Episode 1 is nearly an hour long, and it sets up a lot of lore, then by episode 2, there's a massive time skip, and by episode 4. You get the formula. Which isn't to say that it's a bad formula, but it is a SLOW FORMULA.
Episode 1: Brother and Sister flee from an abusive home. Get picked up by a "SENTINEL" a shinobi that's basically in charge of guarding the high preistess of the village. In the man's stead, the boy trains to be a sentinel himself so he can protect those that he loves.
The man's natural daughter becomes the new High Priestess of the village, and the boy fulfills his goal of being the Sentinel, along with another man. Things happen, and everything turns to crap. The man from the beginning loses everything when two demons come to town, one to act as a distraction, fighting the Man, and the other on a mission to find a legendary Demon of ALL DEMONS. Every bad guy fulfills their goal, leaving the man without an arm, and lost his loved one and sister in the process. Man gets a new arm after the demon he was charged with slaying gives him his arm, which turns the man into a demon, and the thing he swears to hunt.
Episode 2 and from there on: Now it becomes a hunt for the Demon of All Demons, so he goes from village to village as a Ronin, slaying demons, collecting bounties, and hopefully getting closer to finding the Demon Queen. Though, the parting gift from the demon, grants the man demonic powers, of which his is assimilation. Think Megaman. Beat a bad guy, steal his powers. AND THIS IS WHY IT'S A 7 OUT OF 10.
If you've watched enough Anime, you know where this is going, and how it's going to end, so now, if the episodic, monster of the week (or two weeks, in some cases) doesn't grab you, then you're left impatiently waiting for the end battle between Ronin vs Demon Queen.
Though, they do set up a slight twist in the first episode before the failed Sentinel leaves, one of the elders bestows upon him the village sword. Asking our protagonist; "What are you going to do, when you catch up to her?" and He says; "I'll try to reason with it, and if that doesn't work, I'll do what I must." So, you get the whole, not every demon may die and some may be reasoned with, which is a lesson they teach us by episode 3.
This only has 9 dubbed episodes, at the time, and 16 full episodes. I don't see how they sustain this. This isn't a Shoenen like Naruto, meaning it doesn't need the MERCHANDISE SALE like those do, this is an ADULT ANIME with RED blood, and everything. Though, it's not GRATUITOUS for Gratuitous sake. Blood makes sense and this is a more contemplative anime, since you try to figure out the demons' motives, and use that to take the demon down. Hence the SLOW part, it's a bit of a detective CONAN kind of... And it's ALRIGHT. Beautiful to look at, nice slower pace, fights aren't silly and over drawn out, there's some thought and thinking going on here. It's a very Japanophile show, meaning if you're into SHINTO lore, then this will sate you. If not, it will bore you. It's like Hell Girl mixed with Mushishi.
