Dororo is a 2019 anime and one of the very best.
How do I know this? Well where should I start?
Dororo is an adaptation from a manga penned by the most influential figure in the history of manga, Osamu Tezuka. The man has constantly been referred to as "the father of manga", mostly by people inexperienced with a single one of his works. But what does that matter? He birthed classic franchises like Astro Boy and Black Jack, both of which have had an obvious influence on anime and manga moving forward. So what if he wrote dozens of other manga you've never heard of that
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weren't popular, didn't sell and collectively almost killed the industry? That's of little importance here. In the world of today, Tezuka is synonymous with 'good' and if I repeat his name enough, you'll see that too. Tezuka. Tezuka. Tezuka. Tezuka. Tezuka.
Not sold yet? Not to worry, because Dororo was adapted by the fantastic team over at Studio MAPPA, who have worked on adapting old forgotten manga for today's audience. They did it with Ushio no Tora, a generic shounen that followed the footsteps of its predecessors but could never fit their shoes, and only added animation and music to turn the series into an outdated one. Last year they tried their hand with BANANA Fish, but rather than adding to the story, it managed to regress it down to the main homosexual romance with even duller visuals than the freakin' black-and-white manga. But have no fear, MAPPA is basically the continuation of Madhouse's best talent (even though barely any of the old Madhouse staff are with MAPPA nowadays but who cares about actual research amirite!).
So maybe the names of studios are too vague to rely on (no shit). But Dororo is different! It features the likes of Kazuhiro Furuhashi on staff, who directed classics from the 90's such as Rurouni Kenshin and the original anime for Hunter x Hunter. It is a fact (Wikipedia sourced) that he is amongst anime's foremost directors, even today, with his last directed work being none other than the worst of Netflix's original anime, Neo Yokio. What about Osamu Kobayashi? The man behind Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad and Paradise Kiss? Yes he was also part of the staff here, with the position of storyboarding, key animation, in-between animator and episode director. That's a lot of work, even if it's only credited to the first ED and literally nothing else for the show. And speaking of, those openings and endings were such bangers. Really incredible stuff, because they matter SO MUCH when reviewing the quality of a show.
Alright, it appears that rattling off names attached won't convince you either, so lets talk about the show. Dororo features the UNLIKELY pairing between a loudmouth child and a silent, stoic badass. It's SO UNIQUE that for how influential Tezuka's work was, something like this hasn't been replicated in anime since (they have). Nevertheless the two set out on a journey full of action and supernatural elements that effectively distance itself from the homosexual happy-go-crappy anime also airing. Kimetsu no Yaiba? That began one season later - doesn't count. Dororo is such an interesting show; so grounded in the historical setting, Tezuka format and folklore of Japan that gives it a timeless nature, but also subversive in its own right. There are no tropes present here as the duo follow their path, defeating whatever monster they have to face each episode to achieve their goal. Wait, was that a contradiction?.... Moving on.
What's really interesting about this version of Dororo lies in the presentation. It's just so cinematic: the backgrounds, the cinematography, such fluid animation, the way sound is edited to each scene, etc. If I could praise it like this all the time, I might confuse it for the second season of Mob Psycho 100, a legitimately well-made anime production-wise. The series initially does impress with its production quality, but it does *slightly* decline the closer to the midway point you get, until episode 15 hits you square in the eyes, and you wonder why you can't see the faces of different characters until you realize they weren't even drawn in. The action scenes however are the prominent highlights of the show visually. They're smooth, crisp and feel like authentic battles between swordsman. The way the show adds tension to these moments is also noteworthy purely for how smart the staff were. Static pictures of each character used in several instances, as well as zooming in and out of still images are not only very effective in building suspense, but also work as cost-effective methods while on a budget. And the best part is that they worked. How? Because everyone who praised the show so highly failed to ever mention them in their reviews ;) I can understand though, if I were keeping up with 20 other seasonal anime to review every 3 months then I'd probably forget a couple things as well, no matter how obvious they are.
Once again, I can't help but point out just how great this series is. Dororo really broke onto the scene with a strong sense of masterful storytelling (Tezuka). Despite drifting away from the original source on numerous occasions, the series keeps the heart of Dororo alive with every budget cut at their disposal. It's like watching a movie if you've never seen a feature film before, bringing with it this Disney-esque (LMAO WUT?) essence, that you can't help but feel warm and cozy inside watching one guy slice numerous others. I should have prefaced this by saying I barely watched Dororo, or remember it for that matter, but that's ok, I still love Dororo, as I do Tezuka, and MAPPA, (and helpfuls). Now excuse me while I give more fellatio to the series and Tezuka in private. While I'm gone, here's some food for thought: try to get to know what you plan on dickriding before you start putting out like a hoe.
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Jul 2, 2019
Dororo is a 2019 anime and one of the very best.
How do I know this? Well where should I start? Dororo is an adaptation from a manga penned by the most influential figure in the history of manga, Osamu Tezuka. The man has constantly been referred to as "the father of manga", mostly by people inexperienced with a single one of his works. But what does that matter? He birthed classic franchises like Astro Boy and Black Jack, both of which have had an obvious influence on anime and manga moving forward. So what if he wrote dozens of other manga you've never heard of that ... |
