‘Child of Kamiari Month’ is an anime film that follows the life of Kanna, a sixth grader, who recently lost her mother. Her life is changed forever when she is made aware of her extraordinary destiny. The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Summary
Kanna Hayama, a girl in sixth grade, is silently grieving the recent death of her mother, Yayoi Hayama. There’s also clearly something mysterious and sinister that’s after her.
Kanna and her mother both shared a love for running. When she takes part in a race at school, she is unable to complete it, overcome with grief on her mother’s demise.
She leaves and goes to a nearby shrine, where, after wearing her amulet, demons and Gods appear, informing her of her destiny.
As a descendent of the Idaten, the God of running, she must collect chiso (food offerings) from the Gods across the country and take it to the gathering of the Gods in Izumo for the feast. The amulet slows time down considerably, making it easier for Kanna to successfully complete her journey.
The Gods’ messenger possesses a white rabbit, Shiro, to accompany her, while the demon Yasha, whose descendants were stripped of their status as Gods, wants to beat the Idaten in a race and take their place.
While the mission is part of her destiny, Kanna’s true motivation for the journey is to meet her mother again, which is accidentally hinted at by Shiro.
Kanna and Shiro begin to collect chiso from different shrines and are now joined by Yasha, who wants to defeat her in a race in front of the Gods to expose her.
Collecting the chiso from the Dragon God proves complicated when he puts Kanna and Yasha on a task to prove their worthiness.
While Kanna fails, her sacrifice to save Yasha is noticed by the Dragon God. Relating to her motivation, having been separated from his parents as well, he gives her the chiso from his region.
Just when everything seems on track, Kanna sees her mother out of the blue.
If you still have doubts from the ending, here’s a breakdown.
Child of Kamiari Month ending explained in detail:
Imposter God
The apparition of Kanna’s mother attempts to derail her journey. She tells her to stop the mission as all she wished for was to meet her mother, which has now been fulfilled.
After finding her to be missing, Yasha and Shiro get worried, and race to find her. As they confront her, it is revealed that the sinister shadow following Kanna is showing her visions of Yasha and Shiro becoming demons.
Yasha, who knew Yayoi, screams at her to look through the deception, as she knows very well that her mother would never say something so selfish. Kanna accepts that she isn’t her mother, and the shadow is dispelled.
It was actually an Imposter God. While real Gods are created by connections between humans and nature, these are modern creations, borne out of envy and hatred. The Imposter God sought to devour the chiso for its magical qualities.
Kanna’s decision
Kanna figures out that Shiro wasn’t completely truthful with her. Devoid of her motivation, she confesses that all she wished for was to see her mother again. Even if this apparition of her mother was fake, she wanted to be with her as it was the closest to her.
Losing her will to continue, Kanna tells Yasha and Shiro that her journey is over. When they attempt to convince her, she pulls off the amulet, severing her connection with the two and resuming the normal flow of time.
Yasha takes it upon himself to complete the mission. However, due to his injury caused when he protected Kanna from the Imposter God, he is struggling to move.
Kanna remembers the past. How, while sprinting with her mother, she had once professed her love for running. This journey felt so fulfilling to her not just because she wished to see her mother, but because of her love for running as well.
Rejuvenated by this, she races to find Shiro and Yasha, tying the amulet to her hair, eerily similar to how her mother tied it while running. Even though they managed to make it to Izumo, the ritual is already over and Yasha is unable to continue due to the injury.
Shiro attempts to take the gourd containing the chiso to the Gods directly, however, Kanna arrives just in time. Unable to see them or control the flow of time, tying the amulet allows her to hear Yasha and Shiro.
Feast of the Gods
Kanna races to complete her destiny, followed by the Imposter God, but with no intention to stop. She overcomes all hurdles and finally reacher the gathering of the Gods.
There, she finds the God of land, Okuninushi, who collects the gourd and initiates the gathering and matchmaking of human destinies.
After the feast, Shiro requests Okuninushi to let Kanna meet her mother, but he informs her that this wouldn’t be possible as matchmaking doesn’t allow humans to meet souls in the afterlife, it just connects fates. Humans decide their fates themselves.
Nevertheless, Kanna declares that she was able to ‘meet’ her mother by experiencing the journey her mother undertook and that she is happy to have met Shiro and Yasha as well.
The film ends with Kanna leaving in the morning for running with a content look, watched over by Yasha and Shiro.
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