Dororo is simply put a masterpiece. A manga from the late 60s that aged very well and is probably the darkest of Tezuka's works. It's violent, cruel, and does not spare most of its characters from certain and permanent death. Oddly enough, something rare of seeing even today.
The story is about a swordsman, Hyakkimaru, who has born lacking forty-eight body parts because of a curse caused by his father. It's a lone wolf journey sort of story, where our protagonist eventually finds a funny, yet complex fellow, Dororo, who happens to have a very detailed backstory that holds great importance for the plot's progression.
Tezuka is
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 Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Dororo to Hyakkimaru Japanese: どろろ More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: 4
Chapters: 19
Status: Finished
Published: Aug 9, 1967 to Jul 3, 1968
Demographic:
Shounen
Serialization:
Shounen Sunday Authors:
Tezuka, Osamu (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #42562 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #1121
Members: 16,731
Favorites: 286 Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 8 / 8
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Jul 10, 2017
Dororo - An example of a Masterpiece
Many know Osamu Tezuka as the author of Astro Boy and a few more works and that's it. As logic, that's ignorance. Dororo is one of the most famous works of the author and at the same time, one of the darkest. In English, this work was published by Vertical in three volumes, including a new cover design showing human flesh in some panels of manga, showing how dark it is inside. Dororo tells the tale of a samurai lord (Hyakkimaru) that has bartered away his newborn son's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, ... 
Aug 6, 2012
Intro:
Dororo is one of Tezuka Osamu's darker works, and I'm honestly not sure what the author was aiming for here. Anyway, this was released by Vertical in 3 separate volumes, instead of 4. Vertical's release features a new cover design, which is possibly the worst cover design I've ever seen. Describe the cover? Imagine taking random panels of manga and pasting it onto some human flesh. Cool,right? No, not at all. Art: What happens when you combine Disney with rather violent fight scene? You get a manga like Dororo. The monsters are awesomely designed, while the humans are rather boring, and just unimpressive. The violent action scene lack ... 
Jun 14, 2012
At times when the fad is to read action/mecha/romance packed series, coming across a manga such as Dororo is a wonderful experience indeed. Most of us love Tezuka’s works but barely a few might have heard and bothered to read such an unknown manga. Compiled up in 4 volumes and about 870 pages (which are actually 3 volumes with a total of about 850 pages in the translated version) is the story of a Samurai and a chibi samurai hater in the Sengoku period.
The main protagonist, despite the fact that the manga title points to the orphan Dororo, seems to be Hyakkimaru. In order to ... 
Apr 22, 2023
I first discovered Dororo as anime (Dororo, 2019), and it was one of the best shows that year, if overshadowed by Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019). The source material is a manga by Osamu Tezuka serialized from 1967-1968.
I have read a few Tezuka works and this is probably the darkest one of those. Dororo is the story of a child whose organs sacrificed by his father to 48 demons for power. The child may have lost those body parts but not a strong will to live and with multiple prosthesis, survives to embark on a quest to recover those organs by slaying each demon for them. ... 
Mar 26, 2024
Dororo got me hooked right from the very first chapter.
Although this manga is almost 50 years and its art style it's kinda of old fashioned I think that it brings some charm to it. The characters are likeable, (especially Dororo), the demons' design is really cool and the stories are great. The story follows a really simple narrative. Dororo and Hyakkimaru reach a new village where a monster lays. They defeat the monster and Hyakkimaru gets back one body part. Even though it follows a "Monster of the week" approach I never felt that the manga was repetitive (and I am not a fan of monster of ... 
Jan 16, 2022
The number of mangaka which place Dororo at the top, or near the top of their list of favorite manga speaks for itself on the timeless influence of this manga. From Inuyasha, to Berserk, and even video games like Sekiro, the demon-slaying yet character building elements of Dororo have gone on to invent entire genres. Beyond mere plot points which were already incredibly boundary breaking for their time, the way Dororo principally is a story about trauma, and the effects that trauma has intergenerationally is it's strongest suit.
Both Dororo and Hyakkimaru are incredibly charming, yet troubled personalities, struggling to survive and find their identity ... 
Oct 7, 2021
My first crack at reading a work by the "God of Manga"
Overall I really enjoyed it. The pacing was very good, especially in the first half of the story. The art is very old and simplistic at times (especially with character design) but the style is interesting and very different from modern manga, which I enjoyed. I really enjoyed the drawings of the monsters and the landscape and architecture. Story-telling was good. The characters and story arcs were interesting. However, there were some issues with the overall story. I thought that volume 2 was setting up a direction for the plot that never really panned out. ... |
