Dororo Episode 12: The Story of Banmon, Part 2

So ends the Banmon arc and so ends the first cour of Dororo. I was absolutely anticipating this episode and was afraid of what would happen, and while it was all kinds of sad, it still ended on a bittersweet note. Kind of. Actually I have no idea what that ending implied and it makes me really worried.

The truth is out and all parties are aware of who and what Hyakkimaru is. Tahoumaru came to the realization and questioned his own morals, Hyakkimaru shows pain and confusion, and Dororo calls out the cruelty of the situation. Even the old man is on the sidelines and even knows the truth, but he seems to know something else that not even Daigo probably knows. I say the episode ended on a bittersweet note simply because Sukeroku was reunited with his mom, who I guessed the whole time was dead so color me surprised when she actually appeared safe and sound. But that ending of Sukeroku reuniting with his mom was a cruel juxtaposition of Hyakkimaru being separated from his mother, the one person in the family that showed shame and guilt so strong that she stabbed herself to share her son’s pain. His mother who he seemed happy upon learning about her.

The moral questions are being asked again, and I think even Hyakki and Dororo are racking their brains about it. At the end Dororo seems to ponder it but shakes her head. We haven’t really seen Hyakkimaru’s take on it all but he did seem to show confusion and hurt upon learning that he’s a “half-born demon child”. But it’s interesting to look at Tahoumaru in all this. He quickly confronted his mother about Hyakkimaru and showed anger towards her and his father. Daigo quickly defends himself by saying he did it for his people’s prosperity but Tahoumaru retorts he only did it to fulfill his own ambitions. Tahoumaru’s conflict continues when he learns what Hyakkimaru regaining his parts would do to the land. Get parts back, land is destroyed. Or Tahoumaru breaks the demon pact and Hyakkimaru gets his body back, but again the land is destroyed. Or stop Hyakkimaru and the land continues as is. It’s a terrible dilemma because Tahoumaru realizes that his older brother as an innocent baby was sacrificed. It’s extremely cruel and inhumane, but he also cannot deny how prosperous the land is because of it. Mutsu also assures him because of Daigo she lived a good life. I felt like Tahoumaru’s decision in the end happened really quickly but I think it was probably the episode’s fast pace where it felt a little off to me. In the end Tahoumaru turned against his brother and fought him, and it’s unfortunate. Though I’m not sure if Tahoumaru even truly believes that Hyakkimaru is this all-evil being. Maybe it’s just me being hopeful and wishing Tahoumaru later on will ponder over his feelings more and change his mind, but seeing how much his mother has suffered will make him have a change of heart. Though he’ll probably be bitter that Hyakki took his eye out.

Tahoumaru is a good kid with good morals and we know that he cares deeply about his people, which makes me think that he might stand by his decision. He wants to help his people so going against Hyakki will help them. But like I said, I’m hoping that maybe he can have a change of heart.

This moral dilemma isn’t just hurting the characters, but it’s hurting lots of people on the internet! I see lots of different opinions about Daigo online and I can understand why people feel the way they do. But I still can’t see this man in a different light. He still claims sacrificing Hyakki was for the land’s prosperity, but his actions are still so evil. This might be naive and dumb, but does he really have to resort to killing Hyakkimaru? I say he’s evil because he still shows zero remorse over what he did and he wants nothing more than to kill Hyakkimaru, and he brands his son to be a demon. He doesn’t even look at him like a human, let alone his son.

If a lord wants to sacrifice something to save his land, he would sacrifice himself. If he really cared, he would have shown fright and regret the second he saw his newborn with nothing. He would have begged and pleaded with the demons to change their minds, but not once, NOT ONCE, has he ever shown regret. And personally I find it unbelievably evil, especially when the first thought he has when finding out that Hyakki is alive is to kill him. Not apologize to him, not try to make amends to him, not to bring him home and treat him like his son. No, kill him. Because right now, with his hearing, his voice, his sense of touch, etc., Hyakkimaru can still live a normal life (I’ll get to that in a bit). Daigo and the others can take him in and treat him with all their love, and in that way maybe he wouldn’t even go out to kill demons because he’d have the support of his family. But then there would be the possibility of Hyakkimaru still wanting to go out and reclaiming what is his and having resentment towards his father, but at least the attempt would be there. Of course this also kinds of goes out to Tahoumaru who never even figured to make amends with his brother and treat him like his brother. At least he called him ani-ue. So no matter what, I just can’t accept Daigo’s side.

I’m just in pain for Oku. The poor woman has been praying for 16 years and she finally gets to see her son in front of her. And Hyakkimaru was happy that he found his mommy. But she stabs herself to share in his pain and…dammit! It didn’t have to be like this! T_T I fully expected her to run to him and hug him but instead she stabs herself. I think her decision was stupid though, as her killing herself would only make Hyakkimaru suffer more because he lost his mommy after he was so happy to meet her. Though I’m still not too sure if she’s really dead or not. It seemed so but the Goddess of Mercy started glowing and disappeared. I’m not sure if the Goddess used the last of her powers to protect Oku, or I think she protected Hyakkimaru?

From what I think I understand from the end is that she used the last of her powers to go into the Banmon and topple it to send Daigo and his forces away to save Hyakkimaru. But in turn, using the last bit of her energy broke a potential protection she had on not just Hyakkimaru but in all the land? There’s this large demon statue where a big bad demon was barely being detained, but at the end the statue’s eyes were glowing in the Hall of Hell and I think with her protection being gone, the big bad demon will be let out and wreak havoc. Oku stabbing herself seemed to be the trigger, which is why I’m not sure if the Goddess protected Oku but that also in turn protected Hyakkimaru. It’s a little confusing.

And of course in all this I wanted to give Hyakkimaru the biggest hug since his mother didn’t give him one. We haven’t seen his full reaction to everything yet but there’s definitely a lot on his mind. He’s finally found his family but he was mostly resented by them. In the end, he’s still alone in a sense. But Dororo is still with him and it’s sweet she made that clear to him. Daigo is a piece of shit father, but hopefully Hyakki will realize that a father doesn’t necessarily have to be his biological one. I don’t know if we’ll ever reunite with Jukai again (no spoilers please), but if we do I hope Hyakki turns to him and call him Dad. It’ll make Jukai cry and it’ll make me cry too. Speaking of, Hyakkimaru can really talk now! He seems to understand speech now and he’s able to speak a lot more. And might I add, his voice is quite pleasant. u_u But now knowing this truth, I wonder what he’ll do now? He could easily just stop going after his body parts and be content with what he has now, but who knows. He has the right to retrieve his body back but will he accept the consequences? This moral dilemma really sucks. I just want this poor boy to be happy because he deserves it. Also, the source of his rage this episode? It was the stupid soldier that killed Mio still being alive. Hyakkimaru is still insanely hurting over Mio and all those Mio and ship feels came back. Fuck. T_T Thankfully Dororo was there to stop him again.

So much emotions and questions and fears, and we still have another half to go. Unfortunately we’ll have to wait two weeks for the new episode, complete with a new OP and ED. The PV for the second cour shows really exciting things and I can’t wait to dive right back in in two weeks, though the wait is gonna kill me. I’m completely obsessed with this show and if it still continues to be this strong in the second half, it can easily become one of my favorite anime of all time.

See you all in two weeks~ <3