Episode 01

**Musashi and Kojiro** (武蔵 (むさし) と小 (こ) 次 (じ) 郎 (ろう) , *Musashi to Kojirō*) is the first episode of the *Orient* anime series.

## Synopsis

With the appearance of otherworldly oni, headed by the massively powerful Kishin, humanity has been forced to serve their new demonic masters. After 150 years of oni rule, the only force left to fight for human freedom are bands of Bushi. This is the story of two young men and their dream of forming the strongest Bushi band!

## Summary

Hinamoto was human land, until 1568 when suddenly a Kishin appeared, and humans rule came to an end. The Warring State generals fell one after another, yet some continued to struggle against the complete dominance of the Kishin. Those who still stand against the oni, are known as Bushi.

151 years later, the town of Tatsuyama, humans are now worshipping the Kishin and praying to him for safety. At the Miner Training School, Musashi is getting praised by his schoolmates for being the best miner in their class. During history class, Musashi and the rest are thought that Bushi are monsters who dominated Hinomoto 150 years ago, making the life for the agricultural class a living hell. However, Musashi knows the truth and that Bushi were the only one who stood up against the oni.

Musashi recalls his childhood days when he was training sword fighting with Kojiro. Kojiro's father, Jisai shows them old scrolls and tells them how the Bushi are still fighting the oni and wish to free humanity. Kojiro wonders if a Bushi can beat a giant Kishin and Musashi guesses that's the reason they are many Bushi who fight together. Musashi then decides to form the strongest Bushi band with Kojiro and defeat the oni.

After class, Musashi visits Kojiro. As tomorrow is the class graduating ceremony, Musashi is worried that he may end up becoming a miner. He shows his pickaxe, calling it his katana for fighting oni and asks Kojiro to leave town with him and for a Bushi band. However, Kojiro refuses. Kojiro explains that he and his father are descendants of Bushi and because of that are treated like trash by the town's people. Kojiro believes his father lied to them, to make Kojiro feel better that Bushi are heroes. Musashi tells him to not abandon his dream, but Kojiro believes that Musashi had abandoned it himself as each day at school he yells his dream is to become a miner, along with the rest of the class. Musashi leaves angry, but determined to show how serious he is. Kojiro heads out to collect trash and recalls his younger days and how bad he was being treated for being a Bushi and wishes Musashi to not experience it and live a normal miner life.

The next day, Musashi and the rest of his class graduate from the miner school. They pass the oni gate and head towards the mines, where they will mean oni for the first time. As they enter the mines, one of them gets eaten by an oni. They are then told they will be slaves for the oni and will mine stones for them until they die. The new miners realize they were lied all this time and the oni are monsters. Musashi states he knew that already and he will be slaying some oni, however, in that moment he realizes that he doesn't have his pickaxe as he had to leave it outside before entering. One of the oni hears him and gets angry, buffing himself. Having no choice, Musashi picks up an ordinary pickaxe.

Kojiro notices that Musashi forgot his school bag at his place and gets surprised when he checks it. Meanwhile, Musashi fights the oni, but is no match for him. He realizes he was lying to himself and went with the flow, so that he doesn't get left out. Musashi yells that his dream is become Bushi and a moment before the oni kills him, Kojiro comes attacking the oni with his Kitetsuki, saving Musashi. He gives Musashi his pickaxe and his textbook, where he saw that Musashi was serious all this time and used his pickaxe as sword practice. Seeing the oni, Kojiro realizes that his father was right and didn't lie. Musashi sticks his pickaxe in the ground, making Kojiro recall that in his textbook, he used the ground as a sheath. As the oni attacks them, Musashi strikes and slashes the oni in half. The rest of the oni attack as well and Kojiro and Musashi start fighting them. As they kill the oni, Musashi tells Kojiro that he wants to form a band with him, not because he is afraid, but because he doesn't want to be alone, and it won't be fun without Kojiro. A light then shines from the sky and a Kishin appears.

## Characters In Order of Appearance

* Musashi
* Kojiro Kanemaki
* Jisai Kanemaki