Japanese eBook distributor Media Do, animation studio Tezuka Productions, and South Korean comic publisher Copin Communications jointly announced the launch of Dororo Re:Verse — a webcomic remake of Osamu Tezuka‘s Dororo manga series. 

The webcomic remake will be a Japanese-South Korean co-production, with Do-Kyung Lee (The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor) writing the script and illustrating the art and storyboards.

The first 21 chapters of Dororo Re:Verse can now be read on the Japanese Piccoma online manga service and the South Korean KakaoPage webtoon platform. Plans for a global release of the webcomic in North America, China, and Europe will be revealed after the end of its South Korean serialization.

Dororo Re:Verse takes place in modern day Japan, where youkai and criminals work together to further their nefarious gains using a new form of magic called “science.” An immortal being named Hakki is looking to find parts of his body that were lost hundreds of years prior. By chance, he runs into a young boy named Roro, who strongly resembles Hakki’s old friend, Dororo. 

Tezuka’s original Dororo manga was published by Shogakukan and Akita Shoten from August 1967 to October 1969. Four tankoubon volumes were published in total. The series inspired a 1969 anime television series and a 2019 anime series that was streamed on Amazon Prime. It also inspired a 2004 video game called Blood Will Tell and a 2007 Japanese live-action film adaptation. 

A Dororo remake manga series was launched by Satoshi Shiki (Daphne in the Brilliant Blue) in Akita Shoten’s Champion Red magazine on October 19, 2018. Six tankoubon volumes have been released as of February 2022, as the series entered its final arc in 2021. Seven Seas Entertainment releases the remake manga in English. 

Sentai Filmworks acquired the streaming rights for the 2019 Dororo anime series and will stream it on its HIDIVE service. It describes the story as: 

During the Warring States period, the young thief Dororo encounters the enigmatic Hyakkimaru, a strange sightless boy who wields fearsome prosthetics in place of his missing limbs. Parts of Hyakkimaru’s body, skin and organs were traded to a group of 12 demons by his father in exchange for power and prosperity. Thanks to a kindly medicine man, Hyakkimaru survived this horrifying ordeal and now wanders the land in search of his missing body parts. Together, he and Dororo will fight to survive in a demon-plagued, dangerous and unforgiving world.

Source: Anime News Network, Oricon News