coldspaghetti

Dororo. This anime pulls you in with a eye catching premise filled with revenge and foreshadowings of violence, so of course I was interested. As I watched I thought it was going to be a fun quest like anime with not many hints of darkness/mature themes (because of the synopsis) and I believed the characters where going to be flat. I was pleasantly wrong. I enjoyed the story of Hyakkimaru and Dororo far more than I imagined. I loved how effectively they demonstrated moral ambiguity and actions out of desperation in the show in a light way. I loved seeing these themes intertwine with Hyakkimaru himself, and him slowly becoming more human physically and mentally. Hyakkimaru's character development was one of my favorite parts of watching of Dororo. It's paced excellently throughout the show and presents itself through his bonding with Dororo as well as his slow path to humanity. Dororo's and Hyakiimaru's dynamic was comical and nothing less of endearing. Throughout this anime we see their friendship build up and bloom into this familial love for each other on the path of getting his limbs back. This is all super sweet considering they both went through someone abadoning them so they had issues on connecting with people because of their built up barriers. So seeing these walls break down from the apparent contrast from when Hyakkimaru didn't care about Dororo from it changing to him literally screaming in rage when Dororo was taken in the last few episodes was so satisfying and pleasant. Another thing that I appreaciated is the signifigance in the side characters stories as well as the demons stories that they came upon. Most of them brought some great themes about doing things in desperation as well as what is right and what is wrong to the table and how not everything is black and white. As we seem them travel through Japan Hyakkimaru and Dororo witness these stories and are able to find selflessness, compassion, empathy, and humanity. While most of the side characters showed the positive traits we are faced with some characters that show the exact opposite.These characters are put in positions where negative human emotions were displayed such as entitllelment, selfishness, cowardness, ingnorance, and stubborness. Seeing all these human emotions Hyakkimaru by the end of series is able to find the person he wants be. This goes to show that just because you look human doesn't mean you can have humanity. While Hyakkimaru is a great character I also loved Dororo. Being the title of this amazing anime, Dororo was a great vessel for lighting dark moods up and adding some humorous moments into the anime. We see them constantly attach themselves to Hyakkimaru despite his nonchalance (in the first half of the anime) to their presence. This could go back to the fact that Dororo was abandoned by their dead family and wants to find a reason to stick with someone. On the topic of their family, I liked seeing how Dororo's parents weren't technically great people yet we saw them still try to do everything they can for Dororo. It was bittersweet and added a little more depth to Dororo's behavior and character. I also enjoyed the ambiguity of their gender which is now more common in anime but its still important to again show some things aren't always black and white like gender. Dororo is a charming character and definetely a source of light for Hyakkimaru. While this anime has many good things that I liked there was also some things I didn't like. One example of this would be how repetitive it was of Dororo to get stolen but those were necessary plot devices for the story. Plus I didn't like how preditcable it was for the priest to come in convient times but that was also necessary character shielding. It didn't have as much character depth and situational depth (though I have to admit it did bring some mature topics to the table) as I had wanted but this wasn't a completely mature anime so I was fine with it. Though with flaws and lack of substance I still think Dororo is a great anime with greath themes and great characters. I found it charming, entertaining and captivating. I extremely recommend if you like watching anime that is quest driven with these sort of themes.

SPOILERS AHEAD>>>

One side character story that was a great example of empathy and a person being truly selfless was Moi and the orphan kids. It was so delightful seeing Moi's and Hyakkimaru's interactions because Moi influenced his development and sense of compassion along with other emotions that weren't stemmed from getting his body back. It also brought sex work up and how Moi used that as a means to live which didn't mean she was a bad person or a nasty person. She did it because she had to survive along with the other orphans. You see Dororo come to grips with this once they found out what Moi did for work. You even see Dororo feel sympathy for her which is usually uncommon because of the prejudice against sex workers. As far as Dororo goes we also get to see gender identity come up to the surface because of her father's choice to raise her as a boy rather than a girl. I think they touched on sensitive topics like these and brought them out gracefully. It wasn't cringey either which I appreaciated.