History Manga / Dororo

* 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.

* 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.

* FlamingSword: Dragon Brood is an EvilWeapon who possesses it's wielders and can set itself alight as an attack.
* 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."

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.
* {{Raiju}}: One of the bosses, named "Thunder Fiend" in-game, is a red ''raiju'' who spams [[SHockAndAwe electric attacks]] throughout the battle.
* 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.]]

* 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.

* 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.

* 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'' fox.

* AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: The fiend from the mountains is a gigantic stone hand emerging from the ground, who can spam projectile from it's palms. It slinks back underground upon defeat.
* AttackOnTheHeart: The Mountainous Demon's final form and sole weakness is it's gigantic, throbbing heart, located inside a cavern. Destroying said heart kills the monster for good.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Hyakkimaru, just like in the manga, kicks ass with prosthetic arm-blades attached to his elbows. The Great Horn / Goliath monster meanwhile is a boss with organic blades for arms.

** The Dream Eater 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.

* EvilWeapon: The Masterless Samurai turns out to be controlled by his katana, which has a sentient mind on it's own and emits a sinister purple aura that drives it's wielder into attacking Hyakkimaru. Said katana later possesses Dororo when she tries investigating, leading to FightingYourFriend below.
--> '''Katana''': Kill... you must kill... Kill!
* FightingYourFriend: One of Hyakkimaru's boss fights is against a posessed Dororo.
* FlamingSword: The cursed katana who possesses it's wielders will set it's blade alight as an attack.
* 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."

* LivingStatue: The Grave Golem is a Japanese-style Dogū statue, albeit with rock tentacles coming from its eyes and limbs.

** The Homonculi has a humanoid body, but his oversized brain causes the entire upper of his head to swell and take up most of his face.

* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler:Dororo was created by the Majin 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]].]]

* 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.

** The Thunder Fiend and the Ogrress' last form have them spamming thunderbolts on Hyakkimaru constantly.

* {{Tengu}}: Despite her name, the Oggress is a tengu, complete with horns and flowing red hair as well as ability of flight.

* WaddlingHead: The Inquisitor boss 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.

* A HackAndSlash video game for the UsefulNotes/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.

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 in 2019.

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 in 2019.

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.

* LivingStatue: The Grave Golem is a Japanese-style Dogū statue, albeit with rock tentacles coming from it's eyes and limbs.

* MadEye: The Fire Golem's left eye, who's literally bulging out it's socket. And that's one of the ''least'' disturbing-looking feature on this monster.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The white dragon boss resembles a chubby, overweight serpent with an oriental dragon's head. And unlike most examples, couldn't fly, alternatign between a BellyFlopCrushing and a TailSlap.
* 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, have canine features on it's face. Somehow.

** Impaler, another Oni boss similar in size to Hellcrusher. He wields a [[BladeOnAStick massive spear instead however]].

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 magnet for supernatural weirdness.

[[AC:Manhwa]]
* ''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.

* A South Korean-Japanese collaborative webtoon written and illustrated by Lee Do Kyung. 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.

* AsianFoxSpirit: One of the bosses is a ''massive'' three-tailed kitsune. Who can fly thanks to having [[MercurysWings fiery wings on it's feet]]. Before [[CameBackStrong coming back stronger]] as a ''six-tailed'' fox!

* 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.''

* A HackAndSlash video game for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, released on September 9, 2004, by Creator/{{Sega}} and Creator/RedEntertainment. It was released in English as ''Blood Will Tell'' and hereafter referred to as such on this very wiki to avoid confusion with other adaptations.