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Dorotabō (泥田坊, Mud field monk) are mud yōkai, that dwells in the murky mud of rice paddy fields. They first appeared in the Shonen Magazine story Dorotabō.
Appearance[]
The Dorotabō resembles frail humanoid made entirely of mud. Their heads are bald and each only has a single, large eye.
In the 1996 anime, a child Dorotabō appeared relatively like a small kid. Unlike the other Dorotabō, this child was not frail and had a pair of normal eyes.
Personality[]
The Dorotabō are generally docile, slumbering within the waters of rice paddy fields. However they become vengeful once their fields have been either neglected or replaced, single mindedly focus on only getting it back. They are persistent and will not give up until the their fields have been restored, which they will peacefully accept and return to it.
The child Dorotabō, on the other hand, is actually rather friendly and playful, having befriended a bold in the local village. They also did not want to attack, being the only Dorotabō who did start rampaging through the village.
History[]
Shonen Magazine[]
The Dorotabō are the spirits of dead farmers living in the waters of rice paddy fields. They used to live a docile life, but after their village was bought by the military to build an airbase on the fields, many of the farmers moved to the city, where they got sick and died. Because the farmers who stayed behind to protest could only build a small monument in their memory, their souls turned into evil spirits and grew into Dorotabō from the sludge in the city. They began attacking the airbase and destroying the army's jets, so Kitarō was called in to solve the problem. After a couple of battle, Kitarō learned the story of the Dorotabō from the villagers. The army agreed to build a better monument to the dead farmers and the Dorotabō went back into the mud.
1971 Anime[]
Dorotabō appear in episode one of the second anime adaptation, Return of the Yōkai.
1985 Anime[]
Dorotabō appear in episode #28 of the third anime adaptation, Return the Fields!! Yōkai Dorotabō.
1996 Anime[]
Dorotabō appear in episode #22 of the fourth anime adaptation, Uprising! Yōkai Dorotabō.
2007 Anime[]
Dorotabō appears in episode #70 of the fifth anime adaptation, Impossible to Kill!? Dorotabō.
He later appears in GeGeGe no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!!. Dorotabō appears as one of the multitude of Yōkai parading through cities due to Yato-no-Kami's influence. He is later returned to where he came from after Hana agrees to follow Yato-no-Kami.[1]
2018 Anime[]
Dorotabō appears in episode #54 of the sixth anime adaptation, Dorotabō, Life and Earth.[2]
The Great Yōkai War[]
The Great Yōkai War: Guardians: Side Story: Heian Hyakkitan[]
Powers and Abilities[]
Mud Body: Being made of mud, the Dorotabō is nearly indestructible. It's weakness is heat, which dries it's body, allowing it to be crumbled into dust. However, adding water can revive them.
- Fusion: Within the fourth anime, the Dorotabō are able to fuse into a giant version of themselves. This form still has a single eye but is now very bloated, due to the numerous Dorotabō that compose it. Due to their size, they have tremendous strength to go with it.
- Fission: The Giant Dorotabō are able to separate into smaller Dorotabō.
- Mud Spit:
- Hot Mud Spit: The Dorotabō can also spit scalding hot mud from it's mouth which can also ignite targets.
Energy Beam: Dorotabōs are able to shoot a large energy beam from their mouths in the 1985 and the 2018 anime adaptations. In the 1985 anime, the beam is highly flammable. In the 2018 anime, one tried to use this against Kitarō during their encounter, but was unsuccessful due to it being blocked by his Chanchanko.[2]
Agility: In the 1985 anime, Dorotabōs can run extremely fast to able to catch up with a bullet train and jump on it.
Legend[]
Dorotabō are the vengeful spirits of rice field farmers who died and saw their fields neglected after their death.
The legend of the Dorotabō depicts a poor but hardworking farmer who spend all his life working in his fields. Upon his death, his responsibilities were given to his son. But the son was lazy and neglected the field in favor of letting himself become drunk until he sold the field. The new owner of the field found the Dorotabō while on a nightly patrol, lamenting the lost of the rice field he worked so hard for and crying out "Return my fields".
References[]
- ↑ GeGeGe no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!!
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 GeGeGe no Kitarō (2018): Episode 54