Dororo

( HOOD REVIEW) When I started this anime, I knew nothing about it. I was very skeptical. But from episode one I had a feeling that I would like the anime. To sum it up it’s about a guy that was sacrificed to Demons when he was a baby, but not like sacrificed as him killed, but as he lost all his senses, his skin, his arms and legs . But still has the wheel to live when grows older every time he kills a Demon boss he gets stronger, story was pretty predictable. But you fall in love with the characters for sure

Absolutely Amazing. Dororo is such an underrated anime and not many people know about it which is sad considering it's one of the best single-season anime ever. Every episode has its own story and characters, the world is amazing and very creative, the characters are well-written and the backstories are brilliant. The only big problem with it is the ending. The ending was too rushed in my opinion and the way the anime ended was disappointing. I wanted to see more and I felt that the last 5 episodes were just really rushed cause they wanted to end the show (It doesn't mean that the ending was badly written (not at all) the ending was well written it's just that it was completely rushed in my opinion) Also in episode 15, the animation was really bad. It was like they ran out of budget and the animation was horrible but other than the rushed and a little disappointing ending and the bad animation of episode 15 I can only say good things about this anime please give it a try and you won't regret that.

Dororo is a reboot of an anime from the late 60s. The original was from Mushi production. The reboot is brought to us by a combination of Tezuka & MAPPA. We know MAPPA from their involvement with such underwhelming works as Garo: Honoo no Kokuin or Sakamichi no Apollon. The latter of which was also a collaboration with Tezuka. This does not give me a lot of hope. Story: We open with a Samurai lord, Daigo, entering the Hall of Demons that resides in his domain. You know, the ordinary kind you can find in any area. We have ours across the street from my apartment complex. He beseeches the demons to give him prosperity and, in exchange, they can take anything they want from him. Cue him dropping his trousers and really emphasising the "anything."The Hall gets struck by lightning, leaving him with a scar. Later on, we see his wife give birth only to have the building struck by a flash. He finds that the demons have taken his son's eyes, ears, skin, arms, legs and possibly tongue since he can't talk. But maybe they just took his voice in order to sing fabulously. He's thrilled that the deal's been accepted and orders the midwife to drown the baby. He reassures his wife that he would never survive and they can just make another one. Which I'm sure is exactly what she wants to hear in that situation. The midwife takes pity on the hideously deformed baby and sets him loose in a boat. We cut to years later where a heavily prosthetic young man named Hyakkimaru is wandering in order to hunt demons and reclaim the parts they've taken from him. He starts journeying with a young street rat named Dororo and there we have the plot. There are a couple narrative issues I have with the series. The more pervasive one is that There's not a satisfying explanation for why the demons want these body parts. There's a half assed statement about them wanting to be closer to humans and later they introduce this idea that they're somehow using the parts to awaken but we meet a lot of monsters that are running around and they clearly have enough power to rip a child into pieces seconds after its born while also being powerful enough to summon lightning storms but we're supposed to believe they need human parts to manifest physically? Wouldn't that be a bit like me being able to cause explosions with my mind and levitate but not being able to open a jar of pickles without help? There are also some cases of overly convenient circumstances. For instance, there's a scene where Hyakkimaru gets pretty horribly injured fighting a demon, but he's able to repair all the damage immediately by going back and killing it. Don't you wish you could do that in a war situation? Get shot multiple times, just quickly kill the guy who shot you and watch the bullet wounds vanish. I'll give it a pass when the parts that were stolen reattach due to him breaking the curse, but mending injuries he sustained in battle is far too convenient. The old priest also shows up at just the right moment quite a few times. I know he has an actual name, but I'm calling him Steerforth. With that being said, the premise is a very compelling one. I also appreciate that it can be more than a little dark without going too far. Legitimately, this is a far more optimistic series than you would expect. And I always appreciate it when something can be on the darker side but incorporate lighter elements and make them work. That's rare. Dororo is also a compelling series. It has something of an episodic formula but with a definite sense of progression. The ending is pretty nicely handled too. Characters: The biggest issue with the characterisation is that there are quite a few one episode characters who are just very basic and don't have any real depth. I appreciate that Hyakkimaru's family is not solely portrayed negatively. It would be easy to just make them one note villains who struck a deal with demons for their own gain. Instead, we get a lot about the conditions of Daigo's lands before he made the deal and we see some real positive traits from him. Especially where Tahoumaru is concerned. The series also brings up the legitimate question of whether Daigo and his people would be better off if they did sacrifice Hyakkimaru. Which really helps you understand the antagonists. And his mother is very conflicted, wanting to protect Hyakkimaru but also feeling that her duty to her husband is to support his decision. Dororo & Hyakkimaru are pretty great characters too. Hyakkimaru has a very compelling inner clash with his humanity conflicting with his more guttural, violent tendencies. Dororo is a very street smart child but is still, in many significant ways, very childish. We see them in their better moments, worst moments, vulnerable moments and moments of strength. Which is a significant level of depth.  Art: The big issue with the art is that some of the scenes that are supposed to look horrifying do come across as goofy. Like, when Hyakkimaru regains certain parts or the demon shark. I'm sorry, it looks silly. The teeth and feet can look bizarre at times too. There are points where they'll show a character's bare feet and they'll look like they have two toes, one significantly bigger. Like they're supposed to be wearing socks with their sandals even though no one would do that and they clearly aren't. The teeth just frequently have that weirdly sharp, jagged quality. But when they get the designs right, they really get them right. There are quite a few very strongly designed demons in the series. The action sequences are pretty bloody but also nicely intense and interesting to watch. The backgrounds are very well detailed too.  Sound: I have to give credit to Suzuki Hiroki, Suzuki Rio, Chiba Shoya, Matsuda Kenichirou & Munakata Mariko. While all the performances are solid, the five of them are exceptional. Ike Yoshihiro's sound track is pretty nicely done. The only aspect of the music I didn't really like were the theme tunes. Especially Kaen.  Ho-yay: There's not really any. There's not much in terms of romance in general. Areas of Improvement: Give the demons a more satisfactory motivation for wanting a child's body parts. Maybe human parts freely given grant them more power or, maybe integrating human flesh into them allows them to flawlessly disguise as human. You'd just have to rework some stories involving other monsters to give their human forms a clear flaw.  Let Dororo & Hyakkimaru solve their problems without Steerforth coming to the rescue so often.  Lose the magic recovery of battle wounds. I get it, there's magic in this world. But it's never really shown to have curative properties except, somehow, when a person kills a demon that injured them and gets the wound immediately repaired. It just comes across as a lazy way to let Hyakkimaru have more grievous injuries without them mattering in the long term.  Final Thoughts: With everything considered, I did enjoy Dororo. It may have faults, but it also has quite a few admirable qualities. It's an entertaining adventure with demons, sword play and a pair of non-blood siblings who have very little just trying to make it. If you're a fan of that kind of story, you'll probably enjoy it. For myself, I'm going to go so far as to give it an 8/10.

I expected more from this anime based off the average score it was receiving from MAL users. However, i must say i was a little disappointed. First off, i will say that my impression of this show might be based off the fact i was mainly watching it as something to watch while i was waiting for other anime i was following to finish up. This may have made my viewing experience biased a bit since i was trying to finish up the show so i could watch other shows. However, this doesn't mean that the show didn't fall short for me in various aspects. I understand that the manga the anime is based off is fairly old. Thus, the story of the show contains elements that most people who are familiar with anime have already seen in other shows. This doesn't mean the show is cliche or uninteresting, but some of the familiar elements failed to grab me as somebody who wants a show that surprises me a bit more. Although the background of the story is interesting, most of the anime seems to follow a monster of the week setup with the main character Hyakkimaru and his companion Dororo fighting various demons in order for Hyakkimaru to gain back his body parts. Many of the episodes follow a similar setup: Hyakkimaru and Dororo come to a village or town and they hear about a demon. They find the demon and Hyakkimaru kills it and gains a body part back. Since Hyakkimaru lost most of his main organs and limbs at his birth, the body parts he gains back range from an arm, leg, skin, hearing, voice, etc. While i can sympathize with Hyakkimaru and want him to gain his body back, the way he has to go about getting it back isn't particularly interesting. The demons in this anime don't seem particularly menacing or dangerous as Hyakkimaru is able to dispose of them fairly easily with a stab to the head or slicing off various limbs. It would have been more interesting if the demons had various abilities or could hold their own against Hyakkimaru more. This format gets tedious fairly quickly as none of the demons make a particular impression. I imagine the tediousness is even worse for the manga which has Hyakkimaru fighting 48 demons instead of just 12 to get all his body parts back. I get tired just thinking about that. Speaking of Hyakkimaru, it doesn't quite make sense how he is able to hold his own against the demons so well. Throughout the show, we see these demons massacre several humans with ease, but a guy with no limbs can dispose of them easily. It isn't even established if he was able to gain secondary abilities as a result of his condition. In some ways, it seems that he is a demon or at least has special abilities, but it is never stated that he does. In fact, a priest character named Bimaru, although we don't find out his name until the final episode, has the ability to sense demons even though he is a regular human unlike Hyakkimaru. On the subject of the demons, it is established in the first episode that 12 demons ate Hyakkimaru's body parts so that Daigo, Hyakkimaru's samurai lord father, could gain power and save his kingdom from drought, famine, etc. However, it isn't established if the twelve demons exist in the world or if the demons Hyakkimaru is fighting are the twelve demons. Also, it isn't established if the demons even have the type of power to bring about rain or make you able to win wars or whatever. Hyakkimaru's family, Daigo, his brother Tahomaru, and his mother Oku swear that the sacrifice of Hyakkimaru's body parts saved the kingdom from destruction. This is also why Daigo and Tahomaru take on a sort of antagonistic role against Hyakkimaru and Dororo since they believe the kingdom will fall if Hyakkimaru succeeds in his goals. However, we don't even know how the demons really helped the empire flourish. The characters in the anime actually are pretty well developed. Every character seems to have some degree of logic and reason behind their actions and perspectives. In some ways, it actually resembles real life more than i would have expected with Daigo making ethically compromised choices with the justification he has to do it for his country. Tahomaru has similar perspectives as well. Oku, despite regretting what has been done to Hyakkimaru, even understands that the sacrifice of his body parts seems necessary for the country's survival. The anime also seems fairly historically accurate too, despite the demons in the show. Villagers are mistreated and extorted due to the constant war between states. Samurai are often power-corrupted and commit various atrocities. Even the demon's themselves don't seem completely evil, some of them have various drives and logic behind their actions. I can appreciate how the anime's world seems developed and multifaceted for sure. While i don't necessary enjoy the monster of the week format some episodes take, i do appreciate the episodes with Hyakkimaru's family drama and the episodes that take the opportunity to develop the relationship between Hyakkimaru and Dororo. While i can understand the rationale behind Hyakkimaru's family's various decisions, it eventually comes to the point that i start seeing them as incompetent and short-sighted in their pursuits. Thus, i can no longer invest in them as characters. I like Dororo has a character, but she can get annoying at times. I understand she is a kid, but she tends to make poor decisions that cause Hyakkimaru to get involved in unnecessary conflict. Also, her voice gets annoying at times with her constantly saying of "BRO" when Hyakkimaru is in trouble. I will say Dororo isn't just an annoying kid. She has an interesting backstory and has major significance in developing Hyakkimaru as a person. Hyakkimaru is the only character in the show i consistently care about. It is enjoyable to see him gradually develop as a person. He also has some great moments where he confronts his family and begins to understand how his actions can lead him down a wrong path despite his goal being understandable. Also, his fights with demons and other various characters are a major highlight of the anime. Despite the characters being well developed, i don't find any of them, besides Hyakkimaru, particularly interesting or worth investing in. While the world and characters of Dororo don't particularly hook you in, i was consistently hooked in by the anime's two openings: both of which are banging tracks. Opening one one is a type of ominous, sad tinged track, with a great chorus and opening two is a rocker written by Asian Kung Fu generation, there really isn't a better selling point here. I think the average user score of 8 on MAL is too generous. This anime isn't particularly special in any regard. It contains elements most people are already familiar with, the characters aren't particularly interesting, there are various plot holes in the story, and almost no factors in the episodes really drew me in besides sparse moments in a handful of episodes. I expected way more than what i got.

I'm gonna give my best to keep this review short and simple. The anime was amazing, I hadn't watched something so great in a long time. The story was overwhelming, I can't even express how much it impressed me. The plot (read it in the summary) was simple, yet able to make you feel not only happy, but also sad, frustrated, devastated and - honestly - a bit gross, ''cause there are many cut-off limbs and so much blood. The ending really left me shattered and hit me right in the feelings. Dear storywriters, WHY DID IT HAVE TO END IN THAT WAY. Except for that, it was great. The characters were really well-developed, there was a great diversity amongst them and they were amazingly deep. And - just to note for the female viewers - Hyakkimarou (let's hope that's the spelling) was quite cool and handsome, I had to watch some scenes twice, because he distracted me. Actually, he reminds me of an Uchiha - that's enough of a compliment, I believe. Dororo - the other leading character - was so sweet and charming. The art and sound were perfect, nothing else to say. Overall, I usually have problems with my fav-lists, because I can't choose what to put and what to remove, but the moment I started Dororo, I immediately put it 4th in the list. It really is a great anime, it made me feel as if I am watching something from the level of Naruto. If you have any doubts, please, remove them, take some pop-corns and go to the illegal pages for anime viewing. it's time for you to watch something awesome.

[spoiler free review] Dororo 2019 is an adaption of the 1969 "Dororo and Hyakkimaru" which is based off the manga "Dororo"(1967-1968). I have yet to watch or read the originals and have only lightly checked them out but will soon try to finish them both(if i have the time :/). As far as i can tell i would say that this is a properly well done adaptation/remake and something i personally enjoyed quite a lot. The story follows a castaway child of a Lord who was sacrificed to 12 demons during the Sengoku period in exchange for prosperity and protection of the lords domains. On his quest for revenge and salvation the boy encounters a young child "Dororo" who has been orphaned, and together they travel the lands killing each and every demon they encounter. The story itself is quite basic but feels classical and respectable rather then overused stories of issekai and hack'n slash adventures commonly found in today's anime. The adaptation feels relatively smooth but there were some obvious potholes and such which did bother me a little but if you wont notice them then its fine and you should just enjoy the sweet ride. I found that the side stories often were cut short so you cant really easily get a hard hitting connection to many of them but it is mostly to serve the development of Dororo and Hyakkimaru. The art is pretty decent but nothing thats over the top but something you can 100% expect from studio MAPPA. However what struck me were the fighting scenes that happened almost every episode, they are simple but evoke a feeling of tension and focus wich is something not many animes will give you today so that was a high enjoyment factor (at least for me). The sounds were great, creating an atmosphere with each and every demon and character with a kick-ass awesome first opening. The Characters were great and had each and every one a backstory and history dedicated to them be it a background character or not, which created a real sense of "realisim" and connection to this demon filled world in the hellscape the Sengoku period already was. Overall this was definitely a show I enjoyed quite a lot and its definitely something i would recommend to anyone who has the time to watch and enjoy it. concerning what to eat while watching the show, i would say something light like snacks are a prefect fit for the first 12 episodes but after that its something bitter you would want like a neck medicine candy (couldn't find the English word) or a tea with Icelandic liquorice flavor. Overall (9) [Story:9 // Art:7 // Sound:8 // Characters:9 // Enjoyment:10] and one more thing. Hoge hoge tara tara hoge tara pon ;)

Remakes can be seen as good and bad at times. A good remake is when that you can retell the story but improve on it by tweaking it by learning from the mistakes of the previous one or by following its original material more closely. A bad remake just remakes it for the sake of being a quick cashgrab through name recognition and not improving on it or tweaking what already worked and making it worse. In an era where remakes are coming out of the whazoo in the west lately, it can get rather tiresome. Remakes for anime are less common, but have a track record for being better than the original. Hunter x Hunter, JoJo and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood are examples of this trend being true. So where does this anime rank along with them then? Sit back, relax, put on your prosthetic arm and grapple your way to save the prin...(Oh wait, that’s Sekiro, S**T!) as I present to you the anime review of the 2019 remake of Dororo. Lets begin shall we? Story: 8/10 Set in a fantasy version of feudal Japan, our story starts with Daigo, a lord of a land that is slowly dying and is facing a war is seemingly inevitable. Seeking power, he abandons his belief in Buddha and instead prays to the power of daemons. Granted power and a wealthy land, the daemons claim his unborn son and take every part of his body, leaving a husk…that is still alive; which was quickly disposed of. 16 years later, the boy, named Hyakkimaru, survived and with new prosthetic body parts, he wanders the land; slaying every ghoul and daemon he comes across to regain his body. On his travels, he encounters a street orphan by the name of Dororo who starts following him. Together, they form a bond and hunt for the daemons in order to reclaim Hyakkimaru’s body. Positioned as a monster of the week type setup, the story of this show is a rather simple one to begin with as its basically sees Hyakkimaru and Dororo wandering the land, searching for Daemons to slay, all while encountering plenty of characters along their journey. Some are just one episode characters, others are recurring characters we see more than once and act as motivators for our main two characters. While that may seem slightly bare bones, its the little details that make this show’s story rather enjoyable. The interactions, the growing character development and the questions that this show likes to throw at the viewer. It likes to focus on the on the moment to moment scenes rather than the big picture so that we can see how our characters progress as the story goes along. There is still an overarching story, don’t get me wrong. But the story is very character driven and likes to focus on them. The main question that this show gradually asks the viewer is that is it right to kill the daemons? That may seem like a stupid question to ask since, well, THEY’RE DAEMONS. But the show likes to show how the daemons are affecting people’s lives for the better. Sure they need bargains, but as the saying goes “The needs of the many out-way the needs of the few.” So is killing the daemons the right thing to do if people are going to suffer from it? The show does well of understanding the actions of both sides of the argument. For Hyakkimaru, he wants to reclaim his body that was stolen from him at birth. For Daigo and his son Tahoumaru, they want their land to thrive and their people to prosper. It makes you think of who is really in the right here and comes up with some very interesting dilemmas to keep the viewer intrigued. Characters: 8.5/10 Hyakkimaru is a rather interesting character for the fact that he didn’t have much of a personality to begin with. Of course that is understandable considering he doesn’t have his body parts and is literally a walking doll. But his character growth was interesting because it’s like watching a child trying to grasp new things so suddenly. He can’t hear, see, speak or feel pain when you meet him. But as the story goes on, you see him having to adapt to them when he gets them. His behaviour also changes as he gets his body back. From starting out calm and collective to acting irrational and angry that makes his character progression rather interesting, especially when you consider how Dororo also progresses throughout a show. Is he slowly becoming the thing he has hunted down? That’s another question that the show asks the viewer with some visual evidence to go along with it to justify your answers. Speaking of Dororo, her character arc (Yes, she is a girl. Its been stated and hinted at multiple times that she is a girl) is the best in this show. Starting out as a wise cracking, immature orphan who just uses Hyakkimaru to get food and make money. She starts to slowly mature as the show goes on as if Hyakkimaru rubbing some of his personality onto Dororo. As well as how Dororo handles certain situations in a rather mature manner. In fact, it’s almost like our main characters personalities are swapping as the show goes on. As Dororo matures and acts more grown up, Hyakkimaru gets more immature as time goes on. It helps hammer in the fact that these two need each other to learn and grow from one another. It shows how important character growth is important and how our experiences and interactions from other people help change and define who we are as a person. Something I think this show does incredibly in a rather subtle way that makes you gradually realise what is going on with Hyakkimaru and Dororo. The supporting cast is varied. Like I said earlier, it varies between one episode characters and recurring characters that appear in multiple episodes. They are rather clear cut and defined rather well. Some act as motivators for Hyakkimaru and Dororo, while others act as assh**es that act as impedance to Hyakkimaru and Dororo’s progress. Some you will forget probably about 2-3 episodes after the episode they appear in, but some do leave a lasting mark on our characters and considering the tone of the show, some of these characters get a rough time, making you sympathise with them. Mio is a great example of this, acting as a pivitol point in Hyakkimaru’s character growth. My favourite supporting character though is definitely Tahoumaru, Lord Daigo’s son and brother to Hyakkimaru. His own character arc is rather interesting due to him having a sense of conflict within him. He doesn’t want to fight his own, long lost brother, but he has a duty and seeing the land crumbling before him, he does what he must for the better of the land. He has his own reasons as to why he must kill Hyakkumaru in order to him to protect the people he must care about and to please Daigo. He acts as a great foe for Hyakkimaru to fight and a reminder that both sides of the argument have reasons for fighting each other. There is no clear cut villain. Just people doing what they believe is best and Tahomaru is indeed a great example of this. Animation: 8.5/10 This is where I think the remake aspect of this show has benefited the most. The art style looks more appropriate to reflect the dark tone of the show while the character designs still pay homage to the original designs but with a more modern look to it. It fits better with some of the content you will be seeing in this show. While I do think a little bit more polish to the character designs could have been useful. Their movements and expressions are endearing enough to make me like them. The fight scenes are well choreographed and shot well; considering the variety of daemons that Hyakkimaru was fighting in this series. This was a good job to make each fight slightly more distinct than the last fight. Human and human sword fighting was also enjoyable to watch with a quick pace to it and plenty of movement to go along with it, especially with all the acrobatics that Hyakkimaru can do. Seriously, whatever MAPPA touches turns to Gold at this point of time. Sound: 10/10 The music is appropriate for this series. A heavy use of flutes and banjos is used to help imme…

It started out very promising, but lost its was pretty quickly (contains spoilers). Story: 6/10 the most interesting story was the the overarching arc between Hyakkimaru and his family. Unfortunately the monster of the week format ruined the pacing, and was generally not very engaging. Art: Was off in the second cour, character designs were fine but a bit too similar. Characters: Underdeveloped, which is odd for 24 episodes. Like I said, the most interesting conflict was between Hyakkimaru and his family, but none of them were really developed enough. I would have preferred more focus on them and less on the monster of the week. Overall: It was fine, but I expected more. The ending was a let down, and it was happier in other adaptations. Idk why they went for such tragic ending after writing Tahomaru as nothing like a villain, but just a very conflicted young man trying to do the right thing.

! SPOILERS AHEAD! So I just finished watching Dororo and I’m sorry to say that this has to be one of the biggest dissapointments of 2019 as far as anime goes. Dororo starts off very strong. The art is solid, animation fluid with a very small number of still images, the characters, Dororo and Hyakkimaru are interesting and fun to watch as they travel across Japan searching for demons. Other characters such as the epic grandpa, the mysterious man, who raised Hyakkimaru and the members of Hyakkimaru’s family are all interesting enough for the viewer to look forward to learning more about them. You get excited to see what kind of problem or quest will Dororo and Hyakkimaru encounter next. What body part will Hyakkimaru get back? Will he know how to use it? How will he react when he finally gets to hear and see and feel? All of these questions were flying through my head as I impatiently waited another week to see what comes next. The conflict between Hyakkimaru and his family was also one of the things I really looked forward to. As his father, who believed/hoped that his first son was already dead, his mother praying day to day so that her son is still alive (or regreting letting him go), and his brother Tahoumaru, who has never been told about his older brother, therefore he doesn’t even know he exists. To the viewer it’s quite obvious that they will eventually reunite, but it’s this kind of predictibility that I personally love and I couldn’t wait to see how the family will react, when they find out that Hyakkimaru is not only alive, but is slowly getting all the body parts that were taken away from him back. The pacing of the first half of the show is good enough to where the viewer doesn’t get bored easily. As for the music, I love both of the openings, especially the first one, since it achieved to be one of the most memorable openings of the season. Sadly, as for the soundtrack, most of it was pretty forgettable. If I could rate the first half of the show alone, I would give it a 10/10 and I would’ve thrown it into my favourites without a second thought, but that’s where the second half of the show comes in. SECOND HALF Let’s start with the art and animation: You notice as you transition into the second half of the show, the animation budget drops drastically. The episodes are filled with still images and most of the time, even the still images look straight up horrible. And when there is no movement in the characters, your eyes wonder to the plain, boring and washed out, poorly drawn background. Actually, all of the colors seem more washed out then before, not sure if it was intentional to have some kind of older look or something, but it just doesn’t work and it’s not very pleasing to look at. At some point I thought, maybe they were saving all the good stuff for the climax, but no. The last episode looks as horrible as all the other, if not worse. Characters: I noticed that, for some reason, after Hyakkimaru finally meets his family, ALL of the characters become either very one dimentional or their goals and motivation change completely. Hyakkimaru goes from a boy who’s clearly shown some love and empathy, to a one dimentional "I want my body back, out of my way" guy, who often pushes Dororo away, only to later wonder around trying to find/save Dororo. His motivations jump form "get body back" to "all I need is Dororo" randomly and it can get annoying very quickly. Dororo didn’t actually change all that much. But she still did. Unlike in the first half, where Hyakkimaru is the one depending on Dororo, to lead and guide him through out the adventures, in the second half, Dororo drags behind Hyakkimaru (partially trying to stop him) and gets kidnapped so many times, needing Hyakkimaru to rescue her. It was a shame, since Dororo seemed like the type of character that could find a way to escape these kind of situations on her own, but, I guess not. The grandpa goes from epic side character to savior ex-machina. He only appeared in the most "ooohh man if only there was someone to help us right now" moments. Plus most of his dialogues consisted of "dis boi gonna be a demon", which was also a shame, because the grandpa was my favourite character in the first half, before they made him so one dimentional. As for the man that raised Hyakkimaru, I have nothing against him in any way, even in the second half. I really loved the episode where he and Hyakkimaru meet after some time, Hyakkimaru talks to him and calls him mom, it was really like the only time I got actually emotional in the second half of the show. Hyakkimaru’s brother goes from kind hearted and pitiful towards his older brother, to an evil douge that would rather get possesed by a demon then give up trying to kill his brother. And yes, I know, he was just listening to what his father said, trying to impress him and I guess also doing the right thing by trying to kill his brother, since if he didn’t, it would destroy their land, but after his change in motivation, he never shows any signs of the empathy he had before, and it just makes his character unlikable and, if I may say so, ONE DIMENTIONAL. Thankfully, Hyakkimaru’s parents remain mostly the same as before. Story and pacing: So, basically, the second half of the show wasted time on these pointless episodic stories, instead of actually progressing the plot. Which, those were actually part of the first half as well, but as episodes went by, they got really repetitive, predictable and boring. At least in the first half, Hyakkimaru would gain something from these filler episodes, be it a body part or some kind of experience, that would later influence his actions and helped to build his character. I don’t know why the show acted as if it had time for some pointless filler episodes, ’cause it didn’t. Episodes like this can be used in long, ongoing shows like One Piece, Naruto etc., not in a 24 episodes per entire show anime, that is very close to ending and still has underveloped climax aproach (if I may call it that). The ending, aka the last two episodes, could easily be a whole paragraph alone, or an entire hour long presentation about how NOT to end an anime. I won’t spoil the ending here, but let me just say, that that was one of the most rushed, confusing, and unsatisfying endings I have ever seen. I still refuse to believe, that a show that started so well, had so much potencial and had so many ways to end, ended like this. If they don’t make an OVA episode, fixing at least some things that they had done, I am suing the studio. Like I already said, if I could, I would divide the ratings for the first and second half. The first half gets a 10/10, amazing, beautiful, will rewatch pretending it ends at episode 12. The second half gets a 2/10, one word. DISSAPOINTMENT. Overall, I give it a 5/10. Thank you for reading my first review. Sorry it’s so long, I just had a lot to say.

Alright, so a lot of you might think that a 10/10 is an overstatement, and I agree, most of the time it is an overstatement. But Dororo was something different. The buildup of the entire story and characters were very well done which made it so good. Dororo is definitely worth the watch. Spoiler Warning Story - 10 The story is very unique and interesting. I really like the buildup of a child having everything taken away from them, and then having to fight for things in their own right. Art & Sound - 10 The artstyle of this anime is different. It has a very mellow and oldish color palette which really makes it feel like the story is taking place in ancient times. As for the sound, it was definitely above average and definitely brought out the emotions in the story. The opening and ending songs were incredible as well. Character - 10 The character development for Hyakkimaru was what stood out the most in the anime. The struggle and perseverance he faced was depicted very well and really shaped the story. The other characters all had distinct and consistent characteristics which added on to the story well. Overall/Enjoyment - 10 To conclude, Dororo is an incredible anime and you should definitely give it a watch. My favorite parts were the character development for Hyakkimaru and also the main idea of a child being abandoned with nothing left having to fight and gain everything back.

Dororo is a flawed anime, one that ultimately fails to live up to its own expectations. If I had to summarize it into a single reason, it would be because it tries to do too much. It wants to be this edgy action anime with a philosophical bedrock and a gritty, bleak story. Ultimately, it does do each of these things, but rather than playing off one another they instead diminish each other, culminating in a grossly unsatisfying ending. I finally got around to finishing this anime the other day. I had started it as it was coming out, and just sort of fell off the weekly watching train for the entire season and never got back to it. I was excited to binge this, as I'd remembered enjoying the first 8 episodes I had watched. Alas, little did I know that I had already watched the best part of the show. Story: The opening premise, of the boy with the body that was sacrificed to demons for his father's ambitions and the ragamuffin orphan who is his conduit to society, is awesome. And for the first half of the show, it works. We get the tried but true monster of the week format, with decent enough animation and bits of character development here and there. It was nothing special, nothing unseen before, but it was good. And then... it lost itself somewhere along the way. In the second half, the show becomes more and more focused on the moral consequences of Hyakkimaru's actions in reclaiming his body. This is a potentially interesting direction, but it never goes anywhere. Hyakkimaru is asked the same question, by different people over and over again and his answer never changes. It progresses nothing, and we kill another demon. And then, in a grand finale, the show ends, and our remaining characters move on with their lives. This plot feels more like a prologue as it finishes up. Its an origin story without anything to follow. Art: I have no serious complaints about the art. I liked the general style, it was an interesting more realistic take on the original Tezuka source material as far as I could tell. The animation itself ranged from pretty good to obvious cost-cutting. I can readily accept some of the latter if the former is good enough to cover it, and in this case for me, it just about was. Sound: The sound was fine overall, I didn't really notice it to be honest. The show gets bonus points from me here because OP1 is a straight-up banger. Character: The characters, alongside the plot, are one of the shows weaker points. Outside of our protag pairing, not a single one of the other slightly lesser characters gets any sort of decent conclusion to their storyline. This, for me, is where the show really loses itself in its attempts to do too much. There was so much potential to create really memorable characters out of a couple of minor personalities. The lord's Son, Tahomaru and the prosthetics doctor, in particular, are victims of this. Both had genuinely profound character moments at different points in the series along with fantastic backstories, and both go unutilized as they're in essence sacrificed to the plot. If these two had finished their arcs as characters, or at least continued them in some way rather than just being written out of the story, this show could have really been something special. They both had fairly memorable backstories fleshed out with philosophical notes that meshed well with Hyakkimaru's own moral journey. It's like the series was at odds with itself in what it wanted to do with these characters, and in the end, it does nothing. Dororo and Hyakkimaru's development over the course of the series was genuinely fun and does much to keep the show tolerable despite its other flaws. Enjoyment: It's hard to say if I really enjoyed this or not. I think overall I did as I was watching it, but the ending just left a sort of empty feeling. At the end of the day, it was just unfulfilling, and unfortunately, it impacted the joy I got out of the show. Its a shame, since I really did have high hopes for it. Some of it was enjoyable, but overall it just wasn't the whole package. Dororo is a fine anime. It has moments where it wows and touches on the profound. It just doesn't do it with near enough consistency to properly portray itself the way it wants to. Its plot and characters clash rather than coexist, and in the end, its just too much of a mess to figure itself out.

I just finished watching Dororo and I absolutely loved it! It's something you definitely want to go into blind since it really is the best way to experience it. The only thing you need to know is that there is a bit of bloody gore. It's not too often, but it is there if that's something that unsettles you. Other than that it's a great, cohesive story that immerses you in its world and will leave you on the edge of your seat! It did get a bit episodic with the "monster of the week" troupe in the middle, but it quickly escaped that and ended better than I expected it to. Definitely recommend giving it a watch while the episodes are still on YT if you don't have Prime!

What can i say about this show? Well, the first episode had me hooked immediately. The protagonist and a spunky little kid running around and looking for demons? Trying to get back body parts? I was invested! It kept going, for I say about 15 episodes, then the anime started to resolve things; while this is not a bad thing, the reason why I didn't like that aspect will be touched on in a little bit. but first, let me just talk about everything I liked. All the characters were beautifully orchestrated, from the blind old man, to our main cast, to the loving mother who misses her son. Everyone in this anime had a role to play and did it well without being a nuisance to plot development. the story is based off an old story, so we pretty much got a contained story that still works to this day. the art is absolutely beautiful, the animators were not lazy. from the eyes of our characters to the scenery, every penned-in line told a story. sound isn't much to write home about, your basic run-of-the-mill japanese-Chinese score with classical eastern instruments. not amazing, but it did fit. So what did I not like? Well, 2 things: 1. the needless sacrifice of characters. I won't go into detail on where it happened that annoyed me. But I really hate the trope of "we must make the stakes high, sacrifices must be made" in order for writers to tell a good story. I think it's needless and only serves to frustrate me. It was fine sometimes, but overall when you have 5 characters being sacrificed, I feel like your not trying that hard anymore. I can understand how some people like this, so I won't hold it against the show. 2. I wanted it to be longer, like.. Inuyasha longer. I say Inuyasha because I really thought the journey bouncing off the characters in that show made it enjoyable to watch and slog through 160+ episodes. I felt this anime could have been that... but unfortunately, as I said before: It's based off an old tale. So BOTH my criticisms are invalid. The wrap up at around episode 15 was something I had to deal with because of the restraint.The original story had sacrifices. so changing that would have been dishonest. And making it longer would have been impossible. But overall it was well enjoyed. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

I went into Dororo without any knowledge, except what was given with the synopsis. I have not seen the previous version and didn't watch or read anything about either series. With this review I will not be comparing it to the original for those reasons, as well as the fact that, even if it is a remake, it can still be good if it strays a little *cough* Fullmetal Alchemist *cough* Dororo to me was a breath of fresh air coming out from the usual ten million Isekai anime that release every new season. I tend to spend my time watching older anime rather than new ones, simply because the new ones never seem to interest me. Dororo, on the other hand, had a very strong summary that immediatly got me interested in it. Waiting for it to release, I watched the first episode the day it aired and then the rest of the episodes the same way. Dororo is an amazing anime. The story is very unique and keeps the watcher interested, theres no confusing plot points, or holes in the storyline. The whole anime flows very well. What makes the story so good is in fact it's characters. Many times in anime we see great stories but bad execution or amazing characters with horrible plot, then at times we get somewhere in between the two. Dororo has amazing characters and if it wasn't for them, the story wouldn't be so good, in this anime they go hand in hand. The creators wrote the characters so well that they seem believable, you can understand their intentions, you may not agree with them at times but you can understand them. At times, I would even argue, it's hard to know which side is the good side as each of the characters has their own reasons. Dororo was not as dark as I was personally expecting, it was indeed dark at times but it did not go into the Berserk level of darkness I was expecting, again this is not a bad thing. The story does get dark at times, especially in the first few episodes but it's not just edgy stuff thrown in to attract a certain audience. As for the art? Dororo had it's ups and downs with this one. In the beginning, the art was amazing and extremely well done. Seemless and well executed, the art and animation sliced through any doubt one may have. Towards the middle, though, there was an obvious drop in quality. Watching through and simply trying to enjoy the anime (as I definitely did) I barely noticed it but it was obviously there. The company did bring it back up towards the end however. Well it was not as well done as it was in the beginning, as you could tell where they took some shortcuts to save money, they did greatly improve from the drop they had in the middle of the series. But by golly those openings. The openings were very upbeat and would seem to fit more in an anime like Naruto. They were really good! Don't get me wrong, they just didn't seem to fit with the slight dark undertones of the story though. The voice acting is very well done, I found no problems watching through it. There was no unbearable voices, everyone did an amazing job on their part, the voices fit very well with their respective character. Overall, I would have to give Dororo a 9/10. It has an amazing story with great characters, from the first episode, probably even the synopsis I was drawn in. Every episode had me constantly checking the calendar to see how far away they next episode was. The voice acting is incredible. The thing that kept me from giving it a 10/10 was the art and animation. If they company kept it at the same level they had it in the beginnig, this anime would have been a solid 10/10 in my book but the obvious drop in quality ruined that. By no means am I saying avoid this anime because of that though, no, this anime is great! It is one I would recommend to everyone, especially those new to anime.

And so my continued love/hate relationship with Studio Mappa marches ever on, in which they consistently put out ridiculously ambitious projects with stunning first episodes that regularly push the boundaries of what modern anime is capable of, spinning dangerous, unique, memorable, thoughtful, massive, and utterly memorable narratives with insanely intricate productions, and always, without fail, stumbling over uneven schedules and overstepped ambitions that lead to the finished product having very noticeable holes and frustrations that drag it down from genuine greatness, but the level of passion and dedication on display is so riveting that I feel pressured to give all those missteps a pass. Every season, it’s the same song and dance with these lunatics, yet no matter how many times I’m burned, I always find myself coming back. Say what you want about Mappa, they don’t do safe, and if there’s one thing this industry could use more of in the modern day, it’s that kind of daredevil risk-taking. I value this studio’s talent and dedication, and while I can’t outright say I trust them, I never cease to be blown away with how far they’re willing to push themselves. We need more people like the Mappa team working in the industry, more people willing to go the extra mile and take the risks necessary to achieve something truly transcendent. So when I say that Dororo is a flawed, uneven creature, know that I criticize so heavily because I appreciate so much of what this show does, and I just wish it ended up being even stronger than just quite good. Based on a tale from the pen of Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of anime and manga, Dororo takes the Devilman Crybaby route of updating this classic manga with modern sensibilities and a hard-bitten edge. In the times of the samurai, Lord Daigo’s land is suffering from famine, and in his desperation, he makes a deal with demonic forces to keep his people alive; prosperity in exchange for his newly born son. The baby is stripped of all of his features, his limbs, his senses, his skin, even his face. Daigo orders the poor thing to be put out of its misery, but the midwife takes pity on it and sets it down the river, Moses style, to find a second chance at life. Flash forward about twenty years or so and the baby has grown into an ass-kicking, demon-slaying warrior outfitted with a prosthetic body to replace everything that was taken from him, including arms that can open up into razor-sharp sword blades for maximum bloodletting. He’s on a quest to slay the demons that stole his body, reclaiming all the remnants of humanity he never got a chance to taste. And along the way, he finds himself an unlikely companion in Dororo, a fast-talking, quick-witted, streetwise kid who takes a liking to the mysterious renegade. From there on, the story spools into a series of episodic adventures building to a grander narrative as Dororo and the newly christened Hyakkimaru travel across the land, slaying demons and reclaiming Hyakkimaru’s lost body piece by piece, Dororo acting as the unworldly warrior’s guide through the dangerous landscape (and as a spirited one-sided conversationalist, to keep their journey from being completely silent until Hyakkimaru eventually regains his voice). But the forces of Daigo are stirring to war, and the scars left on the lost boy’s family long ago are slowly rising like a plague in the plenty of the land his sacrifice helped save. So, you know, just another day at Studio Mappa with a production requiring a ridiculous amount of ambition and skill on a near weekly basis. An adaptation of a classic work from the godfather of manga that needs to be updated into a more modern context? With swordfights and crazy plotting and out-there conceptions of demonhood and humanity to be explored? You can almost hear the animators chomping at the bit to dig into such a tantalizing prospect. And unsurprisingly, watching it all unfold is like a cross between the Icarus myth and a rejection of the same. You can hardly believe how much effort is being poured into this endeavor, nor how much of it actually succeeds. Much like Masaaki Yuasa did with Devilman, the team behind Dororo fundamentally understood how to translate this ancient tale into something vital and fresh today. It’s a heavily tonal piece, shrouded in the pale papyrus colors and rough painted surfaces that suggest a scroll painting brought to life, timeless in its aesthetic while riveting in its ideas. If anything, I wish it had adapted harder at points; there are a scattered handful of moments where it tries to do the Samurai Champloo thing of slipping into radically different, much goofier styles for a one-off episode or two, but it comes off as awkward and disjointed because it was doing such a good job not being a rollicking showcase. There’s a part of me that wishes this entire production trusted itself a little more in that regard. Again, ambition outstrips means here, and you wish someone had stepped in and put the reins on Mappa a bit to direct them down a more beneficial road. There is so much power in the story’s heavy shadows peppered with moments of light, and I wish it wasn’t in such a hurry to be anything but that. In fact, my overall appraisal of Dororo is that this is what I wanted Samurai Champloo to be: a strong, character-focused narrative that merged its badassery with genuine human connection. The tale of Dororo and Hyakkimaru as they quest to restore his body carries a heavy weight, their encounters ranging from light and silly to gut-wrenching and tragic. There were no shortage of moments across the first half of this show that made me suck in air through my teeth to keep from gasping out loud in pain. As Hyakkimaru slowly pieces his body back together, he starts down an increasingly bleak path, every return of what was stolen from him ironically pushing him farther and farther from the humanity he seeks through the trauma he must endure to recover them in the process. Meanwhile, the more insight we get into Daigo and the family he’s build in the time since giving his first son away, it becomes harder and harder to see the ultimate villains as truly irredeemable. It’s a bitter, hard-edged, often painful narrative, but it’s also peppered by joy and giddiness, courtesy of Dororo’s unflinchingly optimistic spirit that draws the lonely warrior out of his shell. There is so much in this show that plays to the best aspects of samurai storytelling and the kind of chaotic brilliance it can entail... which is why it’s a shame that it struggles to keep that energy going in the second half. It’s not so much that the show gets worse as that it starts running into more roadblocks, story beats that feel a little rushed, twists and pile-ups that don’t feel as hard-hitting or vital. And it also doesn’t help that by this point, the usual Mappa issue of an uneven production is in full effect and there are far too many episodes that lack the polish of the earlier endeavors. It’s plagued by a million little annoyances, kinks that really should’ve been ironed out at some point before giving the go-ahead on the final product. And yet. For all the complains I might have about potholes along the road, Dororo still swept me away. I got lost in its aesthetic, its ideas, its characters, its ethos, and its overwhelming ambition to keep striving past its limits, no matter how constricted those limits became. And nowhere is that strength clearer than in the show’s spectacular action, which might legitimately be some of the most fluid, chaotic, blisteringly intense swordplay I’ve ever seen put to animation. When I say that Dororo took my breath away, it’s these sequences more than not that I’m referring to. The clash of steel and flesh in this world is a thing of raw, tempestuous beauty, a vortex of sound and fury that barrels through your senses with stunningly fluid animation, blows coming heavy and hard one on top of the next, a relentless barrage of hard…

Dororo is a great anime in itself. I’m not trying to make you watch it by saying how it’s the anime which inspired other animes so even if you find it cliched watch it because animes exists thanks to this. No. I honestly enjoyed everything in the anime. I recommend you to watch because it’s so well produced and the storyline is great too. Some episodes seem like not connected to the main plot but they have a connection Ofcourse and are great episodes to be watched freely. The art: 10/10 Honestly hats off to the production team. Just compare it to the 1969 version. Ever since I saw the first look of the poster I was impressed. The animation quality although drops a bit during 1~2 episodes, otherwise the animation is great. The fight scenes are so amazing and satisfying. The characters : 9.5/10 I quite liked the characters especially Hyakkimaru Dororo Tahomaru etc. Despite whatever side they were on I appreciate their ethical and mora values. None of the characters were shallow, something I really admired. The demons were well animated too because woah some were creepy like wth. The story : 9/10 The story is really nice. As someone who loves historical shounen action animes I thoroughly enjoyed it. Honestly the last scenes felt abrupt to me??? Like it could’ve gone in infinite numerous directions so why? (Not spoiling) But the last ep as a whole was great so not complaining. Will leave the rest to my imagination. The Music : 10/10 I loveeeeeed both the opening and endings. The Ost play an important role for me too and all 4 didn’t let me down at all. Even if you aren’t going to watch the anime do have a listen to the opening and endings! I rated Dororo a 10/10. As I say I review based on my experience solely because there are others who can critically evaluate better than me. I really enjoyed these 6 months thanks to Dororo and although it has nothing hi-fi, I just enjoyed watching it a lot. I just love great re-adaptations of old animes made to fit modern viewers criterias!

Ended about as perfectly as I could've imagined. Felt earned and right in how we left them. Happy tears at the end for how sweet it was. This show has been an absolute ride to watch these past six months. I remember when this remake was announced last year and I read the manga and loved it but felt there was more to tell, especially with how that ended. This remake is the premium example of how to do one right. Who'd have thought fifty years later we would've gotten a Tezuka anime like this. From a cancelled manga no less. Truly incredible how this was even made. Immense gratitude to the producers and animators and anyone who even had just a touch in making this for handling it this way. From the very first episode when we see a cloaked and shut off Hyakkimaru swoop in and slay that first Demon I was hooked as a lot of people were. It captivates you to hear a story like this. We all love a redemption tale. Hyakkimaru fighting the demons to get his body back put him and Dororo, and us all, through so much. Those early days of meeting Dororo herself and then Mio with the tragedy that befell her to the first clash at the demon wall with Tahomaru then the shark boy island adventure to finally this ending dual between brothers. Been a rollercoaster and a half I'll tell you. Hyakkimaru is going to be one of the best characters this year easily. I love him to death now. It's easy to relate to his pain. Dororo being there for him, easing his pain by just being there by his side was so sweet. Their bond being the heart gives it that aspect that can elevate a story. All the supporting characters showed out as well. Jukai, Nui, Bewaimaru, Mutsu, Hyogo, and All the others we meet as complementary pieces filled those roles gave us memorable moments. All the aesthetic aspects of the show were handled really well. Barring maybe that one episode, the animation looked smooth as can be in the action scenes and you can tell mappa poured a lot into this to make it work. These past few episodes even dialed it up farther with the brother be brother sword fights. The only real flaws I'd say with this show are it's pacing feels off sometimes with the episodes. But I believe that if you enjoy the characters then one off side story episodes shouldn't be much of a problem. Since I did, they weren't really too much. The music to the show added to each scene it was in. Mostly subtle music but effective. All openings and endings rocked too. Overall I loved this show. The journey Hyakkimaru and Dororo went on sent my heart on a journey with them. So much pain and tragedy but they rose above and chose to be better despite it. Hyakkimaru even sparing his father at the end showing that up front how far he's come. No longer a demon but a human who's path does not lead there. We have to be better than the cruel world we're in. We shouldn't rely on the suffering of others to prosper ourselves. The messages of the show are as easy to love and understand as the characters are. Which is probably why I myself loved them so much. Going to be one of my tops of the year, even with all the heavy hitters coming up. It's a classic story that now has its proper conclusion, something we don't get in a lot of anime really. So we have to cherish that when it's done right. 9/10

Dororo had the potential to be truly great, but it wasted it. I wanted to believe Dororo had well-written characters and deep themes. But truthfully, it had neither. The visuals and directing were promising at first, but the animation quality rapidly declined and the fight choreography became lackluster. There was no substance to the story, it was rarely unpredictable, and the bulk of it was episodic filler. This show had potential with such a fantastic premise, but it squandered it by devolving into a formulaic monster-of-the-week structure. Dororo is the second adaptation from a manga originally released in the 1960s, and it was first adapted in 1969. Tezuka Productions and MAPPA have collaborated to reboot the franchise with this new darker series; it is violent, gory, and it contains mature content. The premise goes as follows… In Sengoku-era Japan, a baby is born without skin, limbs, or internal organs, but the catch is his father sold all his body parts to demons and in return, they granted him power. And the dad of the year award goes to...! Not him. The demons who were given his body parts live throughout Japan, free to wreak havoc as they please. The deformed baby was set adrift on a river by order of his empathetic mother, and somehow he survived with the help of prosthetics. Later, this baby grows up to be a ronin, Hyakkimaru. It is his goal to retrieve what the demons stole from him by killing them all. At the start of his journey, he encounters the titular character Dororo; he's a mischievous kid with a name that means exactly what he is, a thief. Together they traverse Japan to kill demons and get back Hyakkimaru’s body parts. This is a fantastic plot setup loaded with potential. Imaging the possible routes the story could take inspired so much excitement in me, but unfortunately Dororo squandered its potential and went out with a whimper rather than a roar. Throughout the vast majority of this overlong 24-episode series, the plot structure is mostly episodic. I expected Dororo to be an epic complete story of Hyakkimaru’s fight to get back what was stolen, in the end, it didn’t live up to its great premise. In the beginning, it was exciting, Hyakkimaru is a blind and deaf ronin with his limbs replaced by swords. He is determined to fight in spite of his defects, so finds a way. We don’t see the training right away, which makes him an enigmatic anti-hero. Right away, the show settles into an episodic structure, at first, the battles are thrilling; Hyakkimaru slices and dices through giant horrifying monsters with blood and gore flying everywhere. The fight choreography is incredible at first; visceral audio-visual feedback with each slash and stab makes combat tense and realistic, but as the show progresses it becomes far less impactful. Choreography weakens to just a simple slice drawn 2D across a monster design, smash cut to the next shot, and boom the demon is dead. By this early point in the show, it already feels like it is lifelessly going through the motions of the plot like a chore. Each monster used to be so incredibly important, he got back an organ or sometimes even a whole ass limb and it felt as banal as if Hyakkimaru was picking up lunch at a fast-food drive-through. No impact, just progression to the next scene leaving you feeling unsatisfied. It becomes a chore to watch, you just want him to kill the demon, get his body part, then move on to something more interesting. There are some episodes here and there with good self-contained stories, like Dororo’s bloodstained backstory or Hyakkimaru’s training. These unexpectedly exciting episodes showcased the best art. The visuals CAN be solid, not spectacular, but well stylized and consistent. The gray-scaled flashbacks were somewhat obnoxious with red unnecessarily highlighted. There are less blatant ways of indicating a scene takes place in the past, just gray-scaling it is lazy. It’s like visual storytelling for babies, give me something worth analyzing. If only these episodes didn’t feel haphazardly thrown into the season, they would have been highpoints rather than slightly less average than the rest. Like any episodic plot structure, things somewhat go back to normal at the end of each episode, with the added limb onto the main character. Many episodes don’t feel connected to each other, which lessens the impact of the previous one. After binge-watching it I can say it is very disjointed, which might not seem obvious watching it weekly. It doesn’t flow naturally as a story should, we get a new monster each episode (with the occasional two-parter) and a development episode tossed into the mix at random. Dororo gets a flashback in late in the first cour, and it’s touching if predictable, but it feels forced. He randomly gets a fever at the start of the episode, then suddenly he’s telling us his life story in a fevered haze. This show is made for TV airing, to spark hype each week then be forgotten until it does something different in the next chapter. I don’t want to generalize here, but it seems like most anime produced by MAPPA have varying degrees of pacing issues and art inconsistencies. Dororo is no exception. For the most part, the art is decent. Excessive zooming in and out on still images is constantly used in place of animation. The worst instance of this is a giant explosion being zoomed in and out on as an animator dragged it around their screen with a cursor. This happens during the most climactic moment in the entire show! These cost-cutting animation techniques undermine the impact of any scene they are in. The character art is cell-shaded, which is typically fine, but here it looks quite lazy. In other terms, the animation is very low effort. Cell shading isn’t a problem on its own but it doesn’t look right on the watercolor background art. I hesitate to call the background art “detailed” because it always looks are so messily drawn. Watching the characters walk across pudgy watercolor backgrounds looks off. It’s as if they were stickers pasted onto the screen rather than a part of the show. This further contributes to characters not being fully fleshed out into real and relatable people. For most of the show, the main perspective is given to Dororo instead. Once Hyakkimaru grows a personality he shares the protagonist role, then eventually his perspective overshadows Dororo—and mind you he has about one personality trait for much of the show. Dororo is developed enough to maintain interest in the first half of the show; he was orphaned at a young age and losing his beloved mother visibly impacted him. By the time Hyakkimaru takes the role as the main character, Dororo is sidelined and he becomes a damsel in distress to be saved in many of the side plots. When the show ends, it feels like he barely mattered to the story at all, other than giving us some emotional investment while Hyakkimaru was an aimless killing machine. This is the fundamental issue with the two main characters, there isn't much to them. When one of them is developed, the other is unimportant. Dororo follows Hyakkimaru into fights out of habit and belonging, as we learn from his lonely back story. Hyakkimaru is silent because he cannot speak without his organs—which feels more like a plot convenience to avoid writing a character—but once he can speak he needs to learn how. His speech is simplistic, one word at first, sometimes his handicap is played to comedic effect; this is especially annoying in one tonally maligned comedy filler episode. There needed to be gradual character development along the way. But instead, it is episodic, things go back to the way they were. Hyakkimaru is already a capable fighter at the start of the show, and his determination to fight despite his lack of limbs made for exciting fights. As he gains more limbs the show loses what made it so original, it gradually becomes a cliched samurai story. Hyakkimaru’s struggle to fight even with defects become…

One of the most wholesome anime i’ve ever seen, even with all the very dark themes it deals with it still manages to tell such a heartwarming story As we follow cheeky little Dororo help Hyakkimaru on his quest to regain his body from the demons it was sold to, we see how greed can consume people in the most vile way, but also how it’s possible to overcome any hardships life throws at you and still be a good person in spite of all the evil that surrounds you A great story wouldn’t be complete without great characters, Dororo’s a mischievous bundle of joy, and Hyakkimaru is the most adorable big brother to Dororo and the sweetest son to his oka-chan :)

A very symbolic show. This show really displayed the true reality of what is was like to live in this era. In most animes, we often only see the good sides or see the rough side of things for a little while, but this anime does not hold back. Quite a realistic telling of how Hyakkimaru got back what was stolen from him. Tackled gender identity quite well in the show, especially not trying to fetishize it (anime shows typically do this unfortunately). Overall a great show. If you're looking for a good story, growing characters, and great development, would recommend this show.