Yuru spends his day hunting in a remote village up in the mountains of Japan and visiting his younger sister, Asa, who, for reasons unexplained, is locked away. On one unassuming day, the whirr of dragons above his head grew louder and closer, and when his remote village is invaded by strange people wearing clothes he’s never seen before and using weapons he can’t fathom, Yuru’s entire life upends. Written by the iconic Hiromu Arakawa-sensei, fans have been waiting with bated breath for Daemons of the Shadow Realm’s adaptation by Bones Film. At Anime Expo 2026, Anime Trending sat down with Kensho Ono, voice of Yuru, and Yume Miyamoto, voice of Asa, to discuss this exciting, ongoing series.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm already has so many twists, and part of the excitement has just been trying to guess what happens next. What was it like for both of you to watch the story unfold in the anime?
Kensho Ono: I had this constant itch where I wanted to know what’s going to happen next. I can tell there are a lot of setups that’re going to have good payoff later in the story, so if I can’t wait anymore, I’d just have to read the manga. But then, all that does is get me to the current volume of the manga, and I’m still curious after that! So I’m stuck.
Yume Miyamoto: In the past, I’ve always read the manga if I know I’m going to be working on the anime. But this is a rare instance where I might break that rule — I don’t want to know what’s going to happen. I’m still debating whether to break that rule or not.
Yuru is different from many protagonists his age because he isn’t just a hothead but is instead calculative, decisive, and wouldn’t hesitate to kill to protect himself and his team while still being a good person. Describe what it’s like to voice this unique character.
© Hiromu Arakawa/SQUARE ENIX, Project TSUGAI
Kensho Ono: Yuru takes actions that I would personally not do, but in a way, it’s justifiable because of the story’s setting and how the character is raised. He makes it more acceptable. From a very young age, he was taught not to trust anyone, and people are actively targeting him — so the mindset becomes “kill them before they kill you.” Those teachings he grew up with form the foundation of his logic, so I never really have to question why the character is doing what he’s doing, and that helps me a lot when I perform him.
Asa-chan, while incredibly intense and intimidating, has an incredibly silly and kind side, as she’s clearly close to Gaby-chan and also loves Yuru deeply. Describe what it’s like to voice a character with such a dichotomy.
Yume Miyamoto: There are definitely some challenges, but looking at Asa and her daily life, I think the way she interacts with her brother and Gaby are the moments you see her opening her heart to people. I actually try not to think about it too hard, so when Kensho-san is acting as Yuru and Misaki-san is acting as Gaby, I play off of what they give me. I’m not actively telling myself, “Okay, now I’m going to change how I perform.” I just try to enjoy the conversation, and I think that enjoyment is what comes across as her more comical side.
How do you create the sibling dynamic when recording? Is there anything you two practice together to get the dynamic right, or is there something you guys think about specifically when recording together?
© Hiromu Arakawa/SQUARE ENIX, Project TSUGAI
Kensho Ono: Honestly, I didn’t think about the sibling dynamic that much — and this is actually something I discovered for the first time in one of our previous interviews here at Anime Expo. Apparently, Yume performs based on my own performance to close the gap and make it feel like we’re twins, which I didn’t even know she was doing! So maybe I need to meet her in the middle a bit more. I think I’d probably be more conscious of the dynamic if the characters were the same sex, but because Yuru and Asa are twins of opposite sexes, there’s almost this older-brother, younger-sister type of dynamic that forms in the anime. I actually think of myself as the older brother when I’m acting.
Yume Miyamoto: Like Kensho mentioned, there’s a certain rhythm to how he performs that I borrow from, depending on the line, to help make it feel like we’re twins — and my character Asa really loves Yuru in so many ways. I think this is actually the first time Kensho and I have worked together in this capacity, both as lead characters on a show, so I thought, “We’re going to spend a whole season together. I should try to become friends with him, and maybe that relationship could inform our acting.” I was really nervous, but I walked up to him and did my best, hoping that kind of relationship would work out.
Not only were the siblings separated, but the two are allied with/hanging around different sets of characters. For the character you voice, which relationship within their team do you like the most and why?
Kensho Ono: For me, it’s the Left and Right guardians. Especially because Yuru was raised in a village where the truth was hidden from him his whole life, I think he has a hard time trusting people — he doesn’t know who to believe. The only two he can really trust are these two characters, who are the ones opening up the path and helping him find his own identity.
© Hiromu Arakawa/SQUARE ENIX, Project TSUGAI
Yume Miyamoto: Without question, I love her relationship with Gaby-chan. Asa-Gaby! Gaby’s one of the few characters who understands Asa’s past and what brought her to where she is. It’s one of the rare times Asa can speak without worrying too much about what everyone around her thinks.
There’s a large cast of characters in Daemons of the Shadow Realm — do you have any funny stories of recording with all the different cast members?
Kensho Ono: I can’t really think of any funny stories.
Yume Miyamoto: Not funny stories.
Kensho Ono: But there’s a lot of interesting moments. Or moments I found interesting. There are so many unique characters in this anime, and the actors performing them are equally unique. One that comes to mind is the character Tenaga Ashinaga, played by two well-renowned veterans of the industry. Whenever they go into the booth and stand in front of the mic, the sheer energy and power they command, I can’t help but laugh and get pulled into their world.
Yume Miyamoto: There are so many interesting and unique senpai in this cast. When I read the screenplay, I try to imagine how it’s going to be acted out and what kind of delivery it’s going to be. Kagemori Gonzo’s voice actor, Hiroshi Iwasaki, always exceeds my expectations. He will come from an angle in such a way I didn’t even know you could perform. He helped me realize how many different strategies he has to elevate his performances. And I just think about how the harder you try in performing, the worse it affects your performance — he just does it so naturally. Every time he steps up to the mic, I’m just waiting, ready for him to do something amazing.
©Hiromu Arakawa/SQUARE ENIX, Project TSUGAI
The daemons that the characters form contracts with come in pairs and complement each other. Out of curiosity, what kind of daemons would personally contract with you, and what would they be capable of?
Kensho Ono: Oh, it’s time for this question.
Yume Miyamoto: It’s time. I’d want a daemon that could remember to turn everything off after I leave! I always forget to turn off the lights or the AC when I go out, so it would really help my electricity bill.
Kensho Ono: I have about ten geckos at home, so I’d love a daemon that could take care of them for me while I’m away on business trips like this one. [shows photo on back of phone]
Example of a leopard gecko
It’s a leopard gecko!
Kensho Ono: It is!
Do you have other different species?
Kensho Ono: I have about four gecko species — leopard geckos, West African geckos, gargoyle geckos, and crested geckos.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm is continuing into this season. Please provide a few words on what you hope the audience will pay attention to next!
Yume Miyamoto: In Season 1, we saw a wide range of unique characters — some cute, some cool — but in Season 2, I had to hold back my laughter in the recording booth, so that should tell you we’ve got even more interesting characters coming!
Kensho Ono: Towards the end of Season 1, we saw Ivan appear. The way he appears at the end really sets up the idea that he’s going to have a lot of screen time in Season 2 — he’s going to become a key character who moves the story forward. So I’d say pay close attention to the characters, the story, and especially Ivan and his relationships with everyone else.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
