The great samurai’s journey is one that will never end.
Earlier today, the official Dororo anime website updated with a new teaser trailer. The minute-long promo tells the legend of Hyakkimaru, whose body was stolen away by demons. Ending theme song Sayonara Gokko (Make-Believe Goodbye) by amazarashi kicks in as a background track at the 27-second mark.
Dororo will hit Japanese TV on January 7. The full broadcast schedule is as follows:
- Tokyo MX: 1/7/2019 at 22:00 (1/7/2019 at 10:00PM)
- BS11: 1/7/2019 at 24:30 (1/8/2019 at 12:30AM)
- Jidaigeki Senmon Channel: 1/11/2019 at 26:00 (1/12/2019 at 1:00AM)
Amazon will stream the series exclusively in Japan and abroad.
Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Haikara-San: Here Comes Miss Modern Part 1, Mobile Suit Gundam UC) will direct the project at MAPPA and Tezuka Productions, with Satoshi Iwataki providing character designs. Yasuko Kobayashi (Attack on Titan, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure) is in charge of series composition for the title.
Other confirmed crew members include:
- Music: Yoshihiro Ike
- Original creator: Osamu Tezuka
- Original Character Design: Hiroyuki Asada
The series is a co-production between by MAPPA and Tezuka Production, with Twin Engine serving as a general producer.
The confirmed voice cast includes:
- Hyakkimaru: Hiroki Suzuki
- Dororo: Rio Suzuki
- Biwamaru: Mutsumi Sasaki
- Narrator: Mugihito
- Nuinokata: Chie Nakamura
- Jukai: Akio Ohtsuka
- Daigo Kagemitsu: Naoya Uchida
- Tahōmaru: Shōya Chiba
Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo manga began publication in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine in August 1967. The series ran through July 1968, and switched to Akita Shoten’s Bōken’ō magazine before concluding its run. Four compiled volumes were release for the title.
A 26-episode anime based on Dororo aired in the Spring 1969 broadcast season. The title was directed by Gisaburō Sugii (Lupin III: Secret Files, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) at Mushi Productions. Discotek currently holds the rights to the title, and released it on Blu-Ray in North America. A live-action film by director Akihiko Shiota hit Japanese theaters in 2007.
Discotek describes the anime as:
Hyakkimaru is a tortured young man who lost 48 parts of his body when his own father offered him up to demons in exchange for power. Traveling the war-torn countryside of Sengoku era Japan, he quests to slay the demons and regain his humanity piece by piece.
On his journey he is accompanied by Dororo, an enigmatic young orphan and sneak-thief who has made it a personal goal to swipe Hyakkimaru’s swords.
Together the two will face horrific monsters and the even more horrific ravages of war!
Dororo was also adapted into a PlayStation 2 game by Sega, who released it in North America and Europe under the title Blood Will Tell.
Source: Animate Times
