Reviews

Dororo starts off far better than I expected, with a powerful premise and emotionally driven storytelling that hooked me from the beginning. The early episodes build an intriguing and tragic journey, with the main duo feeling instantly compelling. There’s a strong blend of episodic tales and overarching narrative, and some of the standalone stories in the first half are genuinely beautiful. The art is by far the show’s strongest aspect. It carries an old-school, hand-drawn aesthetic that pays homage to its Tezuka roots, and I loved how it reminded me of Ghibli in both tone and visual texture. The atmosphere and character designs are distinct and immersive, and while the animation quality occasionally fluctuates, the style consistently shines. The emotional moments land hard early on, especially when paired with the slow development of the protagonist’s humanity, but the pacing slowly begins to drag as the episodes go on. Around the second half of the first cour, the show became a struggle to sit through. Despite still being curious about the direction of the story, I found myself losing interest due to uneven pacing and episodes that felt increasingly drawn out. I ended up dropping the series after episode 12, even though I skimmed the ending out of curiosity. It’s a shame, because the first 8 episodes had me genuinely invested and I really wanted to love this show. Still, I have to admit that Dororo delivered some emotionally resonant moments and had a very memorable visual identity, even if it ultimately lost its hold on me.