Hyakkimaru is the central character of Tezuka’s best known samurai story, Dororo. A powerful warrior, Hyakkimaru is traveling on a long quest to retrieve 48 parts of his body which were sold to demons by his father at his birth. This is a very dramatic adventure series, with a great variety of unusual mythological creatures and demons, as well as bandits and other fierce foes. Gradually the grim experiences of his travels make Hyakkimaru more and more distant and grim, so as he recovers more and more of his human body he becomes at the same time less and less human. Hyakkimaru’s character design with its would later develop into the character design of Black Jack, and the special relationship between the two characters is acknowledged when they meet in two Black Jack issues, “Miyuki and Ben” (1973) and “Ashes and Diamonds” (1974), and also in references in recent Tezuka-based works, as in the recent Blackjack TV series, where in Pinoko’s fantasy of Black Jack taking her to a spring festival, he wears Hyakkimaru’s kimono pattern. Hyakkimaru’s only other appearance outside his own series is in Gachaboi's record of one generation . Dororo is the basis for the recent playstation game Blood Will Tell though the game bases itself only very loosely on the original and is far more violent. He make a quick appearance on 23 Of Black Jack TV as "Dr. Shimizu"
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