Review of Dororo

Hello people, I have finally watched Dororo, so please read my review :)))))) Let me say that I have been waiting to watch this anime for a loonng time, and now that I finally have, I think that it definitely deserves a review. I read some of the reviews below and I am quite surprised to see so many people disliking it (I mean of course, it's everyone's opinion and no one is right or wrong). I also would like to share my opinion as well. ........................................................ Story: Firstly, I enjoyed the historical setting. I love anything dealing with old Japan era (such as Inuyasha). Samurais, feudal lords,swords, demons. Everything about these things are awesome. Historical anime are very rare . I'm so used to seeing modern concepts such as work place settings, school settings, etc., so it's very refreshing to see old times where the customs and culture were different. Talking about the story, I think it was a very entertaining story: a lord has become a father and he feeds his child to the demon gods. The author shows both sides of the story, making the viewer really question who's right and who's wrong--> I mean of course, I know that it is immoral to sacrifice an innocent child to the demons. I'm talking about later on, when the entire village was at stake.
Hyakkimaru's story is wonderful. A child who grew up with nothing, yet he has the strong desire to live. Dororo's story is great too. A child who was raised among war and had the same desire to survive through it.

I read a lot of comments go: "the story was predictable." I mean... every anime is predictable in someway. 99% of Shonen anime have goofy, loud, obnoxious protagonists that are either so weak in the beginning or have a devil inside of them and they have to prove the world that they are the good guys. You know what I'm talking about, right? It's the same foundation for most plots. Same with shoujo: girl is clumsy, can't fight for herself, doesn't have a backbone; then she falls in love with a guy who's soooooo cool, hates everyone but has a soft side for the girl who literally doesn't even have a character.

So yeah, I did not think the plot was soooo predictable. Of course, there were episodes where back to back he defeated demons and got his parts back... I know that is what people mean by redundant, but come on, how else would the story progress? His goal is to get his body back, and how can he do that without defeating the demons? In my opinion, the story went on a good pace. It wasn't too rushed, and I enjoyed the fact that Hyakki didn't take like ten episodes to kill off one monster.

Something else that others mentioned in their review: Dororo felt like it was "monster of the week" structure. Hmm...it kind of had to be? Each demon had a body part. He had to kill each demon one-by one to get the body part. How else was Hyakki going to do that if he didn't kill them off one by one? They had to show how he got each body part, and to show that, they had to show how he killed each demon.

.......................................................
Character:

Moving on to characters. I honestly enjoyed the interaction between Dororo and Hyakkimaru. Both of them have a similar goal even if it's for different reasons: to survive. Hyakki wants his body back to feel like a human, and Dororo refuses to die due to the war. Right off the bat, they became good friends even though Hyakki couldn't see nor hear Dororo. His trust in Dororo and Dororo's will to stick by Hyakki created a beautiful bond.

The story is about Dororo and Hyakki not the other side characters. The side characters are there to enhance the main two characters. The only ones who really matter are the monk, Jukai, and Hyakki's family. For example, Mio was important, but not as a love interest for Hyakki. There is no way Hyakki even loved her; he only saw her as someone like a gentle drizzle of rain that calmed him down-- especially her voice. I don't even know why people ship her with him. It would be kind of weird for Hyakki to know and understand what love even is at that point since he basically doesn't even understand himself and his senses. He really is portrayed as a toddler(which is so adorable btw hehe).

Which leads me to my next point: Dororo x Hyakki as a couple.

No, it is not weird. Like I mentioned before, Hyakki himself is innocent, like a toddler. He never looked at Dororo with dirty eyes or anything. He's definitely not a pervert-- even though his lack of personal space can make others think that. Honestly, one can argue that Dororo is and will be more mature than Hyakki for a long long time until Hyakki learns to adapt more. Dororo knew the concept of sex at that young age, while Hyakki doesn't even know why rubbing heads with other people is wrong. Also, people, the age difference is like what 5, 6? I know so many people who have a much greater age difference. So many shoujo and josei manga promote age gaps and some are even illegal, so I don't understand why others would have a problem with a bond between Dororo and Hyakki. I love the fact that Hyakkimaru leaves Dororo at the end-- and no he shouldn't have physically said goodbye because he knew Dororo would've wanted to tag along. He wanted to learn about himself and the world by himself-- and it is implied that they meet each other again when they're older. Much more mature, I bet. Also it's older times, of course the standards are different back then than they are now.

The anime should've explained how Hyakki can understand things despite his lack of hearing, smelling, speaking, etc. I read somewhere that he has some special abilities, or that he could understand things via telepathy. I mean now that I think about it, Dororo did say there was no way Hyakki was understanding, but the monk said he did in his own way, so I guess? Still, Hyakkimaru has some fire grammar for someone who never talked. I wish he talked in choppy sentences some more.

I also wished they showed the background of the Monk some more. I mean he was almost always there. The only thing we learned from him was the fact that he was an ex-samurai. What happened that made him change? How did he become so wise?
.............................................
The Ending:

I liked it. Everyone got what they deserved (well not the poor villagers :(((...) Lord Daigo, especially. He used the demons to gain everything, and because of that, in the end he lost everything: the land, his family, his people. I'm glad that it wasn't a predictable ending where Hyakki killed his father. That would be too easy for Daigo. Losing everything you fought for is the biggest punishment he could've gotten. Superb. Also, of course, seeing the older Dororo run, to what I hope was towards Hyakki, was also amazing. Not a cringey, lovey-dovey ending.
............................................

Phew, this was a long review, and I think I have put everything that I wanted to. *Ahem* to sum it all up, I would like to say Dororo is very wonderful show. It's surprising how underrated this is. I try to find merchandise of it, and I rarely found anything. So sad :((( Anyway, thank you Mappa <3333