Nesting doll, onion, choose your analogy. Demons of the Shadow Realm just keeps revealing more of itself the deeper we go. It’s a hugely successful manga by a legendary mangaka, so there’s absolutely no rush on the author’s part to sort everything out. How far she intends to go only Arakawa-sensei knows, but it’s up to her – no editor will stop her from doing what she wants, and the anime will surely continue as the pace of the manga allows. As an anime viewer that can be both exhilarating and frustrating, but it does demand a bit of a patience from the audience.
Family was very much the theme here, starting with Hana-san. All the adults here are cagey, picking and choosing how much of themselves they reveal to others. She initially does as the “bandits” instructed and doesn’t tell Dera about the message carved into Yama’s body. But eventually she does – and in doing so, I think she reveals that she does feel something more than utility for these dudes in her life. Yuru’s straightforward nature surely has some impact – the children in Yomi no Tsugai are far more straightforward (as are the daemons). But Hana seems pot-committed to Dera and this whole project, which entails a certain emotional component in addition to pure calculation.
Again we see this dichotomy between the way Hana and Dera behave and the nature of the events they’re discussing. As they do so the boys are out looking for a place to practice archery and finding no joy (in Tokyo you’d have to look for a dojo, pretty much). Kotetsu is tagging along for tracking purposes, and of course Migi and Hidari. Ken is alarmed by Yuru’s ignorance of seemingly every custom and law of the modern world, and promises himself that he’ll raise him right. Then Right and Left sense a tsugai presence, and the story takes yet another unexpected twist.
This time around what we have, by appearances, is two aliens dressed in MIB cosplay with a pug as their master. How did that happen? Somewhere in Noto they sat as relics, forgotten, and when the dog fell down a hill and injured itself its blood got on them, and formed a contract. Having a literal dog as their master is obviously problematic, but [unpronounceable] refuse Yuru’s offer of help to get their contract voided. They just want someone to talk to, and Migi and Hidari are happy to provide that. And soon enough they have more friends, as Oshirasama shows up, Danji in tow.
Yuru having trust issues is perfectly understandable, that’s for sure. So Danji turning out to be a daemon – Yuru deduces this by his lack of a shadow – is definitely a triggering event. Danji has been his best friend since childhood, so whatever the motivation this is just more evidence that there’s no one he can trust. Asa is his partner, and his “mom” his master – this is a sort of human-tsugai relationship we really haven’t seen. In fact the pair of them are zashiki-warashi, as Danji shows to Yuru by revealing his true form.
I see no reason to disbelieve Danji here when he says his master’s intent was to protect Yuru. But I also can’t blame Yuru for being furious. Everyone he thought was family or friend is proving to be something different, and his parents – who abandoned him – are nowhere to be found. Why should be trust anybody, except maybe Left and Right? I can see this as a major problem going forward, as Yuru is being pushed in directions that cut against his essential nature. Is there going to come a crucial moment that calls on him to trust someone, and he’s unable to do so?
