Episode Summary
Arakawa Ryohei arrives at Unit 731 in Harbin and secures his job by drawing a detailed map of the facility. He witnesses the brutal nature of the unit, including frostbite experiments and biological weapon research. He saves a local merchant from execution but becomes increasingly horrified by his work. The episode ends with a desperate officer's wife begging Ryohei to help her escape after an infected insect bite.
Spoiler Alert
The Artist Arrives
It is 1940. Arakawa Ryohei is an artist living in Hokkaido. He speaks Chinese and has a specific talent for drawing. He interviews with the Colonization Commission and passes. They recruit him as a special specialist. The Japanese military sends him to the Kwantung Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department.
His journey is long. He takes the Baishan Maru ship across the Tsushima Strait to Dalian Port. Then he boards the Asia Express train. He travels the South Manchuria Railway all the way to Harbin. On the train, he meets a kid named Narita Kazuo. Kazuo joined the Youth Corps. They chat and bond before they even reach their destination.
The Map Test
They arrive at the department. The guards separate them. Ryohei goes to headquarters. The Youth Corps members go to the Education Department. Ryohei is inside, but his job isn't safe yet. The commander gives him a test. He must draw a precise map of the entire facility within one week.
Ryohei shares a dorm with Takahashi Akihiko from the photography squad. Takahashi has photos. These help Ryohei start his map. But Takahashi warns him. The old data is wrong. Ryohei has to measure everything himself.
He walks the grounds to measure distances. He sees his train friend Kazuo once. Kazuo is in trouble. He rode a horse and got punished. Takahashi explains why. The horses are sick. This place is full of medical experts. It functions like a medical university. But they research biological weapons here.
Nightmares and Close Calls
Ryohei tries to measure the Administration Department. The guards stop him. He has to guess the dimensions from the outside. The stress gets to him. He finds a manhole cover and hallucinates. In his dream, he crawls into a sewer and fishes out a human eye. He wakes up terrified. The secrecy of the Administration building is messing with his head.
A week passes. Ryohei finishes the map. It is accurate. He keeps his job. later, he goes out for supplies. He sees a man named Tong Changfu on the ground. A soldier holds a gun to Tong's head. Ryohei intervenes. He points to a sign that says Yoshikawa Trading Company. He tells Officer Yoshida about it.
This distraction saves Tong's life. Yoshida decides not to shoot. instead, he orders regular apple shipments from Tong.
The Real Work Begins
Ryohei is now an official employee. Takahashi takes him to the Square Building. He meets Yoshimura. Ryohei gets his first real task. It is gruesome. He must draw the rotting hands and feet of frostbite victims. He finishes the drawing and immediately vomits.
He runs into an old classmate named Karasawa Tomio. Karasawa works here too. Ryohei is confused by the horror around him. Karasawa defends it. He claims they are doing great things to save humanity.
No Escape
Ryohei goes on field trips to draw rice paddies. A military wife joins them to visit family. On the way back, an aphid bites her leg. She kills the bug. Ryohei spends more time at the facility. He starts to understand the truth. He sees bacteria and leprosy research everywhere. He lives in constant fear.
One night, Ryohei goes outside to smoke. He runs into the wife of Kawaguchi Satoshi. She is the woman the bug bit earlier. The bite is infected. She is desperate. She tries to escape the facility in the middle of the night. Her husband won't let her leave. She sees Ryohei and begs him for help.
