Daemons of the Shadow Realm

Episode 18

When it comes down to it, this episode is mostly about Asuma. From the start, he's seemed shady. Not only does he outwardly have a point of view that clashes with the Kagemori clan as a whole, but his entire vibe makes it feel like he's always putting up a falsely pleasant front.

That said, despite being cast in the role of villain this arc—along with his Uncle Hayato and Ivan—it's been relatively clear that he's not 100% on his uncle's side. Even before the reveal of what Yozakura told Yuru during his capture, Asuma has been acting odd. He's explained more than he's needed to in front of the captive Yuru and could have done more to protect Hayato during Yuru's attack. But while Yozakura paints Asuma in the light of a kid whose daemons are basically being held hostage by a person they secretly loathe, I'm not sure I fully buy it.

Don't get me wrong. Hayato is a piece of trash, and I have no doubt that Asuma's mother was used and abused by him and their extended family. I'm also certain that Asuma hates his uncle. However, I think Asuma is more puppet master than hapless victim in all this.

Basically, Hayato has become a thorn in Asuma's side—doing more to hurt Asuma's cause than to help it. He needs to cut them off—and wants to do so in a way that A) gets revenge for his mother and B) makes him come off as a loyal member of the family (and, ideally, a victim in the whole situation). If he gains the trust of not only Yuru but Asa as well through his actions, he's going to come out of all this as the unquestionable winner.

As for the actual plot of the episode, we end this on a fantastic cliffhanger. On one side, we have Asa showing up to save Fake Asa and the kidnapped village girl. This makes for a much more volatile situation than it was before and sets things up for both violence and drama—and we'll have to come back next episode to see what mixture we get.

On the other side of things, we have Yuru facing a surprisingly complex moral dilemma. While he came to rescue Fake Asa and the village girl, the situation has now changed dramatically. Ivan seems to know something about what happened to Yuru and Asa's parents—and now might be the only chance Yuru has to capture him. But more than that, Ivan is trying to kill Left—meaning one of Yuru's few true friends in this world needs his help. Thus, Yuru is left with either saving the life of a friend and the possibility of finding out his parents' fate or saving the creature that deceived him for years along with the life of an innocent child. There is no correct answer here; neither choice is immoral. I'm excited to see which he chooses in the end and why—along with the consequences of that choice that may come to haunt him.

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Daemons of the Shadow Realm is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.