It is the Tenpo Era, 1830. Jinta runs away from home with his half-demon younger sister Suzune who was being abused by their father. Not long later, the pair are taken in by Motoharu, a guardian from the nearby village of Kodano. When their Miko "Itsuyuki" servant of the Fire God is slain by a demon, Jinta decides to take up the role of guardian so he could be by Shirayuki's side, the sister in the family that adopted them.

However, one night demons approach the village, tricking Suzune, causing her demon side to wreak chaos in the village. Her brother Jinta too is struck down by one of the demons but in turn, is turned demon himself. Granted the traditional blade "Yarai", Jinta is renamed "Jinya". Now living as a mercernary Samurai he lives only to hunt down Suzune, who is bent on destroying the world after losing her last shred of humanity.

And so, a new Kaei Era begins. Jinya passes himself as a demon hunter taking on jobs for various people, while building up his strength by defeating and obtaining their powers. He must be ready for the demon king prophesied to appear 170 years in the future and when he must face Suzune again.

Decided to watch this because I wanted a period drama aesthetic.

It kicks off with a double episode special and it has a lot in common with Kimetsu. Other than the demon hunting, there's always some story behind each demon slain. The bittersweet back stories remind me of Psychic Detective Yakumo which was another great show. A lot of tender moments. Then there's also the demon little sister except she is being hunted this time instead. It's also nice to see big sis characters that aren't your drunken or loli witch trope.

There's little action; no fancy moves or long fluid fight scenes. It feels more of a slow burner showing off the characters lives. It's not all serious moments of reflecting on life either. It's got humour but not the exaggerated deformed faces or comical style Kimetsu has.

Years pass by quickly with each episode in the first season "Edo Arc".

I think the only issues I had with the story was the obsession Suzune has with her brother. It's also odd how the story suddenly switches to the modern era arc before returning to the Edo arc even though there were many suggestions time had moved on. It was as if the author changed their mind and decided the Edo arc wasn't over yet after all.

Horrible OP but the ED is pretty good and matches the direction of the show. Backgrounds look beautiful. There's an awful lot of Chinese and Koreans that worked on this.

If you like supernatural shows with wholesome scenes similar to Natsume or Detective Yakumo (and don't mind the odd bit of gore or sister brother complex) then you'll enjoy this. It's like Kimetsu x Natsume.

S1 Cour 2

A brief flashback to the Tenpo era when Shirayuki is still alive and Jinta is still serving as guardian. A second sentinel has been appointed due to the increase in risk for Kadono Village.

Time has moved into the Bunkyu Period (1860s) and four cursed swords forged with demon blood are circulated. As the Tokugawa Shogun opens up to foreigners, it stirs up unrest amongst the samurais. Jinya is almost roped into political turmoils and a baby "Nomari" is adopted.

There's quite a few wholesome and thought provoking scenes as cour one which is why I enjoyed this show as much as Natsume.

Second cour OP is better than the first but the ED isn't quite as good even though it goes with a hip hop rap song again. Unfortunately, episode 22 onwards has some really bad quality drop... Action scenes are like a slideshow and characters look out-of-proportion.

The odd time skip still feels out of place but other than that, a nice end to S1. Not much of a wrap-up but good vibes. Hope to see a S2 soon.