This review took a lot longer than anticipated. Dororo is the third-ever adaptation of the manga by Osamu Tezuka. In this series a baby is born without limbs of senses, and is sent downriver to die. He is found, and fixed up and manages to survive. It turns out that his ailment was caused by a demonic pact his Father committed to. Now the whole story speeds up to a decade later, and the baby, now teenager, Hyakkimaru is wandering the Japanese rural landscape. His mission is to kill 12 demons (over 40 in the manga) for each killed he regains part of himself, along with him for this journey is Dororo, a young child with problems of his own.

This is a 24 episode manga series that was sort of a blend (at least from my opinion) of Lone Wolf and Cub and Requiem from the Darkness (this series needed a Blu YEARS AGO). It opens esoteric, and dark, and while it doesn’t always maintain that it remains intriguing and compelling throughout. The animation is stellar with watercolor-esque backgrounds and great character detail. The one thing I’ll say is as the beginning I binged this, and slowed as it progressed. The middle portion of the series began to slow down, and the end felt a bit rushed, still it was a blast and I’m happy to have this one in my collection.

The series is presented by Sentai in a 1:78:1 1080p transfer that looks fantastic. Colors pop, detail is nice. Audio is both in Japanese and English with DTS-HD MA tracks and sounds solid in both forms. Extras are the standard clean opening, closing, and promos. RECOMMENDED.