The Great Passage contains episodes 1-11 of the anime directed by Toshimasa Kuroyanagi.

Venture out into a sea of words.

Dictionaries are ships which guide people through a sea of words and help us all to understand one another. This is the guiding principle at Genbu Books' Dictionary Editorial Department where they are int he process of creating a brand-new dictionary, "The Great Passage - Daitokari," designed for the modern era.

Just when production is underway, the Chief of the department must retire. Shortly after this news comes down, one of their editors, Masahi Nishioka, runs into a salesman from their company, Mitsuya Majime, while out at one of their vendors. Majime has a real love and appreciation for words, and is invited to join the Editorial Department where he can put his talents to work.

The outgoing Nishioka and Introverted Majime seem like a mismatched pair at first, but form a strong team which play off each other's strengths. It is a years-long journey to create a dictionary from scratch, but together, they may just make it through this "Great Passage: and make "Daitokai" a success.