Screw consequentialism and the horse it rode in on.  Seriously, I’m so goddam sick of it in anime these days, where it seems to be a plague that’s spreading.  I deeply appreciate the moral complexity that Dororo brings to the table – believe me, I seriously do.  But I don’t need to agonize over what’s right and wrong where Hyakkimaru is concerned.  Screw consequentialism, screw Daigo, screw a fiefdom that was erected on a barrow of his suffering, and screw Tahoumaru too if he chooses the side he seems to have chosen.

Really, moral complexity has two facets in this series.  There’s the old priest Biwamaru telling Dororo (pretty much) she has a responsibility to give away her father’s fortune, and Jukai refusing to give Hyakkimaru a new leg (that’s fine, he earned it on his own) in part because he’s worried about the suffering Ishikawa will see if Hyakki successfully recovers his entire body.  I get where Tezuka and the anime staff are going with this, and the fact that Hyakkimaru and Dororo are saddled with empathy and a conscience makes this relevant to them (and thus to the story).  But I think the ultimate answer here isn’t that hard to arrive at, and the endless obsessing over it can grate on my nerves.

But then there’s the moral complexity that was embodied in Itachi, and for me that’s been a total win from day one.  He’s an utterly fascinating character, and someone very much a product of his time.  He’s not evil, Itachi, but hard times make for hard men.  He’s clever, he’s determined, he’s practical.  He doesn’t hesitate to be a hard-ass when he sees what he wants, and he’s driven by a need not just to survive, but to advance.  His goals are relatively humble, but they’re insistent.  And so is he.

There’s a reason why Dororo never hates him, in spite of the very real wrongs he’s done her.  Dororo respects survivors, because she’s driven by the same fire.  She knows her father respected Itachi, and she saw that among all his father’s men, Itachi was the most determined and resourceful.  He was opportunistic, certainly, but never wantonly cruel – including to her (and even to her mother).  There’s something connecting these two, right up to the end, and Dororo never stops trying to help Itachi save himself when Tahoumaru’s troops arrive on the cape and spoil the party.

It was pretty obvious Itachi wasn’t going to see the other side of this episode, but I was still sad to see him go.  With Shiranui going into kamikaze mode and arrows flying everywhere, things descend into chaos quickly.  The sharks – thank goodness – do turn out to have been youkai, and Jiromaru promptly eats Saburomaru and levels up.  But Hyakkimaru arrives just in the nick of time to save Dororo, whose steely resolve finally breaks down at seeing him again when she surely thought she might never have the chance.  All I was thinking during that wonderful moment when Hyakkimaru cradled Dororo’s face (and pinched her cheek) is that I wished Jukai could have been there to see it – both so he’d know how wrong he was in thinking the thoughts he did, and so he’d know that his “son” had truly achieved humanity even if his body wasn’t complete yet.

If Dororo never stops wanting Itachi to live, the same can be said of the converse – Itachi literally drags her to safety when Tahoumaru, Hyogo and Mutsu fall upon Hyakkimaru.  It’s certainly galling to hear Tahoumaru call Hyakki the demon that’s threatening his land, but some part of me wants to believe Tahoumaru is trying to convince himself more than anything.  He’s chosen, and whatever fate befalls him will be a deserved one, but I can’t bring myself to hate him.  He’s a victim of Daigo’s act of evil too, faced with an awful decision which he made worse by the choice he made.

Ultimately, this story is Dororo and Hyakkimaru – and yes, screw everybody else if they choose to be an obstacle to their happiness.  These two are a testament to the power and worth of personal loyalty – two lost souls who need each other and were lucky enough to find each other.  They deserve their dignity and they deserve their lives, and anyone who chooses to be an obstacle to that is part of the problem in a time and place that’s thoroughly dehumanizing.

Dororo’s decision to leave the treasure where it is for now (and to let Itachi rest where he would have wanted to, in its bosom) is fine by me – it’ll likely be safe enough there, and what position is she in at the moment to do anything but gather a few coins to help survive (as her mother surely should have done)?  In the end, though, I hope she uses it to make a future for herself and Hyakkimaru, because neither one of them owe anyone any more than that.