The Storm
- We start with part 1, "The Unkown."
- Setting: January 1841 (12th Year of Tempo, Year of the Ox), off the coast of Shikoku, Japan
- Our story opens with five guys off the coast of Japan: Manjiro (our main guy), Denzo, Jusuke, Toraemon, and Goemon.
- They're desperate for fish because they have hungry mouths to feed at home.
- Dark clouds roll in, and Manjiro notices that something's up with the weather.
- He keeps asking questions, which—it turns out—is a major trait of his, and which also completely annoys the older guys.
- The storm comes and the guys are swept out to sea.
- The guys are out on their boat for days, with just the mackerel they caught to eat.
- Obviously, they're totally scared—not just about not making it back to their island, but of what they might meet, the "barbarians" in particular.
- It's been eight days and they've run out of fish and water.
- Luckily for them, they notice an island which has birds on it, signaling not only land, but food as well.
- The boat drifts over to the unknown island.