James Nicoll Reviews

2022’s Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Volume 2 is the second tankōbon in Hiromu Arakawa’s ongoing modern fantasy manga series. Yomi no Tsugai in the original Japanese, it has been serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine since December 2021. Volume 2 in English translation was released in 2023.

Following an attack that killed most of the adults in the rustic mountain village of Hagashimura, young Yuru, his guardians Dera and Hana, and his two demons, Right and Left, fled to Japan’s lowlands. Although he is utterly unfamiliar with modern society or its technology, Yuru is determined to find the woman who led the attack, a woman who claims to be his twin sister Asa.

Yuru’s quest was completely successful except for two details. He did not find Asa. He was captured by members of the Kagemori household.

The Kagemori assumed that they could use Yuru as a hostage to ensure the service of his two demons (Tsugai). What the Kagemori did not know: Right and Left’s arrangement with Yuru is unusual and they have more freedom to act as they see fit than do most bound Tsugai. In the end, it is Jin Kagemori who becomes the hostage, not Yuru.

Although he is not at first able to convince the Kagemori to give him what he wants — an immediate audience with Asa — Yuru finally negotiates a meeting with her at the Kagemori mansion. Presumably, the rules of hospitality preclude using the meeting to capture or kill Yuru.

The ensuing meeting is highly productive. Yuru leans much that he did not know before. What Asa tells her brother casts doubt on the stories the villagers told him as he was growing up. It may that the people he saw as his friends and protectors only wanted to exploit him.

Yuru and Asa are the subject of a prophecy, which claims that they are fated to have great power. As a consequence, they find themselves pawns in a struggle between powerful factions. There are more than two factions, not just the Kagemori and the Hagashimura. There’s also whoever hired the small army of Tsugai-controlling mercenaries even now invading the mansion.

~oOo~

This manga is rather violent. If you don’t want to see people bitten in two or blowed up real good, look elsewhere. At least it doesn’t have live babies tossed into bonfires, unlike another Arakawa series.

It is an unfortunate fact that Arakawa’s palette of faces is limited. Many of the characters in this volume look an awful lot like the characters in Fullmetal Alchemist. Of course, their personalities are dissimilar. This far into Arakawa’s career, she seems unlikely to alter her approach to faces.

There’s a valuable lesson in not being too hasty to kill. Most of the surviving mercenaries have no idea who hired them or why. The one person who might have known was needlessly beaten to death trying to flee. How curious that this error in judgment should be leave the reader in doubt as to just who the third faction is. A very plot-friendly move on the author’s part.

There is also a useful lesson in the value of archive binging. Arakawa likes to dole out revelations slowly. What Yusu learns is useful but not especially extensive. It wasn’t much of a reveal for me, but Arakawa novices will feel that they have learnt a lot. Still, the manga is intriguing enough that if later volumes were handy, I would pick up the next one to see where this is going … but this volume was just released and volume three won’t appear until December. I should have given the publisher more time to build up a backlog.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Volume 2 is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), and here (Chapters-Indigo).