Daemons of the Shadow Realm gives us some entirely foreseeable consequences of the previous battles in Ep. 23 “Emotion and Reason”. This not only applies to the fever Yuru comes down with, since he’s effectively a medieval person encountering the kinds of diseases you’d normally find in a modern Japan. This also applies to that suicide bombing that happens in the previous episode. Only the whole, this is an episode full of both conspiracy and relaxation in turn.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm Ep. 23 “Emotion and Reason”: Details in Brief
Daemons of the Shadow Realm Ep. 23 “Emotion and Reason” is the twenty-third episode (you can read my reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, Ep. 8, Ep. 9, Ep. 10, Ep. 11, Ep. 12, Ep. 13, Ep. 14, Ep. 15, Ep. 16, Ep. 17, Ep. 18, Ep. 19, Ep. 20, Ep. 21, and Ep. 22 here) of this dark fantasy action adventure anime series overall, as well as being the first episode of the second cours. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Silver Spoon, The Heroic Legend of Arslan).
Bones Film (Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Ouran High School Host Club, My Hero Academia) is the animation studio behind this anime. Masahiro Andō is the director behind this anime, with Noboru Takagi as the writer, and Kenichiro Suehiro as the composer for the music.
Speaking of that music, the opening theme song for the second cours of Daemons of the Shadow Realm is “Back Shot” by Masanori Otoda. Meanwhile, “Kujaku” (孔雀; lit. ”Peacock”) by Kei Sugawara is the ending theme song for the same.
You can watch Daemons of the Shadow Realm exclusively on Crunchyroll.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm Ep. 23 “Emotion and Reason”: The Good
Ep. 23 “Emotion and Reason” is really all about consequences that you could see coming from a mile away. Especially with the value of hindsight in play. For example, there’s Yuru (voiced by Kensho Ono (JP) and Ben Stegmair (EN)) coming down with a fever. Infection from his wounds inflicted during the battles in the previous episodes is an entirely foreseeable consequence, as well as the in-show explanation of Yuru not being used to the kind of germs living in modern Japan due to having lived in what’s effectively a medieval Japanese village for his entire life up until now.
You can even see why Asa (voiced by Yume Miyamoto (JP) and Molly Zhang (EN)) and the Kagemori family are unable to help here. They could’ve if they still had their very highly equipped and heavily funded private clinic in their manor. Alas, the small matter of a supernatural bomb going off in there renders the entire clinic unusable. Yuru can’t even go into a public medical facility to get treated because he doesn’t have Japanese citizenship papers, and so can’t get medical treatment without being turned in to the police. Thus, it explains why he gets home treatment at Dera’s (voiced by Yuichi Nakamura (JP) and Jarrod Greene (EN)) and Hana’s (voiced by Miyuri Shimabukuro (JP) and Meggie-Elise (EN)) place instead. It’s this kind of “It makes perfect sense” plot that makes you appreciate Hiromu Arakawa even more as an excellent story writer.
A New Plot Brewing Up
In fact, you can appreciate Hiromu Arakawa even more for the plot developments in this episode. The story has given strong hints that there’s a third faction at play here aside from Higashi Village and the Kagemori family. Now is when we get official confirmation that this third faction exists, and we even are introduced to the leaders of that faction. All seemingly involved in some sort of conspiracy to bring down both Higashi and Kagemori.
And with Akio (voiced by Ryunosuke Watanuki (JP) and Zac Loera (EN)) involved in that scheme up to his arms…or rather, arm. Enough so that he’s fully willing to murder Kagemori people he’s worked with for years for the sake of that scheme. Why, you might ask? Well, it’s all seemingly to serve the interests of a mysterious mother who is implied to not have his best interests in mind. Hoo boy, you can tell Akio is very messed up in the head here to go with being messed up in the body, what with his inability to feel pain and all. Just how messed up will have to wait for the next episode of Daemons of the Shadow Realm. Assuming that they even have time for it due to said next episode being the season finale.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm Ep. 23 “Emotion and Reason”: The Bad
Alas, action junkies will probably be a bit disappointed in Ep. 23 “Emotion and Reason”. There is only a single action scene in this episode, and that consists of Akio literally choking a Kagemori retainer to death with a single arm and while being attacked by that retainer’s daemons at the same time. It’s as impressive as it is horrific due to the disturbing levels of suffocation details Bones Film’s animators gave that scene. However, it lasts one or two minutes at maximum, so action junkies might not get much out of it.
Anime Recommendations
However, action junkies looking for their kick can check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, Solo Leveling, Black Butler, Nyaight of the Living Cat, May I Ask for One Final Thing?, TRIGUN STARGAZE, and / or Kagurabachi for bloody action. If you want more story-focused anime though, then you might also like Spy x Family, Senpai is an Otokonoko, Apocalypse Hotel, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, My Dress-Up Darling, This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Hana-Kimi, Journal with Witch, Witch Hat Atelier, and / or Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia.
What did you think of this week’s episode of Daemons of the Shadow Realm? Are you eager for the season finale coming next week? Tell us your emotional and rational thoughts in the comments section below.
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