Dororo: Why was Dororo raised as a boy? Explained

The cheeky and mischievous titular deuteragonist Dororo is the most adorable character in the series. Besides being a kind-hearted person, Dororo is a courageous young soul who isn’t afraid of facing horrifying monsters while accompanying Hyakkimaru on his quest to retrieve the body parts that the twelve demons took from him during his birth.

As the story progresses, Dororo is eventually revealed to be a girl who has disguised her gender as a boy since birth. Despite being born a girl, the titular character acted as a boy throughout the anime series.

Disclaimer: This article contains heavy anime and manga spoilers for Dororo.

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Dororo identifies as a boy just for societal benefit

Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo is set in the Sengoku Jidai era (1467–1615), commonly known as the Warring States period. During this time of constant warfare, women and girls led a difficult life, where they usually became victims of mostly slave traders and procurers.

Although in the anime, it hasn’t been mentioned if the character's parents wished for Dororo to live as a boy, it can be presumed that given the tyrannical rule of the Daimyo (feudal lord) in the story, Hibukuro and Ojiya raised their daughter as a boy. As a runaway bandit, Hibukuro didn't have the luxury of raising his child as a girl.

After the death of his parents, Dororo continued living as a boy and had better chances of survival since he often used to run into thugs, bandits, and morally corrupted samurai. Since his childhood, while traveling with his parents, Dororo saw many inhuman things that mainly comprised women being victims at the hands of men.

After Dororo met Mio and saw what she did for a living, just to feed her adopted handicapped brothers and sisters, he was terrified. The latter’s life was the perfect example of how women who lived independently used to survive during such a horrifying era.

While confronting Mio, Dororo explained how his mother was oppressed by the samurai, which eventually became the very cause of her death. Episode 9, The Story of the Merciless, gave a brief glimpse into how Ojiya and Dororo wandered around begging for food from the samurai.

After being called a girl, Dororo often threw tantrums shouting that he had always been a boy, even in front of Hyakkimaru, the most trusted person in his life, which showed how terrified he was of people discovering his actual identity. Dororo needed more time to accept his identity by overcoming his traumatic experience and living without hiding his actual self.

During the finale, Dororo was seen all grown up, wearing a beautiful yukata running towards Hyakkimaru. As the narrator revealed that the Warring States period finally drew closer, by which he meant that Japan finally entered the Edo era, eventually bringing stability to the country.

Many fans have presumed the character to be gender fluid, and they might not be wrong, as even the creator, Osamu Tezuka, hadn’t thought this would become a highly debatable topic one day. However, as the story progresses, it can be observed that Dororo identifies as a boy just for societal benefit rather than as a personal choice.

Dororo has proven to be one of the most exceptional and enthralling characters in the anime universe, whom fans still adore. Her determination and ironclad will continue to inspire many fans.