#danji

The story is about Yuru who is the village’s Mr. Capable. He can hunt; he’s reliable; most of all, he’s friendly to everyone. His biggest character trait is that he cares a lot about his younger twin sister Asa who has been locked up for unknown reasons. Yuru is dedicated to taking care of her for the rest of his life. However, one day, flying vehicles surround his village, killing almost everyone on sight as they’re after Yuru. As Yuru is trying to rescue the incarcerated Asa, a tall woman who looks very similar to Asa shows up and kills her; it turns out that she is supposedly the real Asa who has come for her brother Yuru. While escaping from her, Dera, a traveling merchant, helps Yuru by giving him a talisman that contains the power to summon daemons called Left and Right.

Right off the bat, I’m still having a bit of trouble processing everything because it went from slow to fast really quick—it’s like speeding once you get to a highway from a local road. I was expecting an asian-inspired fantasy story from the vibes, but helicopters, guns and even smart phones start showing up and I just got confused so fast. Is it like those stories where only the village is a secluded area while the outside world is a technologically advanced world? I read several stories similar to that premise, but I do hope that this one will be good!

The story seems to focus on summoning daemons, which reminds me of SMT in a way. Yuru has two, so is he special in that sense or can he get more? That girl with the pigtails has one, though. Regardless, the story is like SMT in a way. I do wonder how important these daemons will be later on.

I think the one thing that’s nagging at me the most is the fact that Yuru’s village has been lying to him the entire time. After a rewatch, I can only look at the village segments with anxiety knowing that every person in this village practically hid something about Yuru. No one ever told him his sister isn’t actually his sister. No one told him that “Asa” wasn’t actually casting a barrier as she has never been seen doing it. It just gives off an eerie sensation now. Just why were they all lying to Yuru?

The animation studio is from BONES, which makes sense given they animated Arakawa’s magnum opus, Fullmetal Alchemist. I feel like there’s more action here than in FMA, so it definitely shows that BONES has upped their game since 2009-2010.

The voice acting is actually pretty good! Yuru is voiced by Kensho Ono who voiced characters like Yuri Briar from Spy x Family and Kuroko from Kuroko’s Basketball. I think this is one of the rare times Ono voiced an older brother as he tends to voice younger brothers like Yuri and even Touma from Hell’s Paradise. Asa is voiced by Yume Miyamoto, who voiced Rouge in Metallic Rouge, which is a Bones original (and not very good) and Matsuya from Captivated By You—coincidentally, Ono was also in that anime as Hayashi. Dera is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura who voiced Shidou in Blue Lock and Flins in Genshin Impact. Danji is voiced by Ryota Osaka who voiced Haruaki from Yohaji and Tsubakino from Wind Breaker! Left, the female daemon is voiced by Takako Honda who voiced Anko from Naruto and MarineChimairamon in Digimon Beatbreak. Right, the male daemon, is voiced by Rikiya Koyama who voiced Shinigami from Soul Eater and Klaus from Blood Blockade Battlefront. Gabu, the girl with the pigtails, is voiced by Misaki Kuno who voiced Chiropmon in Digimon Beatbreak and Hawk from Seven Deadly Sins. Honestly, this is a solid voice cast, and I can’t to see more of them!

Hopefully, someone will tell Yuru what the heck is going on. Also, I do wonder why his name is spelled and pronounced as Yuru, when night is supposed to be Yo-ru. Maybe that’ll be explained later on? Anyways, let me know your thoughts on this episode!