Review of Dororo

I'll start by saying straight away that this was great. I'm torn between an 8 and a 7 and because I can't give it a mark in-between, it deserves to be rounded up to an 8. It certainly is an interesting watch, at least it was for me. It treads the line of many things very well. I didnt feel when watching that it's a very dark show, in reality, it really was. I felt that there weren't enough action yet on reflection I realised there really was. I didint feel like the animation was anything spectacular but it really did the job very well.Though all these are positives, I feel it is also Dororo's problem. When I say problem, I'm giving this show an 8, so it's not really a massive problem, but rather, something that is stopping it achieving greatness. I will also talk about the character building and story shortly, this is most certainly not a problem.

Throughout this show I felt that there was a barrier in the way of it really reaching the hieghts it was more than capable of on certain aspects. For an anime as good as this that I consider still has more potential highlights the restrictions I felt it had. I really can't explain it more than that to be complely honest. When it was dark it seemed that it was capable of being darker, in a great way too, not in an unessarily tasteless way. When it came to the animation, it was a solid piece of work, clearly had the animation skills to be superb, yet settled on being great. When you learn the story of Dororo, which you will simply by reading the synopsis, you will, like me, anticipate brilliant action sequences. Although these were indeed good, they could have been more. Bringing this back to an analogy, it's like the show is prime Usain Bolt, it has literally everything to be amazing, before the start of the race, Usain is given slightly sticky running shoes. Despite have everything required to shine beyond the rest, he is hindered by something out of his control.

Now for the story, it couldn't be more of a perfect Shounen/Seinen story. It really is great, and despite setting high expectations, it still delivers. Often I am disappointed with animes that proposes to offer such an exciting storyline, Drifters is a prime example of this for me. Dororo delivers. Intertwined with the story, as ever, is character development which also hits the mark. The really see the way out protagonists grow, the sensitivities of them on display, the flaws, the redeeming characteristics, everything is well balanced. The antagonists recieve the same brilliant treatment. With every passing episode the seen the reasons and rationale of all and start to understand the motives. This leads you to many points where as an audience you question who is indeed right. The undertone of all of this is of course the returning of what rightly belongs to our main protagonist, yet time I felt conflicted on the choice presented.

Throughout this show there is an undertone of loss and consequence. Action and reaction. It's portrayed brilliantly. Time after time there is a choice that results in the consequence of loss. Every single loss is bittersweet and the way this loss is reflected upon our protagonists is simply superb. Every step of the way you are forced to question right and wrong and journey with two excellently written characters who are questioning the same.

In summary it is a great anime, it should have been brilliant, being this good in what is literally an ocean of average it a great achievement. Well done Dororo.