Dororo

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka's childhood memory of his friends pronouncing as dororo inspired the title of the series. Dororo was first serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday between August 1967 and July 1968, before being cancelled. The manga was then concluded in Akita Shoten's Bōken'ō magazine in 1969. A 26-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Mushi Productions aired in 1969. The anime series bears the distinction of being the first entry in what is now known as the World Masterpiece Theater series (Calpis Comic Theater at the time). Dororo was also made into a live-action film in 2007. A 24-episode second anime television series adaptation by MAPPA and Tezuka Productions aired from January to June 2019. Plot Dororo revolves around a rōnin named and young orphaned thief named during the Sengoku period. The rōnin was born malformed, limbless and without facial features or internal organs. This was the result of his birth father daimyō Kagemitsu Daigō forging a pact with 48 sealed demons so that he might rule the land and increase its wealth and prosperity. In return, he promised the demons anything that they wanted which belonged to him. This enabled them to roam free and commit atrocities along the countryside. After his mother Nui no Kata was forced to set him adrift on the river, lest he be killed by his father, the infant was subsequently found and raised by Jukai, a medicine man who used healing magic and alchemist methods to give the child prostheses crafted from the remains of children who had died in the war. The boy became nearly invincible against any mortal blow as a result of the prostheses and healing magic. Grafted into his left arm was a very special blade that a traveling storyteller presented to Jukai, believing it was fated to be within his possession given that ever since the boy had been discovered, the doctor had been visited by goblins. As revealed in a short tale about the blade's origin, the blade had been forged out of vengeance to kill goblins as well as other supernatural entities.