Dororo (1969 TV series)

Dororo (どろろ) is a 1969 anime television series based on the manga of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. In 1968, in order to pitch the series, Tezuka created a 13-minute full-color pilot which summarized the story Hyakkimaru's birth and upbringing and meeting with Dororo, and an abbreviated version of The Tale of the Monster Bandai. The series was produced in black and white coloring due to budget cuts, but made the demons look more weird and menacing.

Because the original manga series was cancelled before Tezuka had a chance to shift the focus towards Dororo's "coming-of-age" story as he had originally planned, most of the plots revolved around Hyakkimaru's battles with supernatural monsters. This caused viewers to consider Hyakkimaru as the main character and from episode 14 onward, the series was re-titled Dororo and Hyakkimaru (どろろと百鬼丸). The early cancellation of the manga series also meant there were not enough stories for the required number of episodes, so episodes 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, and 25 were original stories developed specifically for the television series.

The series is first installment of World Masterpiece Theater, then known as Calpis Comic Theater, and the only one in black and white.