The peony marks aren't just birthmarks, they're a synchronicity that connects four strangers across impossible distance, and the show trusts you to feel the weight of that connection before it explains it. Studio Deen animated this like they were working with someone else's dream, every frame deliberate and painterly, every character's face telling you stories the dialogue hasn't earned yet. The plot meanders, sure, but that's the point: these eight are learning who they are one small collision at a time, and you're learning them the same way.

Five years ago, fire consumed the village of Ootsuka, and only Shino Inuzuka, Sosuke Inukawa and Hamaji, a girl raised as their sister, came out alive. Shino and Sosuke share an odd peony-shaped birthmark. Far away, the foster brothers Genpachi Inukai and Kobungo Inuta carry the same mark and returned changed after facing demons with the army in the north. Shino now holds the soul of the demonic sword Murasame, and Sosuke can turn into a dog. When the Imperial Church moves to reclaim the blade and seizes Hamaji to draw the brothers out, the two must set aside their differences, rescue her from the Imperial Capital, and seek out eight mystical gems and the people who own them in this supernatural action fantasy.