Dororo: The Omnibus Edition

Dororo by Osamu Tezuka
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When a young swordsman named Hyakkimaru meets Dororo, self-styled "World's Greatest Thief," they join forces to hunt down the 48 demons that stole parts of Hyakkimaru's body so that his father could gain power...

Osamu Tezuka is the father of manga yet Astroy Boy was the only one of his works I'd read. One of my guys on Twitter recommended this and I eventually picked this up.

Drawn in the same cutesy style as Astro Boy, Dororo is a series of linked tales featuring Hyakkimaru and Dororo. Hyakkimaru's father sacrificed his arms, legs, eyes, nose, internal organs etc. to demons for power, leaving his baby son to die. Hyakkimaru's mother put her son in a river where a doctor found him, raised him, and gave him prosthetics to help him get by. Hyakkimaru has swords for arms, sheathed in prosthetic ones when the tale begins, as well as artificial legs concealing weapons. Now this seems strange but keep in mind Astro Boy has machine guns in his ass.

Dororo is a street kid with a map tattooed on his back that talks tough but it's clear he and Hyakkimaru need each other. While he normally gets the duo into trouble, Dororo also does his share of getting them out.

The art is cutesy but also surprisingly effective at conveying horror, like Hyakkimaru's blind, grublike form trying to survive as an infant, to the copious demons peppered throughout the text. The character designs are great and make me want the Jim Henson company to adapt this using the creepy Dark Crystal style puppets.

While it's mostly an adventure tale, and a good one at that, Dororo also works as a coming of age story. Hyakkimaru becomes more human as he defeats demons and his body is restored and Dororo learns his own lessons.

I'm underselling this but it's pretty fantastic. If I had to gripe about something, it's the ending wasn't as satisfying as I hoped but this is more of a journey book anyway. I'd gladly read another 800 page brick of this stuff.

Dororo: The Omnibus Edition is a cute, creepy action adventure. Five out of five sword hands.

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