Okay so Dororo episode 23 happened and itâs definitely one of the most interesting and important questions in the entire show for one main reason.
I think it would be fair to say that the main thematic conflict of Dororo is about the morality behind sacrificing Hyakkimaru for the sake of the land versus Hyakkimaru fighting to get his body back when it was taken from him without his choice. The showâs played around with this idea throughout its entire run time, but this episode starts to give us a serious answer. In a discussion between Dororo, Hyakkimaruâs mum, and the old priest, who are some of the showâs most interesting characters and have a lot to lend to this theme, a certain conclusion is nearly reached. If Iâm understanding correctly, they argue that the sacrifice of Hyakkimaru was in vain because peace built on the sacrifice of an individual is frail - it wonât last. To that end, they argue that Hyakkimaru is right to pursue his own body because itâs a pursuit heâs making with his own hands. However, the priest states that this mentality can lead to one becoming too powerful and becoming a demon, with the alternative being to sacrifice all power entirely. And so hereâs where we get an ultimatum - achieving a balance between those two things is what it means to be a human, but lean too far on one side like Hyakkimaruâs doing and yeah, youâll become a demon. My explanation of this probably isnât brilliant, but I mean if youâve seen the show you should get me. Regardless of whether or not you personally agree with the answer this show looks to be giving to its moral question, I do think what theyâve gone with so far seems to be the answer thatâs the most satisfying from a narrative point of view, but that also depends on how the show properly ends, because Hyakkimaruâs still not got his eyes back and could still potentially become a demon, but Dororo is chasing after him and said that heâs happy to be Hyakkimaruâs eyes or arms or whatever, and that comment especially interests me. Could it be that Hyakkimaru will have to compromise on his remaining body parts to retain his humanity? But then isnât Hyakkimaru entitled to his own eyes, rather than have them played around with by demons and his brother? Does Hyakkimaru deserve his eyes specifically at the risk of becoming a demon when Dororo is offering to be his eyes? Is that part of the relationship a compromise that should be taken, if itâs even a compromise at all? I feel Iâm repeating myself at this point. Thereâs still another full episode left to give us this conclusion, letâs all wait to see what it has in store.
I do have one more thing to say though. So when I said âHyogo and Mutsu have their arms backâ last week, I was wrong, turns out theyâve got Hyakkimaruâs arms, which is fucking sick and I love that. However, they do end up dying (pretty fucking violently I might add which was cool) to Hyakkimaruâs demon horse and he does get his arms back, with the rest of his fight being him chasing down Hyakkimaru before the episode can end on their climactic battle in Diagoâs castle. But hereâs the deal, despite having his arms back, Hyakkimaruâs still using the swords he had in his prosthetics. Thatâs pretty cool, they acknowledge that heâs got more range with them now and stuff and that that can be a hindrance too (he gets one caught in the walls of Daigoâs castle you see), and also heâs obviously bleeding them while using them because heâs just gripping the fucking tang - thereâs no handle over the metal. But like, hereâs the thing. Hyakkimaru has an actual sword. Iâm not saying he had to use it in this episode over his dual blades or anything, but heâs got an actual fucking sword that weâve never seen him use but they take care to always show us it anyway. I donât think the swordâs ever been directly acknowledged in dialogue but itâs always there, just chilling at his hip. And like, Chekhovâs gun man, or in this case Chekhovâs sword. Iâm gonna be really annoyed if he doesnât use the sword in the whole show, weâve only got one more week to wait to see if thatâs the case.
Anyway Dororoâs second cour has held up way stronger than that other 2 cour Mappa show from last year with a first cour that I really loved and then also a second cour that I really did not love. Good on you Dororo. I do wanna say though that I was on r/anime the other day because Iâm there sometimes, and I saw someone mention Dororo and then I saw somebody else say something to the effect of âyouâre still watching after episode 15?â and like Jesus Christ fuckin chill. Yeah episode 15 looked like garbage, like I mean it looked really really bad, but is that really a big enough deal to where you should just drop the show? Cause like the narrativeâs still fine and stuff, and the first cour had some meh episodes too like the demon sword one. Come on man. I donât even remember what the post was or who the user was so Iâm sorry to be vaguing them but I donât know I just wanted to express some frustration about that.
