What a viewIn anime series Dororo, a young thief and a ronin go demon hunting in medieval Japan
- Based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka, the Japanese folk tales follow the adventures of an unlikely pair
- , “godfather” of the genrePlus, Carla Gugino’s Jett is fresh out of prison and back doing what she does best
Morality tales seem to be all the rage, particularly those featuring big bad demons. And you don’t even need green-screen deceptions to evoke them, not when Japan’s Mappa studios are bringing to life plenty of diabolical scary monsters and super creeps.
Mappa’s malevolent entities populate Dororo, Amazon Prime’s anime adaptation of the acclaimed manga by “godfather” of the genre, Osamu Tezuka. And the medieval Japan they stalk throughout this 24-part first series is fertile ground for terrifying tales of flesh-eating ghouls and rabid river spirits devouring good guys and bad. Such were the dangers, according to historical folk tales, risked by anyone travelling abroad – meaning beyond their village – in the Sengoku period of regional squabbles and kingdoms in conflict.
And so our cunning young Dororo, all alone in the world, must survive on his (or her?) wits, even if it means a little light stealing here and there. Dororo teams up with unlikely protector Hyakkimaru, symbolic of how good eventually beats bad, no matter what the odds – he was, after all, born without limbs, eyes, ears, tongue and skin – having been cursed when his power-obsessed father did a dirty deal with demons.
That’s a somewhat limiting start in life, you might think, for anyone, let alone a superhero; but that’s what Hyakkimaru, a ronin, turns out to be, slashing, stabbing and purging his way around the country, vanquishing monsters and in return earning real body parts to replace his prosthetics. (And if that sounds like a video-game premise, you can find a version of the tale on PlayStation 2.)
As Hyakkimaru, with gleaming (or bloody) swords for arms homes in on the fiends who damned him, the animation dazzles, the action seldom slackens and the folk-tale mysteries continue to confound. The last two episodes are about to land, so will Hyakki end up whole or must he continue hacking?