Hello and welcome Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the final week of the Underrated Arc as we look at the second half of Dororo. Last time, we saw Hyakkimaru reunite with his family where his father shows no remorse for actions and his younger brother has also decided to condemn him for the sake of the people. How will these actions play out in the future? Let’s find out. This is the second half of Dororo.
Opening and Ending Theme
So the second opening is “Dororo” by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION. Compared to the first opening this one is a little more lighthearted. It’s still intense and a good song, but I don’t know, this song just feels out of place especially after where we left off and the story doesn’t get any happier from here. I still prefer the first opening over this one.
The second ending for the anime is “Yamiyo” by Eve. Fun fact, this was my first introduction to Eve. The song is very beautiful and captures the relationship perfectly between Hyakkimaru and Dororo. Dororo will never turn her back on Hyakkimaru no matter what. The world may see him as a monster, but she never will. While the first ending is still my favorite of the two this song was a good follow up and served as an introduction to the one they call Eve who would go on to become one of my favorite Japanese artists.
Episodes 13-16
Episode 13 is probably the weakest episode of the bunch so far. Hyakkimaru and Dororo have left Daigo’s territory but Dororo is worried about Hyakkimaru as he hasn’t been able to sleep all that well and has become more focused on fighting demons (he’s a man on mission). He’s also speaking more which is a step in the right direction if you ask me. Dororo wants Hyakkimaru to relax so she makes up the lie that there’s a demon near a hotsprings. Along the way they stop at a shack where Dororo comes upon a large Fudo behind a waterfall and meets a woman who’s face and voice resemble her mother (dah~, she’s a demon! Kill her! Kill her). Hyakkimaru can sense she’s not a demon so they all sit down to eat where the woman named Okaka tells them the story about the Fudo statue. It was carved by a buddha carver in the past but he got stuck on the face. He wanted to give it a magnificent face (the kind of face that would make Rushmore look like a child’s art project) but all he could carve were faces he had already seen (and they all sucked). He spent years trying to find the perfect face until old age finally set in and he died. After the story they eat where Okaka drugged their food (well at least she fed them before she decided to rape and kill them). As Dororo drifts off into a slumber, Okaka continues the story of the carver where she reveals that she was the carver from all that time ago. After he (or she I don’t know) died, a vengeful spirit possessed the statue and wanted a face so badly that it revived the carver and had them bring it humans so that it could take their faces for itself (and it meant that literally. The statue literally chops off the faces of the humans Okaka brings to it). Okaka plans to give Hyakkimaru’s face to the statue (wouldn’t be the first time he’s lost his face) but Dororo stops her and wakes up Hyakkimaru who fights the statue in a very slow and uninteresting fight (did they give the episode to an intern or something? What’s with the lousy quality?). Dororo manages to get Okaka to see the errors of her ways before the statue kills her and Hyakkimaru manages to defeat the statue (and just has that look of “what the hell MAPPA?”). After that, they go to the hotsprings where they come across the blind priest again (just join the party already) and it gets revealed that Dororo has a mysterious tattoo on her back that not even she knew about.
In episode 14 we find out that the mysterious tattoo on Dororo’s back is a map which leads to the treasure that her dad plundered from samurais. After Itachi’s betrayal, Dororo’s dad knew he would be in no condition to lead the people but he wanted to make sure that money could be used for the good of the people. Before he tells his wife where the treasure is she stopped him and said to mark it on her back as she herself was afraid that she would use that money solely for Dororo. So, Dororo’s dad tattooed one half of the map on his wife and the other half on Dororo which can only be revealed in warm water. Dororo memorized the tattoo on her mom’s back which means she knows where that treasure is and has a lot of options right now. She can use that money to fulfill her dad’s ambitions, use it for herself, buy her own domain, or even travel to a distant country (she can finally take control of her life). Dororo isn’t sure what she wants to do and her dilemma will have to wait as she and Hyakkimaru come across a ghost lady and this deformed monster baby who mistakes Dororo for his mom (ugh~, I’m pretty sure the monster is old enough to be Dororo’s mom). Hyakkimaru says they’re not demons so he just ignores them (they don’t bother him he won’t kill him), but the monster continues to travel with them clinging closely to Dororo. They eventually come to a burnt down temple where they meet Sadame the lord of the domain they’re in (who has the eyes of a madman. He is just ready to kill someone anytime anywhere) and he invites them back to his village. We see that he’s well-respected and liked lord but Hyakkimaru and Dororo can sense that something’s off about him (it’s the eyes, the eyes just scream killer). Sadame tells them that the temple used to be run by a corrupted nun who would beat, enslave, and sell children. One day, lightning struck the place and set the place on fire killing everyone in the temple (quite the story. So when does the lollipop guild show up?). Hyakkimaru and Dororo don’t believe the story as they found oil near the temple meaning the fire was caused by human hands (mother nature was falsely accused this time). As they sleep, a giant caterpillar shows up in their room and tries to eat them but Hyakkimaru fights it off. Before Hyakkimaru can finish the job, a giant butterfly (or moth, it’s really hard to tell) shows up and flies the caterpillar to safety (scene here: https://youtu.be/ML0jE_-Ddlg). We end the episode by seeing that the creature is working with Sadame (no surprise there).
Episode 15 is a showcase of where the anime ran out of budget (as the animation is very cheap in a number of scenes). Anyway, we find out that Sadame made a deal similar to Daigo with the demons. Much like Daigo’s land his land was also plagued with war, wild beasts, and brigands which made the land uninhabitable until Sadame made a deal with the local demons to save his land and the villagers are all in on this (you guys know about this too? To think I was trying to be nice and not call them all creepy assholes). Sadame and the village sacrificed the nun and the children at the temple to the demons as a sacrifice and that’s how the village prospered. Sadame has the moths attack Hyakkimaru where he manages to fight them off but passes out in the forest. While that’s going on, Dororo gets trapped in the storage house where the villagers lock her in the basement to be eaten by the larva but she gets saved by that monster baby from the previous episode who was actually the spirit of the dead children from the temple (scene here: https://youtu.be/pG4NgL_zoMk). Dororo gets out of the storage house and reunites with Hyakkimaru just as the village catches fire destroying the storage house with all their rice and everyone begins turning on each other for survival. Hyakkimaru goes to the lake to fight off the queen moth and kills it to get back his spine (scene here: https://youtu.be/RjAnRCmLmH8, ugh~, that looks painful) and he returns to the village with Dororo where the whole place has been burnt down, Sadame is dead, the fields are no more, and the body count is high (we should probably leave). Dororo wonders if what they did was right, but Hyakkimaru doesn’t care which upsets Dororo who goes her separate way from Hyakkimaru and gets found by Itachi who wants the other half of the map.
Episode 16 focuses on Dororo and Itachi (talk about a downgrade for Dororo in the traveling department). Itachi captures Dororo who feigns ignorance and hides the map on her back but that won’t stop Itachi from the finding the gold. We find out that during a war, he was left for dead by the samurais he served but managed to survive and returned to being a brigand. He dug up Dororo mom’s grave (you bastard) and found the map on her back. They arrive at a cape where the gold is buried on another isle so they’ll need a boat to sail to it. They find a small village but the place was raided by brigands leaving only a crazy one-armed sailor who favors sharks over people (just don’t ask them for a BJ). They all stupidly trust him to take them to the isle where he leaves them stranded in the middle of the ocean and at the mercy of his two gigantic sharks (it’s the ancestors of Jaws). The sailor leaves with one of the sharks and has the other shark watch them (I’m more surprised that the sharks can understand him) where Dororo lures the shark out of the water for Itachi and the others to stab and kill it (scenes here: https://youtu.be/MGa-W8TnnJo and https://youtu.be/2KovP0sJJ_o). They make it to the isle, the sailor sees what they did to his shark (that was his future baby mama), and they capture and beat up the sailor for tricking them. Itachi soon strips Dororo in order to find the map where we discover that not even he knew Dororo was a girl. He manages to get the map on Dororo’s back and leaves her tied up while he and his remaining men go treasure hunting. The sailor regains consciousness (why didn’t we tie him up again?) and we end by finding out his other shark may possibly be a demon.
Episodes 17-20
In episode 17 we move the story away from Dororo and instead return to Jukai who is in a field giving body parts to dead bodies (whatever he finds on you, counts as pay) and gets attacked by ghouls where he’s saved by Hyakkimaru (scene here: https://youtu.be/enVimoydJo0, the surrogate father and son meet again). They catch up where Hyakkimaru tells Jukai everything that’s happened to him and that he needs another leg to continue fighting but Jukai won’t do it because Hyakkimaru is slowly becoming a demon himself (so what, he should live his life with only half a body? Look, I know that what Hyakkimaru is doing is very debatable on whether it’s right or wrong and I don’t have an answer for this as well but what Daigo did to him was wrong and he deserves his body back). A mudslide traps them in a cave but Hyakkimaru digs them out only to find the field crawling with ghouls who are being born from a demon tree (nice and ripe and ready to kill). Hyakkimaru defeats the ghouls and destroys the tree (scene here: https://youtu.be/iSU8K8ImuRw) and continues on his journey to find Dororo who Jukai believes is the key to keeping Hyakkimaru human. We also get a touching scene where Hyakkimaru calls Jukai his mother (not quite but close enough). In another part of the episode we see Tahomaru kill a rat ghoul (which looks like Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Oku is still alive and wakes up from her slumber, Daigo’s scouts have found the whereabouts of Hyakkimaru, and he sends Tahomaru to kill him. In the final part of episode, Hyakkimaru somehow picked up on Dororo’s trail and has reached the cape where she’s at and begins rowing to the isle to rescue her.
Episode 18 is an action-packed episode. It starts with us finding out that the sailor’s second shark is in fact a demon (why am I not surprised?). The shark jumps on land, consumes the body of the other shark (sharks eating sharks. That’s just weird) and transforms into a demon. The shark tries to eat Dororo but Hyakkimaru is there to save her and kills the shark (scene here: https://youtu.be/cKiWNZqdd2s. Wow, all that transformation and build up and the shark goes down like a bitch). So, Hyakkimaru and Dororo reunite (all is right with the world), and Hyakkimaru gets his other leg back (I guess it was a good thing Jukai didn’t give him another leg. Everything works out in the end). The two now set their sights on finding and stopping Itachi from getting the gold but they got company in the form of Tahomaru and his small army. They arrive on the island and begin killing everyone they see. Hyakkimaru gets separated from the others and takes on Tahomaru and his retainers all by himself (he does well for a guy taking on three people). All of Itachi’s men get taken out and Itachi himself gets shot several times but he refuses to die without seeing the treasure first (trust me man, where you’re going you won’t need it). The sailor shows back up again (it’s ironic, everyone is getting killed yet it’s the one-armed sailor, a child, and a man who’s missing most of his body still alive and breathing) and sets off a bunch of bombs killing himself and taking out the soldiers with him in a rockslide (scene here: https://youtu.be/aBYSSfL5y58). Dororo and Itachi survive the rockslide and find themselves in a pit where they find the gold and Itachi dies a happy man. Hyakkimaru uses the rockslide to escape his brother and finds Dororo where she decides to leave the gold as she doesn’t know what to do with it yet (I can think of a few things) and the two leave the isle safely without attracting the attention of Tahomaru who is dealing with the casualties on his end.
In episode 19 we get possibly the strangest episode in the series. Hyakkimaru and Dororo journey to a village to look for a swordsmith to repair Hyakkimaru’s swords. While there, Hyakkimaru earns the affection of the swordsmith’s daughter and decides to marry her (you do realize you’re still missing the one bone that matters? Your wedding night is going to suck). The only problem is he doesn’t want to marry her and before long he, Dororo, and the rest of the villagers are saying the opposite of what they mean (oh my God. Someone actually took the opposite day joke and turned it into an episode). Dororo figures out that this whole mess is being orchestrated by a ghoul who was sealed away in a temple long ago. With the help of the swordsmith, the ghoul is resealed, everyone returns to normal, the misunderstanding gets resolved, and we get a happy ending (what witchcraft is this?) where Hyakkimaru gets his swords and the swordsmith’s daughter actually does get married to someone else (and we get one of the strangest episodes to come out in 2019).
Episode 20 starts off in Daigo’s land where it’s suffering badly. Locusts have eaten the crops, rat infestation (that might be Tahomaru’s fault), epidemics, and of course people dying. We then return to Hyakkimaru and Dororo in the colorful fall mountains where they’re looking for a demon that’s been reportedly killing people in the area. In their search for the demon they meet another swordsman named Saburota who lost his mother to the demon and has been trying to kill it as well for revenge (join the party). They find the demon (which is actually a nue) and the swordsman turns on them revealing that he’s working with the demon and luring people to their deaths (can no one be trusted but the handicapped?). Hyakkimaru and Dororo fall off a cliff and survive but Dororo’s arm gets stuck between the boulders and they’re in a hole where water is filling up. Hyakkimaru tries desperately to save Dororo but due to the limitations of his body he can’t do it. Thankfully, the blind priest was passing by, hears them, and comes to save Dororo (scene here: https://youtu.be/fZHAsd-cdlA). With Dororo safe and filled with rage at himself for not being able to save Dororo, Hyakkimaru returns to fight the demon where to Saburota’s shock, Hyakkimaru shows no fear when fighting the demon (this is what he does on regular basis man. He’s like Guts only Japanese). We get a flashback into Saburota’s past where we find out he was a wannabe swordsman. When the demon attacked him and his mother, he was too scared to fight and allowed his mother to get eaten. Later on, when the villagers got together and tried to fight the demon, he once again did nothing and watched as everyone died right in front of him. Saburota was driven mad by his mother’s death and didn’t want to face the facts that he was a coward, so he kept feeding people to the demon to make himself believe that everyone deep down is a coward just like him thereby nullifying any guilt he should feel about leaving his mother to die (the mind of a coward everyone). Unfortunately, for him, Hyakkimaru showed up (everything he wanted to be and everything he fears) and showed him that not everyone is a coward (you’re all alone Saburota). Saburota gives his life to the demon but even that’s not enough as Hyakkimaru kills it but he doesn’t get any of his body parts back (what the hell?). Hyakkimaru slashes furiously at the dead body of the demon demanding his body part (you actually do feel his pain in this scene. He’s desperate to have his body back). Dororo manages to pull Hyakkimaru back (scene here: https://youtu.be/uj1VUsGCAGU) and he begins heading back to Daigo’s land to kill him.
Episodes 21-24
It’s the beginning of the end in episode 21. Hyakkimaru is traveling fast to Daigo’s land to kill him and reclaim his body. Despite worrying about Hyakkimaru and hearing the news of war within the region, Dororo continues to follow Hyakkimaru as she knows nothing will stop him (all she can do is watch over him and hopefully stop him from taking that step of no return). Word of Hyakkimaru’s arrival reaches Daigo and Tahomaru volunteers himself to go and defeat his older brother. They meet near a cliff where Tahomaru and his retainers get overwhelmed by Hyakkimaru’s rage and swordplay (yeah, it’s actually here that I notice that Hyakkimaru’s swordplay is much different than everyone else. Everyone else practices a more traditional style of swordplay but Hyakkimaru’s swordplay is wilder and freestyle. It’s not as wild as Mugen from Samurai Champloo but it’s still unorthodox for the time and nobody can really counter it). Hyakkimaru manages to slice off an arm for each of the retainers (arms for an arm) leaving only him and Tahomaru where he has the advantage until Daigo’s men show up (scene here: https://youtu.be/hMbK_NbcYng). They use a horse kamikaze attack to blow Hyakkimaru into a ravine and capture Dororo (oh he is going to flip when he finds out about this). They knock out Tahomaru so he doesn’t go after Hyakkimaru (no let him go. Hyakkimaru just took an explosion head on and fell into a ravine. This is like the perfect time to finish him. I don’t care how tough you are, there’s no way you’re shaking that off in 10 seconds). As Hyakkimaru struggles to get back up, the body parts of the horse begin to float and they reform to give life back to the horse and turn it into a Rapidash from Pokémon.
In episode 22 Hyakkimaru rides the Rapidash into Daigo’s territory and goes on a rampage to find Dororo unaware that he’s slowly becoming what he despises. Speaking of Dororo, she gets locked up but gets let out by Oku who escapes the castle with Dororo and winds up in a village where others were left for dead. While there we actually do see how Oku truly did love Hyakkimaru and even searched for him after he was taken from her. One of Tahomaru’s retainers tries to offer her body to the last demon in the shrine in order to defeat Hyakkimaru but it doesn’t work as the demon will only accept Hyakkimaru’s body as payment (was is their obsession with that boy?). Tahomaru and his retainers do receive a consolation prize though, the eyes and arms of Hyakkimaru and the brothers run into each other once again to end the episode (scene here: https://youtu.be/F3C3qz0FLhk).
The intensity continues in episode 23. We start with Hyakkimaru fighting against Tahomaru while his retainers take on the Rapidash. The Rapidash winds up killing both of the retainers but the retainers also kill the Rapidash as well (it’s a family anime). With the defeat of the retainers, Hyakkimaru gets his arms and hands back (oh, that’s gonna hurt like a mofo with the swords attached. Scene here: https://youtu.be/3-oJy_OfBz4). After that, not much really happens. We see Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru fight throughout the episode while Dororo, Oku, and a few villagers arrive onto the scene to discuss the moral of this entire series and being stuck between two extremes. If they don’t fight they die and if they fight they risk becoming demons (damned if I do, damned if I don’t). Tahomaru leads Hyakkimaru back to the castle fortress where the two brothers will have their final showdown in the burning castle (light it up baby. I’m gonna burn it up, yeah. Scene here: https://youtu.be/F3C3qz0FLhk).
In the final episode we start off with Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru fighting throughout the burning castle (it’s like a Star Wars lightsaber duel if it was told by samurais) all while Oku and Jukai (where did he come from?) enter the castle as well followed by Dororo. Hyakkimaru manages to beat Tahomaru but doesn’t land the final blow as he can’t kill his brother because he’s still human. Tahomaru admits defeat and gives Hyakkimaru his eyes back (he is complete). There was also some weird tree-like demon underneath the castle that Hyakkimaru kills with ease (not sure what that was about) and Tahomaru passes out. Hyakkimaru falls into the arms of Oku and Jukai who get him out of the castle and stay behind where they get engulfed by the flames (you had plenty of time to escape with him, why did you stay?). The castle burns to the ground with Oku, Jukai, and Tahomaru dying (scene here: https://youtu.be/Yp0WZL-I2d0). Hyakkimaru and Dororo escape safely (scene here: https://youtu.be/h8R1n4p14TA) where some time passes and Daigo’s land is no more. Hyakkimaru goes to the Hall of Demons a few days later to see Daigo is there where he says he won’t stop. He’ll continue to sacrifice people to demons in order to rebuild his land (https://youtu.be/zL__p9aQqBI). Daigo expects Hyakkimaru to kill him right then there but no, Hyakkimaru just sets down a statue similar to his mother’s statue, tells Daigo not to become a demon, and then leaves (scene here: https://youtu.be/R1OyeCOm-D0, well that was new. In the first anime he actually does kill Daigo to get his last body part back. Here, he lets him live. He has no reason to kill Daigo even if he deserves it). After that, Hyakkimaru sets off on a journey by himself to re-discover his humanity and Dororo uses her dad’s money to help the people. Years go by and Dororo has grown into a young lady where she reunites with an older Hyakkimaru to end the series (scene here: https://youtu.be/niyeXG-cGVY).
Final Thoughts
Folks, I don’t know where to begin with this one. All I can do is just stand and applaud this anime for what it has done. It took a 50-year-old series and modernized it for the new generation to enjoy while still paying respects to the original material. The anime takes a lot of liberties and changes things up for the better. Hyakkimaru not talking for a majority of the anime and having almost all of his body parts taken away from him only serves to make his relationship with Dororo all the more endearing and special. Dororo has to pay more attention to Hyakkimaru and read his expressions and mannerisms closely to get a clear idea of what he’s thinking and how he’s feeling. Taking a more initiative role in their relationship and coming across more as the older adult teaching right from wrong and how things work despite being younger than Hyakkimaru. Hyakkimaru has to place more trust in Dororo and trust her to lead him the right way. Throughout the anime we see how important Dororo is to him to the point that he’s ready to risk his life to save her on multiple occasions. She’s the only true friend he’s ever had in his life and he’ll protect that friendship until the end. The anime also does an amazing job at making each character and story count. Characters like Jukai and Oku had minor roles in the manga, but here, their characters carry more weight and importance to the story. Jukai serving as Hyakkimaru’s surrogate father and Oku the loving mom who hates herself for what happened to her son and being able to do nothing for him which causes a strained relationship with her other son. The story of Mio got a huge upgrade from the manga. What was once a throw away story in the manga becomes one of the saddest moments in the anime and reminds you of the harsh reality that went on during that era.
The anime does a good job blending the dark fantasy with a warring dark and sad Japan while also adding in a few lighthearted moments here and there. At the center of this anime is the major conflict between Hyakkimaru and Daigo and us asking what is right? Was it right for Daigo to sacrifice his son for the prosperity of his land and is it right for Hyakkimaru to get his body parts all while causing disaster to strike other people? It’s a hard question to answer and no matter which side you choose, there’s going to be heavy consequences and the anime does a good job putting both Hyakkimaru and Daigo in the right and wrong. You feel bad for everyone involved, especially Tahomaru who chooses to turn his back on his brother for the sake of the people. Do I agree with his choice, no, but I understand where he’s coming from. Putting the needs of the many before the needs of the few. I did like the traveling blind priest and wished he would have joined the group. He serves as a good wise mentor to Hyakkiamru and Dororo while also delivering a funny line or two and being badass.
The animation is great. There’s only like two scenes where the quality is awful, but other than that it looks great. The character designs match up wonderfully with what the characters are feeling and has a more mature and darker feel to it. Some of them look disturbing and downright otherworldly while others look normal. There are even some characters who have that Osamu character body type he loved to use in his works. The demon designs are also pretty cool. I liked the variety and folklore they incorporated into their designs. The music is a good rush of emotion. It all sounds like something you would hear in a Kurosawa samurai movie. The fight scenes are well done. Each fight is different and never feels the same with Hyakkimaru having to use a different strategy each time all while using the environment to his advantage. I like Hyakkimaru’s unorthodox style of swordplay that catches a lot of people off guard. It’s a good reflection of his personality and becomes even more wild and unpredictable the angrier he gets.
Final Score
The final score for Dororo is an 8.5/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. It may have taken 50 years, but this series finally got the recognition it deserved. I can’t say this was Osamu’s original vision when he started writing the manga, but I think if he saw this he would be happy and proud. In my opinion, this anime surpassed all of my expectations and the original work. If you haven’t checked it out yet, definitely give it a watch. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.