Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist was such a hit that after the original anime series overtook the comic and kind of became its own thing, fans started demanding a more faithful adaptation and actually got it. Today, both Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are cited as one of the best anime ever. But success is a fickle beast. Sure, Arakawa has the praise and admiration of thousands, but now all of her later works will automatically be compared to Fullmetal Alchemist. Like now. An anime adaptation of Arakawa’s Daemons of the Shadow Realm premiered in early April. Here’s how it compares to her most famous creation, sans major spoilers.

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daemons of the shadow realm review

The Series Lacks a Distinctive Look

You can spot a scene from Fullmetal Alchemist from a mile away. If it doesn’t feature one of its two unmistakable protagonists — a short blonde guy with a metal arm in a red coat or (appearance wise) a massive guy in medieval armor — there are still tons of other things that tell you you’re watching FMA. Sci-fi armor-like prosthetics in a world based on the Industrial Revolution. Magic-like alchemy used like state-sponsored science triggered via occult transmutation circles. Distinctive uniforms. Daemons of the Shadow Realm has precisely none of that.

Hiromu Arakawa has a unique style but, besides that, it’d be difficult to pick her new anime out of a lineup. The protagonist is really just a guy with a bow and arrow, initially wearing kind of unusual clothing but eventually losing it, and by the end of Episode 3 he is just… a blonde guy. The daemons could have helped there. Daemons of the Shadow Realm is set in a world where pairs of supernatural creatures can serve, harm or influence humans. This would’ve been a great way for the show to establish its own identity. But after a few episodes and the introduction of several daemons, things are looking a little bit bland.

The main hero, Yuru, commands a duo of daemons that are humanoid for most of the time. They’re big and have wild anime hair and old-fashioned clothing but it’s not anything we haven’t seen a hundred times before. Other daemons include Pac-Man from hell: two ghosts that join together to make a massive biting mouth with teeth and multiple eyes, because Arakawa loves herself some multiple eyes. That one was fun. But then you have a daemon that looks like a giant anglerfish or a “goddess” daemon that is a white lady on a white horse.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how these creatures look, which really hurts the anime given the “cool-weird monster” competition out there like Jujutsu Kaisen or Chainsaw Man. So far, nothing in Daemons comes even close to the creativity we saw in those anime shows.

Arakawa Doing What She Does Best with the Characters

Hiromu Arakawa is an absolute master at giving the fans what they think they want but sneaking in cliché-breakers inside it, like dog owners wrapping medicine in a slice of ham. Take Fullmetal Alchemist, for example — you had your tough-as-nails mentor (Izumi Curtis) and your childhood-friend-turned-emotional-anchor (Winry Rockbell). Standard. But then it turns out that those characters were so much more. The terrifying Izumi turns into the biggest marshmallow in the arms of her loving husband and eventually becomes something of a surrogate mother figure to the heroes, the Elric brothers.

Winry is similarly hard to pigeonhole. She is the caring girl in the life of the Elrics and a link to their childhood, but she is also a skilled mechanic, a total gearhead with muscles and grease stains to show for it. She, Izumi, and many other FMA characters, male and female, contain fascinating multitudes. So far, Yuru from Daemons of the Shadow Realm does not. But others do.

The character Asa, for example, is introduced as a cold and ruthless killer with an eyepatch (because with Arakawa it’s either 1 eye or 20) but soon is revealed to also be caring to her friends and genuinely emotional when meeting her lost family. A daemon user Gabby, the owner of Satan’s Pac-Man, has already shown similar promise in the first few episodes. And if that familiar Arakawa magic — which reveals, say, boring, annoying loudmouths as total badasses when cornered — is felt so early on in Daemons, we can probably expect the same for Yuru and others.

The One Thing That May Put Daemons on the Anime Map

Daemons of the Shadow Realm takes place in the real world where, unbeknownst to most people, paranormal creatures exist and have been influencing history for millennia. It’s not the most original of setups. It certainly doesn’t compare to the inventive magic-steampunk world of Fullmetal Alchemist. But one part of it that will hopefully become a running theme may give the anime a leg up: a sort of iyashikei (healing type) anime appreciation for all the comforts of modern life.

We see this when a character from a feudal Japanese village eats an onigiri for the first time and can’t believe he’s getting so much rice (which was rarely eaten by non-samurai in pre-modern times.) Amidst gory battles, family drama, death and tears, Daemons of the Shadow Realm kind of pauses in episode 3 to give thanks for things we take for granted.

Because it IS amazing that so many of us have easy access to food that not that long ago would have only been enjoyed by royalty. And clean public toilets? Miracles. As are cars, cell phones, running water and electric lights. It takes the POV of an outsider to really make you stop and consider just how blessed you are in ways you haven’t thought of before. It’s not the main point of a show, but it gives Daemons a fun edge.

There are already 12 volumes of the manga out there so a lot of the wishes and hopes expressed here can already be verified. But we’re specifically talking about the anime and addressing people who are considering watching it because it came from the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist: It’s not FMA but you will recognize a lot of cool elements along the way as the series searches for its own identity that has the potential of being just as immersive as the story of the Elric brothers.

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Updated On September 18, 2026