Dororo to Hyakkimaru

To aid his conquest of Japan, the ruthless lord Daigo Kagemitsu offers to sacrifice his soon-to-be-born son to 48 demons. The demons accept, and the next day, the child is born with several missing limbs and is ruthlessly cast down a river.

Fifteen years later, a stubborn young boy named Dororo struggles to survive against hunger and oppressive samurai on the streets of an impoverished and war-torn village. After angering a group of thugs, Dororo is attacked by them, but a mysterious man interrupts them, claiming to hear spirits nearby. Sure enough, a monster emerges from the river, and the man then removes his prosthetic arms, revealing blades hidden underneath, with which he slays the monster before leaving.

That night, as the man walks through the forest, Dororo approaches him and declares that he will accompany him. From this, the man, Hyakkimaru, reveals that many of his body parts were stolen by demons and that though he sought a peaceful life, he couldn't escape their relentless onslaught. Despite the tale, Dororo still insists on tagging along. And thus, Hyakkimaru travels through Japan with his new companion and a puppy named Nota, facing the brutality of both hell and mankind.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hyakkimaru Main

Nozawa, Nachi Japanese

Dororo Main

Matsushima, Minori Japanese

Mio Supporting

Mutou, Reiko Japanese

Biwamaru Supporting

Takiguchi, Junpei Japanese

Tahoumaru Supporting

Nakamura, Shuusei Japanese

Jukai Supporting

Nuinokata Supporting

Kitahama, Haruko Japanese

Midoro Supporting

Kagemitsu, Daigo Supporting

Naya, Gorou Japanese

Sukeroku Supporting

Miwa, Katsue Japanese

Sugii, Gisaburou Director

Tashiro, Atsumi Sound Director

Tomino, Yoshiyuki Episode Director, Storyboard

Dezaki, Osamu Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Mar 29, 2017

Czarine

Recommended

I must warn you at this point: even if this is a children's anime, it is very gory, and has cruel themes going on (starvation, child slaughter, war...). But no sex nor rape, obviously. Many of the monster scenes would be considered way too scary for children today.

As of writing this, only half of the episodes have been subbed. I understand some japanese, so the lack of subtitles wasn't a problem, since the story is quite straightforward. Knowledge of old fashioned and slangy japanese is useful, if you wish to keep up with the characters' lines.

Story:

I haven't read the manga, so I didn't have any ... expectations when I started to watch this. The story took me by surprise! It was enjoyable and reminded me of some old japanese folk stories. I would compare the feeling to watching Mushishi, except that Dororo has lots of action going on and less monster lore thrown around.

The first half of the series has a gripping storyline, with a lot of character development. The episodes' storylines could span 2-3 episodes. After that the series gets a bit loose, and I can't help but feel the episodes have a filler feeling to them. They also change to the one-episode-per-storyline format, which didn't do good for the pacing.

The last episode ties things up hastily but is okay. The ending development could have started a bit sooner, so the pacing would've worked better.

Art:

I'm actually pleased that this anime stayed black and white. The colored pilot doesn't have the same eerie feeling. I also like it that they made Hyakkimaru look older than in the pilot. The animation is okay, though there are some wonky parts here and there. As an animator, I can forgive them.

Sound:

I really liked the music in this series (though the opening theme is too catchy :D). If you like biwa, you'll like it too. The music reminded me of Ninja Scroll, which is my favorite. The sound design is old fashioned, and I recognized some nostalgic sound effects that were a norm even in the 80's.

Sometimes the growling sounds were more funny than threatening, and I would've liked more variety in female voices.

Characters:

The first half of the show is a bit more focused on Hyakkimaru, and the last half on Dororo. It's not too black and white, but I would've liked the story to be more evenly divided between the two. I liked how Nota (the dog) also had important moments in the plot, and wasn't there only to look cute.

The series has a wide cast of secondary characters, of which some are more memorable than others. But I liked it how they were easily distinguishable from each other; a trait that isn't that well handled in more recent anime.

Enjoyment:

As mentioned before, the plot was great in the first half, but lost it grip in the second half. I did watch the whole series during a few days, so I guess it was gripping enough.

Overall:

If you like wandering samurais, yokai and old school kids' anime, this is for you. This is like a children's version of Ninja Scroll and Mushishi put together. I'd say you could watch the first 13 episodes and skip the rest to the final one, without missing anything important in between.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Czarine (14)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 19, 2018

Neimaj

Recommended

*SPOILER WARNING*


Daigo Kagemitsu is a man who desires power. Political power, to be exact. One night, he decides to sacrifice forty-eight of his unborn child's body parts to forty-eight demons to gain more power within Japan. When the child was born, it only had a head and a torso. The baby, soon after it was born, became an orphan. One day, a doctor named, Juko, found the baby and decided to take care of it. He named it, Hyakkimaru. As Hyakkimaru got older, Juko had to create prosthetic body parts for him, and that's when Hyakkimaru noticed that monsters were around him on ... a constant basis. He was being haunted by the forty-eight demons, and was told personally that if he wanted his original body parts back, he must slay all of the forty-eight demons. Whenever he defeats a demon, one of his body parts is returned to him. Hyakkimaru, while on his journey, saves a young boy by the name of, Dororo. Dororo is a orphan just like Hyakkimaru, and after being saved by him, he admires Hyakkimaru and chooses to follow him on this dangerous journey.
Dororo to Hyakkimaru is a pretty good show. The only major flaw that I noticed while watching was with some of Hyakkimaru's body parts. I mentioned earlier that when a demon is slain, Hyakkimaru gains a body part. Halfway into the show, Hyakkimaru is given a voice. He says, "Dororo, I can finally speak!" Up until that point in the storyline, Hyakkimaru was a mute, yet he speaks for the entire show. Dororo responds with, "But you've been speaking this entire time." Hyakkimaru explains to Dororo that he hears everything he says in his mind or some bullshit like that. Same thing goes for his eyes and ears; he was incapable of seeing and hearing from the very beginning, yet he interacts with other characters within the show, and slays demons ಠ_ಠ. Hyakkimaru is practically a Japanese Hellen Keller! That flaw aside, the show is good.
I can see a lot of people turning away from this show, because of how it looks and it's age. Personally, I'm not bothered with how the show looks. I'm not that ignorant to the point where I would avoid a show just because of the way it looks. The story is good, the music is catchy, especially "Dororo no uta," and the two main characters are cool. Dororo is a little annoying and gets Hyakkimaru in trouble sometimes, but he has his good moments. I'll give this show a 7.3/10, the last episode is probably the best episode.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Neimaj (45)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 14, 2020

ggultra2764

Mixed Feelings

Informative

I'm mainly familiar with Osamu Tezuka's dark fantasy/ historical manga series from my exposure to the 2019 remake of the series that would come out for it 50 years later, which I did have the opportunity to see last year. This older adaptation appears to simplify a good deal of the supernatural lore and character depth found from the remake with Hyakkimaru appearing to have psychic abilities for sensing his surroundings and communicating with others, Dororo being more hot-headed and bratty, and Daigo Kagemitsu portrayed as a pure villain. Plus, the number of demons that Hyakkimaru has to slay to reclaim his body parts is ... 48 instead of 12 from the remake. It looked like reducing the demon count for the remake was to allow the series to focus more on developing its story and characters instead of Hyakkimaru's slaying of demons he encounters on his journey. Granted, simpler storytelling was the norm with TV anime of the 1960s. But said simplicity does have its ups and downs throughout Dororo's run.

Far as pros go, the 1969 Dororo anime actually does a pretty solid job of story building for its first half and dabbling into horror with its presentation. The story developments within Dororo for its first half are divided up into 2 to 3 episode arcs. Some story arcs dabble into Dororo and Hyakkimaru attempting to investigate and slay a demon within any village they travel to, while others serve to explore backstory with the pasts of our two lead characters. It looked like the series was planning to gradually develop our two lead characters throughout their journey, notably when Hyakkimaru does eventually come to confront members of his biological family in the later part of the anime's first half. Far as the horror goes, the anime's black and white presentation helps enhance the visuals with depicting how monstrous the demons confronted by Hyakkimaru are and setting up story arcs across 2 to 3 episodes helps create slow enough pacing to create genuine suspense out of the confrontations that Hyakkimaru and others have with enemy threats. I understand the anime was originally meant to be in color, but made black and white due to budgetary constraints. As commented, this aesthetic decision actually helps benefit the anime's element of horror. Adding to this, the anime is surprisingly violent for its time period with plenty of spilled blood and dismemberment found throughout its run. I didn't mind the violent content in question as I felt it necessary to reflect the brutal nature of Japan's feudal era with the corruption of the samurai class and the demons that exploited the suffering of humans they haunted. But I was under the impression that there weren't TV anime with that level of violence during that era since they were largely aimed for younger audiences.

Setting aside praises, the 1969 Dororo anime has a good number of issues. The second half of the anime deviates from the plot structure of its first half by largely focusing on episodic plots exploring Hyakkimaru's slaying of demons. This leads to the series taking a big hit with its focus on further exploring its plot and characters, as well as greatly reducing the suspense of Hyakkimaru's encounters with demons confronted since the demon-focused plots have quicker pacing and are resolved within the span of a single episode. Apparently due to Osamu Tezuka abruptly ending the Dororo manga series, many episodes for the TV anime's second half were exclusive for the anime and this shows with the hit in quality for the show's storytelling within its second half. Not helping matters is the final episode being rather compressed and lacking proper buildup with showing Hyakkimaru's final confrontation with his evil birth father and the very sloppy handling of Dororo's gender reveal.

The simplicity of the storytelling does also work against my reception to Hyakkimaru's character. The so-called psychic powers that he has for interacting with others and following his surroundings in spite of lacking much of his body parts and functions reeks of lazy convenience written into the series and this element of his character is actually never mentioned or explored until a later episode has him make a passing mention of this after regaining the ability to talk. Matter of fact, the anime has some noticeable inconsistencies with Hyakkimaru regaining specific body parts or functions in spite of still shown using his body prosthetics all the way up to the final episodes of the series. The 2019 remake does a much better job of portraying the difficulties that Hyakkimaru has with moving around and interacting with others outside of demon slaying until he gradually regains more of his body parts and functions.

While I'll admit Dororo is a unique beast for its time with its elements of horror and solid first half, it gets quite sloppy in its second half with changing up its plot structure and rushing with its finale, as well as offering enough issues with Hyakkimaru's character in believably portraying his disabilities. While I'd at least recommend seeing the 1969 Dororo anime once due to its historical value, I still find the 2019 remake to be the definitive version of Dororo to check out due to its stronger plot building and character development.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by ggultra2764 (469)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Osamu Tezuka Anime Essentials

by TheCoolGuy82

50 Entries · 32 Restacks

Anime that have a Reboot/Remake

by Ssnowyy

50 Entries · 69 Restacks

World Masterpiece Theater

by 0edoon

32 Entries · 41 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for April

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for April. Week 1: April 5 - 11 Anime Releases Gakuen Alice Complete Collection Garakowa -Restore the World- B...read more

Apr 4, 2016 12:43 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (7 comments)

Q2 2015 Anime & Manga Licenses [Update 5/30]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime and manga licensed in the second quarter (Apr-Jun) of 2015. Spring anime which were licensed before th...read more

Mar 31, 2015 7:15 PM by Snow | Discuss (47 comments)

	Poll: Dororo to Hyakkimaru Episode 26 Discussion Fronzel - May 20, 2016	14 replies	by johneaston »» Feb 1, 10:24 AM
	Poll: Dororo to Hyakkimaru Episode 15 Discussion Lorezhno - Oct 3, 2017	4 replies	by johneaston »» Jan 29, 8:33 PM
	Poll: Dororo to Hyakkimaru Episode 14 Discussion Lorezhno - Oct 2, 2017	6 replies	by johneaston »» Jan 27, 4:36 PM
	Poll: Dororo to Hyakkimaru Episode 13 Discussion Lorezhno - Oct 2, 2017	5 replies	by johneaston »» Jan 25, 6:20 PM
	Poll: Dororo to Hyakkimaru Episode 11 Discussion Fronzel - Jan 1, 2015	7 replies	by johneaston »» Jan 19, 6:47 PM