Daemons of the Shadow Realm Surpasses Fullmetal Alchemist With 2 Episodes

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With high expectations to live up to, Daemons of the Shadow Realm appears to be starting off strong.

Inspired by the manga created by Hiromu Arakawa – the artist behind a very popular anime – Daemons of the Shadow Realm was naturally expected to be compared to a true classic. Initially, it seemed unlikely to meet such high expectations, but that’s starting to change.

Surprisingly, Daemons of the Shadow Realm has gotten off to a stronger start than Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood did, even after just the first two episodes.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm Has Higher Critical Ratings on Its First 2 Episodes Than FMA

While the Daemons of the Shadow Realm manga is enjoyable, the original source material isn’t quite as good. It’s worth noting that the source material is still in progress. However, the anime adaptation has gotten off to a very strong start, and if the creator can deliver a satisfying conclusion to the source material, the series could become surprisingly popular.

The anime version of Daemons of the Shadow Realm launched on April 4th and was immediately praised by critics. The first episode earned an impressive 8.7 out of 10, making it one of the strongest anime premieres of Spring 2026.

The show’s success is due in part to a standout episode that expertly blends captivating world-building, thrilling action, and deeply moving emotional scenes. It’s packed with unexpected twists that quickly complicate what initially appears to be a typical fantasy story. As the main character, Yuru, discovers, things aren’t always what they seem, and this realization is often difficult to accept.

The first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood received a decent, but not outstanding, score of 7.6/10 on IMDb. While Daemons of the Shadow Realm jumps straight into its core story, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood spent more time establishing its world and characters before getting to the main plot.

The famous story of the Elric brothers wasn’t fully explained until Episode 2 of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a pivotal moment for anime fans. The series begins with the first episode by immediately showing us Ed as an established State Alchemist, dropping viewers right into the middle of their adventure.

While Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood saw a slight improvement with its second episode, earning an 8.1 on IMDb, it’s not overwhelmingly highly rated. Daemons of the Shadow Realm, with its recent second episode release on April 11th, hasn’t yet received an IMDb score, but it already matches FMAB‘s popularity on Crunchyroll, boasting a 4.9/5 rating.

Given the consistently high quality of the series, this episode should receive a score as good as, or even better than, the first one. Early data shows it’s already performing better than the second episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood on Crunchyroll.

Episode 2 of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood has 5,900 likes and 82 dislikes, while Episode 2 of Daemons of the Shadow Realm has 1,200 likes and 8 dislikes. This means Daemons of the Shadow Realm has a significantly better like-to-dislike ratio. If Daemons of the Shadow Realm had the same number of total votes as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, it would only have about 39 dislikes. This makes the second episode of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood at least twice as disliked as Daemons of the Shadow Realm’s.

FMA Is Still a Masterpiece That Will Be Hard For Daemons of the Shadow Realm to Beat Long-term

Early viewership numbers suggest that Daemons of the Shadow Realm might be more successful than many anime fans first thought, potentially even surpassing Fullmetal Alchemist. While it’s started out stronger than Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the series still has a considerable distance to go to definitively exceed the popularity of Arakawa’s work and Studio Bones’ adaptation.

While Darmons of the Shadow Realm could have started stronger, it still doesn’t score as high as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Brotherhood remains one of the top anime on MyAnimeList, with a near-perfect score of 9.11, compared to Darmons of the Shadow Realm‘s 8.04, which currently ranks it 690th.

Even after two decades, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is still considered one of the greatest shonen anime of all time. Daemons of the Shadow Realm has the potential to reach that same level of success, and it’s off to a good start, but it needs to consistently deliver over time to truly prove its staying power.

You can now watch the first two episodes of Daemons of the Shadow Realm on Crunchyroll. New episodes, created by Studio Bones, are released every Saturday.

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2026-04-12 01:43