Yomi no Tsugai Episode 1 – Japanese Fans React to Arakawa's New Series Premiere
Overview
Yomi no Tsugai Episode 1 'Asa to Yuru' premiered on April 4, 2026 from Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Silver Spoon, Arslan Senki), adapted by Studio BONES Film. The episode's shock reveal that the seemingly Japanese-fantasy setting is actually modern Japan caught many viewers off-guard.
This article translates Japanese fan reactions from the 5ch thread for episode 1. Topics include: surprise at the modern Japan setting and dragon-as-airplane visual gag, the debate over the camouflaged attackers' visual coding (some accusing leftist political imagery vs others calling it tin-foil-hat thinking), comparison to FMA's pacing and Arakawa's other ongoing series Arslan Senki, the Giorno/Bucciarati JoJo Stand-battle similarity in the Yuru/Dela dynamic, and discussion of when the source material starts getting really good (manga vol 10+).
Japanese Fan Reactions (16)
VA Kenshou Ono (Yuru) said this is the anime with the most VIPs visiting the Episode 1 viewing session that he's ever been in.
Finally a thread. Thanks, OP. This looks interesting.
The leftist vibes were intense. Were the attackers depicted as JSDF-like in the original manga, or is that an anime modification?
The anime massively brushes up the original's somewhat plain art. But the manga has 10 volumes out and the manga thread has only progressed to #3 — so don't expect much. Not boring but not really exciting either. They should've remade FMA with new voice actors instead.
Of all the Episode 1s I've watched this season, this was the one that made me most want to see the next one. But the buzz isn't as strong as I'd expected. I thought it was Japanese fantasy but then airplanes and helicopters showed up, surprised me.
>>1 Golden Kamuy / Kingdom screenwriter × Hanasaku Iroha director — so that's the staff lineup.
It does feel familiar. It's basically Arakawa-style Stand battles. Tsugai-users being individually too strong feels slightly cheap. Now that I think about it, Yuru and Dela are basically Giorno and Bucciarati.
I thought 'this art style looks FMA-like'... turns out it's the same author. Generally doesn't disappoint, looking forward to it.
Looked like fantasy at first, but it was actually SF... wait no, it's actually fantasy after all?
Thinking about future developments, the Episode 1 raid feels excessive. Given who the enemy turns out to be, they shouldn't realistically be able to maintain military force on that scale.
Once she moved and got a voice, she suddenly became cute. Looking forward to Asa's voice when she punches him in the stomach.
I've read the original manga and around the latest volumes it gets really exciting in true Arakawa fashion. Got fully absorbed.
I remember being recommended FMA back in the day but accidentally reading Buso Renkin (also by Arakawa-style — wait no different author) instead.
I thought it was Eastern-style fantasy and then it was modern Japan, which made me laugh. The dragon's fart at the start had a sound in the anime so it was immediately obvious it was an airplane — but probably in the manga that point you wouldn't realize the worldview yet.
I thought it was Sengoku Jieitai (Time Slip Combat) at first, then they started manipulating invisible Tsugai youkai things like in Jujutsu Kaisen. Is this modern combat with powers? Since they're 'Tsugai' (paired), does one die when the other dies?
>>19 On Pixiv encyclopedia, the backstory of how Gab-chan got the 'blonde hair + red hood' color scheme is great.
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