WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Orient Episode 11, "What's in a Katana," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
In Episode 11 of Orient, “What’s in a Katana,” Shiro and Nanao Inukai are forced to flee after battling against the Obsidian Goddess. Musashi, who has now transformed into this deity, unleashes a devastating attack after drawing the power of all the nearby Kitetsu blades. However, just as the attack is about to hit these two villains, Shiro announces to the Goddess that they will meet again, then swiftly transports himself and his apprentice away from the fight.
Moments later, viewers are shown a sunny blue sky that appears to be completely normal -- albeit, very shortly afterward, that cutting sounds can be heard and a rectangular shape is shown in the sky. A mass of ground slowly drops into the ocean, and from a bright white light that has emerged, Shiro and Nanao slowly descend with a Kishin in their Kitetsu’s clutches. This raises a lot of questions not only about Shiro’s powers and his involvement with the Kishin but also the physics of the Orient’s fantasy world.
Did The Sky Fall Because of Shiro’s Powers?
In Episode 10, “The Goddess’s Power,” fans of the show were able to get a glimpse of Shiro’s abilities when he faced off against Musashi, Kojiro and Tsugumi. With a swing of his sword, he was able to conjure an incredibly large purple cube of light, which was able to alter the landscape around them. This turned everything inside this force field upside down, sending an entire group of Bushi falling to their deaths.
Musashi and a few other Bushi warriors are able to stay alive by holding onto their Kitetsus, which they cleverly jammed into the ground above. However, Shiro begins to slowly pick them off one by one, using his Kitetsu to cut through the ground that he is standing on above.
The results that these techniques produce are in many ways very similar to what can be seen in Episode 11. The effects of Shiro’s cutting technique can be seen clearly in the sky, where he manages to carve a piece of it out. Furthermore, his ability to manipulate the laws of physics and reconstruct the environment around him might offer an explanation as to how he was able to open up the sky and why there was solid material contained within it.
Are The People of Orient’s World Living In A Constructed Environment?
While viewers have not been shown the full extent of Shiro’s powers, it does seem rather strange that the bottom surface of the ground that fell into the ocean was colored blue even after it began falling. This incident, in many respects, felt like a scene out of The Truman Show in which the sky had been painted onto a wall to delude the film's protagonist that the world he was living in was real.
Although the theory that Orient’s citizens are contained within a prison-like planet may initially seem preposterous, it’s not entirely out of the question. Currently, the nature of the world that Musashi and his friends are living in has not been fully explained. People appear to have a lack of understanding of the environments around them or the full history of their country, while many are still under the illusion that the Oni are benevolent creatures because of the propaganda that has been proliferated.
Even Tsugumi, who is far more well-traveled than Musashi or Kojiro, is shocked at seeing a map of the world they are living in. Could this be a sign that the Kishin have manipulated the people of Hinomoto into thinking that they’re living in one world when it is really another?
Shiro And Nanao Are Working with the Kishin?
Once the segment of the sky has fallen away, a creature can be seen descending through the open space. The being is held by Nanao, who is using the powers of her Kitetsu to tie it up and manage its weight. While it hasn’t been confirmed that this is either a lesser-Oni demon or a Kishin, it has all the features that one might expect from this type of creature.
In fact, its body seems to resemble the Kishin that Shiro and Nanao informed the Bushi Band that they had killed. If this is the same creature, it seems highly likely that they are working alongside the Kishin. The idea that the Kishin are being controlled by human beings has been theorized previously; however, this might be the first real sign that this is actually the case. As more episodes of the show are released, it's quite possible that viewers will begin to understand if this is so and who exactly is lurking in the shadows.
