Dororo Episode 5 Review: The Story of the Moriko Song Part 1

Hyakkimaru may have been blessed with extraordinary strength and agility, but he still remains a human being who was devoid of his primary senses for far too long. Now he gets to have two of them back, but at a great cost.

Japanese Title: 守り子唄の巻・上

Plot

Hyakkimaru and Dororo take a break from their journey through the Japanese province they call home in search for more demons because Hyakkimaru finds himself in a situation he didn’t expect. His newfound sense, hearing, is giving him a hard time. The world is filled with sounds he had never experienced before and they are dreadful. He can’t differentiate between the wind and the animals, human speech and the sizzles of the fire camp. He is confused, and that confusion makes him weaker. He loses his footing battling a bird demon. Hyakkimaru is wounded, and the duo is saved by the priest who conveniently was passing by. Hyakkimaru gets a nasty fever, and he needs rest and medicine. And something to guide him through the noise.

To the rescue comes Mio, a girl in her twenties (I am guessing here) who lives in a derelict house as the caretaker of a makeshift orphanage. She takes care of a bunch of war orphans by selling her body to nearby samurai who are waiting for a war between two clans to start. Of course, none of the children knows what she does in order to take care of them, except Dororo who trails her just to make sure that she is safe at her night job. I had a hunch but I honestly didn’t expect Dororo to show Mio at the job. The scene was made even more sad and painful by having Mio hum the song that Hyakkimaru used to filter the surrounding noise, a beautiful song about a red flower.

Of course, we had another demon in this episode. Hyakkimaru and the priest kill it and Hyakkimaru gets his voice back. Just in time to scream in agony as the demon didn’t go down without taking its toll: half of Hyakkimaru’s leg. I think it’s time to get a prosthetic.

Episode Highlights

Demon Meat: When I saw the meat lying there and the fire burning, for a moment I thought the scene would have shown the party eating bird meat. I mean, it must taste the same, right?

Ribbon: Hyakkimaru was really cute in his ribbon hat. Dororo had a good laugh out of it. I giggled a bit as well.

Comments

Demons aside, Dororo takes place in an era that is (or was) very much real. Wars were ravaging the land, samurai were giving their lives for their lords, and the common folk had to watch out for their lives and provide for their provinces. Not the fairest of lives but these were dark times. Mio was a brave girl who knew that the only way to earn cash was to sell her body to the sex-deprived samurai who were patiently waiting for their turn to die. What a shock must have been for Dororo to see her humming her song to keep her mind occupied from thinking about what she had to do to get money back to her family. What will Dororo do now that he knows the truth?

Not Again

What a bummer, to lose a limp when you have worked so hard to get it back. Will they have to search for the good doctor to give him a new artificial leg?

Did you like Episode 5 of anime Dororo? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check the rest of our Windows 2019 reviews.