The Most Overlooked Anime of 2019

The phrase, "I love anime," is pretty broad, in all honesty. To someone who's not aware of anime culture and is on the outside looking in, it may seem like a simple enough statement. But really, this statement is the same as "I really love movies," or "I love TV." Sure, it's possible for a person to love all movies or all TV shows, but usually, a person likes certain kinds of movies and TV shows. This applies to anime as well. There are different genres, but undeniably shonen is the biggest and most popular. This is for sure what I would consider to be my favorite type of anime, as I have seen quite literally seen thousands of episodes of these types of anime. So when you have seen as much shonen anime as me, you start to notice these tropes. The main character has a goal and must become stronger or just better at whatever it is they do to achieve said goal. This types of anime has been coming out for decades and it can sometimes be hard to stand out from the pack, so when an anime does, it gets mass praise and here's where Dororo comes in. Not only does Dororo perfect each and every shonen troupe it uses, but it also adds so much to the formula that it makes no sense why it has not received any mainstream praise. I have a theory as to why, but we'll get to that.

Plot

I'm gonna do my best to make the plot not come across as gibberish from your local looney, so here we go. The plot focuses on the main character Hyakkimaru and his child companion Dororo. It is more of Hyakkimaru's story, and after watching the series and at the time of writing this reading about halfway through the manga I can not for the life of me figure out why Osamu Tezuka, the author of the Dororo manga, named it after Dororo. (NOTE: In editing this I learned that there has been an updated manga release with a name change to include Hyakkimaru’s name.) So Hyakkimaru’s father is a man who leads a village that is not doing the best. So he calls upon demons to help his land and people but, of course, this comes at a price and no small one at that. The demons want the eyes, mouth, face, arms, and legs of his firstborn child. The father accepts this offer, thinking to himself, big deal he can just have another child—I know; the father of the decade, ladies and gentlemen, and Hyakkimaru is born in this awful state. With his mother heartbroken at the sight of him in a hysterical state because, of course, she had no idea about this agreement, the father decides to basically leave Hyakkimaru for dead and sends him floating along a river. We then skip in time to see not only is Hyakkimaru alive but he is able to accomplish super human-like feats of speed and strength all while still missing his limbs and basic five senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. From there we follow him and Dororo as Hyakkimaru hunts down the demons who took his body parts. The major catch is while he is hunting the demons the village is heading back to its poor state, and the story is like two trains on a collision course.

Shonen Perfected

Big anime faces like Goku, Naruto, Luffy, and Ichigo share a good bit in common with each other. A cast of close relationships that increase as their shows progress, antagonists get stronger and stronger making bigger obstacles for them, and of course, the stakes get higher and higher as the show goes on. These things are, in most respects, the basic layout for a great shonen. Now, of course, there has to be a little more than the basics to make an anime stand out. Dororo puts its own spin each of these tropes. While Dororo and Hyakkimaru meet a colorful cast, it isn't in the traditional way, and the characters they meet never really join them and become a part of the main cast. Now, them not joining the main cast may seem like their impact on the story is very limited; this, in combination with them typically appearing in the single episode, though, makes Tezuka's skill as a writer pop. You feel the themes and ideologies of these characters in short 25 minute bursts. One character whose name was said maybe three times in the entirety of the show managed to change the dynamic of how I looked at demons, and just each conflict in the show and manga as a whole. Now on to how Dororo handles the increase in strength with each antagonist. So Dororo only clocks in at 24 episodes, so because of this it avoids a big problem in the shonen formula. Because some shonen run so long and the villains they face naturally have to get stronger, series tend to lose their identity. This is the reason Dragon Ball and Naruto went from basic martial arts and ninjas to literal planet-destroying aliens in both shows. Each demon encountered, while maybe not showing a complete power up over the last, certainly brings a new element of battle and challenges that can be seen in pairs with the final ingredient to the shonen formula that Dororo knocks out of the park. Say what you will about transformations and big colorful power-ups, but they have a bit of charm when done right and serve as perfect visual representations of character growth. Dororo goes about this idea a little differently in strengthening Hyakkimaru which, for the sake of spoilers and the point of writing this being I want more people to watch the anime, I won't say, but know it is very creative in its world.

Lack Of Mainstream Success

So now I bet you're wondering: If this anime is as great as I’m saying it is, why is it not super popular? I'm glad you ask, dear Vocal reader. See, anime adaptations are just that, adaptations. Regardless of whether or not you prefer reading the manga or watching anime, there is no debating that these two experiences are drastically different. Since they are so different often fans of the manga will still be interested in the anime because it's a new way to experience a story they love, so this leads to many anime hitting the ground running. While Dororo has a manga, it's not super popular—but more importantly, it was first published over three decades ago in 1968. I can’t say for sure, but I do think this plays a huge role in Dororo not having it’s proper spotlight time.

WATCH DORORO

If you like good action in anime please give this series a chance; I am sure you will not be disappointed.