Review of Dororo

Episode one of Dororo had a beautifully choreographed fight scene betweeen Hyakkimaru and the demon. The way Hyakkimaru catapults himself through his surroundings slicing, through the sight of darkness within the demon. It sold me on the show and had me hyped to watch it weekly. However, to my disappointment the show had a very stagnant middle section. It introduced some awesome characters, and brilliant plotlines, however it lost the 'it' factor that really drew me in intially. The fight scenes no longer lived up to the beautiful fight choreography shown in the first few episodes, and the brilliant story direction. However, what really redeemedthe show from its lackluster midsection, was the shakespearean ideas brought forth in the final four episodes. There was a huge theme on morality and ethics, bringing forth ideas of good and evil, combined with ambition and struggle. The story clearly takes a lot of ideas from Shakespearean stories such as Macbeth, and with the presence of a complicated relationship between Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru a Romeo and Juliet twist. Kazuhiro Furuhashi did a brilliant job of providing the audience with an ethical debate, allowing us to reflect on what the best thing to do is. The open-ended finish worked to Dororo's advantage, wrapping up the story we have been following and letting us question what happens next.

The art style is very modern, and gives a slick polish to the old-school style of story written by the god of Manga, Osamu Tezuka. The soundtrack has an oldschool, semi-0riental style which appeases the ears, and ramps up its flair during the action scenes. Both of the of the openings are fantastic, and introduce the episodes beautifully. Recommend this if you want to delve into a grand demon-slaying epic whilst delving into an ethical and moral debate.