I think I and a lot of people had the wrong first impression of Tahoumaru. We hadn’t gotten much from him before so we could only make do with what little info we had on him. I had thought that he would be a spoiled whiny brat, but instead he’s a pretty charismatic, intelligent, and strong kid that genuinely cares for his people. My opinion of him has completely changed and I really like him a lot, but now that just makes me worried about the future.
We already know that Tahoumaru has problems with his parents, but mostly towards his father. He takes matters into his own hands trying to find some info to explain what he overheard last time. He sends his two servants to fetch a man that works closely with Daigo and give him a truth serum. This is where Tahoumaru learns of a baby from 16 years ago, a baby Daigo is looking for. I was surprised that Tahoumaru would even confront his father about this, which is really bold move. But what I find most shocking is that Tahoumaru wasn’t able to put two and two together, which kind of makes me laugh. A baby from 16 years ago, a missing midwife, his mother praying to a broken statue daily, his father obsessing over this? Sure he can’t really deduce the whole demon thing, but he really couldn’t figure out that the missing baby could possibly be a sibiling? It all makes sense, and seeing how smart Tahoumaru is I would have thought that he would have figured that part out at least. Nope. Oh well. It’s also funny that Hyakkimaru’s pouch with his family emblem was out in the open and Tahoumaru didn’t see it. Damn, so close! I wonder if Tahoumaru will even go up to Hyakkimaru and actually speak with him, or even remember hearing about a boy with prosthetics and piece things together.
Tahoumaru really showed his strengths this episode when dealing with the crab monster. Unlike the others, Tahoumaru took an interest in the plight of the villagers and took them very seriously. The soldiers tried stopping him but he put his foot down and made himself clear that he would help his people, and so he set out with some to the lake to face off against the crab monster.
This is when I was really impressed by him. Sure, he showed kindness to the people but that didn’t mean that he would be prepared to fight a giant monster. However, he was smart in preparing an actual escape from the crab and whirlpool by tying rope from trees to their boats. He displayed great teamwork between him and his servants, Hyogo and Mutsu, and wasn’t rash in his attack. And once he realized the danger and their plan not totally working out, he made them all retreat. The whole time he showed great leadership and a cool head in the face of danger. Daigo’s never let Tahoumaru fight so I thought he would be a naive kid not knowing what kind of danger he put himself in, making me worried that lots of people were going to die. But it was the opposite. He planned ahead and used his smarts and rational thinking. I can’t totally say that he can lead his own army, but this is a great start. Even more so when he came up with the sluice plan because that was just genius. He has the brains to make some well thought out plans and the charisma and kind personality to be able to bring everyone together and trust him. And having Hyogo and Mutsu by his side is another plus, they’re both really cool.
And while he did a great job, Hyakkimaru stole the kill out of nowhere which was hilarious. When you think about it, Hyakkimaru could have killed that crab in a couple minutes, whereas Tahoumaru needed to make this elaborate plan to kill it. The two brothers lock eyes without even knowing their connection, it was a little sad but again I wonder if they’ll actually speak to each other next time. Also, who gets the credit for that kill?
I really like Tahoumaru, this episode did wonders in establishing his character and the problem with me liking him is what’ll happen later. How will he react when he learns the whole truth about Daigo’s deal with the devil, and everything about Hyakkimaru? Tahoumaru has a will of his own but he shows utmost loyalty towards his father and shows pride in being his son, so much that I think it might stress him. This loyalty is both a good and bad thing and I fear how or if his loyalty towards his father will change when he learns everything. Will he realize his father’s “good” intentions of helping his people and land with the deal he made and stick by his side, or despise him for damaging the life of his innocent older brother and go against him? Will he go against Hyakkimaru and stop him from killing demons so the land can prosper, even though the demons affect innocent people as well, or feel empathetic for his brother and help him even though the killing of the demons will affect his people and land? As of right now I can’t really take a guess of which path he’d choose. It’s all so much and this story is really testing the morality of the characters. Is Hyakkimaru wrong in wanting to get back what was stolen from him? Is it fair that the land gets worse with every demon he kills? It’s all such a mess but it really makes you think what would be best. And I just want everyone to be happy, but I think that’s going to be impossible because either way, people are going to be affected one way or another. Also, not many people have been asking this, but how is the poor mother going to react when she learns the truth as well. The poor woman misses her son. T_T
This was a great change of pace from Hyakkimaru and Dororo having the spotlight, though we got a little bit of them. It’s adorable that Hyakkimaru is getting more comfortable with his voice and is having more interest in Dororo’s words, such as questioning the manju. Very cute. Like I said, I really like Tahoumaru right now and I feel for this poor boy and just want the best for him. Would it be too much to ask for the brothers to get along and be happy? Probably.
Hey, can the people…eat the crab? I wonder if it’d be okay to eat though it kind of looked nasty.
This episode uses existing manga characters, but the story, monster and Tahoumaru’s retainers are anime-original.
Tahoumaru didn’t have much characterization in the manga either, so the anime’s filling the blanks.
As things are, I’m not sure if anime Hyakkimaru even knows yet if his body-parts quest is right or wrong; or if he knows how to reflect on his actions. He seems to move based largely on what his spirit eyesight tells him (white = good, orange=ok, red=BAD, KILL IT), but otherwise he’s still socially helpless. If anything it’s Dororo who’ll need to teach him how to reflect and be human.
I suppose it’d be ok to eat monster crab; assuming you have the ingredients, cooking skills, and guarantees the meat isn’t poisonous/cursed or both. I recall reading a random isekai webnovel where the characters ate a well-cooked monster; it was delicious.
Oooh, that’s awesome. I’m loving all this anime original stuff then, they’re doing a really good job especially with Tahoumaru!
True but then again, not even Dororo knows that the body-parts quest can be seen as good or bad. Neither of them know that Hyakkimaru regaining more and more is causing the land to get worse. We don’t really know because we don’t hear any of Hyakkimaru’s inner thoughts, so I’m only basing this off of my own personal assumption, but I do think that Hyakkimaru can at least see some good in what he’s doing. For one thing, killing these demons helps him regain things he’s never had before. He can speak, he can hear, he can feel. Sure some of these new things were a little scary, like his hearing, but he’s adapting and experiencing the world in a different way and he doesn’t seem to hate it.
Second, killing these demons helps people. Maybe he didn’t understand it at first but he’s starting to now, that demons cause problems for regular innocent people, which is why he was so adamant in helping Mio and the kids, Saru and his sister, and almost taking out Ohagi so she wouldn’t “hurt” people anymore, etc. If it’s not about him, he can at least help other people.
Though you’re right that he’s still a little socially inept and Dororo is the one that needs to help him out, and her pleading with him at the end of episode 6 was a start.
Haha, the meat being cursed is what I was thinking of. Well, it seems like a regular monster and not a demon (Hyakkimaru didn’t get a part) so I guess it’d be fine?