Daemons of the Shadow Realm 1×11 and 1×12 Review – “Big Brother and Little Brother” and “Retainer and Shaman”

Daemons of the Shadow Realm anime season 1 episode 11, titled ‘Big Brother and Little Brother’, and episode 12, titled ‘Retainer and Shaman’, took a break from the action to introduce new characters and expand the world.

After the action-heavy previous episode, ‘Big Brother and Little Brother’ focused on Yuru, Dera, Left, and Right trying to find Long-Arm and Long-Leg’s Master. From what we know about Daemon contracts in such a fictional world, Masters needed to be near their Daemons, regardless of whether the Daemons agreed to follow their Master’s orders or not. So, that meant that whoever was controlling Long-Arm and Long-Leg needed to be somewhere inside the Tadera family’s secret dimension.

I have to say that I wasn’t expecting the mysterious Master to be a normal-looking teenage kid. And not only any teen kid. It’s revealed that the young teen was named Tadera Ken, making him… wait for it… Dera’s half-brother!

I enjoyed the comedic moment where Dera racked his brain to figure out if Ken was his son or his half-brother. Dera didn’t know he even had a little brother because he hadn’t been in contact with his father, Roei Tadera, for years now. Roei simply vanished one day, and Dera found himself responsible for taking over Roei’s job to be Higashi Village’s contact with the outside world.

As for Ken being responsible for Long-Arm and Long-Leg attacking our leads, it’s shared that those vicious Daemons weren’t following Ken’s orders at all. Ken happened to find the artifacts housing the Daemons and signed a contract with the Daemon duo without realizing what he had gotten himself into. Ken just wanted powerful Daemons to feel safe on his journey to find Dera.

At least, Ken tried to prevent the Daemons from killing people after he realized his mistake. That was the reason Ken had entered the Tadera family hideout to keep the Daemon duo away from society. Yuru and the others appearing, and the Daemons having beef with the legendary twins, as well as Left and Right, were unfortunate coincidences.

Ken’s emotional state made sense for such a young character. He was glad to have connected with his elder brother, but he was still an emotional mess after having lost his mother and wanting to reconnect with their father. As someone also searching for his parents, Yuru could relate to Ken’s feelings. From the information shared, Roei was linked to Yuru and Asa’s parents being able to run away from Higashi Village, and then recently disappearing.

I’m not sure what to think about Ken as of yet. He might grow on me. Hopefully, he gets to serve a purpose in the narrative instead of being used for comedic relief or a damsel-in-distress to emotionally manipulate Dera down the line.

Coming to ‘Retainer and Shaman’, this was yet another talk-heavy episode that focused more on what the Kagemori Clan was up to. Jin continued to investigate how the mercenaries managed to sneak into the Kagemori Manor. The mercenary woman, who now worked for the Kagemori Clan, had mentioned a doorway in one of the west walls allowing them safe passage.

Of course, the mystery doorway didn’t exist anymore. It wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place. However, Jin did notice two fine cuts on the wall. I mean, while Jin and Asa were puzzled about what the fine cuts could point toward, I think it’s safe to assume that those cuts were made by the katana-wielding mercenary named Ivan Yosano. Frankly, I would have preferred the creative team to keep the answer to the mystery hidden from the audience just a bit longer.

With Ken being introduced in episode 11, we got to learn more about Ivan in episode 12. Ivan’s katanas were actually Daemons. From what I could understand, he could use the katanas to create portals and gateways, which he could then use to hide or have people pass through. What was surprising was how Ivan’s ability could be used on objects and people.

While I wasn’t surprised by Ivan creating the doorway for the mercenaries to infiltrate the Kagemori Manor, I have to say that I was genuinely surprised when Ivan popped out of the Shaman’s belly after the Shaman entered Higashi Village to see how things were going.

I assumed other Daemons would have sensed Ivan having messed with Shaman’s anatomy in such a manner. I would also assume security being boosted inside the Higashi Village after the recent Kagemori Clan surprise attack. But nopes. Higashi Village came across as poorly prepared… again.

Their incompetence made me wonder how such a village managed to survive for this long while looking after Yuru. Theoretically, the Kagemori Clan could have attacked the village years ago to kidnap Yuru. I guess I will have to chalk it up to plot convenience, unless we get to see the residents of Higashi Village unleash an effective counterattack against Ivan in the upcoming episode.

As for who Ivan was working for, it turned out that his boss was Hayato Shingo. He was another Kagemori Clan member who was also revealed to be Asuma’s maternal uncle. We had been told that not every Kagemori Clan member agreed with the Clan Head’s plan when it came to how the twins should be treated or used. Asuma occasionally reported to Hayato, basically going against his own father. And Hayato wasn’t happy about how Asuma still hadn’t managed to capture Yuru. Also, why would Hayato order Ivan to kill more Higashi villagers? What would that accomplish?

There are a bunch of players trying to pull strings in the background. And while enjoyable, I have to say that it’s not easy to keep up with everything that’s happening around Yuru and Asa.

Heck! We got to learn that Asa’s been receiving random calls from her grandmother, who delivers the same speech every time about wanting Asa to come visit her. Of course, it was a trap, with the grandmother being controlled by a spider-like Daemon. Now, which clan was controlling that particular Daemon? And why?

As I said, there are a lot of rival factions inside the established clans, and it’s not easy to keep track of allegiances. Apparantly, the assassination attempts on Yuru’s life while growing up inside the village were inside jobs. Sigh! I need a notebook to make sense of such a political web.

But having said that, I’m looking forward to Yuru and the rest quite possibly contacting Yuru’s maternal grandparents for new leads and falling into a trap. I also want to know about Ivan’s goal inside Higashi Village.

Did you watch Daemons of the Shadow Realm anime season 1 episodes 11 and 12? What did you think of them?

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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