Dororo Episode 22 Review: The Story of Nui

As we make our way to the final acts of this drama, all the characters gather to the ultimate battlefield. Dororo is taken back to Daigo’s place as bait for Hyakkimaru. Will the loving brother find his newfound sister?

Plot

As Hyakkimaru prepares to ride REVENGE INCARNATE to Daigo’s land, Tahomaru has a very human moment when he learns that Mutsu is dying from the disease that plagues Daigo’s land. I have to admit that I missed the hint in Episode 21 when Mutsu touches her irritated skin. Like all loyal subjects of idealists (whether their ideals are based on logic or note), she takes pride in hers and Tahomaru’s vision and urges her brother to use his one remaining hand to protect their Lord. A bit naive, but that’s what most inspirational speeches are. At least Mutsu doesn’t take it too far with the emotion. She was saved by a Daigo, spent her life protecting their son, and now she dies by instilling some morale. It could have gone better, but this was good enough.

Dororo has no shortage of luck. His hours in captivity come to an end when Hyakkimaru’s mom, Lady Daigo, in a move that might help her repent for some of the harsh words she told to her son, helps her escape to safety. Mom wants to learn more about her son, ‘sister’ has a very touching moment with her ‘mom’ (which reminds us that the one thing Dororo misses more than anything is love), and both give us one of those scenes in Dororo that are short and memorable. ‘Mama’. Mama, however, doesn’t stop there. She decides to follow Dororo in search of retribution, death (at the hands of her own son), or maybe both. Their eventually fall into the river served no other purpose than to give me a small heart attack; not because I was worried about the character but because I can’t swim.

After the massacre of the demon horse (that horse is really pissed off), there is a village sequence that serves no other purpose but to spend valuable storytelling minutes. Counting out the old man, Dororo, and Mama, the rest of the characters are treated as being familiar but I can’t remember if we’ve seen them before. They start rambling antiwar nonsense and the show pretend that this is a scene that’s important. It isn’t. What’s important right now is that Hyakkimaru and REVENGE INCARNATE are well into a killing spree that sees people get dismembered by the dozen. If that red aura is any indication, Hyakkimaru is giving in to the demon flame inside him. This is important.

Mutsu, being the good vessel she is, and knowing she is going to die, she offers herself to the archdemon that was denied his own Hyakkimaru body part. Her contact with the demon tornado must have taught her Demonish, because after a few seconds she knows everything about the Daigo deal and why the demon won’t accept her as tribute (probably because that’s another story). In the end, the demon does what he is probably best at doing: he makes a kind of a pact that will allow the trio to get back what belongs to him. He gives Mutsu and Hyogo Hyakkimaru’s arms and Tahomaru Hyakkimaru’s eyes. Now Hyakkimaru must kill all three of them if he wants to get his body parts back.