Dororo

The second volume in the thriller manga trilogy featuring a swordsman who must hunt down and destroy 48 demons who possess his body parts, which were given to them by the man's father in exchange for power. Vertical presents Dororo in the original, right-to-left format, and with its youthful subject matter the title will have great appeal to the teenage manga-reading audience.

Previously published in three installments, the entire run of comic master Osamu Tezuka's enduring classic is herewith available in one volume at a new affordable price. The lauded adventures of a young swordsman and his rogue sidekick that also inspired the cult video game Blood Will Tell have never been as accessible. A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn son's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with primitive prosthetics - lethal ones with which the wronged son will use to hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time, before confronting his father. On his journeys the young hero encounters an orphan who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan. Like an unforgettable road movie, Dororo reaches deeper than its swashbuckling surface and offers a thoughtful allegory of becoming what one is, for nobody is born whole.

The Banmon is a grim barrier between lands, a line that no man can cross alive. Its guardian: Tahomaru, a mysterious warrior with the same prosthetics as Hyakkimaru. Both men lost pieces of themselves to demons, and both men stood tall again thanks to the inventions of doctor Jukai. In another world, they might have met in friendship. But with Hyakkimaru's companion Dororo missing, a fated and bloody conflict looms.

A few days after their clash with Daigo Kagemitsu, Dororo and Hyakkimaru continue their dangerous journey across Japan. The demons who stole pieces of Hyakkimaru's body are still lurking all over the country, and he'll stop at nothing to reclaim what was taken from him. Yet when they come upon an old temple, and an old monk who is not quite what he seems, the strength of Hyakkimaru's resolve will be tested like never before.

A young swordsman travels alone through war-torn Japan, hunting demons wherever they might hide. His name: Hyakkimaru. Soon he crosses paths with Dororo, an orphan who steals to survive. Dororo can’t help but wonder: Who is this demon hunter with skin as cold as ice, and blades hidden inside his own arms...?

Dororo and Hyakkimaru are rescued from certain death by Mio, a girl who's made a home for unfortunate children in an abandoned temple. Selfless, devoted Mio is the closest thing these orphans have to a mother--and she quickly proves to be a comforting presence for Dororo as well. But the dark presence of a demon lurks somewhere behind this refuge from the misery of a war-torn world...

Dororo and Hyakkimaru find themselves guests at the estate of a notoriously cruel steward who is more than he appears. Meanwhile, a mysterious killer with a cursed sword stalks the nearby town, bent on revenge for a lost childhood and missing sister. When the two monsters meet, destruction is bound to follow...

Together, the demon hunter Hyakkimaru and young thief Dororo prevailed over a monster that had bent a whole village to her will. But when that demon fell, a profound change came over the cold, hard-edged Hyakkimaru: a sudden outpouring of human emotion, accompanied by the transformation of his eyes. The time has finally come for Hyakkimaru to reveal his troubled history, and the purpose behind his hunt.