Dororo gets a rebooted vertical-scrolling webcomic remake

Osamu Tezuka’s classic dark-fantasy manga series, Dororo, has inspired a vertical-scrolling webcomic remake. The webnomic was announced as a joint project between the Japanese distributor Media Do, South Korean comic company Copin Communications, and Osamu Tezuka’s animation studio Tezuka Productions. The official title of the webcomic is Dororo Re:Verse.

Lee Do-Kyung, the renowned scriptwriter behind the popular Korean vertical scrolling webcomic Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, is behind the script and storyboards for the webcomic. The first 21 chapters of Dororo Re:Verse have been released in Japan via Piccoma, one of the most popular Japanese webtoon platforms.

The South Korean online manhwa platform, KakaoPage, has made Dororo Re:Verse available in its home country and other parts of the world, such as North America, China, and Europe.

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The setting of Dororo Re:Verse shifts from the Sengoku Jidai era to modern-day Japan

The webcomic remake Dororo Re:Verse is centered on Hyakki (Hyakkimaru from Osamu Tezuka’s original manga series.) The new remake pretty much follows the same plot, which is heavily altered. For starters, the webcomic takes place in modern-day Japan instead of the feudal period. Hyakki was born in the age of the Japanese civil wars and had his body stolen from him by demons.

In Lee Do-Kyung’s version, Hyakkimaru is an immortal individual who has lived for over 100 years. Since then, he has been chasing and hunting for the demons to recover the stolen parts of his body. The series' primary antagonists are the most-wanted criminals in Japan and the Yokai (supernatural entities), who have joined forces to control a new form of magic called "science."

On one such journey, Hyakki encounters Roro (Dororo in the original manga series), a girl who holds a fragment of his body, despite not being a demon. To become a complete human being, Hyakki comes under contract with Roro and sets off on a final hunt to eradicate the remaining demons.

The current director of Tezuka Productions, Mr. Rumiko Tezuka, is immensely excited about this new joint project, and here’s how he expresses his contentment as per Oricon News (translated from Japanese to English via Yandex Translate):

"Since Tezuka Osamu's death, we at Tezuka Productions have been able to pass on the charm of Tezuka's work to the next generation through various businesses. Tezuka himself is no longer able to produce new works, but I hope that by creating new works with active artists who have been influenced by his creation and inherited his isms, we can transmit the charm of Tezuka's works to the world again."

The number of episodes at the start of the distribution of the webcomic was 12. The distribution format is updated every Wednesday for one episode. Additional information will be announced soon by the official media distributors.