Our challenge, which is perfect for Halloween, is Dororo. It is based on the manga series written and illustrated by the mangaka Osamu Tezuka. The manga is a classic and was first serialized in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday between 1967 and 1968, before being cancelled, then the series was concluded in Akita Shoten’s Boken’o magazine in 1969. A 26-episode anime series adaptation by Mushi Productions aired in 1969. There was also a live-action Dororo movie in 2007. Our challenge is actually the 24-episode second anime series adaptation by MAPPA and Tezuka Productions that aired from January to June 2019. Since part of our anime theme, this month is anime from 2019.

In Dororo a Samurai’s newborn baby boy miraculously survives even after a samurai bartered away the baby’s organs to 48 demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Abandoned, a medicine equips the baby with primitive prosthetics with which the wronged son will use to hunt down those demons to reclaim his body, piece by piece, until one day he will confront his father.