Daemons of the Shadow Realm
Short Synopsis: A teenage hunter’s primitive village is attacked by enemies with modern vehicles and weaponry.
Wooper: I figured it’d be more than just one person giving his thoughts on the premiere of the new Hiromu Arakawa adaptation, but maybe “author of Fullmetal Alchemist” doesn’t have the clout it once did. Or maybe Yomi no Tsugai’s localized title is so nonspecific that people are unknowingly passing it over – I wouldn’t blame them, especially in a post-Demon Slayer world. Setting aside the questions of its popularity or marketing, Daemons is off to a pretty good start with this episode. It’s got strong animation and a good handle on how to incorporate its occasional 3D elements into the frame, while thankfully keeping its supernatural servants restricted to the 2D plane. Even a scene where the main character’s newly awakened daemons take flight and tear a pair of helicopters to pieces only used CG for the copters themselves, which is a good sign. The establishing minutes provide a good intro to Yuru and his village, and the chaos of the subsequent invasion is fairly effective. My main issue is that Yuru’s bond with his twin sister is given limited focus, which has repercussions at a critical point during the invasion – but there’s clearly a lot we have yet to learn about both her identity and Daemons’ larger mythology. My curiosity isn’t exactly piqued, but I’ll obviously be returning for episode 2, so assuming the show’s explanation is satisfying, it’ll probably make a weekly viewer out of me.
Potential: 60%
Killed Again, Mr. Detective?
Short Synopsis: A young detective gets himself into a murder case while on a cruise… as a murder victim.
Mario: The “Killed Again, Mr. Detective” title doesn’t become relevant until the last scene of this episode, which is the show’s main twist: our boy has the ability to come back to life after getting killed. For me, though, that’s the only noteworthy thing in this episode, as I care much less about the characters and the case they are currently following. It isn’t a good sign, for example, to introduce a character by having them sniff a boy’s jacket. Likewise, none of the dialogue sounds like proper human speech, and even our protagonist’s first reaction when he sees the dead body is very unnatural. The case itself is mostly set up so far but you can somewhat tell who’s important based on their over-designed appearance. Sadly, even though I like the mystery genre in general, I don’t see myself coming back for more of this one.
Potential: 10%
Kirio Fan Club
Short Synopsis: A pair of high school girls crack jokes while competing over their love of the same guy.
Wooper: Kirio Fan Club belongs to a subset of anime comedies about high school girls chatting aimlessly, which I’ve never been a big fan of (if I had to pick a favorite, I’d go with Joshiraku). What sets Fan Club apart is that its two comediennes like the same boy, so a good portion of their riffing has to do with him, but seeing as his bangs are drawn long enough to purposely obscure his eyes, he’s more MacGuffin than man. By the end of the episode, it becomes clear that only one of them truly has a crush on Kirio, while the other is merely playing along to remain close to her friend (and maybe to sabotage her efforts to be with him). That’s pretty novel, but it’s everything before that which I’m not thrilled about – the jokes just weren’t there, especially in the episode’s second half, where the events of one of the girl’s dreams began to come true and we had to wait ages for a clearly telegraphed payoff. There are some positives here – the upbeat rap-rock OP, the passable visuals, a particular blackboard-related gag – but overall the gutter balls far outweighed the strikes for me.
Potential: 20%
Mario: I think it’s on me that I had the wrong impression about this show after watching the pre-OP scene. When a random girl confesses to a boy, and then it pulls back to reveal two girls who listen to it, with the comment that “we never knew loving someone could be so… hurtful”, I did expect a “Scum’s Wish” clone in terms of tone and style with emotional manipulation. Turns out Kirio Fan Club is more of a comedy about two girls that have the same crush, a boy “so special” they are afraid to talk to. “Comedy” is a loose term here as sometimes I’m not sure if the humor is intentional or not. As it stands, while I do not mind shows about girls talking aimlessly (as Wooper put it), most of what they talk about is about a faceless guy, and I’m not sure if that topic is interesting enough to maintain our attention for a full cour.
Potential: 20%
The post Spring 2026 Impressions: Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Killed Again Mr. Detective?, Kirio Fan Club appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
