Dororo is an incredible thief and the only reason she was caught by bandits is that she wanted to help feed a starving dog. When the dog was held hostage by heartless bandits, she offered herself up instead. As we see throughout the series, Dororo often steers Hyakkimaru towards helping people even if the reward turns out to be paltry (but the better the reward, the bigger the motivation). Dororo also isn’t one to judge people and cares deeply for their wellbeing. Her strong moral compass is the perfect guide for Hyakkimaru.

This is surely obvious by now, but you’d be forgiven for thinking Dororo is a boy. Although she has a somewhat ambiguous look, the show makes an effort to hide her sex up until the 9th episode. Her gender is casually revealed by a nun who was treating her. It does appear that Dororo was actually trying to hide her femininity, though, and it’s unclear whether she was hiding it because she identifies as a boy or for other reasons.

Dororo may be much younger than Hyakkimaru, but she’s also much more mature and street savvy. Because of Hyakkimaru’s impeded education, he’s incapable of taking care of himself. His life seemed to revolve around hunting demons and eating, and barely at that. Dororo makes sure that she and Hyakkimaru get food in their stomachs and food that’s cooked. Dororo is also present to guide Hyakkimaru as he starts to gain back the organs he lost. It’s fair to say that Hyakkimaru may not have been in the best position if he hadn’t run into Dororo.

Unfortunately, Dororo is one of many orphans resulting from a period of endless war in Japan. Her father was killed after fending off samurai that recognized him from his time as a bandit while her mother died of starvation. Although Dororo loved her parents, she still seems to somewhat begrudge them for leaving her behind, particularly her mother. She tells Mio that she admires her for doing whatever it takes to keep both herself and the people around her alive. This admiration stems from the fact that her mother was willing to do anything for survival except prostitution, but Mio is willing to truly do anything to help her loved ones.

After the death of her parents, the last thing Dororo wants is to be abandoned again. Having Hyakkimaru as her closest friend makes things challenging because Hyakkimaru doesn’t do well with attachments early in the series and is prone to leaving her behind. Fortunately, Dororo’s latching onto Hyakkimaru has led to Hyakkimaru starting to care for her genuinely. We see Hyakkimaru learn her name, listen to her when she advises him to stop his rampage, and help her get treatment when she passes out from a fever. We’re happy to see it’s unlikely Dororo will be abandoned ever again.