Review of Dororo

Miracles do exist and Dororo is proof of that. By all accounts something like Dororo should never have been made. I’m not saying it’s bad, in fact quite the contrary. The Dororo manga is old, really old. Up until late last year I had never heard of it before. Typically the only anime that gets green lit is stuff that is relevant. Stuff that people are currently talking about. Pretty much the opposite of Dororo. Yet someone took a chance and decided to adapt it and I could not be more happy with their decision. The story of Dororo is quite simple and easy tofollow. It’s the story of a young man on a quest to regain what was stolen from him. In his current state you could call him an inhuman monster. Probably a bit harsh but when you have been robbed of everything that makes you physically human what are you left with. As the story goes on our main character Hyakkimaru regains those lost limbs but at what cost. I really loved the theme that Dororo went with. It’s all about give and take. For every piece of your human body you try to obtain, a bit of your humanity is lost. It’s a complex question ripe for intelligent discussion and Dororo handles that question masterfully.

While most of our focus and attention story wise is put on Hyakkimaru the anime is called Dororo for a reason. As an audience we are seeing things play out mostly through Dororo’s eyes who exists mostly as comic relief to keep the show lighthearted enough so that we are not bogged down by Hyakkimaru’s unending quest for vengeance. Dororo plays a perfect host for this journey and a great companion. Just because Dororo is a kid doesn’t mean they can’t be useful. In fact that’s something I want to point out. Typically child characters in anime are a nuisance. They are annoying, a liability in any given situation and frankly there to cause problems. The thing I like about Dororo is that Dororo is intelligent. Dororo helps our protagonist on his journey. Not just with the demons but also making sure Hyakkimaru does not fully lose what little humanity he has left. Other characters that have relevance include a wise wandering old man who you could call a sensei for Hyakkimaru when it comes to navigating this world. Sometimes he pops in to lend a helping hand but is never overbearing nor a deus ex machina, and he is always giving sagely words of wisdom both to the main characters and us as well. Of course what story is complete without an antagonist. The antagonist for Dororo revolves around Hyu’s father and brother even. What I like about Dororo’s portrayal of the antagonists is their motives for their actions make sense. They are not bad for the sake of being bad. Any other story and they would be the heroes instead. A well fleshed out hero for a story is nice but a well fleshed out villain can definitely elevate some series to the level of greatness. Throw in some meaningful side characters and Dororo has all the makings of a fantastic anime.

The art and animation for this story received quite the facelift. The original manga that I peeked has a comic like cartoony style of animation that may have worked for the time it was made but would need to be updated for a modern audience. The choice to update the designs was a great decision on the studios part. As for animation, wow. I was not expecting a show like Dororo to look as good as it did. Everything moved and flowed nicely. Most action scenes featured breathtaking sequences that you rarely see these days. There was a bit of a hiccup for one episode which depending on your taste could be very good or very bad. Fortunately it only lasts for one episode and then everything goes back to normal afterwards.

The sound for Dororo was great especially the first opening song. It’s straight fire which going by some of the lyrics is an accurate description. The ending song is nice too, almost has a sort of ballad feel to it. The 2nd OP and ED are good too but the first set is what defines the series sound wise.

I really hope that more studios in the future look to anime like Dororo and decide to take a chance on older works. There are so many great stories out there that deserve to be adapted and given the same respect that Dororo was given. This is certainly a classic in the making.