Dororo encounter a spider demon in the process of eating a man that seem infatuated with her. Hyakkimaru fights it off. However, she escapes when she webs Hyakkimaru to a tree. It turns out that the spider demon has been kidnapping the villagers. The demon wraps herself in a cocoon of web and turns herself into a normal appearing woman. She is found to by a man named Yajiro. He gives her the name Ohagi and feeds her rice. Dororo meets Yajiro, who tells him that a reward has been posted for the demon.
Yajiro is forced to keep working in terrible conditions. A man died during his job, Ohagi asks if it’s “worth working to death.” Yajiro captures a cockroach and lets it go. Ohagi asks why Yajiro saved it. He says he believes that “life is life,” and human and bugs are the same. Ohagi struggles to cure her hunger. She clearly likes Yajiro and is unwilling to eat him. Ohagi appears emaciated and Yajiro hopes to help her later. Meanwhile, Dororo and Hyakkimaru are hungry and eat flowers.
Hyakkimaru and Dororo encounter Ohagi and Yajiro at night. As Dororo tells him that she’s a monster, he reveals that he’s the kidnapper. He’s been helping villagers escape this miserable village. They are attacked by soldiers looking to capture Yajiro. Ohagi fights them, eating two of them. She and Yajiro escape, however, they are eventually caught by the soldiers. Yajiro is hit by several arrows, Ohagi attacks the soldiers. She transforms into her spider form, but unlike other episodes of Dororo she escapes with Yajiro, instead of being killed by Hyakkimaru.
This episode marks a departure from the others. We were use to evil demons being irredeemable monsters that needed to be killed however, in this episode we meet a demon with a heart. Or at least she liked one human. Ohagi’s aura marked this progression. As she changed so did the color of her aura, from red to orange. Of course because Dororo never remains in the same place characters are quickly developed, then discarded. The romance between Ohagi and Yajiro feels premature, but they were never going to get more than episode to explore their relationship. Regardless, Dororo continues to play with our expectations.
Sounds like an interesting episode. That aspect of respecting life is a major motif in a ton of Tezuka works (Kimba the White Lion is a big example of this). It’s something I’m not surprised, but the execution is certainly different from most of his other anime and manga works.
This series is really playing with expectations. I don’t know what to expect, which is refreshing considering that most anime can be predictable.
That’s cool and it can be a sign of a great series. I want to check out this current version, but I also wonder if the original 60s series was like that or even the 00s live action remake.