Dororo Episode 2: The Story of Bandai

After the fight from last week, Dororo strikes a friendship with Hyakkimaru instantly. I had thought that Hyakkimaru had gotten his eyes back but it was just his skin. He still can’t hear, see, or speak so Dororo happily chats away with him.

I am confused about one thing though. Isn’t Hyakkimaru still an empty vessel? All his organs and limbs were taken away from him and the only reason he was moving around was because of his limbs, and because of his strange supernatural powers he has. But how was he eating this episode? I was assuming that he didn’t have a stomach since I thought that would be one of his organs. Or he always had it? I have no idea, but it would be pretty helpful if there was a list of all the things he was missing. Wouldn’t really count as a spoiler since I don’t know when or how he would get his organs back. But anyway, it was just very confusing to me. We got even more detail this episode about Hyakkimaru’s eyesight, explained by the old man with the same “sight” as him. He may not be able to see anything or anyone physically, but he’s able to see the aura/spirit of living things around him. Things with hatred or those that pose danger, like the demons, are colored red. But those with a peaceful aura are a solid gray color, which is how he sees Dororo so he doesn’t mind having Dororo near him as he’s not a threat. It was really cool getting to see more of Hyakkimaru and watching how he acts since the first episode was mostly backstory and Dororo.

Though right now, Dororo is moving the show along as he can speak and Hyakkimaru can’t. Dororo hears of a village being terrorized by a monster and that they’re willing to reward the person that will defeat it. We see what we thought was the monster in the beginning when we see the blind old man wandering through the forest. A being with a large head, ringing a bell and asking “Want any?”

I knew something was off when the villagers stared at Dororo and Hyakkimaru with discerning looks. Bandai being the demon was pretty obvious. Though pretty, she had this scary and intimidating look to her and the way this whole thing was set up, and with Hyakkimaru ready to attack her, it was plainly obvious that she wasn’t human. He only attacks when someone is a threat, and she was a threat so of course he would attack. But Dororo not knowing better holds him back, thinking she’s just a nice woman with an injury. The villagers throw them into a storage room where they end up meeting with the old man and he explains to Dororo about their “sight”. I like the old man so far and it would be awesome if he ended up joining their group. As much as I like Dororo, it’s nice having another character to spout some knowledge into the show and to add more conversation as Hyakkimaru is still mute. The old man seems like he sensed something in the air in the end, so he might be the one that’ll figure out what Hyakkimaru needs to do.

The battle scene was short again but it was still really exciting. The demon was pretty terrifying but Hyakkimaru was able to handle it pretty easily. Hyakk removing his arms to show his blades is still so cool. Apparently Bandai was a demon that would be fed to and the villagers, out of fear of their own lives, would lure travelers to their village to feed them to her. But also the “monster” with the bell was actually the spirit of a monk that was eaten. Every traveler that would get eaten, their money would be given to the village. The villagers had no other way of making money so they killed travelers and took their money. It’s really despicable, but thankfully Hyakkimaru handled Bandai.

In the end, things are getting worse for Lord Daigo and Hyakkimaru has recovered another part of his body. I have no idea what it is though, though it showed his skeleton. I’ve seen people say it could be his nervous system. It’s not an organ but I think that could be it as it was alluded to when Dororo questioned if Hyakkimaru even felt pain when it was getting injured by Bandai. I have no idea what he recovered and the cliffhanger is killing me.

Again, a really great episode. I don’t want to repeat myself but I just love the vibe from the show, the art and animation, and the interactions between the characters. While Hyakkimaru can’t speak, or hear, or see, he was able to sense Dororo feeling down (I’m guessing by his spirit) as he recalled his dead mother and did his best to cheer him up. And surprisingly, he knew how to write his name. Just with that, you could feel Hyakkimaru and Dororo become closer.

Absolutely can’t wait until the next episode, I love this show already so waiting every week is going to be hard!