Hina's mother vanishes into the Abyss with a Count of zero, and those final words become the entire plot. What makes Plunderer work is that it keeps recontextualizing what the Count actually means, what you're being measured for shifts every arc, and the show knows the difference between a number going up and a life getting better. By the time you meet Ace, you've stopped asking what he did in the Waste War and started asking what measuring human worth with a number does to people who believe in it.

In the world of Alcia, every human carries a visible Count: a number that marks their social standing and power. The tally rises and falls depending on how each person lives. When Hina's mother's Count drops to zero, she is dragged into the Abyss, a place said to be worse than death. Guided by her mother's last words, Hina sets out to find the Aces, legendary heroes of a war fought three hundred years ago who bear a white star beside their Count. Her travels bring her to Licht Bach, a clownish, girl-crazy masked vagrant with a Count of -999, and to Nana, who runs a tavern. When Hina is tricked into a fight with a soldier, Licht steps in to save her and reveals a second Count marked with a white star. From there, Hina and others begin to learn the truth about Alcia, the Abyss and the Aces, in a fantasy adventure that mixes action, comedy, drama, romance and ecchi.