Dororo to Hyakkimaru

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, except that Dororo has lots of action going on and less monster lore thrown around.

The first half of the series has a gripping storyline, with a lot of character development. The episodes' storylines could span 2-3 episodes. After that the series gets a bit loose, and I can't help but feel the episodes have a filler feeling to them. They also change to the one-episode-per-storyline format, which didn't do good for the pacing.

The last episode ties things up hastily but is okay. The ending development could have started a bit sooner, so the pacing would've worked better.

Art:

I'm actually pleased that this anime stayed black and white. The colored pilot doesn't have the same eerie feeling. I also like it that they made Hyakkimaru look older than in the pilot. The animation is okay, though there are some wonky parts here and there. As an animator, I can forgive them.

Sound:

I really liked the music in this series (though the opening theme is too catchy :D). If you like biwa, you'll like it too. The music reminded me of Ninja Scroll, which is my favorite. The sound design is old fashioned, and I recognized some nostalgic sound effects that were a norm even in the 80's.

Sometimes the growling sounds were more funny than threatening, and I would've liked more variety in female voices.

Characters:

The first half of the show is a bit more focused on Hyakkimaru, and the last half on Dororo. It's not too black and white, but I would've liked the story to be more evenly divided between the two. I liked how Nota (the dog) also had important moments in the plot, and wasn't there only to look cute.

The series has a wide cast of secondary characters, of which some are more memorable than others. But I liked it how they were easily distinguishable from each other; a trait that isn't that well handled in more recent anime.

Enjoyment:

As mentioned before, the plot was great in the first half, but lost it grip in the second half. I did watch the whole series during a few days, so I guess it was gripping enough.

Overall:

If you like wandering samurais, yokai and old school kids' anime, this is for you. This is like a children's version of Ninja Scroll and Mushishi put together. I'd say you could watch the first 13 episodes and skip the rest to the final one, without missing anything important in between.

even though i've only watched two episodes of this amazing anime, i felt i had to write a review, as no one else has, also because anyone who really loves great anime should check this out...based on one of my favorite manga by osamu tezuka, this anime takes place in the sengoku period in japan - a boy name hyakkimaru's father offers up forty-eight of his body parts to demons in exchange for unlimited power and the boy is left for dead - this is the story of his quest and travels with an orphan named dororo to reclaim his body from the demons by ... killing all forty-eight - this anime has all the atmosphere of a great japanese ghost story - amazing and eerie, it draws you in to the dark story with amazing direction that reminds me of kurosawa's great samurai epics - the sound is also genius: great seiyuu, amazing orchestral ghostly incidental music, and an amazing and gorgeous theme song - if you love great ghost stories, samurai tales, or anything by tezuka-sama, i highly recommend checking this out if you get a chance!!!

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 instead of Hyakkimaru's slaying of demons he encounters on his journey. Granted, simpler storytelling was the norm with TV anime of the 1960s. But said simplicity does have its ups and downs throughout Dororo's run.

Far as pros go, the 1969 Dororo anime actually does a pretty solid job of story building for its first half and dabbling into horror with its presentation. The story developments within Dororo for its first half are divided up into 2 to 3 episode arcs. Some story arcs dabble into Dororo and Hyakkimaru attempting to investigate and slay a demon within any village they travel to, while others serve to explore backstory with the pasts of our two lead characters. It looked like the series was planning to gradually develop our two lead characters throughout their journey, notably when Hyakkimaru does eventually come to confront members of his biological family in the later part of the anime's first half. Far as the horror goes, the anime's black and white presentation helps enhance the visuals with depicting how monstrous the demons confronted by Hyakkimaru are and setting up story arcs across 2 to 3 episodes helps create slow enough pacing to create genuine suspense out of the confrontations that Hyakkimaru and others have with enemy threats. I understand the anime was originally meant to be in color, but made black and white due to budgetary constraints. As commented, this aesthetic decision actually helps benefit the anime's element of horror. Adding to this, the anime is surprisingly violent for its time period with plenty of spilled blood and dismemberment found throughout its run. I didn't mind the violent content in question as I felt it necessary to reflect the brutal nature of Japan's feudal era with the corruption of the samurai class and the demons that exploited the suffering of humans they haunted. But I was under the impression that there weren't TV anime with that level of violence during that era since they were largely aimed for younger audiences.

Setting aside praises, the 1969 Dororo anime has a good number of issues. The second half of the anime deviates from the plot structure of its first half by largely focusing on episodic plots exploring Hyakkimaru's slaying of demons. This leads to the series taking a big hit with its focus on further exploring its plot and characters, as well as greatly reducing the suspense of Hyakkimaru's encounters with demons confronted since the demon-focused plots have quicker pacing and are resolved within the span of a single episode. Apparently due to Osamu Tezuka abruptly ending the Dororo manga series, many episodes for the TV anime's second half were exclusive for the anime and this shows with the hit in quality for the show's storytelling within its second half. Not helping matters is the final episode being rather compressed and lacking proper buildup with showing Hyakkimaru's final confrontation with his evil birth father and the very sloppy handling of Dororo's gender reveal.

The simplicity of the storytelling does also work against my reception to Hyakkimaru's character. The so-called psychic powers that he has for interacting with others and following his surroundings in spite of lacking much of his body parts and functions reeks of lazy convenience written into the series and this element of his character is actually never mentioned or explored until a later episode has him make a passing mention of this after regaining the ability to talk. Matter of fact, the anime has some noticeable inconsistencies with Hyakkimaru regaining specific body parts or functions in spite of still shown using his body prosthetics all the way up to the final episodes of the series. The 2019 remake does a much better job of portraying the difficulties that Hyakkimaru has with moving around and interacting with others outside of demon slaying until he gradually regains more of his body parts and functions.

While I'll admit Dororo is a unique beast for its time with its elements of horror and solid first half, it gets quite sloppy in its second half with changing up its plot structure and rushing with its finale, as well as offering enough issues with Hyakkimaru's character in believably portraying his disabilities. While I'd at least recommend seeing the 1969 Dororo anime once due to its historical value, I still find the 2019 remake to be the definitive version of Dororo to check out due to its stronger plot building and character development.

*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 of his body parts is returned to him. Hyakkimaru, while on his journey, saves a young boy by the name of, Dororo. Dororo is a orphan just like Hyakkimaru, and after being saved by him, he admires Hyakkimaru and chooses to follow him on this dangerous journey.
Dororo to Hyakkimaru is a pretty good show. The only major flaw that I noticed while watching was with some of Hyakkimaru's body parts. I mentioned earlier that when a demon is slain, Hyakkimaru gains a body part. Halfway into the show, Hyakkimaru is given a voice. He says, "Dororo, I can finally speak!" Up until that point in the storyline, Hyakkimaru was a mute, yet he speaks for the entire show. Dororo responds with, "But you've been speaking this entire time." Hyakkimaru explains to Dororo that he hears everything he says in his mind or some bullshit like that. Same thing goes for his eyes and ears; he was incapable of seeing and hearing from the very beginning, yet he interacts with other characters within the show, and slays demons ಠ_ಠ. Hyakkimaru is practically a Japanese Hellen Keller! That flaw aside, the show is good.
I can see a lot of people turning away from this show, because of how it looks and it's age. Personally, I'm not bothered with how the show looks. I'm not that ignorant to the point where I would avoid a show just because of the way it looks. The story is good, the music is catchy, especially "Dororo no uta," and the two main characters are cool. Dororo is a little annoying and gets Hyakkimaru in trouble sometimes, but he has his good moments. I'll give this show a 7.3/10, the last episode is probably the best episode.

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 it's 2019 counterpart, not being good, but rather the opposite, the story is good and has lots of potential, the emotional scenes can make you shed tears, but these moments are rushed by in less than half an episode while exessive screentime is being given to a loop of an axe cutting down a tree

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.

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, as I was wishing that the production team will improve on the things that the original did wrong.

I was satisfied, after finishing the 2019-recut, and thus, the need for watching the original series had already faded out a massive bit from what it was before, filling me with a sense of laziness that will have me go about seeing a daunting 26 episodes of black and white 50 years old animation when my backlog that has all sorts of highly praised series in it is still calling for me to dedicate the time and effort needed to seal them off for once and for good. Well, what do I have to do? So I bit the bullet and sat through what I was hesitating to watch the most. And it was quite the experience.

Story (7/10):
I don't know what would be more shocking, seeing the original then jumping over to the recut or vice versa. Changes have been made, some for the better, but some, oh boy.
Just like we set off from the recut, the original does it the same way on a narrative level, while changing up some details and character treats to suit the time period of its release. With an inspiring episodic pace, for each day its own story, which sometimes has to branch into a 2-episodes tale (A very familiar formula that we see the 2019-recut following).

Looking at how the original tells its story, there were a lot of drop details that we didn't manage to get in the recut that are actually pretty pivotal and vitally consistent that make a lot of sense for some stuff that we never understood in the remake. Some story arcs were also missing, some of which I think make the best out of the original, like the animal abuse centric arc that I think was dropped from being re-adapted for obvious reasons.

Art (6/10):
Well,
let's be honest, it is 50 years old, and in black and white while at that. Now, it is not the aesthetic direction's fault per se, in fact, Dororo Pilotm the special episode that pre-dated this TV adaptation had colors, so the technology was there, however, they have made the right call of having it in white and black for how much atmosphere that alone adds to the scenery, demons are actually scary looking for once, and the backgrounds look so dead and rotten, perfectly conveying the tone of the narrative on a visual level.

I was not a fan of the Astro-boy heavy inspired art style, but who is there to blame for that, at least Dororo fit that art style just nicely.
My only complaint really is the unnecessarily drag up still frames that some times would have certain characters star for lengthy periods before a fade-in transition happens which really hurts the pacing at some portions.

Sound (8.6/10):
“Hoge Hoge Hogetara Heera Hera”

I was mesmerized. The last thing I was expecting to impress me, right after the visuals are the vocals. It is expected from something this old to have bad sound composition, but man, seriously, this one is up there with the best I've heard in Anime.

The voice acting was, well, very conflicted, there is so really well-done performance, like Dororo's (My favorite), the voice of a spoiled bratty child that feeds of making trouble, and you can tell that much and more just from hearing her voice, I might even put her performance slightly above, what the remake has. Hyakkimaru had a surprising deeper voice than I expected, but it grew on me more than the remake's did.

But the real star here was the OST and opening/ending theme song.
Let me just reaffirm what Joey (The Anime Man) said, it is a freaking party bander. Well, I saw one of the comments describing it as “something that Dororo would sing, while the remake's opening was more like something that Hyakkimaru would sing“. It is just a stupidly catchy song that I find myself signing it out lout even at the most serious of moments.
The OSTs are just phenomenal, most shows I watch, which still have some amazing audible compositions, this one just surprised me the most, given its age and dimmed popularity.

Characters (6.5/10):
There was a lot to be desired.
The only character I won't complain about is Dororo. Even her flaws are permissible given the bratty role she's enclaving, however, Hyakkimaru does not emit the proper vibes you'd get from a disabled doll seeking to slay back its humanity. For starters, he just can talk and then have enough confidence in calling Dororo out “You're just imagining what I'm saying by reading my mouth just a moment after he supposedly gained his speech back”. Also, despite lacking other sense, he always acts like he doesn't and leaving it to a shameful lazy excuse to clear up the doubts when he finally gains whatever he lacked back. And don't even get me started of the Dororo's gender reveal at the end, it was just so random and sudden that it did not matter in the slightest.

Nota, the friendly dog was a welcomed member of the trio, I'm surprised they did not have him in the remake for how wholesome and fun he made everything when he was around.

Ah, Tahomaru, the persona people hated the most in the remake, saying that he lacked personality and proper development, well, will you even consider him a perper character in the original by any means? The dude screams of “I'm unimportant”, he had a trivial and minimal role in the whole story, like some side characters made more of an impression than him. And Daigo, well, he is more of a piece of shit in this one.

Enjoyment (6/10):
For the most part, Dororo to Hyakkimaru was daunting and kind of gritty when it came to watching it. Maybe modern Anime spoiled me far too much, but the series did have a lot of flaws, but also, some strong points that kept me going. It is hard to sit through the first half, but until you get used to it, it becomes like a bag of Doritos that you know is bad for you in large sums, but you still drill into its bottom anyway.

Overall (6.82/10):
I wouldn't necessarily have this as a recommendation, especially in this day and age where Anime is produced in a large mass. The remake is easily the best option for experiencing this story, at least, from an Anime perspective.

Masterpiece of an Anime, to me a 10/10. An Anime series in the 1960s, and for it to still be watchable to me and pretty most people who decided to check out this show, is just unbeliveable. It reminds me of how the highest rated movies on Letterboxd include really old movies (Like Harakiri and Seven Samurai) cause they're still watchable to this day, showing how good they were during their time, and Ashita no Joe and Dororo 1969 are the Anime version of that for me. The 2019 Remake will always be recommended, but the original is amazing too and it's Manga faithful unlike ... a lot of other old Anime adaptions during the 60s and 70s. There's a reason why they had to produce more Dororo.