Yomi no Tsugai Episode 8 "Doubt and Conviction" - Japanese Fans Melt Over the Breakfast Where Yuru Finally Accepts Asa as His Real Sister, Cheer the Kappei/Ishida/Suwabe Brother Trio, and Keep Asking "Heroes, or Just Two Crime Families at War?"
Yomi no Tsugai is the latest series from Hiromu Arakawa, the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist and Silver Spoon, and that pedigree shadows almost every reaction Japanese viewers post. They reach for Fullmetal Alchemist constantly - measuring Yuru and Asa against the Elric brothers, and debating whether a story this morally tangled is asking the same "what is justice?" questions Arakawa's earlier work did.
A quick note for English viewers: the official subtitles render Tsugai - the paired spirit-familiars at the heart of the story - as "Daemons." Throughout this piece we keep the original term, Tsugai.
Episode 8, "Doubt and Conviction," is one of the quietest installments in the run - almost no combat, a long and tense breakfast at the opulent Kagemori estate, and a great deal of talk. After both sides trade information, Yuru and Dera prepare to leave; Asa rushes to tell Yuru that their parents had always meant to take him with them, too. And when he feels her palm settle on his back - reacting to words only the two of them could know - Yuru finally, fully accepts that this really is his little sister. Plenty of viewers grumbled that the show keeps "talking instead of moving," but far more found the episode riveting, crediting Arakawa's storytelling for making a breakfast scene feel like high drama.
One thread of fascination needs a little context for overseas viewers. The eldest Kagemori brother, Hikaru, is a working manga artist whose Tsugai grants him "black and white" powers - the ability to physically render an image into existence and to erase it again. Japanese fans instantly caught the in-joke: "black" (beta) and "white" (white-out) are the names of the two most basic hand-inking techniques in analog manga - solid black fills and white correction paint - tools that have nearly vanished now that almost all manga is drawn digitally and the screen-tone companies have gone out of business. In other words, Hikaru's supernatural ability doubles as a love letter to the dying craft of inking manga by hand. Adding to the delight, Hikaru is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi (Ranma, Inuyasha, Detective Conan's Kaito Kid, One Piece's Usopp) - so disguised under a heavyset, "sumo-wrestler" voice that fans admitted they didn't recognize him until the closing credits.
Here is what Japanese fans were saying.
Japanese Fan Reactions (28)
I loved how carefully it traced Yuru - who'd seen the Kagemori as enemies - going from a single night under their roof, through that breakfast, to finally recognizing Asa as his true sister. The way he reaches his hand toward her back, the way his tears get 'authenticated' by a line only the two of them could know - beautifully done.
Yuru feeling she's real through the palm he rests on her back. Every moment the two of them once shared comes flooding back at once, and it overwhelmed him... I was a wreck.
Yuru's the type who eats every last grain of rice and chews well - instant likeability. And he's finally, FINALLY realized it's Asa.
The part where Asa - whom he'd been certain was a fake - hugs him and he becomes convinced she's his real sister was so good. Is there a future where the Kagemori and the village join hands...? It's an episode that lays out the direction from here; the story feels like it's reached a checkpoint.
Turning a simple breakfast into something this watchable - a dramatic scene where you feel everyone's calculations and shifting emotions - is just superb.
I love how a peaceful meal flips into something deadly tense. Fun to watch, anyway. If you were actually at that table you'd lose all taste for the food.
The animation on the food is full of effort every single time. And it's just so much fun.
In the manga the breakfast was tiny panels, so you can really feel how much extra care they poured into the meal here.
I love Asa being moved by literally anything her brother does. The way her brother-stalker energy is this cute is honestly unfair.
Asa, moved to tears by her brother simply eating his food, yet still saying exactly what she wants to say.
Sayou-sama wanting a photo with Yuru and then looking crestfallen is adorable.
Sayou-sama going all sparkly and glossy right after the master declares he'll turn the tables on the enemy - too precious.
I love watching Sayou-sama's expressions. They never butt into the conversation, but when someone says something good to master Yuru they look blissful, and when it's something bad they get angry on his behalf. You can feel how much they adore and treasure him - that's exactly why I love watching their face.
I wondered why a hardcore hunter like Yuru got caught from behind so easily - but then there was a proper follow-up to it later, and it moved me.
For a supernatural-battle show, it's fun that the brother doesn't lean on his power but wins on his own raw fighting ability.
The black-and-white power is genuinely terrifying. It's not just texture - it physically recreates whatever it imagines, and erases things too. In anyone but Hikaru it'd be abused, and probably couldn't pull off such precise recreations either.
It's the usual pattern, isn't it - not glaring-eyed Jin or shady-looking Asuma, but the seemingly upright Hikaru turns out to be the most wicked of all. Looks like he'd erase a person with a smile. ...Wait, could the twins' parents be...?
Hikaru-sensei - he's not secretly drawing his manga using his Tsugai's black-and-white, is he? lol
Suwabe, who voices Jin, played Greed in the very first Fullmetal Alchemist anime, you know.
Kappei Yamaguchi / Akira Ishida / Junichi Suwabe... the Kagemori three brothers are an absurdly lavish, over-the-top cast. lol
The plot moves pretty slowly, yet you never get bored watching - which I suppose you'd have to chalk up to the original author's skill.
Some people feel it's slow, but I get the impression it's depicting things carefully. It's surely packed with foreshadowing, so taking it slow is just right.
It's like Shou Tucker, who could play the kind, gentle father in front of Nina - the village wore a peaceful face on the surface.
The East Village, which kidnapped and killed and deceived the parents and Asa, and the Kagemori, who massacred a whole village - both are more or less the enemy/evil side, and the hero's stance of 'don't threaten the peace' is fine. But right now he's not even a third faction; my impression is he's an unemployed guy being kept and fed by the East Village crowd.
Since the parents fled the East Village and chose the Kagemori, the East Village must've been judged the more dangerous group for Yuru and Asa. From Yuru's view the killings are self-defense, so fair enough - but by real-world standards the other characters are just plain criminals.
I get that the attackers have their own circumstances and arguments. And the East Village does seem to have deceived me, so I feel the unease. But that aside - I loved the village, and I can't forgive you who massacred it. So in the latest episode the talks break down and it's goodbye. Yuru isn't the type for cheap revenge. He parted ways peacefully, but he hasn't reconciled.
It's not where you were born, but how you choose to live from here that matters. From here on, let's watch over what kind of road lies ahead for Yuru.
Source:■