[[- Translated by: 8thSin -]]
[Kentei year 3048]
[In the easternmost land on the continent,]
[a war had ensued for decades.]
Hey!
Lord Daigo.
Lord Daigo!
You must tend to your wounds first.
No need.
I hear the samurai who carved these demon statues...
Died in a frenzied death soon after.
How many are there?
There are forty-eight.
This is a fitting place for me to face my darkest destiny.
Chief priest.
I will be borrowing this place for one night.
I will be praying for the holy light to protect you, lord Kagemitsu.
[Hell Shrine]
My...
Father died in the war.
My older and younger brother too... They lost their lives in the war against Kanayama.
At this rate, we will be obliterated by Kanayama,
and our Daigo family's bloodline will...
Come to an end!
For that foolish warlord!
I swear...
to slay Kanayama with my own hands!
Those who reside in the darkness!
What is it you want?
Do you want to come to life?
Or a living sacrifice?
What do you want?
I will give you whatever you want.
In exchange,
Give me, Daigo Kagemitsu,
the power to defeat my sworn enemy!
No...
Power to rule the world.
Give me the world!!!
Body of...
Your...
Child.
My...
Child?
You demon!
It is true my wife will give birth to a baby soon.
Are you telling me to hand him over to you?
Then...
The world...
Will be given to me?
Your...
Child.
Then I shall give him to you.
My son's...
48 parts of the body.
Share them among yourselves!
Show me a sign of your promise!
Lord Daigo!
Have you joined forces with demons?
You will regret it,
lord Kagemitsu.
I will never regret it!
[DORORO]
[20 Years Later]
Come on, pick me!
Don't you want to have a good time?
Hey there, do you want me to read your palm?
I get it right very often.
No, thanks.
I'm really good. - No, thanks!
Want me to read your palm?
Get out of my way.
Is something causing you distress? - Shut up!
Want me to read your palm? Palm reading.
My bad, my bad.
Sir... Palm reading?
How about it? I'll find out the source of your distress.
If what I find out is true...
Excuse me, let's see...
What the hell is this?
Hey, you!
It's not safe here, run!
It's gone!
Mine's gone too!
Have you been dead for a long time already?
Hey, where do you think you are going?
[Hyakki-maru] [Hyakki-maru: Literally "Hundred Demon Sword"]
Run, run! Hurry!
Did you see him? - No.
Find him!
I knew you would be here!
Give it back, you thief!
It's not time to be arguing about that, you idiot!
You are... Red Rust Mountain's...
Wha... What the hell is that?!
How am I supposed to know!
Wait, please wait!
Stop messing around, I'll kill you!
What... What exactly are you?!
What do I... Look like?
To you...
What...
Do I... Look like?
Hey, you said something about Red Rust Mountain earlier?
A man-eating monster inhabited a mine called the Red Rust Mountain.
A person went up the mountain and came back alive, but...
Rumor has it that person himself is like a monster.
And?
I told you, it's just a rumor I heard!
If you don't know, then you are of no more use to me!
Monster? Monster? You are saying it was a monster?
So, it's you, Hyakki-maru?
Your presence has not changed at all.
How have you been?
I will have to borrow this a little while longer.
Ha! It's nothing you need to borrow, it is yours.
Use it whatever way you wish.
If that's your reason for living.
You know nothing about me!
Hey, old man! You look bored. - Huh?
Are you going to introduce me someone nice to drink with me?
Shut up, if I got you a girl, you would drink the whole thing!
Say, what was that guy?
Is he one your buddies?
No, I've just come across him twice before.
What the heck is he anyway?
Is he a human? A monster?
What did he look like to you?
Well...
Man, that bastard...
Long time ago, in a place...
There used to be a spell caster,
who tried to perfect his magic in isolation.
According to that man...
It happened one morning, when he went out to pick medicinal herbs just like any ordinary day.
In the creek that streamed through the highlands,
he noticed a wooden tub just about two arm's length floating down.
And when he picked the wooden tub out of the water...
He was crying... At least it seemed like he was.
As if he was saying...
"I want a father".
It seems,
he is a human child.
If he really is a human,
he must have the most pitiful body that a human can possible have.
But still,
it seems like he really is a human.
And so, the man decided to give the baby a body.
A body?
Yes.
The spell caster...
For those who lost their arms and legs in the war,
he reattached new living arms and legs for them.
He was trying to perfect such spells.
First,
the man journeyed to a villege demolished by war,
and gathered the corpses of children.
The man boiled the corpses, then prepared his secret medicinal herbs, and mixed them together.
And so, he created water that is the source of life from children's corpses.
He then ran electricity through it...
He made a heart first.
And part by part,
the man stitched up all the parts he created onto the baby.
While the spell was being casted, the baby desperately endured it, the man told me.
It was strange,
how he felt the baby's determination.
But still, why did he feel the baby's thought?
Do you like this?
I see.
Here you go.
But...
Excuse me.
Give me the body... Give me the body... Give me the body... Give me your body.
Who is it?
Uh...
Traveler,
passing by.
The baby's body is still incomplete,
yet day after day, more and more of those things gather around.
But there is something I can't figure out.
That is?
Why do they want that baby's body, not mine?
Why?!
If you track down its origin,
you will find this sword was forged to slay a murderer in a villege.
A swordsmith's wife and child was
murdered by this murderer.
To avenge their death,
to avenge their death...
For that single purpose,
all his vengeance were sealed into this sword as it was forged.
I was seeking for the resting place of this sword,
where it was destined to end up.
Fate has brought the sword here.
Are you saying...
He will eventually require the use of this sword?
I will attach your left arm
when you grow up more.
My son...
Your body is made of your own body... And dead children's corpse.
Grow up strong.
For the kids who died in the war too.
War?
You will find out one day. That, and...
Move your mouth when you speak.
Ah.
Ah!
Yi.
Yi!
Wu.
1, 2, 3!
Okay, stab!
Step back, and slash!
And slash, and slash,
and the finishing blow!
His mysterious mind powers made up for those eyes that can't see, and ears that can't hear.
Stand up.
Stand up!
Time flew by,
Daddy?
Daddy!
Daddy, I'll get medicine...
When I die...
Burn this place down!
The medicinal art I performed on you...
Must perish from this world.
Why?
With the technique, you can live longer too, daddy.
Then...! - No!
If...
This technique...
Falls into the hands of a man named Daigo Kagemitsu...
Not just that man.
Those who willingly go to war.
Only they will attain the immortal body,
and those I tried to save... They would only become casualty of war.
If that were to happen,
this world...
Would fall into carnage of hell for eternity.
You should just...
Walk your path with Hyakki-maru.
Daddy...
I am not your father.
What are you talking about?
Daddy, if you are not my daddy...
Then who's my daddy?
You're my daddy!
You are my daddy...
Daddy...
Kid... Did you know?
It is Forty-Eight Demons who had deprived you of your own body.
The demons are using your body to engulf people in fear, and indulge in trivial gratification from their sufferings.
Who is it?!
Where are you?
Kid.
You shall choose your own path.
However,
If you want your real body back,
slay all Forty-Eight Demons with the blade in your left arm!
Every time you slay one, the body part it stole from you shall be returned to your body.
If you seek for them,
you will naturally come across these demons.
Your deprived mind,
and the stolen body parts will call for each other.
Then tell me,
Why...
Did the demons take my body?
You will find the answer to that question in time as well,
if you are truly eager to find out.
Wait!
Tell me more!
By the time I came across him for the second time,
he had already slain the 3rd demon.
What must he have gone through...
It was as if he had lost his heart.
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would've never believed such absurd story.
Wait a minute!
Then...
When he got back his leg after slaying the demon...
Does it mean that was the demon that snatched his body below his knee?
Hypothetically, if he slays the demon that has his left arm...
Then his left arm would grow back?
Right.
He is trying to take back his entire body in that manner.
I don't really get it, but...
This is starting to get really interesting!
Think about it...!
Why you...
You are so persistent! Fine! I'll give it back!
Huh?
What? Is it raining?
You heard the story, now pay up.
What make you think I have money?
Did you not just put something into your breast pocket?
Then tell me one more thing.
I'll pay you depending on your answer.
That sword he used to slay the demon,
what would happen if you cut people with it?
What?
I'm not paying if you don't know!
Or is asking him the only way to find out?
Yo!
Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo!
Come on, tell me, what's you name?
What is it? Hey, what is it?
You think I'm stupid, don't you?
A woman?
Huh?
I'm a man!
Look!
Loads of chest hair!
What's your problem? At least tell me your name!
If you don't tell me, I'll just call you something really weird and scream it around you everywhere!
If you ask for someone's name, introduce yourself first.
A thief like me don't have a real name.
If I had something like that, I'd be a woman already!
A thief who has something so stupid...
Are second, third-rate amateurs!
Then you are same as me.
Huh?
I don't have a real name.
They call me Hyakki-maru, Dororo.
"Dororo"?
That name sounds perfect for a thief's nickname...
All right! It's mine!
Then, I'm Dororo.
You are... Hyakki-maru.
Let's go with that. All right, boss?
Tsk, how unsociable!
Hey, at least tell me this:
That weird sword...
Does it have the power to blow up humans just like it did to that demon?
Should we find out?
Do not follow me!
Thieves don't stop trying just because they are told to!
I'll take that sword no matter what!
Hey, hey, hey!
Power is everything!
Blades and money both represent power!
If that thing has the power to blow people up,
then maybe we can use it to conquer the world!
For the greatest thief in the world, the world itself should be his target!
Come on, boss! Slay another demon for me!
And when your left arm grows back, that sword would drop too, right?
That's when I'll snatch it like a hawk on a prey!
That way?
Man, what's with you?
Acting like you are bored whole day.
You sure are a gloomy bastard!
Sorry, but
I've already heard everything about you.
From that old bard.
"What do I look like to you." Eh?
If you ask me, you are just some random punk!
And just because you happen to have a ridiculously powerful sword attached to your arm, you act like...
What?! You can't even take an insult?
What the hell?!
Hey, slay it! Just slash it up!
Mama! - Huh?
Mama!
Hey!
Wait a sec!
What are you doing?!
Hey, are you stupid? Stop acting like an idiot!
What's with this guy?
Is it really a kid?
10 to 20 of them,
it's made up of children's souls.
In this temple...
They burned to death?
Yo! I'm Dororo.
Dororo.
What's so funny?
It means "monster kid".
Huh?
"Dororo".
It's what people in a country far south call of a human formed monster.
Tatsuzou.
I've brought you rice balls.
Here, it's delicious.
Eat up.
[Preying]
Now I've figured it out.
This temple was the place where you abandon the baby.
Abandon the baby?
You are scums!
People like you must be what we call "waste of a life".
Where did you come from?!
You...
Have you bastards lived in a villege nearby?
This area used to be Kanayama's territory.
Our lives were miserable!
And after that...
That batard Daigo...
Seized that castle!
That's when our lives became a real living hell!
Even after that devil Kanayama was defeated,
the one that came after,
was even more horrible devil!
We had no choice...
We had no choice!
There was no other way!
Who...
Who would willingly abandon his own child?!
So that's how it is...
Stop making excuses, you fools!
I was born in middle of the battle field!
My breast burned down too!
But still, my father and mother fought!
Until they can no longer move and fell.
They never gave up!
How gruelling it must be to be abandoned by your own parents and die...
You scums know how that would feel, don't you?
I've seen a starving kid in the corner...
Carrying a rice ball given by his parents.
If he ate it, he won't be able to remember his parent's face.
That fool!
If he didn't eat, he would die,
but he won't let go of his clenched fists!
Scums like you abandoning their child should...
Stop.
Enough.
Don't you hate the parents who abandoned you...
I have a parent who raised me.
I ask for nothing more.
Either way, your child burned down together with the temple, didn't they?
It's too late to be offering crap like this!
Don't follow me!
I'm really pissed off right now!
I'm not really following you.
I just happen to be walking on this path.
Then you walk in the front!
Is he one of those scums?
You are travelers?
If you would like, why don't you rest in my mansion?
I would be glad if you can tell me some stories of your journey.
When you are stuck in one place,
there is nothing more comforting than hearing stories of the outside world.
Your companion is also welcome.
Sire, that is truly a generous offer. Yes, it sure is!
And? What do you think of that old man?
He is just a human.
Really? Interesting.
Voluntarily inviting the greatest thief in the world to his house.
What a stupid fool!
Welcome to our house.
Show us the sword on your waist.
Oh!
[Takemitsu: Very low-grade Japanese sword.]
A Takemitsu.
My wife should be the one accompanying you,
but unfortunately, she is not feeling well.
It's no problem.
I want to know more about the burned down temple at the outskirts of this villege.
Ah...
In that temple,
they used to accept and raise children
who were burned in the war and those abandoned after birth, but...
Just few days ago,
a frightful lightning hit the temple.
The temple burned down with all the children inside.
Things went from bad to worse.
This is what they mean when they say "there is no God or Buddha".
Hey!
Do you think that old man was telling the truth?
It seems he is telling the truth about temple burning down to lightning but...
I see.
But that old man...
Isn't there something fishy about him? Don't you think?
What are you doing?
You are already going to sleep?
That kid...
I wish we can at least let him sleep in a comfortable bed like this.
Abandoned then burned...
and got lost on top of that... [Souls are supposed to leave the world of living after death, unless they are lost.]
Your parents must have been really good parents.
Well... Yeah.
You...
Want your real body back that badly?
The body made up of the blood of your father and mother?
You know, once you get your body back, maybe you can return to your real...
The parent who raised me is the only parent I have!
You told me that earlier...
Then, why do you...
I'll give it to you if you want it.
After I slay all the demons.
You want to avenge your parents, don't you?
With this tool forged for revenge.
Ha!
If you already figured that out, then hurry and go slay the demons!
Are you not going to work?
Of course I'm going to do that after I get plenty of sleep!
Dumbass!
The male is better.
He's pretty manly.
But his flesh might be too tough.
What? But doesn't the female stink and look filthy?
It will be fine if we wash her.
Should we pour some hot water on her?
I'm sure her flesh won't taste bad.
What?
What's going on?!
What the hell did you do that for? I got it in my mouth!
You...
Hey!
What's that? A hidden exit?
You just go on treasure hunting or something.
Wait! You idiot!
Bones...
These are human's... Children's bones!
Hey, there are some shocking things here too.
What the hell are these!
Monster's... Egg?
Wind is leaking out!
This way.
What's going on here?!
What does this mean?
This temple...
Was their feeding ground.
Feeding ground?
His wife is the demon.
It is fortunate this demon gets along with humans.
However, they need feed their children.
My guess is that wife took on the form of a priest, and...
Just wait for parents who abandon their child and food will come by itself.
Then... The abandoned kids are...
They were all taken inside this hole...
Hey, hey! Gather around you dimwits!
What's going on? What's happening?
Master Sabame.
He is no ordinary human.
Slay them immediately!
I just...
Wanted to feed my daughters.
I thought once that temple burned down...
Why are you hesitating now? Take this!
You invited us to hear about our journeys.
But it was actually for the demon.
Master Sabame.
You and I have exchanged vows of eternity.
Now, now,
slay this man!
Wake up already!
If you don't end your relationship with the demon soon,
it will take everything from you, even your soul!
That's their true form!
You were all being deceived!
All those excuses for giving up your child...
In the end, you were just feeding your children to them!
You get it now?
If you let this continue,
they'll eat all of you, and take over your entire villege!
If you don't want that to happen, take anything that can be used as a weapon and follow me!
When the temple burned down,
you were actually relieved, weren't you?
You won't have to kill any more children....
The human heart inside you was crying out in relief, wasn't it?!
I knew from beginning you never loved me.
But still...
I loved...
Boss! Where are you?
I came to help!
Hey boss! Boss! Where are you?
If only you never showed up...
Boss!
Again?!
Take that!
Die!
Burn!
What... What's that?
You guys...
Hey! What's wrong?
Did it get you?
Don't tell me... You are laughing too hard?
Thi... This guy is a monster too?!
Get out! Get out of this villege!
Get out! Get out!!
What did you say?!
This guy just slayed the demon that was eating your children!
You should be showing your gratitude, you have no right to tell him to leave!
Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!
Monsters!
As I thought...
"Dororo" is more fitting name for me than you.
Get out! You monster! Get out! Get out!
Hey,
hurry and get all parts of your body back.
Get a body that no one can say anything about.
And show those fools what you really are!
Become a man stronger than anyone else...
All right! Where's the next victim?!
There's no time to waste.
I'm in a hurry to get the sword on you left arm too!
And I'll tell you one more thing.
There ain't a single thief in the world,
who steals something and gives it back so easily!
The great thief Dororo,
I'm not giving you back this name!
Dororo!