Ichigo is a little girl who is distressed by the failing relationship between her mother and father (who is actually her step-father). After school one day she meets a driver of a magical bus and finds herself taking a ride in the bus. The bus transports her to the past to shortly after her mother and real father met. Perhaps she is meant to do something that will help her parents stay together and love one another further into the future. (Source: ANN)

Anju and Zushioumaru live a peaceful life in rural Japan with their kind and gentle father—the steward of the emperor's hunting grounds who teaches his children to respect nature and protect animals. The local lord frames him for burning the hunting grounds; Anju and Zushioumaru, along with their mother and a few animals, escape to Kyoto to ask the emperor to pardon their father. However, Anju and Zushioumaru are separated from their mother and sold into slavery after being tricked into boarding the wrong boat. Their cruel master forces them to perform extreme acts of hard labor under the threat of torture. Fortunately, Saburou—their master's son—is sympathetic to their plight. The siblings wield no weapons and constantly fear the punishment for unobedient slaves. Under these unfortunate circumstances, they must desperately work to regain the happiness they once had.

The story takes place in old Tokyo, the Tokyo of August-September 1923 (Taishou 12). At this moment in time, the city is a mixture of extremes...past and present, rich and poor, good and bad. This is a city where we see both horsecarts and motorcars, swords and pistols, lords and businessmen. A wealthy woman from an upper-class family finds herself attracted to a handsome young man, Taka. He and his younger brother seem to be allied, perhaps not entirely willingly, with some of the city's criminal underground (Yakuza). The lady's lovely young maidservant, Sara, meets him too, and a conflict ensues which can only lead to tragedy, passion, and dishonor. But, as events move on, and the days pass, the viewer sees a terrible date coming closer... that unforgettable day of September 1, 1923, at 11:58, when the Great Kanto Earthquake and tidal wave struck Tokyo, causing the death of almost 100,000 people, one of the greatest disasters in human history. (Source: The Technogirls)