Watching Dororo has helped me realise that Kazuhiro Furuhashi is one of my favourite anime directors. He is the man responsible for directing the breathtaking Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuioku-hen) which is a marked departure from Kenshin’s much lighter TV series and tonally has much more in common with Dororo. In short, both anime are grim as heck.
Tag: Dororo
The (Anti) Shonen Hero
When Dororo begins, Hyakkimaru’s at his strongest. Without nerves, he cannot feel pain, and without pain, what is there for him to fear? He can jump higher and fall harder than any man because there are no bones in his legs to break.
In many shonen anime, characters like Naruto and Izuku begin at the other end of the scale. Weak and untrained, their stories are about developing strength, yet Hyakkimaru’s is about developing weakness. Isn’t that weird? For each demon he kills, another part of his body is returned, but with that there is a price to pay.
Before he was born, Hyakkimaru was sold to demons.
When it came to writing up my top anime of 2018 list, I realised that there wasn’t much from 2018 that I could really recommend. I would even go so far as to say that 2018 was a poor year for anime. However, in comparison, 2019 is already looking good.
This is what I needed.
Dororo episode 1 is a visual treat, with its Mushishi esque painterly backgrounds and moody period setting.