Daemons of the Shadow Realm ‒ Episode 24
Despite the season going out with a literal bang (in the form of a warehouse-destroying explosion), there's no real climax to this season. It all just kind of peters out. While the last four episodes have given us some interesting character development—and allowed Yuru and Asa to face some of those behind the troubles in their lives—it's all been tying up loose ends, if even that. The last exciting action we had was the fight with Ivan back in episode 20!
To be fair, there are interesting plot points set up in this episode. Exploring how the modern world sect of Higashi Village is organized could be interesting—as could a potential coup now that the village is all but cut off and Asa and Yuru are no longer there. However, at the same time, the absurdity of the reveal that Nishino Village is seemingly continuing a war from two centuries ago—that is completely irrelevant in the modern day—still looms over this episode.
While I have no doubt the anime is just following the manga, that pacing does not work for an anime. The job of a season finale for a continuing series is to leave me both satisfied with what I have watched so far and dying to come back for more. This episode fails on both counts.
To be frank, I don't really want to continue watching this series. And while part of that is no doubt the aforementioned pacing issues and the villain reveal, the real issue has to do with our protagonists. Both Yuru and Asa are reactive characters rather than proactive ones. Things simply happen to them, and they react. All they have is a nebulous goal (finding their parents) but no concrete way of going about doing that. They are at the whims of others, be that the Kagemori's or Higashi Village, and so they have very little agency in the plot. And while that makes sense given their unique circumstances, it doesn't make either particularly interesting as a protagonist.
All in all, this is an anime that started strong but already feels like it is running out of steam despite the constant addition of new characters and backstories. I'm sure that there are plenty of fans who are still enjoying this anime (as it is competently written with an imaginative world), but for me, any excitement I've had has long since gone the way of the dodo.
Rating:
Daemons of the Shadow Realm is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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