is a manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by Hajime Yamamura. An anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 adaptation started airing on July 6, 2011.

Plot

Kyōhei, after moving away to Tokyo from his old village to get away from the events that happened, is on a group date with his friends, including his old neighbor, Hibino. After drinking for a whole night, he and Hibino discover a dead, bloody, body in the elevator. He is told by his younger sister Utao, who arrives from his village with her kakashi (an ancient wooden 'god' controlled by the mind), that his old friend Aki and his kakashi are the culprits responsible. After a series of events, Hibino, whose father allows Kyōhei and Utao to live together with them, they went back to the origin of the village of 'kakashi, the 'Kurakami' Village. Hibino learnt many things about 'Kakashi', Kyōhei, Aki, Utao, everything and everyone else.

Characters

Kyōhei is the main protagonist who has left his hometown and his duties as a "Seki" to live his own life in Tokyo. He was the partner of the doll Kukuri before it was entrusted to his younger sister Utao. It was mentioned later in the anime that Kyōhei was the strongest Seki ever existed with unrivaled power beyond any Seki ever have in the history, as he is able to 'open' Kukuris left hand which fires a powerful beam that no other Seki are capable over a millenium. It was also mentioned that he is very wealthy.

Utao is the younger sister of Kyōhei and the current partner of Kukuri. She comes to Tokyo to meet her brother out of fear that Aki would come for him. Her fears are confirmed and after destroying Kyōhei's apartment while confronting Aki, she moves to Hibino's house with her brother, working at the Shiba family's café while training herself to improve her control over Kukuri's movements. She seems to have a brother complex towards Kyohei to the point of getting angry on any other girl who approaches him.

Hibino is an attractive young woman who attends the same university as Kyōhei, who has a longtime crush on her, but is unaware of her own feelings for him. She is asked out on dates by many of her male classmates, but declines all of them, and eventually becomes Kyōhei's girlfriend. Despite her father coming from the same village as Kyōhei's family, she doesn't know about its secrets until she invites Kyōhei (whose apartment is destroyed) and Utao to live with her and her father. According to Aki, Kyōhei's affection for her comes from Hibino's resemblance with a certain teacher from their childhood.

A former childhood friend of Kyōhei's and another Seki who was imprisoned several years before the beginning of the storyline, as he had used his doll Kuremitsuha to kill in anger for the death of their teacher with whom he had a romantic relationship. Soon after learning that Kyōhei has left the village, he escapes from confinement and sets out for Tokyo to confront him, claiming that both are guilty of the same "sin" and believes that Kyōhei cannot live his life in denial.

A Seki from the Hyūga family. He is the partner of the doll Uwazutsu. He and Kirio are tasked to capture Aki and bring him back to the village. He is shown to be protective of Kirio and acts as a father figure to him, as Kirio was separated from his birth family and the head of the Hyūga clan treats him harshly. He seems to care for Utao and Kyōhei as shown in Episode 12.

Kirio is another Seki who controls the doll Takemikazuchi. He is actually Utao's twin brother who was separated from his family at birth and taken under the Hyūga family's custody in secret. Just like his sister, it is said that his ability as a Seki was awakened while he still was in their mother's womb, thus attracting the attention of the Hyūga clan who were looking for a suitable Seki to control their most powerful doll, Amaterasu.

The most powerful Seki from the Hyūga family who considers all other Seki inferior to her except for Kyōhei who saved her life when she was a child by unleashing Kukuri's true power and since then developed an obsessive infatuation for him. She is Kōshirō's cousin and excels in controlling her Doll, Magatsuhi, whose special ability is to stop other dolls' movements. However, Mahiru could not control her Doll after Utao injured it, her Doll went berserk and started to use powers she herself has never seen before until it was destroyed by Kukuri.

Kyohei's and Hibino's eccentric classmate. She is fed up with normalcy and became interested in the supernatural, but was close to giving up because all her leads turned out to be shams. She was overjoyed when she discovered the kakashi and forcibly becomes involved in the situation. She kidnaps Aki, who later decides to hide out in her apartment.

Manga

As of July 2011, nine volumes of the manga are released.
Currently known Manga Chapters:

No.	Title	Release Date
1	God Arrives	August 17, 2009
2	Aki	November 28, 2009
3	A Gentle Toy	December 19, 2009
4	Hurry Up, Angel!	January 2, 2010
5	Breaking Silence	January 18, 2010
6	The Attacker	April 19, 2010
7	Sink into Your Thoughts	April 19, 2010
8	Battle Song	October 13, 2010
9	A Witch in Broad Daylight	January 20, 2011
10	Connection	February 16, 2011
11	Takemi Gazuchi	April 8, 2011
12	On the Edge of Mayhem + (Omake)	May 9, 2011
13	Returning Home	July 15, 2011
14	The Residents of Our Home Town	July 15, 2011

Anime

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No.	Title	Original airdate