and taking Fake Asa and children as hostages in return for Yuru’s capture, it made sense for Yuru’s crew to come up with a plan to free the hostages. Also, similar to Danji, even though Fake Asa was a Daemon pretending to be Asa, Yuru did share a close bond with her. There were a lot of conflicting feelings floating around, but when it came down to it, Yuru didn’t want Fake Asa to die.

The Kagemori Clan also made their move. This time around, Gonzo involved himself in the situation. Gonzo’s team consisted of Gabby, Natsuki (more on her in a bit), and Fuyuki. Everyone was closing in on the warehouse meant to be Yuru’s meeting point with the mysterious kidnapper. And of course, things didn’t go according to plan.

Yuru being captured by one of Asuma’s Daemons made for a very intense scene. The animators did an impressive job of showcasing Yuru’s predicament through his facial expressions and body language. Asuma’s Daemon could snap Yuru’s neck with a single move if it wanted to. And even though Yuru was close enough to Dera, Left, and Right, Asuma’s Daemon was undetectable to them. Not only that, but it was also made of a swarm of black moths, meaning that most attacks didn’t phase it at all. Left and Right would need to start killing the moths individually for their attacks to make any difference. I’m always here for creating threats that the main characters can’t simply punch or kick away.

Separating the core group was the right strategy. Yuru got teleported to Asuma and Shingo’s location while Ivan was left behind to deal with Dera, Left, and Right. Such a moment served as an exciting setup for a whole lot of action to come!

Episode 16, ‘Kagemori and Shingo,’ had Asuma and Shingo try to convince Yuru how unlocking the power of the Seal would benefit the world. It’s always funny to see the “bad guys” trying to bribe heroic characters with money and power when it’s clear all that the hero wanted was to live a normal life. There was nothing that Asuma and Shingo could offer Yuru to change his mind. Unlike the various clans out there, Yuru wasn’t interested in ruling the world. All Yuru desired was to live a simple life and to also have Asa finally be free of being targeted due to having the power of Break.

You could tell that Yuru’s stance was getting on Shingo’s nerves. But the old dude couldn’t really do much because, from what I could understand, Yuru had to willingly accept dying to increase the likelihood of accepting the power of the Seal and then align himself with the Shingo Clan.

With Yuru being held captive under Asuma and Shingo, ‘Kagemori and Shingo’ had a whole lot of action by having Left and Right fight Ivan. As if Ivan’s weapons weren’t already dangerous, this particular confrontation revealed that the blades could regenerate after being snapped. Not only that, but the blades were also sharp enough to cut Left and Right. Left having her arm sliced off didn’t stop her from attacking Ivan, but Right had a point. Left needed to be more careful with her punches. Left using her cut arm to extend her reach to hit Ivan was a cool move!

Left and Right did sense the blood of Yuru’s parents on the blades. So, I’m interested in learning more about whether Ivan attacked Yuru’s parents or if it was the previous wielder of the blades.

The other action sequence involved Gonzo making his way through the Shingo Clan’s warehouses. The number of Daemons that Gonzo controlled made him an unstoppable force. Gonzo was also not hesitant to get his own hands dirty against foes. I mean, he was the Kagemori Clan leader for a reason.

With all of the action going on, a mystery was brewing inside the Kagemori Clan Mansion. Asa wanting to see her brother made me laugh out loud when it’s revealed that all of the background characters she was drawing for Hagur’s manga looked like Yuru. Another earlier comedic moment was Yuru receiving pictures of their parents from Asa, only for Asa to have also sneaked in pictures of herself. The creative team just knows how to make the dynamic between the siblings work in a wholesome manner!

Knowing that the Kagemori Clan had a mole, I appreciated the writers addressing that problem in episode 17. ‘Crybaby and Naughty Child’ revealed that the mole was none other than Akio. I would never have suspected him, but Jin’s explanation made me go, ‘Oh, yeah!’

Harkening back to episode 4, Jin had suspected Akio’s betrayal because Yuru attacked a Daemon-less Akio instead of Jin or Haruo during their first meeting. As Yuru only went after people who wanted him dead, Jin realized that Akio might be up to something. With everything going on after that moment, Jin decided to finally set a trap for Akio. It was such a delicious reveal!

The Akio-centric twist was further improved with Jin providing details about his plan. Turns out, the real Asa was assisting Gonzo with his attack on the Shingo warehouses. Akio had been duped by Jin’s Daemon pretending to be Asa. Also, the real Gabby was still inside the mansion. There was so much enjoyable writing in episode 17. I appreciated it all, especially being a mystery writer myself!

Akio wasn’t going to go down without a fight. His resolve led to his gigantic Daemons, named Mountain God, fighting Gabby’s Daemon Gabriel. The Mountain God pair was formidable, but they had no defense against Gabriel’s ability to bite through most anything.

Akio vs Gabby allowed Gabby to vent her frustration against Akio and his wanting to take away the only safe place left for Asa. Yes, Asa was “imprisoned” inside the Kagemori Clan, but it was still better than the alternatives. Gabby truly cared for Asa, but then again, everyone working for the Kagemori Clan operated under strict restrictions even if they wanted to help Asa more.

With Akio being captured, I’m quite interested in learning about his fate. According to him, Gonzo would never forgive such a level of betrayal. But who knows what might happen when Akio appears in front of Gonzo down the line.

Coming back to Asa, she had disguised herself as Natsuki as part of Jin’s plan. The real Natsuki was still at the Kagemori Clan Mansion to help apprehend Akio. Being with Gonzo allowed Asa to use her Break ability to release a bunch of Daemons from their contracts with the Shingo Clan’s warehouse employees.

According to the show’s lore, people having more than a single pair of Daemons was quite rare. Most Daemon pairs didn’t get along. And the resulting compatibility issues could harm the Master. That’s why I was curious about Gonzo being able to create contracts with numerous Daemons without issue. So, yay, to episode 17 explaining that Gonzo’s Daemon pair, named Hyakki Yako, aided in suppressing compatibility issues with other pairs, allowing all of Gonzo’s Daemons to get along.

I don’t know about you, but Hyakki Yako’s ability did come across as mind control to me. It fit with Gonzo’s friendly demeanor while maintaining an aura of something sinister happening in the background.

Asa and Gonzo were likely headed to Shingo’s HQ after cleaning up at the warehouses. Dera’s already making his way there to find Yuru. And so was Danji. So, yeah, even though Shingo paralyzed Yuru by using Fujin and Raijin, I’m quite excited about the mega battle that is about to occur soon to rescue Yuru, Fake Asa, and the hostages.

What did you think of Daemons of the Shadow Realm anime season 1 episodes 15, 16, and 17?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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