Sentai Filmworks Licenses Dororo Anime

Sentai Filmworks announced on Monday that it has licensed the second television anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Dororo manga in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Nordic and Scandinavian countries. The company will produce a new English dub. Sentai Filmworks will release the series on home video, including Blu-ray and digital sell through, starting this summer.

The company describes the story:

During the Warring States period, the young thief Dororo encounters the enigmatic “Hyakkimaru,” a strange, sightless boy who wields fearsome prosthetics in place of his missing limbs. Parts of Hyakkimaru's body, skin and organs were traded to a group of 12 demons by Hyakkimaru's father in exchange for power and prosperity, but thanks to a kindly medicine man, Hyakkimaru survived his horrifying ordeal. Now he wanders the land in search of his missing body parts, and together he and Dororo will fight to survive in a demon-plagued, dangerous and unforgiving world.

The anime premiered on Tokyo MX in January 2019.

Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Mobile Suit Gundam UC, Rurouni Kenshin, Getbackers) directed the series, and Yasuko Kobayashi (Attack on Titan, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Garo the Animation) oversaw the series scripts. MAPPA (Yuri!!! on Ice, In This Corner of the World) and Tezuka Productions animated the project from Twin Engine. Satoshi Iwataki (Ghost Hunt) adapted manga creator Hiroyuki Asada's (Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, Cheer Boys!!, The Girl in Twilight) original character designs for animation. Yoshihiro Ike (Tiger & Bunny, The Great Passage, The Empire of Corpses) composed the music.

Four-member rock band Ziyoou-vachi performed the first opening theme song "Kaen" (Flame), which they wrote specifically for the anime. amazarashi performed the first ending song "Sayonara Gokko" (Make-Believe Goodbye), which they also wrote for the show. Asian Kung-Fu Generation performed the second opening theme song "Dororo," and Eve performed the second ending theme song "Anya" (Dark Night).

The supernatural historical manga previously inspired a 26-episode black-and-white anime series in 1969 by Tezuka Productions.

The story is based on Tezuka's original 1967 Dororo manga series. Vertical released the manga in a collected volume in 2012. A live-action film adaptation starring Kou Shibasaki and Satoshi Tsumabuki premiered in Japan in 2007.

Source: Sentai Filmworks