Line #14 Manga/Dororo


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dororo_and_hyakkimaru.png]]
5
6	One of many series by the prolific and much-loved Creator/OsamuTezuka, ''Dororo'' is the tale of Hyakkimaru, a wandering swordsman who bears an odd burden: he was born without most of his body parts (including eyes, ears, a tongue, and limbs) thanks to his father [[DealWithTheDevil striking a deal with forty-eight demons]]. [[MosesInTheBulrushes Abandoned and raised by a country doctor]], Hyakkimaru learned to use his sixth sense to compensate for his lacking the other five but eventually discovered his condition made him a [[WeirdnessMagnet magnet for supernatural weirdness.]]
7
8	Equipped with a number of prosthetics made by his adopted father, along with a pair of quality blades, Hyakkimaru wanders Japan righting wrongs, helping the helpless, tracking down the demons that stole his parts, and [[MuggingTheMonster brutally cutting down anyone foolish enough to mess with him]]. Along the way, he picks up a hanger-on in the young, self-proclaimed master thief Dororo, who it turns out is the orphaned child of a notorious bandit king who was brought low by the shogunate.
9
10	The manga originally began in ''[[Magazine/ShonenSunday Weekly Shonen Sunday]]'' in 1967, only to be cancelled in 1968. It later moved to the magazine ''Bouken'ou'' in 1969, where it concluded. It has had two anime adaptations, one in 1969 which was the first entry in ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater'', and the other [[Anime/Dororo2019 in 2019]].
11
12	Not to be confused with one of the characters from ''Manga/SgtFrog'' nor ''Manga/{{Dorohedoro}}'', which also has an anime adaptation made by Creator/{{MAPPA}}.
13	----
14	!!Derivative works:
15	[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
16	* A television pilot released on January 12, 1968, by Creator/MushiProductions.
17	* "Kōhaku Monomane Manga Gassen", a one-shot manga written by Fujiko Fujio, Jirō Tsunoda, Rentarō Itai, Fujio Akatsuka, Noboru Kawasaki, Mitsuyoshi Sonoda, Ippei Kuri, and Osamu Tezuka and published on ''Weekly Shonen Sunday'' on January 14, 1968. The first four depicted ''Dororo'' while the rest depicted ''Mōretsu Atarō''.
18	* An animated television series in 1969. It was renamed ''Dororo and Hyakkimaru'' halfway and licensed by Creator/DiscotekMedia for a Region 1 DVD release.
19	* "Arashi no Yoru ni", a chapter of the anthology ''Manga/BlackJack Alive'' by Creator/GoNagai. It was collected in volume 2 on December 9, 2005.
20	* ''Dororo Bon'', a manga series by Daisuke Dōke and serialized on ''Young Champion'' from May 22, 2007 to February 10, 2009.
21	* ''Young Black Jack'' (2011): Chapters 54-66 feature characters based on those from ''Dororo''.
22	* ''Dororo to Enma-kun'', a crossover manga with ''Manga/DororonEnmaKun'' by Creator/GoNagai. It started out as a one-shot in ''Weekly Manga Goraku'' on November 2, 2012, before being serialized from February 8, 2013 to March 7, 2014.
23	* ''Search and Destroy'', a manga series by Atsushi Kaneko and serialized in ''[=TezuComi=]'' since October 5, 2018.
24	* ''The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru'', a manga series by Satoshi Shiki and serialized in ''Monthly Champion Red'' since October 19, 2018.
25	* A [[Anime/Dororo2019 2019 anime retelling]] by Creator/{{MAPPA}} and [[Creator/MushiProductions Tezuka Productions]]. It premiered on Creator/PrimeVideo just three months before the 1969 anime's 50th anniversary.
26
27	[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]
28	* A LiveActionAdaptation film released on January 27, 2007. It moves the setting from the Sengoku Era to a suspiciously similar post-apocalyptic future.
29
30	[[AC:Literature]]
31	* A one-volume novel by Masaki Tsuji, published on October 3, 1969.
32	* A {{Gamebook\|s}} by Jinzō Toriumi and Yoshitake Suzuki, published in 1988.
33	* A three-volume novel by Jinzō Toriumi, published from July 12 to November 15, 2001.
34	* A two-volume novelization of the 2007 film by Masaru Nakamura, published on December 1, 2006.
35
36	[[AC:Theatre]]
37	* ''New Jōruri: Hyakkimaru'', a stage play first released on June 16, 2004.
38	* A 2019 stage play written and directed by Daisuke Nishida and based on the 2019 anime.
39
40	[[AC:Video Games]]
41	* A computer game for the NEC [=PC8801=]/Sr system, released on January 10, 1989, by Quasar Soft.
42	* A HackAndSlash video game for the Platform/PlayStation2, released on September 9, 2004, by Creator/{{Sega}} and Creator/RedEntertainment. It was released in English as ''Blood Will Tell'' (subtitled "[[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt Tezuka Osamu]]'s Dororo") and hereafter referred to as such on this very wiki to avoid confusion with other adaptations.
43
44	[[AC:Webcomics]]
45	* ''Dororo: Re:Verse'', a South Korean-Japanese collaborative webtoon written and illustrated by Lee Do-gyung. It centers on Hyakkimaru ([[AdaptationNameChange named Hakki in the series]]) continuing the search for his body parts in a modern setting, accompanied by Roro who looks like Dororo.
46	----
47	!!''Dororo'' provides examples of:
48	[[foldercontrol]]
49
50	[[folder:The manga and 1969 anime]]
51	* AbandonTheDisabled: Kagemitsu Daigo abandons Hyakkimaru at birth because of his [[DealWithTheDevil deal with demons]] to exchange parts of the child's body for power. He would've been dead too if Jukai didn't find him, take him in, and create prosthetic body parts for him. The story takes place in [[CrapsackWorld feudal Japan]], so Hyakkimaru is very fortunate he ends up in Jukai's care.
52	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Dororo is a sexy teen girl in the movies, the crossover with ''Manga/DororonEnmaKun'', [[spoiler:and the finale of ''Blood Will Tell'']] instead of a ratty little orphan kid.
53	* AfterTheEnd: As a pacifist in the humanistic sense, Tezuka did his best to depict how hellish the [[UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod "Warring States" period]] would realistically be... and wow does this trope ever apply.. In short, it doesn't take much dressing up for the world of the original ''Dororo'' manga to look like a post-nuclear wasteland (to the point that you could probably fool a new reader into thinking that that was the case). At the end of the day, whether the weapons of choice are swords and spears or atomic bombs, war... war never changes.
54	* AllTrollsAreDifferent: One of the friendlier youkai is called a troll, at least in the English version. Here it's a green-skinned humanoid with a swollen head that points the way to buried treasure.
55	* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: The end of the manga reveals that [[spoiler:Dororo is a girl raised as a boy. Dororo seems to genuinely identify as a boy, but seemingly more out of ignorance rather than anything else]].
56	* AnachronismStew: Why are Sengoku-era swordsmen dropping pop culture references from Japan in TheSixties? Probably RuleOfFunny.
57	* BarefootPoverty: Wouldn't be the Warring States era without it.
58	* BerserkerTears: Hyakkimaru does not take the death of Mio and the orphans he lived with well. He weeps as he kills the rogue samurai who murdered them.
59	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Usually [[PlayedForLaughs played for comic relief]], which was also a common gimmick in many of Tezuka's works.
60	** Done by Dororo in ''Blood Will Tell'' to introduce Dororo Mode when it's unlocked.
61	* CoolHorse: Warlord Kisoji's horse, Midoro. Even before allowing herself to become possessed by a demon after Kisoji forcibly separated her from her foal, Midoro's ruthlessness and power alone allowed the warlord to win many battles.
62	* CoolOldGuy: Biwa-Houshi, a blind old dude [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep so named because he's a priest with a biwa - a musical instrument]].
63	* CrapsackWorld: Tezuka had a distinctly unromanticized view of the Sengoku period, which he depicted in this and other Samurai stories as [[TheDungAges a war torn, famine and disease-ridden hellhole littered with the ruins of burned out villages and corpses of defeated soldiers and murdered civilians]]... and ''then'' he introduced 48 demons to it!
64	* DealWithTheDevil: In order to gain power for himself, Daigo Kagemitsu offers his soon-to-be-born son to the 48 demons that inhabit the Hall of Hell.
65	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: It suits Tezuka's style and the setting so well that you'd be forgiven for not remembering that animated shows ''were'' being produced in color by 1969. The pilot animation was produced in color, but apparently the sponsor thought that there was too much blood, so the black-and-white was something of a compromise.
66	* EvilDetectingDog: Mota-kou, the puppy that travels with Hyakkimaru and Dororo.
67	* EvilWeapon: In one chapter, Dororo and Hyakkimaru come across a stray samurai who has been driven to kill by his demonically-possessed sword 'Nihil' ("[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Resembling Leech]]", and it wouldn't be surprising if Tezuka intended for there to be a BilingualBonus). See, 'Nihil' (a.k.a. "Dragon Brood" in Blood Will Tell) [[HearingVoices talks to its owner]], saying 'I need to drink blood, I need to drink blood', and it appears to work on anyone - even Dororo.
68	* {{Expy}}: In the crossover ''Dororo to Enma-kun'', teenage Dororo looks like a genderbent version of Kamui from Shirato Sampei's ''Manga/KamuiDen''.
69	* GottaCatchThemAll: Hyakkumaru's mission. If the world gets a little better in the process, fine.
70	* HadToBeSharp: The only reason Dororo survived long enough to meet Hyakkimaru.
71	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Manami-Onba burned down the home of a nun who took care of orphans using a special oil before attempting to sully her reputation. She is burned to death by the same type of oil.
72	* HonorBeforeReason: Dororo's samurai-hating father not only rejects a food offering from them, he attacks them and gets himself killed.
73	* KickTheDog: Surprisingly not the demons (despite taking Hyakkimaru's body parts and terrorizing medieval Japan), but the human warlord Kisoji in regards to his warhorse. When he finds the horse, Midoro, tending to her foal, he forcibly separates them, believing that a warhorse can't afford to be tender. He sells the colt to a nearby farmer so she won't be distracted and beats her whenever she mopes on the battlefield. Is it any surprise that she allows a demon to possess her dying body to get revenge on humanity? But not before trampling Kisoji for his mistreatment of her.
74	* LimbSensationFascination: Hyakkimaru often goes through this when he gets one of his body parts back.
75	* LittleMissBadass: Originally just TheLoad to Hyakkimaru, Dororo eventually proves to be a resourceful and clever fighter on his own. In "The Two Sharks" chapter, oarsman Shiranui rows the bandit and his men (along with Dororo, whom they kidnapped to locate a treasure) in the middle of the water so they will become food to his two pet sharks. Dororo alone rallies up the bandit and his remaining men and chooses to dive into the water. Luring one of the sharks as bait, while jumping out of the water Dororo jumps on top of its head as the bandit and his men thrust swords into its stomach.
76	* MagneticMedium: Hyakkimaru started on his journey because supernatural creatures were beginning to attack him at Doctor Jukai's home, and that's just not something you let happen to the guy who raised you. He seems to run across monsters as often as they find him, overall.
77	* ManlyTears: Hyakkimaru has plenty to cry about.
78	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: If Hyakkimaru had just broken 'Nihil' when they first met, rather than just paralyzing its owner Tanosuke and leaving him, they could've avoided a whole lotta tragedy.
79	* NoEnding: Tezuka had to cut the original manga short, leaving the TV series, video game and other adaptations to come up with their own endings.
80	* NotSoStoic: Hyakkimaru gets ''really'' excited when he gets parts of his body back.
81	* {{Nue}}: Demons killed by Hyakkimaru in the past merge into a giant nue. Hyakkimaru kills it in the final chapter.
82	* ParentalAbandonment: Hyakkimaru's father put him in a little basket and let him drift off on a river current.
83	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: After kidnapping Dororo, killing some captured villagers when they refused to row him and his men to the cape where the treasure was hidden, betraying Hyakkimaru by shooting an arrow into his back, and leaving the last of his men to die by being crushed beneath a fallen Buddha statue, the lead bandit, Itachi, redeems himself by protecting Dororo from another group of bandits atop the mountain cape and prays to him to find the money himself before plunging to his death.
84	* ShonenDemographic: One of the very first, in fact.
85	* ShooTheDog: Near the end of the story, Hyakkimaru tries to sever ties with Dororo so he can continue on his journey and keep the kid out of danger. Dororo has none of it, and insists on being by his side, but ultimately the two part ways.
86	* SingleStrokeBattle: The first encounter with Tanosuke and the sword Nihil. Funny thing is, it's both a parody and subversion. After a build up, the two fighters are frozen in place for almost ''twelve hours.''It's a parody because Dororo comes running up to Hyakkimaru and asks him ''why he's still standing there'', and a subversion because the actual 'stroke' wasn't with swords but their ''will'' (the other guy's still standing because he's unconscious and physically locked in place).
87	** Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru have a conventional one when they finally meet.
88	* ThreateningShark: A wily bandit and his men kidnap Dororo so they can use the map imprinted on his back to locate a treasure above a mountain in a small cape. They try to make the captured villagers row them to the cape, but they refuse to do so because an evil spirit disguised as a fish would always eat them before they got there, forcing the bandits to kill them. Then a suspicious man appears and volunteers to row them, and once they're in the middle of the sea, it's revealed the man has tricked them and half the bandit's men become food to his two pet sharks, Jiromaru and Saburomaru, who are actually possessed by demons.
89	* UnsettlingGenderReveal: [[spoiler:When Hyakkimaru regains his real eyes after vanquishing another demon, he realizes that the Dororo he has spent so long traveling with is actually a girl. His regards towards her change considerably.]]
90	* VillainousBSOD: Very rare in this story. A demon's underling takes in Dororo temporarily, with the intent of eventually sacrificing him to her master (the White-Faced Fudou), but finds that she's [[BecomingTheMask grown fond of him]].
91	* YoungerThanTheyLook: Hyakkimaru's supposed to be 14. Granted, he's had a rough life so far, so it's not too odd that he might look older, but this doesn't explain why Tahomaru looks as old as he does.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:''Blood Will Tell'']]
95	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dororo_ps2.png]]
96	* AdaptationalBadass: Dororo in the original manga and anime? Cocky little thief who can take a hit from a human adult, and give one right back, but is no match for the supernatural threats Hyakkimaru eats for breakfast. Dororo in ''Blood Will Tell''? Can and will ''dish out 47 different flavors of hurt to any boss dumb enough to get within range of his mighty plum-sized fists'' (a slight exaggeration, but he is completely able to hack down a significant portion of their health bar on his own).
97	* AdaptationalHeroism: Kagemitsu Daigo is a great deal more sympathetic in the game. Hyakkimaru is a foretold "child of light" who would bring an end to the reign of fiends. To prevent this, demons seduce his father with promises of power if he would sacrifice his son in a dream where his mind would be more susceptible to influence. Upon waking up, he's utterly horrified at what he's done, and when the demons claim Hyakkimaru's body parts, he immediately spirits his son away for his safety. In the manga, Daigo makes a deal with the demons at his own initiative to gain power, and is thrilled to see Hyakkimaru's mangled body after he is born as that means the contract is fulfilled. There is also nothing about Hyakkimaru being a foretold chosen one in the manga. [[spoiler:It's revealed that afterward, his father became a vessel for the demons to spread their influence, while the manga has no such implications]].
98	* AdvancingBossOfDoom: One of the phases of the Dragon Tank boss have it chasing Dororo down a long corridor, and she must flee all the way until reaching the end before she could battle the tank.
99	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If you complete a chapter, the game will tell you how many Fiends you need to defeat upon replaying that chapter and will even mark their location on the map. Defeating all Hidden Fiends in that chapter will also prompt you to save the game to prevent you from losing hours of progress.
100	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: While the whole series runs on this, usually Hyakkimaru is depicted as only missing body parts that he theoretically ''could'' live without. Not so here, where recovered parts include his heart, liver, lungs, several parts of his brain, and his ''skull.''
101	* AnachronismStew: Hyakkimaru's arm is outfitted with a ''machine gun''.
102	* AsianFoxSpirit: One of the bosses is a ''massive'' three-tailed kitsune that can fly thanks to having [[MercurysWings fiery wings on its feet]] before [[CameBackStrong coming back stronger]] as a ''six-tailed'', and later "nine-tailed" fox.
103	* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever: The Giant Fire Wheel boss is a sentient spiked wheel taller than Hyakkimaru, set on fire and attacks by trying to roll Hyakkimaru over.
104	* AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: Mountainous is a gigantic stone hand emerging from the ground, who can spam projectile from it's palms. It slinks back underground upon defeat.
105	* AttackOnTheHeart: Mountainous's final form and sole weakness is it's gigantic, throbbing heart, located inside a cavern. Destroying said heart kills the monster for good.
106	* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Hyakkimaru, just like in the manga, kicks ass with prosthetic arm-blades attached to his elbows. The Great Horn/Twin Blade/ [[OptionalBoss Goliath]] Fiends meanwhile are bosses with organic blades for arms.
107	* BlowYouAway: The Wind Fiend can generate tornadoes during it's boss battle to disorientate Hyakkimaru.
108	* ClassicalChimera:
109	** Dragon Tank, despite it's name, resembles more like a chimaera, what with it's goat-like horns and head, a body resembling a lion, and a snake's head for a tail. And it's piloting a ''tank''.
110	** The Composite Fiend Chimaera, another boss, this time with some rock-like features on it's body for some reason.
111	* ColossusClimb: The Behemoth FinalBoss can only be harmed by jumping on and climbing to it's arms and slashing at it from up close. And later, climbing to the monster's back to attack it's back-horns.
112	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Comes with limited sound, too. When you begin the game, everything is monochrome and soundless, to represent Hyakkimaru's missing body parts. You get sound and color back in their full intended glory once you retrieve Hyakkimaru's ears and eyes, respectively.
113	* EldritchAbomination: Most of the bosses, and they can look downright nightmare-inducing at times.
114	** The Dream Eater and it's PaletteSwap Carrion Feeder is an insectoid monster with a ''centipede'' body, floating inside a giant ''brain'' tetered to the ground. And has a large ''human'' eye in place of a head, which it uses to spam EyeBeams at Hyakkimaru during the battle.
115	** Scourge is a pile of ''severed human limbs'' taking the form of an amphibian-looking monster.
116	** The Fire Golem, despite it's name, is a flesh-and-blood ''skinless'' monster whose body is constantly on fire. And it's spine and skull are sticking out of it's flesh.
117	** Behemoth, the FinalBoss, a horned skeletal monstrosity with flesh peeking out it's ribcages, draconic wings, [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes on it's chest]], SkullForAHead...
118	* EvilIsBigger: The FinalBoss and most powerful of the demons, Behemoth, is also the largest of them all.
119	* EvilWeapon: The Masterless Samurai turns out to be controlled by his katana Dragon Brood, which has a sentient mind on it's own and emits a sinister purple aura that drives it's wielder into attacking Hyakkimaru. Dragon Brood later possesses Dororo when she tries investigating, leading to FightingYourFriend below.
120	--> '''Dragon Brood''': Kill... you must kill... Kill!
121	* FightingYourFriend: One of Hyakkimaru's boss fights is against a possessed Dororo.
122	* FlamingSword: Dragon Brood is an EvilWeapon who possesses it's wielders and can set itself alight as an attack.
123	* GottaKillThemAll: Actually doing so and getting all of Hyakkimaru body parts (besides his arm) via SideQuest before the last chapter leads to the "true ending."
124	* GoThroughMe: One of the bosses, the Fire Golem, name-drops this trope almost word-for-word.
125	--> '''Hyakkimaru''': Out of my way!\
126	'''Golem''': You'll have to go through me to get by! [''cue boss fight'']
127	* HornedHumanoid: Great Horn is an ogre with a single gigantic horn. While Boar Fiend is a humanoid demon with three.
128	* LawOfOneHundred: While collecting 100 of the common items (Jyukai's Medicine) gives you a "1 Up" (the game calls it this), it's really just an extra life bar.
129	* LighterAndSofter: In the original manga, Hyakkimaru grows increasingly bitter, jaded and vicious as the story continues and he is continuously exposed to the horrors of the Fiends, war, and the {{ungrateful\|Bastard}}ness of those he saves (the village he saves from the Fiend Yudai being a prime example), with heroism being pretty much an afterthought. In ''Blood Will Tell'', he's played as being far more heroic and idealistic from the get-go, and never quite loses it all.
130	* LittleMissBadass: Dororo is a sidekick fighter and is frankly quite effective, mostly due to his infinite amount of thrown rocks.
131	* LivingStatue: The Grave Golem (and it's PaletteSwap Soul Stealer) is a Japanese-style Dogū statue, albeit with rock tentacles coming from its eyes and limbs.
132	* LotusPosition: The demon, Legion, sits cross-legged while floating all over the place and attacking Hyakkimaru.
133	* MadEye: The Fire Golem's left eye, which is literally bulging out its socket. And that's one of the ''least'' disturbing-looking features on this monster.
134	* MarketBasedTitle: Simply known as ''Dororo'' in its home country, the game received a much longer and darker title when localized in Europe as ''Blood Will Tell: [[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt Osamu Tezuka's]] Dororo''.
135	* MindControlEyes: Possessed Dororo (after getting hold of an EvilWeapon katana) gains glowing, yellow eyes. With the cutscene zooming at her performing a DeathGlare at Hyakkimaru (and the player). Then there's possessed Misaki...
136	* MirrorMatch: Not all bosses are monstrous - Hyakkimaru sometimes battles human bosses the same size as himself, who uses swords and can unleash similar combos. Notably the Masterless Samurai, Demon Sword, Snake Eyes Saburota, Tahoumaru, Misaki, and possessed Dororo.
137	* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Legion, one of the bosses, is a six-armed demon, each arm holding a deadly weapon and using all six to assault Hyakkimaru simultaneously.
138	* MultipurposeTongue: The amphibian-like Scourge naturally has a long tongue it will use to lash out at Hyakkimaru. Said tongue even has deadly barbs that deals additional damage.
139	* MyBrainIsBig:
140	** The Homonculi (and it's PaletteSwap Night Terror) has a humanoid body, but his oversized brain causes the entire upper of his head to swell and take up most of his face.
141	** Gaping Maw is a demon with a massive, bulging brain.
142	* MysteriousMist: The mountain levels is filled with fog, from which there are residing monsters.
143	* OneWingedAngel: Tahoumaru has a form powered by dark sorcery, called Fiend Tahoumaru, as a boss, which turns him into a demonic form far stronger than the original.
144	* {{Oni}}:
145	** Hellcrusher is a green-skinned demon based on the Oni, who carries a massive [[CarryABigStick spiked club]] as weapon.
146	** Impaler, another Oni boss similar in size to Hellcrusher. He wields a massive spear instead however.
147	* OptionalBoss: Each chapter (except the final one) has several Hidden Fiends that can be found in various spots. Some can be fought before the chapter ends, but some can only be fought after clearing it. Defeating them all is required to unlock the final chapter.
148	* OppositeSexClone: [[spoiler:Demons constructed Dororo, a girl, using one of the male Hyakkimaru's stolen body parts]].
149	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The white dragon boss resembles a chubby, overweight serpent with an oriental dragon's head. And unlike most examples, can't fly, alternating between a BellyFlopCrushing and a TailSlap.
150	* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: A somewhat scrawny minotaur shows up as a boss, armed with a trident (instead of heavy weapons usually associated with Minotaurs) and oddly enough, has canine features on its face. Somehow.
151	* PaintingTheMedium: ''Blood Will Tell'' changes the game's interface when you receive some of the sense organs. For instance, the game is in black and white until you get at least one eye, and the controller vibration function doesn't work until you get Hyakkimaru's pain receptor nerves.
152	* PaletteSwap: Since Tezuka never got around to designing most of the 48 Majin, ''Blood Will Tell'' had numerous recolored or otherwise modified versions of existing ones to fill out their ranks.
153	* PantheraAwesome: The Hellcat boss is a leonine-demon capable of walking in a bipedal stance.
154	* PowerFloats: How most of the bosses - those with supernatural abilities - travels around. Notably the Oggress, Grave Golem, Legion, Fiend!Tahoumaru, and several others who doesn't touch the ground while fighting Hyakkimaru until they're defeated.
155	* {{Raiju}}: One of the bosses, named "Thunder Fiend" in-game, is a red ''raiju'' who spams [[SHockAndAwe electric attacks]] throughout the battle.
156	* RedHerring: In ''Blood Will Tell'', the opening narration states that the Majin created a human nemesis for Hyakkimaru using his missing parts. His estranged half-brother, who is missing an eye, shows up shortly after you get one of your own back. It's not him, though. [[spoiler:It's Dororo. See below.]]
157	* RockMonster: Andromorphic, human-shaped blocks of rocks are another frequent enemy type.
158	* RecurringBoss: Some of the bosses needs to be fought twice or thrice in the game. Notably Great Horn (later returns as "Goliath"), Scourge, Mountainous, Dragon Tank, Misaki, the battles mostly playing out the same way.
159	* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler:Dororo was created by the 48 Fiends as a vessel for their leader so that Hyakkimaru would have to choose between completing his quest and his best friend's life. Only upon parting ways until Dororo becomes an adult does he finally [[TakeAThirdOption get to choose both]].]]
160	* SelfFulfillingProphecy: The demons attempted to keep the prophesied child of light from becoming a threat by taking away his limbs and organs. They didn't expect him to live long enough to try and take them back.
161	* SetSwordsToStun: While fighting possessed Dororo, Hyakkimaru attacks with the back of his katana. Which deals damage to Dororo's health, but doesn't kill her once her health is depleted. Winning said battle have Dororo getting knocked out non-fatally so Hyakkimaru can remove the Evil Weapon possessing Dororo. This also applies to non-fatal battles against human opponents, with the pre-battle description stating that Hyakkimaru is only to use his powers to kill only fiends.
162	* ShockAndAwe:
163	** The Thunder Fiend and the Ogress' last form have them spamming thunderbolts on Hyakkimaru constantly.
164	** When his power meter is at maximum, Hyakkimaru can summon a BoltOFDivineRetribution to electrocute his enemies. It even works in stages set ''indoors''.
165	* SideQuest: Some of the 48 fiends are completely optional bosses you have to search the game area to find and fight. You can get through the game without defeating all of them, though it is useful to do so, as each recovered body part improves Hyakkimaru's combat abilities.
166	* SkywardScream: Hyakkimaru lets out one of these after using too much of his energy from defeating the first boss, Great Horn.
167	--> "Arrgh! Wh-what's happening? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!!!!"
168	* SpinAttack: Hyakkimaru has a LimitBreak that have him spinning like a tornado and damaging enemies and bosses while he's at it. And he can even use this move to ''float'' in mid-air for a few seconds!
169	* StrippedToTheBone: Upon her defeat, the Oggress melts into a puddle of green gunk and leaves behind a skeleton.
170	* SwordLines: As Hyakkimaru, his arm-blades will leave behind green curves each swing when adequately powered up. Wielder of the EvilWeapon cursed katana also leaves behind red blade-lines.
171	* TankGoodness: The Dragon Tank boss is a chimaera monster whose lower body is a tank (or at least, a BambooTechnology medieval Japanese equivalent). It spends the whole battle charging all over the place with tackling attacks.
172	* {{Tengu}}: Despite her name, the Ogress (and by extension her PaletteSwap Demon Ogress) is a tengu, complete with horns and flowing red hair as well as ability of flight.
173	* ThouShaltNotKill: Hyakkimaru tries very hard not to kill regular humans; using the [[SetSwordsToStun back of his blade]] to do so. Unlike many depictions, this seriously restricts what moves he can use in such fights.
174	* UpgradedBoss: Several of the Fiends are stronger versions of earlier ones with a few new moves to differentiate them.
175	* WaddlingHead: The Inquisitor (and it's PaletteSwap Triface) is a monstrous head larger than Hyakkimaru with [[TwoFaced three sides of faces]], and three legs underneath for moving about. Each head having a BreathWeapon to attempt incinerating Hyakkimaru with.
176	* WhenTreesAttack: Expect to fight plenty of sentient trees who can lash out with VineTentacles throughout the forest and mountain levels.
177	* TheWormThatWalks: Redcap, one of the bosses, is made from dozens and dozens of frogs fusing together into forming a humanoid shape.
178
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:2007 live-action film]]
182	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dororo_liveaction.jpg]]
183	* AfterTheEnd: Moving the setting to a dystopian future does make Hyakkimaru's artificial limbs somewhat more plausible.
184	* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: [[spoiler:Dororo]] seems to reject the idea of being a girl, though the film doesn't explore whether it's an issue of identification or a practical rejection of the cultural baggage assigned to the gender.
185	* HeelFaceTurn: In the climax, Tahomaru fights Hyakkimaru out of jealously over their mother's affection, but once he witnesses the horror of their father Kagetmitsu becoming a demon to bring him back to life, he lets go of all negative feelings and accepts Hyakkimaru as his older brother, willing to watch over his rightful place until he comes back from his journey.
186	[[/folder]]
187
188	[[folder:''The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru'']]
189	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dororo_to_hyakkimaru_den_cover.jpg]]
190	* AdaptationalHeroism: Tanosuke in this manga is less bloodthirsty than the original version and not as indiscriminate on who he kills. He even [[spoiler:willingly parts with Nihil after he finally gets revenge for his older sister, thanking the sword for lending him its strength]].
191	* ArtShiftedSequel: Similarly to the 2019 anime adaptation, the main characters are drawn in a different and more modern style, although some of the side characters such as the villagers are drawn in the Tezuka style. Hyakkimaru is a little bit older just like in the original manga and original anime adaptation. Dororo looks closer to being in her preteens. And Tahomaru also looks quite a bit older as well.
192	* CompositeCharacter: This manga's version of [[spoiler:Mio ends up being one to Okaka, being a female servant of Hakumenfudo who lures unfortunate victims into his cave to have their faces stolen]].
193	* DarkerAndEdgier: The new manga re-telling is on the same levels of darker themes as the 2019 anime adaptation. The characters are drawn with a more modern design and the action scenes are drawn in an intense and gritty artstyle.
194	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Unlike most adaptations of ''Dororo'', [[spoiler:Mio and Tanosuke]] both end up surviving in this manga.
195	[[/folder]]

Context Manga / Dororo