We’re at a really fascinating point in Dororo now, after the series delivered another sterling episode this week.  That all the episodes which heavily featured Jukai have been stellar is hardly a coincidence I think – Ohtsuka Akio is delivering a superbly nuanced performance here, and Jukai is a character the anime staff is clearly invested in, as his role has been hugely increased over what it is in the manga.  He has a unique role to play in the narrative, and that was highlighted by the events of this episode.

Still, I’m feeling a bit of disquiet about where Dororo is heading, which hasn’t been the case up to this point (or at least, hardly ever).  The story has been framing the conflict of Hyakkimaru vs. the domain almost from the very beginning, and clearly taken the view that his turning into a demon as he was physically turning into a human was a real risk (and the irony of that is by no means accidental).  Dororo (though she was absent for the first time this episode) has always been the presence by Hyakkimaru’s side, anchoring him to humanity and not just that, but teaching him how to be human no less.

What’s changed for me, though, is that after this week’s encounter with Jukai I’m wavering about the perspective Tezuka – and Furuhashi-sensei – are bringing to the story.  It’s one thing for the conflict to be framed as it is, but quite another for the narrative to take the position that Hyakkimaru is in the wrong.  Jukai is a sympathetic figure both to the audience and within the story towards Hyakkimaru.  He loves him, to be certain, and vice-versa.  But his words here – and his decision not to replace Hyakkimaru’s leg – worry me.  Jukai is the personification of compassion and mercy in the cast – if he feels this way, you have to wonder if he’s speaking for the narrative itself.

For me, I get that there are two-edges to this blade, but ultimately this isn’t that tough – Hyakkimaru is absolutely, 100% right.  Not that he should blindly kill anyone that gets in his way (which I don’t think he has been), but that he has a goddam right to take back what his father stole from him.  A prosperity born from his suffering is tainted from the beginning, and Hyakkimaru is not the one at fault here – Daigo is.  It’s Daigo’s actions that have made his wife’s life a living hell and forced Tahoumaru to become something he hates.  Just as I don’t believe Dororo has a moral obligation to give away her father’s treasure if she finds it, I don’t think Hyakkimaru has one to live a life deprived of his very humanity in deference to the evil done by his father.

As squirrely as this episode was in that sense, it was interesting right from the get go, when the old man on the battlefield questioned whether it was a waste (well, declared) for Jukai to adorn the dead with limbs and eyes (most of which are promptly stolen anyway).  And that’s a valid question, especially with so many of the living (who to be fair, Jukai also helps) suffering.  That old man is promptly eaten by a youkai – one who takes a whiff of Jukai and moves on, as if he were spoiled meat.  But Hyakki soon arrives on the scene, and Jukai immediately recognizes his charge despite the remarkable transformation he’s undergone.

Jukai has no idea how deep that transformation goes until he and Hyakkimaru have a chance to talk – which is, in itself, a remarkable thing.  This Hyakki can smile, and – as he proudly declares – he can feel.  Not just hot soup, but love – and anger, and resentment.  I get why Jukai is worried here, really I do.  The temptation to act from rage is always going to be dangling in front of Hyakkmiaru.  But the weight of the domain?  No, sorry – I draw the line there.  That weight (as even Jukai later admits) rests on Daigo’s shoulders, not Hyakkimaru’s.  Give the boy a leg, for fuck’s sake.

Meanwhile, Daigo is still scouring the land for signs of his “son”, and Dororo has been spotted.  As Tahoumaru and his sibling retainers take out a nest of rat youkai (I get feeling bad for the babies but again – they’re eating people here.  Burn it down.), Nuinotaka finally awakens.  And she declares her belief that it was the Goddess of Mercy that allowed Hyakkimaru to survive by trading her own head for his, foiling the demon that was contracted to eat it.  And as if to compound his own moral culpability, it’s Tahoumaru that Daigo decides to send to finish off Hyakki, rather than doing it himself.

Surely it must have shown Jukai the error in his judgment that Hyakkimaru didn’t hate him for refusing to replace his leg.  Indeed, he calls Jukai “Okaa” after the latter declines to give his name (believing himself unworthy of one).  This also shows us that Hyakkimaru is indeed learning how to be human from Dororo – and obviously, the depth of his feelings for Jukai.  He’ll go off alone to find Dororo, and no doubt save her.  And it’s my hope that the fact they have each other is going to be enough for them to tell the rest of the world to fuck off with its tainted judgment of what’s right and what’s wrong, because two people who’ve been wronged as they have (especially Hyakkimaru) need never apologize for claiming their right to their dignity as human beings.