A 'Challenge,' Not a Reunion
From the moment Hiromu Arakawa's first chapter of Daemons of the Shadow Realm (黄泉のツガイ, Yomi no Tsugai) hit Monthly Shonen Gangan's pages in early 2022, Bones was already at Square Enix's door. "We were approaching Square Enix saying 'We read it! It was great!'" chief producer Yoshihiro Ōyabu told Mantan Web. By the time the first collected volume dropped, the conviction inside the studio had hardened: if this gets an anime, Bones should make it.
What emerged was the same power trio behind Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood — Square Enix, Aniplex, and Bones. But Ōyabu pushes back hard on the nostalgia framing. He's happy if viewers feel that FMA energy, he said, but internally the team doesn't want to call this a "reunion." Bones has made many works since then. The real question: what kind of animation can a different Bones and Aniplex produce when they team up again two decades later? "The desire to take on a challenge is what drives us," Ōyabu said. "The bar people expect is high, and we're working together to clear it."
Directed by Masahiro Andō (Sword of the Stranger), with series composition by Noboru Takagi and character designs by Nobuhiro Arai, the anime adapts Arakawa's manga about a secluded mountain village steeped in folklore and supernatural "tsugai" — paired entities with strange powers. The manga has surpassed 6 million copies in circulation.
The Paradox of Simple Lines
Producer Junhito Takemoto, 36, grew up watching the original FMA anime. Now on the production side, he points to Arakawa's "structural genius" — stories that feel complex yet flow naturally, revealing the world in careful increments.
But that elegance creates a paradox for animators. Arakawa's character art uses remarkably few lines to convey dimension and dynamism. When character designer Arai tried translating those designs for animation, he hit a wall. As Ōyabu explains: "There are fewer clues. With lots of lines, you have handholds. With Arakawa-sensei's work, the elements that make a character recognizable are sparse. The moment someone draws on autopilot, the likeness falls apart."
Arakawa herself gave the team specific direction. She wanted proper human anatomy faithfully represented — she draws with deep structural knowledge, and the animation needed to match. She also provided detailed guidance on Higashimura, the story's fictional village, which blends traditional Japanese rural architecture with Tibetan influences. "There's a definitive image of Higashimura in Arakawa-sensei's mind," Takemoto noted, "so we confirmed the fine details as we worked."
The balance between comedy and drama posed another challenge. Arakawa's signature mid-scene gag breaks — a hallmark since FMA — require precise timing that's harder to nail in animation than on the page. Director Andō established the tone at the storyboard stage, and individual episode teams refined it from there.
FMA Veterans Meet a New Generation
The production at Bones Film's D Studio bridges generations. Yoshiyuki Itō, who designed characters for the original 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist, served as animation director on Episode 1, working alongside younger animators cutting their teeth on a major series. Hiroki Kanno, character designer for Brotherhood, has also joined the team.
"There are quite a few people who watched FMA as viewers and now say, 'It's deeply moving to work on an Arakawa-sensei project,'" Takemoto said.
That first episode set the tone with a visceral battle scene featuring Gabu-chan that director Andō insisted on getting right. The sudden destruction of protagonist Yuru's everyday life needed real impact. "We agreed we wouldn't shy away from it," Takemoto explained. But both producers stress that Daemons of the Shadow Realm isn't purely an action showcase. "The original places just as much importance on character relationships," Takemoto said. "Making those characters compelling is the production's guiding principle."
Ōyabu added that the finished Episodes 1 and 2 exceeded even his own expectations. He credits director Andō's observation that "Arakawa-sensei's work has an incredibly high affinity with animation." Andō apparently also admitted the source material was "so good it made him nervous."
Looking Ahead
Daemons of the Shadow Realm airs Saturdays at 11:30 PM on TOKYO MX and BS11, running for a consecutive 24 episodes across two cours. Ōyabu described a studio "founded with the goal of sustained, ongoing production" for the series, hinting at ambitions beyond the initial run — though nothing further has been formally announced.
Crunchyroll streams the series internationally with a same-day English dub. The source manga is published in English by Square Enix Manga & Books for anyone who wants to read ahead.
With the manga's quality only escalating as it continues, Ōyabu admits the prospect is "almost terrifying" — but says the team is committed to meeting Arakawa's standard, one episode at a time.