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どろろ [Dororo] #2
Dororo, Vol. 2
Dororo is Tezuka's classic thriller manga featuring a youth who has been robbed of 48 body parts by devils, and his epic struggle against a host of demons to get them back.
Daigo Kagemitsu, who works for a samurai general in Japan's Warring States period, promises to offer body parts of his unborn baby to 48 devils in exchange for complete domination of the country. Knowing the child to be deficient, Kagemitsu orders the newborn thrown into the river.
The baby survives. Callling himself Hyakkimaru, ge searches the world for the 48 demons. Each time he eliminates one, he retrieves one of his missing parts. Hyakkimaru meets a boy thief named Dororo, and together they travel the countryside, confronting mosters and ghosts again and again. This the second in a 3 - volume series.
Tezuka's manga and animated films had a tremendous impact on the shaping of the psychology of Japan's postwar youth. His work changed the concept of Japanese comics, transforming it into an art form and incorporating a variety of new styles in creating "story comics."
Daigo Kagemitsu, who works for a samurai general in Japan's Warring States period, promises to offer body parts of his unborn baby to 48 devils in exchange for complete domination of the country. Knowing the child to be deficient, Kagemitsu orders the newborn thrown into the river.
The baby survives. Callling himself Hyakkimaru, ge searches the world for the 48 demons. Each time he eliminates one, he retrieves one of his missing parts. Hyakkimaru meets a boy thief named Dororo, and together they travel the countryside, confronting mosters and ghosts again and again. This the second in a 3 - volume series.
Tezuka's manga and animated films had a tremendous impact on the shaping of the psychology of Japan's postwar youth. His work changed the concept of Japanese comics, transforming it into an art form and incorporating a variety of new styles in creating "story comics."
288 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1971
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221 people want to read
About the author
Osamu Tezuka
2,134 books1,303 followersDr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 29, 2021
"𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓲𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓸𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰."
Hyakkimaru finally meets his mom and dad but under unfavourable conditions. He killed his brother which is why his father now wants him dead. I’m not enjoying it much, but I want to see how Osamu will wrap-up this story in the next volume.
Hyakkimaru finally meets his mom and dad but under unfavourable conditions. He killed his brother which is why his father now wants him dead. I’m not enjoying it much, but I want to see how Osamu will wrap-up this story in the next volume.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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November 6, 2019This is good! There's much more depth and development to these characters, something that was missing in Ayako. It might have to do with there only being two main characters rather than many small characters like in Ayako. I'm rooting for these characters, though. They're likable and relatable and sweet and not sweet and they make mistakes and they're genuine. Ayako characters were all completely unlikable, which doesn't always mean that the gn is just "not good," but Ayako wasn't good (Of course, in my opinion. I've read few reviews praising it and they might be right and it might be a smart and praise-worthy gn but I simply didn't like it). Also, I like this book's concept: a man abandoned as a child pairs up with a boy who has been orphaned and now they're fighting demons together searching for H's bodyparts while learning how to become better people with a higher purpose in life. The latter might sound cliché but I think the execution is done well and so Tezuka can get away with it. ALSO, the cartoon style is growing on me. The dialogue and the medium really complemented each other in this volume, more so than the first volume.
August 22, 2009
Weird, creepy, strange, eerie, and fun.
June 4, 2025
The tragedy continues and Dororo keeps getting tied up/beat up. At every new encounter, him being captured is almost a guarantee. The villagers they run into all have a mob mentality and are easy to manipulate. A demon will make them do things but Dororo tells them its bad and they switch. They change their minds just as fast again and chase Hyakkimaru and Dororo out for being suspicious. I guess I understand since its sometime before 1790 and not many people have an education, but its annoying that they keep attacking their saviors. I don't know a lot about Korea but there's a reference to the dividing border in one arc that's incredibly sad. Hyakkimaru gained more body parts but the story is no happier. We at least see more from both boys families in this one.
April 16, 2019
This follows the reprints of a serialized Sunday manga by legendary Osamu Tezuka. Of course it depends on your own connections and taste for Manga. This is indeed one of the canon. I just want to add that manga is often meant to be read at a rapid rate, with a graphic narrative pace that is breathless when compared to many American comics. Manga was not a cultural import in Japan, but developed on its own. It is a story-telling language that can consequently be different, though in recent decades the art forms have had influences on each other. Reading a master such as Tezuka can help in seeing the different styles.
August 18, 2020
4.5 stars
The art could have been better but apart from that, this manga is a lot of fun.
Dororo, who only comes out as a thief and rascal at first, has grown close to his adopted brother. He tears up at times and cares for others.
Hyakkimaru (not sure about the spelling) meets his parents - that chapter was poignant and beautiful. Everybody was awaiting the reunion but not in the disastrous fashion- I thought we'd see Hyakkimaru return to his parents at the end of the manga, but it was still amazing.
The art could have been better but apart from that, this manga is a lot of fun.
Dororo, who only comes out as a thief and rascal at first, has grown close to his adopted brother. He tears up at times and cares for others.
Hyakkimaru (not sure about the spelling) meets his parents - that chapter was poignant and beautiful. Everybody was awaiting the reunion but not in the disastrous fashion- I thought we'd see Hyakkimaru return to his parents at the end of the manga, but it was still amazing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2021
A little darker and more serious than the last volume, this book truly despises samurai and will show them doing some pretty graphic violence. However, this volume settles into a pretty routine story template by the end and it's easy to see why Tezuka may not have been too excited about drawing a few dozen more similar demon adventures.
February 14, 2019
I wish the translation wasn't so cringey at times.
May 22, 2020
Not great but not horrible manga, the art style was different and alright and decent story 😤😁❤️❤️
August 31, 2021
Ae rất nên đọc lại Tezuka tiên sinh khi đã lớn, cảm nhận về câu chuyện cũng sẽ khác hẳn. God of Manga
January 19, 2026
I liked this volume much more than the first and am now genuinely looking forward to wrapping up the series!
September 12, 2012
The second volume in Tezuka Osamu's Dororo series is just as good as the first. Of course we have Hyakkimaru, the freakish swordsman born missing 48 body parts, and Dororo, the miniscule child thief who he protects. As Hyakkimaru kills demons, his missing body parts are replaced with the real deal.
That's all well and good, but how about the yokai (Japanese traditional monsters) that we get in this volume? That's the most important thing after all, isn't it? First of all we get a horde of demon night foxes, led by a powerful nine-tailed fox (apparently the most evil and powerful type of fox found in yokai legend). We also get a fantastic demon that poses as a Buddhist Fudo Myo'o in order to lure unsuspecting ascetics so he can steal their faces when they train themselves by meditating under a powerful waterfall. Then there's the singular ghost who stands in for a murdered multitude of children and a demon moth woman who has hypnotized a local lord so that her and a host of other moth women can propagate their species.
But what about the family drama? There are two things that appear repeatedly in Tezuka's works, and one of them is the constant appearance of bizarrely dramatic family relations that would give Freud enough material to write case studies for 100 years. In this particular volume (spoiler alert!) Hyakkimaru comes face to face with his brother (who he never knew existed), his father (who sacrificed him to the demon world and wants to seem him dead now), and his mother (who still loves him). And at a critical moment he needs to decide whether or not he needs to kill his brother.
The other element that often shows up in Tezuka's works is a kind of populist notion of revolution. Tezuka himself was obviously more of a humanist than a genuine revolutionary, but his humanism often leads to an identification with oppressed classes and the revolutionary ethics of the 60s are sometimes evident in his works. In this particular case it turns out that Dororo's parents, who were peasant thieves that stole in order not to starve and who acted as a classic redistributive banditry, have marked his back with a map that leads to their hidden treasure cache. Before her death Dororo's mother urged him to return to this treasure cache and use the treasure to lead a peasant revolt.
Let's hope we see that peasant revolt in Volume 3! And some more great yokai too, of course.
That's all well and good, but how about the yokai (Japanese traditional monsters) that we get in this volume? That's the most important thing after all, isn't it? First of all we get a horde of demon night foxes, led by a powerful nine-tailed fox (apparently the most evil and powerful type of fox found in yokai legend). We also get a fantastic demon that poses as a Buddhist Fudo Myo'o in order to lure unsuspecting ascetics so he can steal their faces when they train themselves by meditating under a powerful waterfall. Then there's the singular ghost who stands in for a murdered multitude of children and a demon moth woman who has hypnotized a local lord so that her and a host of other moth women can propagate their species.
But what about the family drama? There are two things that appear repeatedly in Tezuka's works, and one of them is the constant appearance of bizarrely dramatic family relations that would give Freud enough material to write case studies for 100 years. In this particular volume (spoiler alert!) Hyakkimaru comes face to face with his brother (who he never knew existed), his father (who sacrificed him to the demon world and wants to seem him dead now), and his mother (who still loves him). And at a critical moment he needs to decide whether or not he needs to kill his brother.
The other element that often shows up in Tezuka's works is a kind of populist notion of revolution. Tezuka himself was obviously more of a humanist than a genuine revolutionary, but his humanism often leads to an identification with oppressed classes and the revolutionary ethics of the 60s are sometimes evident in his works. In this particular case it turns out that Dororo's parents, who were peasant thieves that stole in order not to starve and who acted as a classic redistributive banditry, have marked his back with a map that leads to their hidden treasure cache. Before her death Dororo's mother urged him to return to this treasure cache and use the treasure to lead a peasant revolt.
Let's hope we see that peasant revolt in Volume 3! And some more great yokai too, of course.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2012
The second Dororo manga was just as great as the first one. It had just as many surprises and the characters remain just as loveable. Especially little Dororo. :) Dororo and Hyakkimaru (the other main character) go through many more adventures and even almost split up. There's a big secret relating to Dororo and that is quite a twist because since the beginning of the book lots of attention has been focused on Hyakkimaru who is the one that is missing body parts and slowly gaining them, which is ironic due to the name of the manga. Nonetheless, Dororo has now gained a stronger role in this volume and along with this twist, Hyakkimaru finally finds out about his birth parents and even meets a new family member never mentioned before. There is just as much action and emotional breakthroughs in this volume as there is in the first one. I can't wait to read the third and final manga in this series. What I have read so far has convinced me to go on the hunt to buy all three volumes in this manga.
September 22, 2013
2nd instalment of the Dororo trilogy: Hakkymaru and Dororo encounter a city divided by a wall where each side have been told to kill the other even though they may have family over there - poignant and still very topical even today. We also have a demon possessing a buddha statue and demanding sacrifice, a moth demon, a potato baby. Hakkymaru meets his father and kills his brother and we get flashbacks into Dororo's tragic past too.
The whole thing is beautiful, a wonderful mix fantasy and folklore and the real horrors of poverty, social unrest and personal tragedy. Despite its dark themes the cute artwork and optimistic characters give this an uplifting feel.
One of my absolute favourites. The scope of imagination in this is staggering. Recommended.
The whole thing is beautiful, a wonderful mix fantasy and folklore and the real horrors of poverty, social unrest and personal tragedy. Despite its dark themes the cute artwork and optimistic characters give this an uplifting feel.
One of my absolute favourites. The scope of imagination in this is staggering. Recommended.
January 3, 2009
I really like the way Tezuka draws horses. This continues to be pretty great, although with this volume the story begins to veer away from the more episodic wandering-characters-fight-demons-to-recover-hero's-stolen-body-part premise and toward stories mroe specific to the characters and their backgrounds.
It's kinda like Inu-Yasha, only with a much more insane premise, and by Tezuka, if that makes sense.
I love Vertical's cover designs for their Tezuka books. I could look a the cover of this thing all day.
It's kinda like Inu-Yasha, only with a much more insane premise, and by Tezuka, if that makes sense.
I love Vertical's cover designs for their Tezuka books. I could look a the cover of this thing all day.
November 8, 2010
Fungus monsters!
Potato babies!
Sexy Moth Demon Women!
Um, yeah. So when this gets into a big fight scene with swords and rushing horses I am all, why am I reading this? And then it gets back to giant freakish potato babies and I remember. Tezuka's organic imagination, which I enjoy much better than his technical roboty side, is at work here, and even if the episodes aren't fantastic, the overall story is really quite good -- no one is born whole, and one must conquer demons, here literally, to fully become oneself.
Potato babies!
Sexy Moth Demon Women!
Um, yeah. So when this gets into a big fight scene with swords and rushing horses I am all, why am I reading this? And then it gets back to giant freakish potato babies and I remember. Tezuka's organic imagination, which I enjoy much better than his technical roboty side, is at work here, and even if the episodes aren't fantastic, the overall story is really quite good -- no one is born whole, and one must conquer demons, here literally, to fully become oneself.
November 1, 2008
The continuing adventures of Hyakkimaru and Dororo -- with some new revelations about Dororo's past that give the story a new sense of destiny. And Hyakkimaru comes face-to-face with his own past as well.
The chapters in this second volume are longer -- if I had to guess, I'd say they'd been broken down by story arc rather than by their original serialization segments. As always, the visual storytelling is exquisite.
The chapters in this second volume are longer -- if I had to guess, I'd say they'd been broken down by story arc rather than by their original serialization segments. As always, the visual storytelling is exquisite.
May 24, 2009
Still fun, still full of stock Tezuka characters. The story is full of death and demons and crazy people. The drawings are amazing, and his character's hairdos are great. Reading backwards is good for your brain the book says, so hopefully I'm getting smarter. I think i've just about got the hang of it, but every once in awhile I feel like I've read the frames in the wrong order and that there is some logic I am not grasping.
October 13, 2009
While this comic had a lot of cool concepts out of Japanese folklore and a pretty compelling story I found it overall a pretty baffling book.I've found myself a bit confused by Tezuka's work, which I feel bad about because he's understood by most everyone to a master of manga.Still, there is enough cool stuff to keep me engaged.
August 23, 2013
Really enjoyed this second book in this series, probably more so than the first. Dororo is starting to grow up a little. Hiyakkimaru is progressing in his hunt of the demons. And on the note of the demons, I love how the japanese have such an interesting mythology, very unique demon characters in comparison to most western demons. Definitely look forward to book 3.
February 2, 2011
An interesting old-school style manga. Saw it at the library and decided to give it a go, despite it being volume 2. Didn't have any trouble picking up the story. The moth demons were really cool. Unusual and creative monsters. I'll definitely be looking for volumes 1 and 3.
October 2, 2012
I thought this volume was a little stronger than the first, as the past begins to catch up to both of our main characters. As always, its funny and entertaining and I recommend it is just for the context of reading Tezuka. :)
May 16, 2013
This has been, overall, my least favorite Tezuka Manga. The story had a lot of potential, but it just didn't do it for me. The eponymous title character was crazy annoying and the story was kind of goofy. The art, on the other hand, was amazing.
July 7, 2008
Curses! I am so disappointed that Dororo is not a secretly non-bathing crossdressing girl.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2011
:) Good book
December 23, 2011
Demons come in all kinds of forms. Don't mate with them or believe they're really your mother.
August 16, 2012
More great fun and awesome art!
December 11, 2016
I really like this book.
July 23, 2008
Can't wait for Volume 3 to come out next month!
July 23, 2010
Same as the first. Awesome plot and kick a33 fighting moves
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews