Don’t worry, you won’t have to give an arm and a leg to catch this one!
Earlier today, an official website and Twitter account opened their doors to announce that Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo manga will receive an anime TV series. The first staff, as well as a visual and trailer were unveiled for the project. We break the details down below.
Trailer
The 42-second trailer shows off Hyakkimaru, locked in battle as fiends rise up around him, Panicked, the samurai grabs his arm with his teeth, ripping it away to reveal a razor-sharp blade. He rushes forward and leaps to strike, before the scene cuts to the show’s logo.
Key Visual
The image is an ink-painting, which features a crow holding an eye (presumably Hyakkimaru’s).
Staff
The series is being produced by MAPPA and Tezuka Production, with Twin Engine serving as a general producer.
Amazon holds the digital rights to the project, and will stream the show exclusively on their platform in Japan and abroad.
Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo manga began publication in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine in August 1967. The series ran through July 1968, and switched to Akita Shoten’s Bōken’ō magazine before concluding its run. Four compiled volumes were release for the title.
A 26-episode anime based on Dororo aired in the Spring 1969 broadcast season. The title was directed by Gisaburō Sugii (Lupin III: Secret Files, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) at Mushi Productions. Discotek currently holds the rights to the title, and released it on Blu-Ray in North America. A live-action film by director Akihiko Shiota hit Japanese theaters in 2007.
Discotek describes the anime as:
Hyakkimaru is a tortured young man who lost 48 parts of his body when his own father offered him up to demons in exchange for power. Traveling the war-torn countryside of Sengoku era Japan, he quests to slay the demons and regain his humanity piece by piece.
On his journey he is accompanied by Dororo, an enigmatic young orphan and sneak-thief who has made it a personal goal to swipe Hyakkimaru’s swords.
Together the two will face horrific monsters and the even more horrific ravages of war!
Dororo was also adapted into a PlayStation 2 game by Sega, who released it in North America and Europe under the title Blood Will Tell.
Sources: Otakomu, Comic Natalie
