Anime – Dororo

Anime Nov 22, 2019

Overview:

The story takes place in japan where a lord is willing to do anything to see his country proper. He makes a contract with several demons to obtain his goal at the cost of having them devour his first newborn child. The child Hyakkimaru lives due to one of the demons failing to take the last body part of his.

With Hyakkimaru still maintaining one piece of his body, he ages and is then forced to fight said demons that took his body away to reclaim them while learning about his origin family. Of course, with the origin family realizing he is still alive wants to finish the job to maintain what they believe to be an everlasting prosperity and peace for the land.

Visuals/Music:

Every episode except for one of the arcs has some excellent animation from the color palette they chose to set the tone, to the details/styling of background/foregrounds and motion of the characters in fights. Mappa has really kicked out another top-notch production. Disregarding the arc that was animated poorly, there are no complaints and only praise. All things considered the poor animation of that arc appears worse than it is due to the high standard they set. Comparing it to other shows that have aired this year and it would be considered on par and sometimes better still.

The OST’s that played throughout are placed well and do the job as expected with setting the mood and immersing the viewer as they should. The first opening and both the endings though are where it goes beyond. First opening done by Ziyoou-vachi, is the first song I have heard by them but has seen its replay button basically broken and downloaded the first day along with the other 2.

Amazarashi does the first ending, has done songs for Boku no Hero and Tokyo ghoul, he was able to produce another great song that was able to meld well with the show itself and was perfect for the endings for the first half. Would sit there and listen through the entire song play as you took in the ep. Second ending was done by Yamiyo, another singer I have not heard before that produced a song that carried well from the first one.

AKG did the second opening but this was one of the instances that I found them to be quite disappointing. From the visuals of op 2 to the song itself, just didn’t have as strong of a foundation the first one did… but the first op set the bar quite high. It was an alright song but fell short is all.

Final Thoughts:

If the show was going to be split into 2 separate seasons, the ratings would be very different as the way the first half went was excellent. The second half after the first encounter with the mom happened the entire shows quality tanked hard in comparison. By no means is the second half bad but it is something that comparing the first and second half make the viewer wonder what happened behind the scenes to cause such a discrepancy.

The problem that the second half of the show has is all of the characters actions are very forced and not fluid in why their actions are what they become. After the first major encounter all the characters basically flipped a switch and were forced into roles that the plot demanded. With the plot driving the characters it harmed the story as the first part was more of the characters driving what was happening. The lord is the main person I would say that stayed true to his character to the end… The mom had a revelation, so her progression was understandable. Hyakkimaru and Tohomaru though… sigh to say the least lol

Definitely recommend to people wanting a good show. There is a fair amount of blood and death so for those not wanting to see that, avoid otherwise it will be quite the ride, especially the first half. First half will have you on the edge of the seat the entire time.

Characters (main) – 4/5
Characters (sub) – 3.5/5
Enjoyment – 3/5
Visuals – 5/5
Music – 4/5
Story – 4/5