It doesn’t take long for Daemons of the Shadow Realm (Yomi no Tsugai) to catch you off guard. About halfway through the premiere, the tone shifts into something manic, darker, and instantly more intriguing. Based on the manga by Fullmetal Alchemist scribe Hiromu Arakawa, the series takes place in a world where certain humans can see and command pairs of Daemons. The story follows twins – Yuru (Ben Stegmair) and Asa (Molly Zhang) – who, after splitting the day and night, are prophesied to have a great impact on the future of the world.
When we first meet Yuru, he’s a hunter in a remote village. His twin sister, meanwhile, is kept behind bars, though we don’t know why Yuru is allowed to roam free while Asa is caged. However, any sense of stability fractures when their village is overrun by a vicious, violent attack that leaves many of the villagers brutally murdered – including Asa.
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However, Yuru soon learns the truth. The Asa he knew was a lie – a puppet in the place of the real one. The real Asa has come to find him, murdering the fake Asa on the spot.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm lets the characters dictate the tone and build the world.
While, on paper, it aligns itself with many a ‘chosen one‘ narrative, the series is smarter, sillier, and more engaging than that. It is, by virtue of being a work by Arakawa. This lofty endeavor continually expands its dense worldbuilding while anchoring the overarching plot with likable, layered, and complicated characters who don’t conform to easy archetypes. Which, in turn, provides a lot of fun for the voice actors leading the charge.
It also, easily, could become befallen to an all too familiar state of convoluted lore. Arakawa overcomes this by refusing to let the laws of the world dictate the tone, pacing, or story. The characters come first.
We spoke to Ben Stegmair (Hana-kimi, Kaiju No.8) and Molly Zhang (Arknights: Endfield, With You Our Love Will Make it Through) about playing the twins, Yuru and Asa, and how they first responded to the material and their characters’ specific charms.
But Why Tho: Were you familiar with the manga when you were first cast? If not, how was it reading that sucker punch of a first script, and were you as shocked as I was?
Molly Zhang: I also had no idea. I have the manga now – Alejandro Saab, who voices Ivan in the dub, gifted me the whole manga set, so now I’m definitely reading it.
It was a very generous gift. But at the time…I went to the Crunchyroll one-night premiere, where they showed the first episode of a bunch of the new shows, so my first reaction was [while] sitting there. And I’m actually a bit squeamish, I’m a little scaredy cat. Ben was with us – he bought his ticket late, though, so he was in the front row while we were in the middle seat.
But at the time when that twist happened, and I was like ‘oh my god, I can’t believe that happened. And after the episode finished, I could see Ben standing up from his chair and silly walking over to me and going, ‘let’s talk outside.’ So we just had a little freak-out session outside afterward. And that’s from someone who knows the material. I didn’t! Imagine that ‘chomp’ ‘chomp’ scene? I was shocked. I could not believe it, it was crazy.
“What a special experience getting to watch something that you know you’re going to get the chance to play on the big screen.”
Ben Stegmair: I’m a serial manga reader. Not that Molly is not, she reads a lot of manga as well. But specifically shonen, I love to read. I read this series back in 2021-2022, but it’s been a while, and I fell madly in love with it. The story hooked me, just as people are now reacting to Episode 1, which is so exciting. I remember just going past it on the shelves and going, “Is this Fullmetal Alchemist? What is this?’ I took it, and Daemons of the Shadow Realm absolutely blew me out of the water with its first chapter. It was so, so brilliant.
It was one of those things where you get the first volume and go ‘oh my god, I got to go back to the bookstore and buy all of it.’ And at that point, there were only, like, three volumes out, and I was like, ‘ahh, where’s the rest?’ But yeah, I absolutely loved it. And of course watching it at the sneak peek with Molly… At that point, we were like, a week in to knowing we were playing these characters.
And what a special experience getting to watch something that you know you’re going to get the chance to play on the big screen like that. It’s just wonderful. I hope Crunchyroll keeps doing those sneak peek nights because I’m going to them forever now. After all, they’re so, so fun. They just show us what amazing stuff is going to be coming in the upcoming seasons.
But Why Tho: I was going to ask what your first impressions of your characters were, but in this case, Ben, how did your impression of your character change when you knew you were going to play him, versus when you were reading the manga?
Ben Stegmair: When I was reading it, I had a very…as an actor, it’s very important to read things out loud every day. Right? So I’d grab a book, a novel, or one of these manga and go to town. I loved Daemons of the Shadow Realm so much that I’d pick it up and practice different voices. I found Yuru’s voice in, like, 2023 [laughs], which is kind of funny. And I’m very lucky that I get to perform it now because it’s such a full-circle moment.
I’d say that watching the anime really just, with how beautifully it’s animated and how wonderfully Studio Bones animated his [Yuru’s] facial expressions, his personality comes out in a way that’s just so wonderful in terms of a character who feels so deeply. Yuru is very level-headed, and he won’t let emotion get the best of him. He will use it to take action, but he won’t do so impulsively.
And that was so evident in Episode 2 of the anime, when he confronts Gabby, and she tries to goad him into attacking her. And he goes, “Here’s what I’m going to do. Daemons, you don’t have to listen to what I say, but I do have a request if you’d like to do it. I want to kill the runt myself.” Watching that just made me feel that he feels very deeply, but has this calm, level head about him that’s so admirable.
But Why Tho: Molly, how about you? What were your first impressions of your character, and how did they shift based on how quickly we get to see a different side to Asa?
Molly Zhang: When I first saw her, I was like ‘Oh, scary‘ [laughs.] She comes off as a little more imposing right off the bat. The first scene where she shows up is in front of the cage where fake Asa, poor child, is. And I kill myself? Which is crazy for a first episode. For the first scene that I ever recorded, too. We watched the preview first, so our director, Sean, played the preview, and I watched blow myself up, so that was my first impression.
As we recorded more episodes, we saw her lighten up a bit because she was back in her natural environment. And any time she mentions her brother, she’s so happy, she’s so gleeful. And we’ve really incorporated that into the performances. It’s funny, I don’t remember which line it was, but we did two takes where I’m saying ‘brother,’ and there’s one where she’s just happy.
And I did take after that was the same, but I added a squeal at the end, and the director was like, ‘Aw, take that one.’ So anytime we can give her even more joy or moments where we emphasize that her brother is really her only family she knows the whereabouts of, and he’s alive, and she’s thrilled for that, [we do].
But Why Tho: There’s a lot of playfulness in the series that, if you’re not aware of Hiromu Arakawa’s prior work, you wouldn’t expect. Because of that, is there an aspect of your characters – like that childlike affection Asa has for Yuru – that you have the most fun portraying? Is there an element of your character you are most drawn to as a performer?
Molly Zhang: Asa’s affection for her brother is definitely played in a comedic way. My heart breaks for her every time she does, though, because I’m like “Oh my god, she’s been separated from her brother for so long, she just really wants to be around him. And he’s not reciprocating!”
We play it as comedically as we can. One of my favorite moments is when they’re at the Kagemori mansion, and she goes ‘Can I have a hug, brother?’ And she says it a million times in that episode. And each time she’s very upbeat about it. But we threw in one ‘brother, can I have a hug?’ that’s deadpan and serious. I didn’t know if they were going to use it, but it was a lot of fun to break up the dichotomy [of her delivery].
Ben Stegmair: I mean, Yuru…he’s crazy, right? As you would expect from someone who grew up in the mountains. My favorite subsect, in terms of fun, is playing fish out of water Yuru, who is always like, ‘Whoa, tatami? What is this?’ That’s always a lot of fun.
Acting wise it’s always when Yuru the hunter comes alive. I love that scene I talked about in Episode 2, where he is like, “I just want to kill the runt myself. Don’t you touch her.” I love that scene. I love that monologue. I will say the subsect of that is that I love the moments when Yuru asks, “Can I go hunting there?” And then Dera and Hana have to go, “No, that’s against the law.” Yuru is like, why? This place is so weird, dumb, and stupid. I think that’s my favorite part of the anime.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm airs new episodes on Saturdays on Crunchyroll.
