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Manga Review: Dororo (Complete Series)
In a time where the “big three” manga are all action-packed epic adventures, its nice to come across a simple, good old-fashioned adventure story that doesn’t go on for ages. If this sounds refreshing to you, then Dororo might be a title to consider reading.
Created by the classic creative powerhouse that is Osamu Tezuka, Dororo starts off with the tale of Hyakkimaru, a child who is missing 48 body parts because his father offered them up to a group of evil demons in exchange for the power to rule over lands. He was found by a man and given prosthetics so that he could function like a normal person, and as an adult he sets off on a quest to find the demons and kill them to earn his normal body back. During his journey he runs into a young boy named Dororo, a self-professed master thief who wants swords implanted into Hyakkimaru’s arms. He refuses to leave Hyakkimaru alone, and so they wind up traveling together and becoming friends as they learn more about each others’ pasts and fight to survive their journey.
When I told a friend of mine that I was going to be reviewing this title, he warned me that I was probably not going to enjoy it given the types of manga I usually read. At first I had felt as if his words were going to ring true, but after getting about half-way through the first book I found myself surprisingly entertained by the simplicity of the tale and the charm of the characters, and that enjoyment lasted all the way to the end of the series, where the ending left me unfortunately very dissatisfied. It’s one of those stories that seems to end without any real resolution, but it doesn’t make the journey any less enjoyable.
