Shion no Ou follows the story of Yasuoka Shion, a 13-year-old Shougi player with a past of tragedy. Shion's parents were brutally murdered in front of her when she was 5 years old. The murderer sat down with her and challenged her to a game of Shougi, after telling her that if she wanted to stay alive she should forget how to speak, and forget what happened that night. Now Shion has entered the realm of female pro Kishi, mute but strong. As her playing gathers more and more attention, so do the questions about her past and the brutal murder she witnessed. Shion's memories slowly come back, and the mystery begins to unravel, thread by thread.

The story is set in Nagasaki prefecture in Minami Shimabara city, the fabled origin of the Shimabara Rebellion that sent shockwaves through all of Japan in the early Edo period. It is also where a third-year junior high school student named Shirou spends his days with his school friends. One summer day, Shirou's older childhood friend Akane returns to Minami Shimabara from Tokyo. Shirou and Akane take a stroll around Minami Shimabara with another longtime friend, Tokiya. While these friends are dealing with nostalgia and more complex feelings, a mysterious creature named Goron suddenly appears before them. This encounter with a mere little creature causes great events to unfold once more in this city...

In a future governed through the lens of a camera, where people eat synthetic food and pursue an online existence in lieu of physical contact, a group of children begin meeting up in the real world. The aloof Ayumi Kono, the genius hacker Mio Tsuzuki, and the socially awkward Hazuki Makino set out to find the fourth member of their group, Yuko Yabe, who has gone missing. With the help of Myao Rei, an unregistered citizen proficient in martial arts, they are able to find Yuko. However, when their situation takes a sudden turn for the worse, the group stumbles headlong into a dark mystery that challenges everything they know about their world.

This work was produced as the ninth special animated piece for the 24-hour television program by Tezuka Production, which took full charge of the original story, screenplay and director. Tezuka Osamu crafts a love story in the time when humans are expanding into space at the end of the 21st century, employing an omnibus form similar to Bradbury's "Martian Chronicle." The story line is similar to "Phoenix: Nostalgia." Leaving the earth after marriage, a woman is left behind in space when her husband suddenly dies of a cosmic disease. These background details were used in "The Phoenix" as well. This time, her friends on the Earth head for space to save the woman who was once everyone's ideal lady. In this special animated piece, Tezuka Osamu emphasizes his basic concepts that "love can save the earth" and "only love can save humans."