Dororo (1969 TV Series)

Aired: 1969

A TV anime produced by Mushi Production. Based on Osamu Tezuka's manga serialized in Akita Shoten's Boken-O (August 1967 to July 1968 issues) and Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday (issues 14 to 25 of 1969). Broadcast in 26 episodes on Fuji TV from April 6 to September 28, 1969. From the 14th episode on July 6 the title was changed mid-run to Dororo to Hyakkimaru, but both halves are treated as a single program here. Set in the Sengoku period, the series follows the young warrior Hyakkimaru (voiced by Nachi Nozawa), who before birth had 48 parts of his body offered up to demons by his father Daigo Kagemitsu (voiced by Goro Naya), as he fights yokai with the blade hidden in his prosthetic arm to reclaim each lost part. His bond with the petty thief girl Dororo (voiced by Hiroko Suzuki then Minori Matsushima), who joins him on the road, forms the emotional core. Originally planned in color, the production was switched to monochrome midway due to sponsor complaints about the depiction of blood. (C)Tezuka Productions