Dororo Episode 2: The telltale bell
Published on January 15, 2019
This episode felt like it had a pretty straightforward story with a predictable twist, but it did have a certain charm to it. It's interesting to see Hyakkimaru, in particular, expressing himself through silence. I got the sense that the episode was doing a great job of making his intentions clear without words. I almost want to say that the series would be more entertaining if the blind man from this episode didn't stay with the main characters.
I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about the narrator in this series. I felt like the old man covers the same information later in the episode, and I would have preferred to keep inferring from Hyakkimaru's silence. That being said, I do like how the narrator contributes to Hyakkimaru's background. In this scene, the narrator starts by talking about the other person didn't pass Hyakkimaru by, and then the scene immediately shifts to show the prosthetics guy.
It's not what the show is going for, but this episode was really weak as a mystery. It was clear what was going on in the village just from this comment alone. That being said, we as the audience implicitly trust Hyakkimaru as the protagonist, so I guess it's fair for Dororo to question Hyakkimaru's intentions at this point.
This guy is pretty convenient.
There's something funny about watching the demon taunt Hyakkimaru only to die easily. That being said, I tend to get annoyed with this type of "vague pronoun" foreshadowing, and this scene is no exception.
Given the premise, I'm assuming that any misfortune that befalls this lord are related to the dying demons. I would have hoped for something more concrete, but I guess this works. Also, I feel very sorry for Hyakkimaru based on the ending the episode. It looks like he just regained his nerves, which is an awkward organ to get early in the game.