Its about a shy boy Hiiragi Yatsuse who always goes out of his way to help others in order to make friends, but is very unappreciated.
One day he encounters a girl Tsumugi who looks like she's in trouble, so he offers to help her.
Turns out she is an oni (a demon) in search of her mother.
Hiiragi decides to run away from home in order to guide Tsumugi to the Hie Shrine where she may find a lead on her mother's whereabouts.
On their journey they encounter kind, helpful and generous people.
Tsumugi also seems to be pursued by strange seemingly demonic spirits who cause snow to fall (despite being summer) whenever they are near.
I wont spoil it but the plot does evolve into something more.
Altough all the characters are written fine i do have an issue with Tsumugi.
She's not badly written but can act stubbornly stupid at times.
She doesnt seem to know what she wants. The kind of person who will ask for your help one minute. But then afterwards tell you to go away she doesnt need your help. She's a very cliche "i need to do this myself" type character. But this makes no sense considering what is happening does have an effect on others and that this isnt just about her. Its a character who thinks they are being brave when they are really just being selfish.
Another disappointment is how uninteresting the onis are. They are no different from humans, except they have horns. Apart from that there is nothing interesting or different about their culture, language, they even wear the same clothes, but they live away from humans just because.
This is very similar to a Studio Ghibli movie (kinda like Spirited Away) just lacking that charm.
The animation is fine but nothing is visually spectacular.
And it lacks the interesting relationship from the main characters that you'd get in a Ghibli film.
The story feels nonsensical at times. Like things are just happening for the sake of happening. But the story isnt written interestingly enough that you care that much about the stakes in the end.
