Comparison between Shadow of the Colossus and Dororo
I've been a Dororo fan for years now and I just recently played Team Ico's games for the first time.
So, here I'll try to list things that Shadow of the Colossus and Dororo have in common.
My theory is that Fumito Ueda was inspired by Osamu Tezuka's work and, vice versa, Ueda's works inspired the 2019 anime adaptation of Dororo.
Now, if this was common knowledge, then my bad! If that's not the case, these will be just lots of comparisons.
Spoilers ahead!
First of all, both Wander and Hyakkimaru have a goal, and they are determined to reach it, no matter what. Wander wants to bring Mono back to life, while Hyakkimaru wants to collect his bodyparts, that were taken by evil spirits at birth due to a contract his father made to gain power.
The demons in Dororo are 48, which is the number of Colossi Ueda initially planned to have in his game.
Now, we know that within the colossi lie severed segments of Dormin's body. As Hyakkimaru defeats a demon, he collects a body part back.
So, both the fiends in Dororo and the Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus hold a piece of body. But while in Dororo once these creatures are slayed the body part goes back to its original owner, in Shadow of the Colossus Wander is the vessel of Dormin's body, which is collected through those dark trails that pierce him after each battle.
At the beginning of Dororo's original manga from 1967, Lord Daigo, Hyakkimaru's dad, enters a shrine and finds various devil statues.
Here, he makes a contract with the evil spirits, the 48 devil gods. He seeks power, but the price to pay is the body of his own child.
Doesn't that sound familiar? Wander also enters a shrine adorned with various idols, where he asks Dormin, the being that controls the souls of the dead, for Mono to be revived. But Dormin warns him that the price he'll pay would be heavy.
Both the evil gods and Dormin, while promising what the human desires, ask for something important in return. They are also kind of making fun of the mortals for their requests.
I'd also like to add that, as the Dororo manga continues and picks up with Hyakkimaru now being 14 years old, his lover, Mio, is already dead. We just see her through flashbacks, as the boy tells his story to Dororo.
We don't know what's the relationship between Mono and Wander, but it's clear that he deeply cares about her, either as a lover, friend or sister.
(While I'm not sure if this is simply fan speculation or not, wasn't an alternative ending gonna feature Mono come back to life but blind, and she would've slowly regained her eyesight? If this was an actual scrapped ending, it would literally reference a core theme in Hyakkimaru's journey).
As for the rest, the two stories are completely different, but the beginning is pretty similar, at least in my opinion. I feel like Ueda could've been influenced by Osamu Tezuka's work.
Back in 2019 a Dororo anime remake aired, a retelling of the story. Just like all the other Dororo adaptations, a lot of things were changed from the original manga.
The 48 demons were cut to 12, and another major change is the additional grey morality that envelops the entirety of the show.
In the original manga, Daigo wanted to be a powerful ruler and gave his son away without regret. Here, he seeks help from the demons to archieve that, yes, but his lands are being destroyed by famines and epidemics. While he has egoistical ambitions, he's also helping his people.
As you watch the anime, you start to question: who is right and who is wrong? Who is truly evil here?
Which are questions we all asked ourselves while playing Shadow of the Colossus. While you play, you know why you're slaying the Colossi, but you do start to wonder if you're really doing the right thing. They are just giant creatures, some peaceful if not attacked, and are the only inhabitants of the Forbidden Lands. Is Wander the true villain, is it Dormin, or is it Emon? Is there even a true villain at all, or just characters at cross purpouses?
In Dororo, you root for Hyakkimaru, deprived of his own body. But, as he kills more and more demons, the lands are yet again subjected to droughts and floods. And, on his first encounter with Lord Daigo, his father asks him to stop collecting his body for the sake of the lands.
The morally grey character of Hyakkimaru, I feel like, could be inspired by Fumito Ueda's work.
There's a major difference in the ending though. As Wander's journey makes him loose his humanity, Hyakkimaru's is the opposite. Withing him, he also has bits of evil spirits enbedded into his soul, much like Wander.
But while Hyakkimaru is plagued by doubts, and sometimes lets the demonic part of him loose, he ultimately reaches his goal to be whole again. With the death of all the demons, the natural disasters stop, starting a period of peace. He gets his humanity back, something that Wander only archieves after being reborn.
Also, this is totally just speculation, but the thing about Hyakkimaru's demon slaying causing illnesses and epidemics might be a reference to ICO.
In the PS2 manual (at least in the italian one I own) it is stated that the horned children are believed to be cursed, bringing misfortunes to befall the villages.
Another thing added to the 2019 anime adaptation of Dororo is the fact that with each evil spirit Hyakkimaru kills, the idol that represents it at the shrine (where Daigo made the contract) breaks. Which is literally what happens in Shadow of the Colossus.
I'd also like to add that Dororo also has a videogame adaptation for the PS2 called Blood will tell, that contains 48 fiends to defeat in order to retrieve Hyakkimaru's body parts. It came out just a year before Shadow of the Colossus did, and it's such a fun game.
It has some amazing looking fiends and, fun fact, Blood will tell's japanese cover art is also a beautiful drawing (made by Hiroaki Samura), while the western box art is a 3D rendition of the main character, much like ICO. Though, not as ugly ;)
I can't tell if this game actually influenced Shadow of the Colossus or not, but it's pretty fun to spot the similarities between the two.
The final boss, Behemoth, is the biggest out of the 48 fiends, and its fight is divided in various sections.
In one of these, you have to stand on Behemoth's hand so that it can bring you close to its face to attack. It reminded me of the Malus fight.
In another section, you have to climb the fiend's back to destroy its weak spots, which are horns with a very familiar blue tint that shoot lightings. This reminded me a lot of Pelagia (but also of Basaran and Quadratus).
And the last section features Behemoth charging at you while it flies, which of course reminded me of the Avion fight.
Thank you for reading all my yapping about pieces of media I love deeply!
After not being able to find many comparison between Dororo and Shadow of the Colossus online, I just had to make one myself. This is my first time making a post like this, so I hope this isn't worded too badly—
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