Tell me you've heard this premise before: A child mourns the loss of their parent, and mysterious events make them into a magical chosen one who is tasked to save the world or fulfill some magical mission. A pretty cliche premise, right? Stuff like that is pretty common in kids' shows and movies. However, I have the philosophy that every single plot has already been done before, but as long as you make good, believable characters that drive the story and put care and effort into what you create, you can create whatever the hell you want. Child of Kamiari Month, a new anime movie that just dropped on Netflix, is no different, as it does use some pretty stock cliches throughout its entire premise...but having seen it myself, I also found it to be pretty charming and sweet. I mean, yeah, Kamiari Month probably isn't going to make a blip on anyone's radar, but I would wholly recommend this to anyone who wants to get their kids into anime for the first time.

12-year-old Kanna Hayama is still reeling from her mother's death a year ago, and because of this, she's lost her passion for running, something she really connected with her mother over. One day, when putting on her mother's amulet, time stops all around her, and she finds herself seeing spirits, including a cute bunny spirit named Shiro. It turns out her mother was an Idaten, or the God of Footracing, and the Idaten are tasked with collecting offerings called chiso from various Gods inhabiting shrines all over the town of Izumo and taking them to one particular shrine as part of the Gods' divine banquet only held once a year. Now that Kanna's mother is gone, Kanna winds up inheriting the position, and it's up to her to gather the chiso and take it to the Izumo shrine by the end of the day. But it's not going to be easy, what with a demon named Yasha trying to steal the chiso, and Kanna's own mixed feelings about running getting in the way.

So yeah, not exactly an original premise, but the thing that makes Child of Kamiari Month's premise stand out from other movies with similar story beats is its very heavy focus on Shintoism. For the uninitiated, Shinto is a nature-based religion or belief indigenous to Japan, and it's the belief that spirits and gods inhabit every form of organic or inorganic life, from plants to the objects we use in every day life. Child of Kamiari Month is very much steeped in Shintoism, from its overall themes to its entire plot revolving around nature spirits and demons, a divine festival, and heavy usage of shrines and torii gates as plot points. In essence, it's a very Japanese movie, containing a lot of concepts and ideas that would probably go over people's heads if they don't already know about them. I only know about them through watching anime over a decade, and through studying a little bit of Shintoism in college for my Japanese studies. So in terms of standing out from all the other kids movies with this same premise, I think Kamiari Month manages to succeed on this front.

The animation was done by LIDEN FILMS, and their pedigree is...not exactly the best. While they've made some great things, a lot of the decisions they make in terms of animating stuff aren't always the best, and they've put out some...controversial stuff such as the modern Berserk anime, the very poorly animated Farewell My Dear Cramer, the short anime Aiura, which has great animation but everything else about it sucks, and the currently very divisive Tokyo Revengers adaptation. Thankfully, Child of Kamiari Month has proven to be one of their better endeavors, as the animation is smooth and colorful, the backgrounds are detailed, the character designs are on point, and I didn't notice any animation goofs or off-model characters, though Kanna's overall design can take some getting used to. I don't have much to say on the soundtrack, as it wasn't very memorable. It does its job, and the songs were well sung, but again, I barely paid much attention to them.

The characters here are...alright. They're not exactly the most original or the most three-dimensional, and if you've seen movies with a similar premise before, you're going to be familiar with the archetypes that they adhere to, like the main character grieving her dead parent, the angry adversary who wants to challenge the main character but becomes her friend later, and the cute animal advisor. I found Kanna's overall development to be alright, and she does grow over the course of the movie. Since the movie only focuses on Kanna, Yasha, and Shiro, none of the minor characters who appear get much in the way of development, so they wind up coming across as little more than one-note plot devices. To be honest, I kind of wish this movie had been longer so we could have seen more of the main trio and how they bonded over the course of the film, or even show more of the minor characters such as Kanna's father, or showing how Kanna's mother dealt with being the Idaten. But I think the movie did okay with its main trio, and I genuinely enjoyed following them throughout the movie.

My only real gripes with the movie is that it leaves a lot of unanswered questions, all of them pertaining to Kanna's mother. How did she become an Idaten, and why? When did she stop being the Idaten, or did she even stop being an Idaten to begin with? If Kanna's mother is technically a god, how did she manage to shack up with a human and have a child? Yeah, the movie leaves a lot of questions about Kanna's mother unanswered. Plus, for people looking for something more original, you're not going to find anything here, as Kamiari Month is pretty predictable, rehashing a lot of the same story beats and character progression as many other stories tackling the same overall premise. Honestly, though? I personally like it for what it is, as it's a nice little kids movie about overcoming grief, spiritualism, and holding onto your passions. This would probably make for a pretty nice movie to show to your kids if you want to get them into anime for the first time, and it helps that it's widely available on Netflix, so anyone who has a subscription can watch it legally. The English dub is pretty stellar as well, and they actually cast a child as the main character, which makes Kanna sound much more authentic.

Not exactly the most original movie out there, but Child of Kamiari Month is a fairly charming, heartfelt film that respects its target audience, so give it a look if you want something wholesome and sweet.