Whether you are a fan of Hiromu Arakawa’s works like Fullmetal Alchemist, Silver Spoon, or the manga adaptation of The Heroic Legend of Arslan or not, this is the anime to watch this year. Bones Film returns to head the animation of Daemons of the Shadow Realm, another Arakawa anime adaptation. Their team brought all the animation goodness we know and love—and pushed the boundaries with updated, modern technology.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm follows Yuru, a young hunter who lives in a small village deep in the mountains, hunts wild game, and leads a humble life with Asa, his younger twin sister. Their peaceful lives are torn apart when a dragon’s roar echoes across the sky. What secrets lurk within their village? What fate awaits them? Enter a breathtaking mystical fantasy as exciting daemon battles intertwine the mysterious and supernatural.
As Daemons of the Shadow Realm Season 1 almost wraps up, CGMagazine had a fun virtual interview with the twin siblings themselves at the beginning of the season—speaking with the English voice actors for Yuru and Asa: Ben Stegmair and Molly Zhang. Stegmair and Zhang discussed how they became attached and fell in love with Daemons of the Shadow Realm. Each of them also talked about how they approached and found the voices for Yuru and Asa, adding more layers than you think you hear on screen! Ending it off, they each explained why you should be watching this anime they’ve both worked very hard on.
I’m a big fan of Hiromu Arakawa’s works, such as Fullmetal Alchemist…
Molly Zhang: So are we all!
Exactly! That’s what I grew up on. I wanted to know each of your initial reactions to jumping into Daemons of the Shadow Realm—from reading the dialogue for the first episode, stepping into the booth, and all of that?
Molly Zhang: Yeah, I’m gonna jump in because I know Ben is going to talk about the manga. I actually watched episode one with Ben at the theatres because Crunchyroll was doing their premiere nights. The Daemons of the Shadow Realm first episode was premiering during that. So, we got to watch it together. He bought his tickets late, though, so he was sitting at the very front—separated from the rest of us. But we still got to watch it together.
We were shocked, and then we ran into the hallway to freak out a little bit. And then, while recording the first episode, I had already seen it. It was really exciting! He’s got much more context because he came from a completely different background.
Ben Stegmair: Yeah, I’ve been reading the manga for a few years now. I think I started reading it after COVID ended or ‘ended’—when the era of being indoors ended. I fell madly in love with the series. I would have been a fan even if I wasn’t in it in any way, shape, or form. I already loved the manga, and I would’ve loved the anime—but now, I have a special connection with Yuru.
Watching that sneak peek in theatres with Molly was a fantastic experience. Then, reading what our ADR writer, Matthew Greenbaum, cooked up was even more of a special treat because he does such brilliant work in everything he’s in. It was an emotional first episode, to say the least.
Yeah, we get a lot of Yuru’s background. Meanwhile, Asa comes in swinging like, “Oh my goodness, who is this?” While we haven’t seen Asa’s daemons yet, we’ve seen Yuru’s and a couple of characters’ daemons now. Do each of you have your favourites so far?
Molly Zhang: Yeah, I’m a horse girl. I like horses. I think it’s episode 2 where you see Oshirasama and her white, sparkly pony. Aesthetically, I love that! And I also like the raccoon that shows up later in the latest dubbed episode because he’s just a little guy. And sometimes, I could swap around and do a horse and raccoon pairing. I think that’d be my favourite right now.
Ben Stegmair: It’s quite simple for me, but I love Right and Left. How could you not feel so protected and safe with those two towering figures over him? So yeah, I’d probably go with Right and Left. I don’t think I can choose one pair.
But yeah, we actually have met Asa’s daemons already. We just don’t know their names as of yet because Asa just signed a contract with some of the newest daemons of the most recent dub episode.
Oh, right!
Ben Stegmair: I love those little buggers too. They’re adorable whenever they’re in their small form. I love them too!
Yes, love them too! And building on what you’ve both said before, being fans of Arakawa’s works, what ideas about bringing the voices to life did each of you have for Daemons of the Shadow Realm?
Ben Stegmair: Knowing Arakawa’s work and being a fan of all of her previous work, not just Daemons. Specifically, Daemons is the first one I fell in love with, which is such a weird thing to read the last work [of the mangaka]—and then the others. Coming into this series, I knew that Arakawa wrote characters that are so full and have so much depth and layers. Each one of her characters have their own different goals, dreams, and desires. Each of them has a purpose for being in the story.
And when you’re playing these characters that are so well written, that have such depth, similar to us in real life… have characters that they put on for specific situations. So coming into it, I knew that there were three Yurus that I wanted to play with. The first one, which we see in episode one, is the chill Yuru. The one that goes, “Hey Danji, just got back.” That [Yuru] is very chill, and very content with his life.
The second is the innocent Yuru, who loves his sister, his family, and he’s experiencing the world for the first time. So whenever you hear him say things like, “Rice? No millet?! There’s even seaweed!’ That’s where that comes from. Then, there’s the third one, which is the hunter and protector—which is, “You do not need to worry, Asa.”
So yeah, there was a clear indication of what voices I wanted to do for this character and try. The challenge was trying to find a way to make them all sound like they all come from the same person. But Yuru is the most similar to me of any character I’ve ever played because I go to those ranges every single day of my normal life.
That’s fair. And for you, Molly?
Molly Zhang: Asa has a lot of different parts of her. There are [layers] beyond just the episode when she shows up. This is where she gets really excited, bubbly, and the background is pink and sparkly—and she’s raving about how, “Wow, my brother’s so cool! He’s got the mind of a great hunter.” She gets really excited.
Shawn Gann, our director for Daemons of the Shadow Realm, I’ve worked with him before. [Back then,] I voiced a younger girl, and he knew I could do the range. So it was really cool that regular teen Asa is just my regular voice, my natural voice. Something I’ve heard Shawn talk about is that he loves when people are very comfortable and naturally in their own range, and they know how to play with that natural voice. They’re so confident in what and who they are as their base self.
In terms of what anime I perform, this is the closest to my natural voice and range. In this industry, especially with feminine voices, anime girls look very young, and they tend to be a little higher in pitch. So I always kind of fake it to be a little higher, but for Asa, she’s just my regular pitch. Sometimes, we lighten it or add some grit. But for the most part, teen Asa is my regular voice. Then, little baby Asa in the cage is me putting on a voice. We thought that was a really fun dynamic there.
Yeah, I loved that little shift between the younger Asa and teen Asa. I also didn’t even think there were three layers to Yuru, but I like that! But final question: what are some quick thoughts for anyone still on the fence about jumping into this amazing anime, Daemons of the Shadow Realm? What would you say to someone to get them into it?
Molly Zhang: Yeah, I think the daemons are a huge selling point! I’m a very—even for games and shows—I like creature collectors, so to me, this is every creature imaginable. You like hot humanoid figures left and right? You got buff mommy, pretty girls, Oshirasama… you like horse girls, we’ve got—well, I don’t think that’s a girl, but there are horses.
If you like pets and little creatures… or freaky fish, we’ve got that too! There are so many daemons in every episode, with more and more daemon pairs. So, no matter what you’re into, there’s gonna be a daemon for that eventually, who knows?
Ben Stegmair: Yeah, and we’re only around seven episodes in for the dub. We go until 24 episodes, so we’re going to be here until October. For those who know Hiromu Arakawa and for those who don’t, all of their stories deal with intrigue, conflict, action, romance, drama, and everything! They have it in their stories, and Daemons of the Shadow Realm is the clearest example of that.
The story is going to keep ramping up. Whether or not you’re going to binge it at the end or hop on with us right now, Daemons of the Shadow Realm, go watch it. I promise you’ll love it. It’s been the highest honour of my career so far to be in it and be a part of it. I hope you’ll come check it out and see me and Molly’s awesome work.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Disney+.
