r/graphicnovels • u/Locohenry • 1d ago
Manga My review of Dororo
I've always had trouble getting into manga, but a friend gave me this collected edition of Dororo and I'd recently watched Matttt's video about Carl Barks, in which he speaks about his influence on Tezuka, so I figured that was a good way in for me since I've been reading a lot of Barks lately. The premise is as follows: during Japan's Sengoku era, an ambitious samurai sacrifices his unborn son to 48 yokai in order to obtain political power, and so when the child is born, he is missing 48 body parts. The child is abandoned and is found by a charitable doctor, who equips him with prostheses as the child, Hyakkimaru, embarks on a quest to slay the 48 yokai and recover his body parts. During his quest he meets Dororo, a thief, who is also the titular character.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this series is the masterful use of black and white. Tezuka uses different kinds of crosshatching, puntillism and pattern designs to create contrasting textures that allow the reader's eyes to understand everything at a glance. This readability is also present in the characters and their actions, with clear movements and expressive faces. This made the reading experience super comfortable even for me, someone who's not used to reading comics from right to left.
However, as smooth and enjoyable as the reading experience was, the story itself left a lot to be desired. I mean that in a literal sense, as a reader you feel like the story never ended up fulfilling its narrative promise. The first few chapters present a premise of monster hunting, with each yokai being defeated within 1 to 3 chapters. These initial chapters in the first half of the series are great, they're engaging and a super enjoyable read. However, it's clear that the author lost motivation as the story went along, since the story suddenly shifts to a treasure hunt that also lacks a satisfying conclusion. By this point there are a handful of chapters left and it's clear that Tezuka was just doing by-the-numbers yokai tales that repeated a lot of the same beats as the initial portion of the series.
This all comes to a head in the ending, which is by far the worst part of the book. Tezuka explains in the epilogue that the magazine editorial had asked him to finish the story, and it shows, it's a just a race to the finish that doesn't offer any closure or narrative insight into the whole thing.
Weirdly enough, the art gets better as the story gets worse, and I think this is the first time I've seen this happen. Usually both story and art suffer when a creator loses motivation. Another interesting aspect of Dororo is its depiction of Sengoku-era Japan, which paints the whole samurai social class as the villains. This was the first time I'd seen this subject tackled like this and it made a lot of sense, and if anything, managed to condemn war throughout the entire series, this being the only consistent element that is there in the entire collection.
In the end, I enjoyed the art and graphic storytelling on display, but was disappointed with the overall direction of the entire collection. It's disappointing when a book shows promise at the start and then squanders it.
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u/Marksman1977 1d ago
That’s a shame. I was interested in this book.
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u/AceofSpuds69 23h ago
for what it’s worth, i’ve a good amount of tezuka and love Dororo. It’s a differently structured story than a lot of Western tales, which tends to turn people off.
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u/arpad-okay 1d ago
The only Tezuka I've been able to really get into is his shojo stuff from the 50s. Princess Knight and its sequel The Twin Knights and the collection The Storm Fairy are all that "what if Disney did Japanese period piece comics" aesthetic, but have the same kind of swashbuckling action that makes the duck and mouse comics fun to read. Dororo is probably the best looking manga by Tezuka but the writing left me cold.
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u/MrDannn 1d ago
wasn't there a remake/reboot of the manga?
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u/Locohenry 1d ago
I don't think the manga has a reboot, but according to wikipedia there was a new anime released in 2019
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u/drown_like_its_1999 I'm Batman 1d ago
It's more of an adaptation, takes the story skeleton of Dororo and puts it in a dystopic future Japan. The title is called "Search and Destroy" by Atsushi Kaneko
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u/vokkan 19h ago
A lot of serialized works gets canceled and has a rushed ending (if any). Those are punches you learn to roll with.
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u/Locohenry 16h ago
Oh trust me, I'm well used to it, but as Osamu Tezuka explains it in the epilogue of this book, he had lost interest in the genre and I think it shows in the latter half of the series, and editorial even asked him to finish the story because of the declining quality, which you can tell when you read it
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u/some_author_called_E 18h ago
The series didn't sell well while it was getting published so he didn't get the chance to finish the story how he wanted, it would most likely go arounf to focus more on dororo himself and his story about becoming a leader and his personal identity. The only complaint i really had with the story was the ending, which is definitely a bad ending, other than that it might be my favorite work of tezuka, and i am really sad he didn't get to finish it like he wanted to
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u/SewerSocials 1d ago
If you want to get into Manga then read Koike or Tatsumi or Tsuge.
Dororo is shonen manga but right at the end of the gekiga period. So it’s for little kids but it’s dark. This book is not aimed at your demographic, which I am assuming is seinen, because that’s mostly what’s posted in here.
Your review struck a nerve. People in this subreddit constantly post kiddie superhero spandex bullshit. ‘Graphic Novel’ genera was created to separate itself from this cartoon buffoonery.
Then I see someone shitting on a 60 year old manga, written for children, from the most influential graphic novel author the world has ever seen.
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u/Locohenry 1d ago edited 1d ago
The fact that it's 60 year old and written for children doesn't negate the fact that the ending was extremely rushed or that the latter half loses momentum (as Tezuka himself stated).
I understand that Tezuka is extremely influential and I can appreciate the level of craft here, but the general narrative of the series did not work for me, and even though I'm not the target demographic, I regularly read comics aimed at younger audiences and have enjoyed them just fine, and my review 60 years after its publication that barely anyone will read does not impair anyone's ability to enjoy or like Dororo.
I don't see how the "superhero kiddie bullshit" bit of your comment applies to my review.
Edit: please explain how my review is like "Moby Dick is boring because fish is boring"? I mentioned both the things I liked and disliked, giving my reasoning for each.
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u/Jonesjonesboy 1d ago
the review didn't read to me like "shitting on" the book -- seemed quite balanced, in fact, acknowledging both its strengths and weaknesses
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u/vesperythings 7h ago
Tezuka is one of the most overrated comic creators in history.
dude's drawings are ugly, and his stories incredibly basic
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