Introduction
To aid his conquest of Japan, the ruthless lord Daigo Kagemitsu offers to sacrifice his soon-to-be-born son to 48 demons. The demons accept, and the next day, the child is born with several missing limbs and is ruthlessly cast down a river.
Fifteen years later, a stubborn young boy named Dororo struggles to survive against hunger and oppressive samurai on the streets of an impoverished and war-torn village. After angering a group of thugs, Dororo is attacked by them, but a mysterious man interrupts them, claiming to hear spirits nearby. Sure enough, a monster emerges from the river, and the man then removes his prosthetic arms, revealing blades hidden underneath, with which he slays the monster before leaving.
That night, as the man walks through the forest, Dororo approaches him and declares that he will accompany him. From this, the man, Hyakkimaru, reveals that many of his body parts were stolen by demons and that though he sought a peaceful life, he couldn't escape their relentless onslaught. Despite the tale, Dororo still insists on tagging along. And thus, Hyakkimaru travels through Japan with his new companion and a puppy named Nota, facing the brutality of both hell and mankind.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Audience reviews
8 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
SFlame
OK, so I've finished watching this one and the modern remake too. But I will write review only here, cause I think the original needs more love.
And so... Is the new anime better? No. Is the original better? Also no. They are just different, in some places VERY different retellings of the same story. Specifically two main characters and the story around them. Old one was good for the time, new one explained things old one did not and added elements that made story and the characters more complex. And that's about it...
Well, not really. The dog... The dog bothered me a lot in the original anime. Especially since he was not in the Pilot. And I found out why. The only reason the dog was added is to "lighten the depressive atmosphere of the show". Which is highly redundant cause Dororo serv…
Read at the sourceGokuGriffin
Dororo is a black and white anime produced right around when color television was being proliferated. But the choice to stay black and white was the right call, as it makes the ancient Japan setting and demonic vibes more immersive. More importantly, it adds to the series' foreboding atmosphere...at least in the first half.
You see, this show can actually be divided pretty solidly into two halves. The first half of the show, simply titled "Dororo", is really more about Hyakkimaru, the sword-swinging youth slaying demons to regain his body. The titular Dororo is a bratty kid that tags along with him. Dororo can be rather annoying, and the available scratchy audio quality doesn't do his shrill voice or snotty attitude any favors. But Hyakkimaru is fucking cool and it adds a satisfying feeli…
Read at the sourceDigiCat
The original Dororo anime
I initially picked this up to see how it compared to it's remake, and though it is interesting to see the styles of different times telling one story and how anime has evolved over the years, i can't help but feel a vail of disappointment on the route the original adaptation decided to take with it's storytelling
The show went from a very slow start, dragging out each mission into double episodes, then rushed thru one of the most emotional and integral parts of the story, then went back to more side missions, this time changing the formula to slaying demons every episode instead of every 2, all culminating in an extreamly rushed ending squished into a single episode
Thing is, the disappointment doesn't come from the story, which has quite a few differences from…
Read at the sourcehalimede
Wow. Despite being an anime from the 60s, Dororo to Hyakkimaru does not disappoint. The story itself is super interesting, and tugs at the heart in a tragic way. Even though the story definitely has its comedic and cute points (the dog omg), it really shows the traumas of war and poverty and the lengths people go to just to survive. I think the funny thing is this story really should be called "Hyakkimaru to Dororo" because the story's main protagonist is hands down Hyakkimaru, while Dororo is a sidekick (with a twist. I was NOT expecting that at the end. Very cool to throw that in there).
Really great to watch! I haven't watched the modern version yet, but I'm starting with this one and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Read at the sourceggultra2764
I'm mainly familiar with Osamu Tezuka's dark fantasy/ historical manga series from my exposure to the 2019 remake of the series that would come out for it 50 years later, which I did have the opportunity to see last year. This older adaptation appears to simplify a good deal of the supernatural lore and character depth found from the remake with Hyakkimaru appearing to have psychic abilities for sensing his surroundings and communicating with others, Dororo being more hot-headed and bratty, and Daigo Kagemitsu portrayed as a pure villain. Plus, the number of demons that Hyakkimaru has to slay to reclaim his body parts is 48 instead of 12 from the remake. It looked like reducing the demon count for the remake was to allow the series to focus more on developing its story and characters inste…
Read at the sourceEoussama
Disclaimer: Story spoilers in the character's discussion paragraph.
I like to watch my Anime in sequential order, that is, tracking down entries of a franchise I'm interested in watching in chronological order of release is almost a need for me, however, sometimes, sudden remakes make the jump, and I'm here left clueless of whether to experience the original entry or jump straight into the more popular, up-to-date release that has all the buzz talking about it. When Dororo was first announced and started serializing, that was a challenge for me to undertake, I didn't watch to mùiss out of the weekly hype bandwagon, so I decided to go with the one that still has the scent of packaging, and leave the older adaptation for later to experience, perhaps watching the neer one is the way to go, a…
Read at the sourceNeimaj
*SPOILER WARNING*
Daigo Kagemitsu is a man who desires power. Political power, to be exact. One night, he decides to sacrifice forty-eight of his unborn child's body parts to forty-eight demons to gain more power within Japan. When the child was born, it only had a head and a torso. The baby, soon after it was born, became an orphan. One day, a doctor named, Juko, found the baby and decided to take care of it. He named it, Hyakkimaru. As Hyakkimaru got older, Juko had to create prosthetic body parts for him, and that's when Hyakkimaru noticed that monsters were around him on a constant basis. He was being haunted by the forty-eight demons, and was told personally that if he wanted his original body parts back, he must slay all of the forty-eight demons. Whenever he defeats a demon, one o…
Read at the sourceCzarine
I must warn you at this point: even if this is a children's anime, it is very gory, and has cruel themes going on (starvation, child slaughter, war...). But no sex nor rape, obviously. Many of the monster scenes would be considered way too scary for children today.
As of writing this, only half of the episodes have been subbed. I understand some japanese, so the lack of subtitles wasn't a problem, since the story is quite straightforward. Knowledge of old fashioned and slangy japanese is useful, if you wish to keep up with the characters' lines.
Story:
I haven't read the manga, so I didn't have any expectations when I started to watch this. The story took me by surprise! It was enjoyable and reminded me of some old japanese folk stories. I would compare the feeling to watching Mushishi,…
Read at the source