The Ronin Monk

The Ronin Monk starts with a quiet monastery being destroyed by foul magics. Hiding in the woods is a young child. He overhears the attackers making reference to 5 ancient artifacts the monastery held, and that they were going to divvy them up.

Spring to the modern day. A monk wanders into a bar. The patrons look at him funny and he demands to know where the man "that is large like a mountain and with hair like a bear" is. A man matching the description rises only to quickly be assaulted by the monk. Just before the monk can kill him, the man demands to know why he's being attacked. "My name is Ryoichi. I believe you have my temple's artifact." Before the man could react, Ryoichi kills him and takes a pendant from the man. He then pins a taliman on the body with the monastery's emblem upon it.

The story is 10 episodes long and follows Ryoichi in his quest to reclaim the monastery's missing artifacts: the Pendant of the Moon, the Jade Crown of the Forest, the Ring of Fire, the Scroll of the Elements and the Sword of the Gods. As the story progresses it is learned that each of these artifacts contain a small amount of power granted to them by the gods and spirits, and how they came to to invested at Ryoichi's monastery years earlier. It also becomes apparent in episode 8 that his quest for revenge and retrieval has made him insane when it becomes apparent that his traveling companion, Daisuke, who acts as a voice against his quest, is "killed" only to reveal that he was imaginary and only able to interact with Ryoichi.

Impact

The series has been a large hit, and rumors of either a movie or a continuation series are rampant. A large amount of The Ronin Monk memorabilia has been sold in just the past year since the series premiered.