BLACK TORCH

*"Rewritten Synopsis:"* Seventeen-year-old Jirou Azuma lives a quiet life with his grandfather, using his supernatural ability to talk to animals to befriend and protect them. Both he and his grandfather come from a long line of shinobi, training in combat to preserve their family’s fighting traditions. Jirou’s peaceful existence is disrupted when he rescues what appears to be an ordinary black cat, Ragou-only to learn the cat is actually a mononoke, a demonic spirit locked in an ancient conflict with humanity. When another hostile mononoke attacks, Jirou defends Ragou with his shinobi skills but is fatally wounded. Instead of consuming Jirou’s fading life force to regain his own power, Ragou chooses to sacrifice his remaining energy to revive the boy. The transfer not only saves Jirou but also grants him extraordinary supernatural abilities that enhance his shinobi techniques. The incident catches the attention of Ryousuke Shiba, an agent from the Bureau of Espionage tasked with eliminating dangerous mononoke. Shiba offers Jirou and his grandfather a place in the Bureau’s new unit, Black Torch, where they’ll fight against mononoke that prey on humans.