Daemons of the Shadow Realm 1×22 and 1×23 Review – “Emotion and Reason”

Daemons of the Shadow Realm anime season 1 episode 22, titled ‘The Kagemori Brothers and the Kuroya Siblings’, and episode 23, titled ‘Emotion and Reason’, continued to introduce new threats to the board as Asa and Yuru tried to take a breather.

TRIGGER WARNING: This post mentions a character attempting suicide. Proceed with caution.

There’s just no rest for the twins. Having taken out Shingo and surviving Ivan in the previous episodes, there’s still a whole lot that Asa and Yuru have yet to face. The Clans won’t rest until they have acquired the twins and use them to further their plans for, more or less, world domination. The Kagemori Clan has been taking care of Asa, but you can still tell that they consider Asa and Yuru as essential assets. The only difference is that, unlike some of the other Clans, the Kagemoris were a bit more “gentle” in their treatment toward the twins.

Episode 22 featured a flashback to add more context to Asuma’s past, especially about how Asuma’s mother, Iori, met Gonzo and became part of the Kagemori Clan. I had assumed that Iori came from a family that already knew about Daemons. However, that wasn’t the case at all. Turns out, Iori was from a Daemon-less family and grew up under a whole lot of pressure from her parents about needing to achieve something substantial. Unfortunately, whatever Iori did was never enough for her parents, leading her to be ignored by them and the rest of the family. Iori experienced a lot of isolation, which resulted in her contemplating suicide more than once.

Iori stumbled upon her two Daemon relics by chance and formed a contract with them. I liked how even possessing two Daemons didn’t really help Iori’s situation. Her family proceeded to believe she was talking to herself, which then transformed into them thinking the devil had cursed her. Only Iori’s brother was interested in learning more about the existence of Daemons and how they could be used. And we know what he became as the years passed.

In a sense, I appreciated the narrative basically saying that someone like Iori was in dire need of professional help. Making new friends doesn’t magically do away with depression and suicidal thoughts.

A young Gonzo offering a (somewhat) safe place to Iori was a step in the right direction. And while we don’t know how Iori died, one can assume Gonzo and the Kagemori Clan did what they could to provide Iori with the help she required. I say this because her Daemons, who were passed down to Asuma, didn’t hold any ill will toward Gonzo.

Coming back to the present, most of episode 22 was about dealing with Akio. As far as Jin was concerned, Akio would need to be executed once Gonzo returned to the mansion. Akio’s betrayal was too severe to be pardoned. Akio’s siblings trying to deal with their conflicted feelings made sense. They were loyal to the Kagemori Clan, but they also wanted Akio to be forgiven and live.

The reason behind Akio’s betrayal was revealed to be related to family. Apparently, Akio was born with some version of Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, which led him to feel like an outsider even when surrounded by his adopted siblings. Over time, Akio’s search had him connect to others with the same condition, leading him to find his birth parents.

I mean, I don’t know about you, but I think the fact that Akio managed to find his birth parents online, who then encouraged him to attack Asa, seemed like too much of a coincidence. I think it’s safe to assume some other sinister clan member figured out a way to exploit Akio’s need for a family connection. The poor guy.

Whoever’s manipulating Akio wasn’t playing around. They were so against the Kagemori Clan that they weren’t above using the helpless relics of Akio’s Daemons as minibombs.

Episode 23, ‘Emotion and Reason’, did reveal that a clan from Western Japan was responsible for Akio’s escape and for using the relics as minibombs. But I’m unsure if that particular Clan was the same one that Ivan’s been working with. From what I could tell, the Western Clan wasn’t really interested in capturing Yuru and Asa, hence their initial orders to have Akio kill Asa. I think their mission had more to do with throwing a wrench in the plans that the Kagemori Clan and Higashi Village had for the twins. The Western Clan was more about obtaining power after taking the twins off the board.

One of the Western Clan members seemed to own a Daemon resembling a chubby little mummy, who was very excited about enacting violence. I want to see more of that deranged Daemon!

With Akio on the run and Asa and Yuru having lost their latest lead to find their parents, the twins had no choice but to wait things out for now. The scene where Asa tried to joke with Jin about how she was used to being a target… my heart!

As for Yuru, all the fighting and being shot in the shoulder finally caught up to him. Here’s human, after all. Yuru needed to rest and recover his strength. You could tell he appreciated being surrounded by a whole bunch of people and Daemons who wanted him to feel better, which was a sharp contrast to how the Higashio villagers treated him by faking kindness.

The scene involving Yuru being treated added much-needed comedy to the more serious tone of Akio’s status. Hana was understandably concerned about Azami, yet another undocumented child from Higashi Village, being added to the household. I also laughed at how Hana treated different Daemons. She was excited about Zashiki-Warashi staying because their lore was about bringing blessings to households. Hana wanted the alien-looking duo to leave with their dog. And she couldn’t be outright annoyed by Oshira, because they were basically Daemon Gods.

From what I can tell, there’s only one more episode left in the first season of Daemons of the Shadow Realm anime. And there’s still so much left to tell. That’s why I have my fingers crossed that this anime gets renewed for a second season. I have enjoyed watching and reviewing it. The world-building is interesting. The action is cool. The comedy is effective. And I’m a fan of the sibling dynamic between Yuru and Asa.

Did you watch Daemons of the Shadow Realm anime season 1 episodes 22 and 23? 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.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary