REVIEW: ‘Daemons of the Shadow Realm’ Episode 3 – “Dera and Hana”

Three episodes in, and it’s tough to discern just what Daemons of the Shadow Realm is. Because while there’s some fantastic animation, and a sturdy world with likable characters, Daemons of the Shadow Realm Episode 3 continues to war with its own weirdness. But in a series with spiritual beings that believe horses are driving the vehicles they sit in, there’s a level of weirdness we should embrace.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm Episode 3 largely commits its time to the Yuru(Kensho Ono) group. And it’s through this vantage point that some of the more unassumingly charming scenes play out.

The fish-out-of-water trope is going strong and comes to life in the small character-driven beats scattered throughout. For as superfluous as “Dear and Hana” may seem with so much of it concerned with literal pit stops, there’s a lot of subtle growth woven throughout.

Yuru realizes that he was the one left behind. 

Primarily, a critical and heartbreaking realization for Yuru that turns his world – and all that he’s known – on its axis. His parents weren’t taken from him but left by their own volition. That choice in the matter means everything because it doesn’t just suggest they may still be alive but also proves that they left with his sister, Asa, and, in turn, left him behind.

There’s no grand or explosive moment of reckoning here or any manipulative musical cues. Just the weary recognition of a 16-year-old kid whose beliefs in the world and the people he thought he knew have been shattered.

A pretty serious moment of introspection in an episode that loves itself some sillier (again, weirder) moments. Some that are less about the story, and more about the intent. For instance, Daemons of the Shadow Realm Episode 3 puts an inordinate amount of time into Hana (Miyuri Shimabukuro) showing Yuru how to open and eat onigiri.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm Episode 3 lets the animators have fun with the details.

It’s one of those moments in anime where you know the animators are having fun demonstrating all they can do, such a simple act rendered with an impossibly high level of detail so that we feel the pull of the plastic and the tacky sensation on our fingertips.

Other oddities include the merging of the modern world with the fantastical, compromising with a static version of magical realism. The rules are bending and working with the tides of the story for now, and, in a refreshing move, the series shows no overt attempt to explain every single aspect. Instead, it continues to put the viewer into Yuru’s mindset, in awe of the world surrounding him and trying to figure it out as he goes along.

It’s what makes his contemplative scenes with Left (Takako Honda) and Right (Rikiya Koyama) work so well. Because they’re all in an adjustment period, trying to get their bearings. But Left and Right, at least, as daemons have been in this position before, though it’s been about 400 years since they last were awakened.

Left and Right help contextualize Yuru’s new reality. 

They’re the ones who can help contextualize the prophecy surrounding Yuru and Asa (Yume Miyamoto) and the significance of their birth. All the while, unable to comprehend the scale of modern Japan and the number of people who live in the skyscraper buildings on its periphery.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm Episode 3 drops a lot of necessary information without dragging the story down. As twins who divide the day and night due to when they were born, Asa and Yuru both possess great power, though Yuru’s has yet to awaken. It’s yet another element of this new reality he must grow accustomed to, along with information about how his home village operated and the knowledge that his mother was once an outsider before stumbling upon it.

Dera (Yuichi Nakamura) and Hana, meanwhile, work on the logistics as they realize they’ll need to pretend to be married, with Yuru posing as Dera’s son, to get an apartment. These little details help flesh out the story further, reminders that even life-threatening forces and world upheavals don’t negate the necessity of tedious work.

The quality is undeniable but the story itself remains odd. 

There’s a significant amount of quality in the series from Studio Bones, from the rendering of the characters, to the voice acting, and even the direction that ensures the looming nature of the world around them as Yuru adapts, small in the face of it.

And yet it is still somewhat plagued by the implacable nature of its story. It’s too weird, working in jarring contrasts of tone, style, and genre that make it difficult to quantify. It’s enjoyable, and Hiromu Arakawa’s art style is forever and always a welcome treat. But it almost needs a few more minutes per episode to help it settle into the story’s rhythm.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm Episode 3 continues to work despite the dissonant elements working against one another. Yuru, Left, and Right remain lovable characters, and the slowly mounting mystery in the background is an enticing draw for those looking for a puzzle to solve. But it’s a hard one to box in, resulting in a refreshing yet peculiar effort.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm Episode 3 is out now on Crunchyroll.

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