Because Hyakkimaru rarely speaks (largely in part because he was physically unable to for much of the show thus far) and we never see any internal monologue, much of his motivations and personal feelings are only revealed to us through his actions or inference. This actually makes things pretty interesting – versus the typical anime where characters are talking and expositing non-stop, finally we have a writer who is confident with letting the viewer fill in the gaps without leading them straight to the answer every time. Of course, it’s Tezuka, who is not known as the “Father of manga” and one of the most respected figures in fiction for nothing.
That said, now that Hyakkimaru speaks, we can see some clear anguish over the fact that his entire family has forsaken him. In his eyes, he now has nothing. While previously it was unclear and visually difficult to confirm whether or not he actually cared about this, it is made plain that he does now. When many are dealing with a sort of loss or receive a great personal setback, it is not uncommon for this to manifest in dangerous self destructive ways. I’m sure many of us have had the same struggle in our own personal lives. For Hyakkimaru, this has caused him to rush towards defeating demons in order to null the contract (that he is now aware of the existence of) and regain his body parts. Perhaps a part of him feels his mother, father, and brother may accept him once he is fully human. Perhaps he doesn’t care and wants to retake what was taken from him. Perhaps it is a combination. I’m curious to know.
Dororo, being a good friend (and pretty wise beyond her years, honestly), realizes Hyakkimaru’s self destructive habits and tries to stay his course to relaxing and getting proper sleep to no avail initially. The episode then turned into something from Inuyasha. I think the point was to open Hyakkimaru’s eyes (pun in very poor taste, I am sorry) that even though Dororo lost her mother, she still carries on in a very adult way. It’s not the end. The way you choose to handle your own anguish ultimately determines whether you become a better person or choose to be buried by it. I think by seeing Dororo’s emotions toyed with by seeing the visage of his mother, Hyakkimaru understood this immutable truth and chose to accept his reality.
We have to also remember that Hyakkimaru is very emotionally immature in many ways – he hasn’t had a way to properly interact with human beings outside of Dororo and his foster father. In that sense, his journey to obtain his body parts is a layer 1 allegory for his personal growth as well, although I’m sure everyone was already aware of that. It doesn’t need to be superficially complex in order to be done well, it just has to have meaning – and in my opinion, it does.
Also, uh, there’s a map on Dororo’s back? Cool I guess??? Not sure what that is supposed to be or mean, but I suppose we will find out. Maybe it will be the key to getting him into turtle rock. Has anybody played Link to the Past? Am I cool yet?? No? Fuck.
