The story picks up when O-Ei is already a grown-up young woman, who for some time has lived with her father in his atelier apart from her mother and her youngest sister O-Nao. They are surrounded by a small cast of other characters, chiefly other artists who aim for fame by hanging around the great master, and a few clients. All of them seem to be aware that O-Ei is herself a talented artist and collaborates in the creation of her father's works, when she is not delivering the commissions in his stead because he is busy with something else. Yet few, including Hokusai, seem yet to expect for O-Ei to step out of the shadow and to become recognized in her own name. O-Ei acts as narrator to the story, but it also follows her own evolution as an artist and shows different stages of the development of her sensibility through experiences, some happy, others sad.
The life thus chronicled dwells much on Hokusai's eccentricity, a man who appears grumpy for most of the time but is lost to his creative activities. Like certain famous European artists, he seems not to mind much about status or high living, and some of it rubs off on his daughter, who is definitely unconventional by the standard of the period (the early 19th Century, in the final decades of the Tokugawa shogunate). Sometimes Hokusai chides O-Ei for not "capturing" a husband, but also seems to consider her presence alongside him as natural. They obviously understand each other quite well and collaborate with ease on the works. We don't always see him clearly tutoring her, though there seem to be moments where he "demonstrates" to her, through some peculiar experiences. This seems to be a highly imaginative and visionary family, as they move around Edo and at times they experience some supernatural phenomena (either visions or weather changes) that influence their art.
O-Ei does have a life of her own, and a mind and creative vision of her own, even if she seems reluctant to branch out and if she also sees the flaws in her father's character. Though rather sarcastic like Hokusai, where she appears especially touching and likable, is in the care she gives to her little sister O-Nao, who is blind, and with whom her father has very little to do. She takes the little girl on walks with her across Edo, on boat rides, on walks through the snowy countryside and cultivates her animation and her other senses to perceive things and enjoy life as much as a normal child could. Along with the views O-Ei is gathering of the everyday life in the city and in the country, she is obviously trying to nurture her sister's senses so that she too can express herself. One day she will paint a charming picture of O-Nao.
I mention the story can be confusing, in part because of the periodic "supernatural" visions of the artists, though they all have a certain amount of poetry that contrasts with some of the crude and down-to earth behavior (which features a lot of drinking and visits to brothels, including by O-Ei who seemingly does as much erotic painting as her father does, and at one point goes to experience sex with a male prostitute). The confusion stems also from the series of scenes that are at times unconnected but are meant to portray the rich diversity of experiences through which the artists, father and daughter, move about in their world. There isn't a precise timeline of events too. Things happen, are suggested, but will later find their way into creation.
I think the anime will essentially appeal to artistic minded people and amateurs of "arthouse" works. You have to be sensitive to the poetry of situations and slow moving plot to like this, but I found it had great sensitivity, and the discovery of this mysteriously little known "daughter of" was really worthwhile.
