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Note: This article is based upon Daigo Kagemitsu from the 2019 Dororo anime. For his manga and 1964 anime counterpart, please view the external sources.
| “ | You've brought great misfortune upon us now, Hyakkimaru. | „ |
| ~ Daigo's true feeling toward Hyakkimaru. |
Daigo Kagemitsu (in Japanese: 醍醐 景光) also known as Lord Kagemitsu and Lord Daigo is the main antagonist of the 2019 Dororo anime, (a remake of the Classic Osamu Tezuka manga series which celebrated the manga's 55th anniversary). A Samurai Lord and the ruler of the Ishikawa territory, Daigo is the father and archnemesis of Hyakkimaru, the series main protagonist.
Sixteen years before events of Dororo, Daigo made a deal with the twelve demons of the Hall of Hell. He asked them to grant him the power for his ambitions and the bless his lands, a request which the demons granted in exchange for his newborn son's skin, limbs and senses. Eventually learning that his son, now going by the name of Hyakkimaru was still alive and killing the demons who stole his body parts, Daigo set out to kill the boy so that he could remain in power.
He was voiced by the late Gorō Naya in the 1969 anime and Naoya Uchida in the 2019 anime in the Japanese version, and by David Wald in the English version.
Family[]
Nui No Kata - wife. Despite their marriage Daigo demonstrates no affection for his wife, nor does he show any respect or concern for her feelings and opinions, especially in regards to their children.
Hyakkimaru - oldest son and archenemy. Daigo holds no love for his firstborn child and has never demonstrated any remorse for what he did to him. On the contrary, Daigo considers his son an abomination and wants to kill him in order to renew his contract with the demons.
Tahomaru - youngest son and heir. Tahomaru is everything that Daigo was looking for in a son, i.e. brave, strong and loyal. He regularly praised the boy in his youth and although they are slightly more distant now, he was eventually able to win Tahomaru over to his side regarding Hyakkimaru. Upon learning of his youngest sons death, Daigo vowed to join his a demon and guardian of the land.
Personality[]
This incarnation, unlike the original manga and the first Dororo to Hyakkimaru TV series, is presented to be a man who is focused more on the end as opposed to the means. While the original manga's intent was for Daigo to come across as a worse person than the demons, the 2019 anime's Daigo is a man who is desperate to fulfil his lifelong ambitions of greatness and the protection of his land against the ever-changing whims of disaster with famine, floods and/or droughts being common in his time period. This caused Daigo to take the rash action of offering the demons anything they desired to take; though he was unaware of the price of the demon's cooperation would be his than-unborn-child, (while in the manga he does this shamelessly and knowingly) and initially being visibly shocked, he was still quick to recover and even laugh at it implying that his ambitions rank high above his family, or that his pact with the demons has robbed him of his empathy. As the price for his deal was great and the reward was the flourish of his land for well over a decade Daigo is shown to be quite content with what has happened and protective of his choice and is becoming increasingly concerned at the deaths of the demons he made a pact with and the potential loss of their blessing, a fear aided by the lack of rain in the current year which seems to be directly connected to Hyakkimaru slaying of at least one of them.
Daigo only cared is power and his ambitions and position as he is not a family loving man, but rather a family abusing man as his family are meant nothing to him.
Daigo has no concern for his former wife, Nui No Kata. He mentally abused her when she still contained her feeling attachment for their son, Hyakkimaru. He also believes that she doesn't understand politics. He attempted to prevent her from betraying him when the Banmon collapse. In episode 22, his cruelty toward his now ex-wife has caused her to turn against him and his land and divorced their marriage connection as she escaped with Dororo who he captured the little girl as a hostage to use against Hyakkimaru. He will show no mercy or regret to his ex-wife and swear to kill her without hesitation for her betrayal against him and siding with Hyakkimaru and Dororo.
Daigo has the greatest hatred toward his eldest son, Hyakkimaru for ruining his ambitions of wiping out innocent people's lives by killing the demons. He abandoned Hyakkimaru after he was born deformed. When learning Hyakkimaru is alive, Daigo became furious and sent out to kill his son. He called Hyakkimaru as a half-demon child. His hatred toward his son has suddenly increased as they became arch-enemies after the Banmon wall collapse after Kyubi death and his ex-wife's blood offering to the demons. For Hyakkimaru In return, also hold a deepest hatred toward his father when called him by his name as "Daigo" and refused to address the lord as his father and returning to the homeland to kill his father in order to take back all of his body parts even if means to bring destruction to their homeland. After Asura's defeat, Daigo admitted he is guilty of offering his son to the demons and being a bit stern to him. He offered Hyakkimaru to end him with a seppuku as his kaishakunin as the lord himself is dying from the side-effect of made a pact with the 12 demons as it succumbing his life.
Due to following the path of evil, Daigo is ruthless, and uncaring toward the poor and innocent people. He shows no mercy on anyone who gets in his way. He ordered his men to kill Mio and the orphaned children who lived with her as he thought of Mio to be a supposedly enemy's spy. He ordered his men to burned the village and kill the inhabitants which he considered as a plague. However, He has use of those as hostages against his most hated enemies when he ordered his men to capture Dororo to use the girl against his son, Hyakkimaru.
Daigo is also a coward who is afraid of an ominous prophecy that his son, Hyakkimaru returns to take back his body parts and Daigo will be killed by the hands of his son. He tried to use a dirty trick to change his fate by ordering his men to capture Dororo to use her as a hostage against his son only for Dororo to escape with Nui. Before the war against the Asakura Clan would begin, Daigo shown in fears that his defense lines are destroyed by his son, Hyakkimaru (which Daigo has caused his son to be consumed with rage after his men captured Dororo which allowed Hyakkimaru to awakened his demonic powers) as Hyakkimaru slaughtered Daigo's entire troops and bases. With Daigo's defenses became weak, Daigo doesn't have many troops left and became outnumbered and there is no hope for him to win the war against the Asakura Clan's entire troops even retreating to his domain would only make it worse. Despite being outnumbered and lose many soldiers and defenses from Hyakkimaru's rampage, Daigo has no other choice but to carry on the war even though it is suicide.
Daigo is extremely stern to his youngest son, Tahomaru. He raised and trained him to succeeded him but is not ready for actual wars. However, Daigo is being too harsh on Tahomaru about his questions of finding a baby who disappeared 16 years ago. Daigo manipulated Tahomaru about Hyakkimaru would destroy their land just to stay as innocent. He is overprotective to his son and ordered his men to not let him die so that he would succeed him. After Tahomaru died in a domain collapse, Daigo asked to Hyakkimaru to kill him to reunite with Tahomaru in the afterlife rather than dying from the side-effects of making a pact with the demons.
Biography[]
Story of Daigo[]
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Story of Tahomaru[]
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Story of Banmon[]
In the Eleventh Episodes after Tahomaru and his retainers unknowingly encounter his long-lost brother Tahomaru's retainers report to their lord the enigmatic "blind-man with prosthetic arms" shocked at this Daigo stares ahead with clear anger while his wife, equally shocked wife weeps at the prospect that her son is alive and well after all of this time. Unfortunately, Daigo does not share this enthusiasm and prepares to set out
his wife tries to stop him but Daigo brushes her away reminding her of what may have happened had he not made the bargain, to begin with. His wife responds by asking if Daigo's land was truly what had mattered to him or his eventual ambition to take over other domains and become a Great Lord, but Daigo is unperturbed by this and colds continues on his way unaware that Tahomaru had eavesdropped on what they had said.
Daigo than leaves alone with a small troupe wishing to keep his movements a secret but is spotted by Asakura spies who report back to their superiors who prepare for his arrival at Banmon.
During this story, the demons that Daigo made a pact with long ago are shown to have kept their side of the bargain: Daigo's land flourishes aside from a lack of rain, and when compared to the countries that Hyakkimaru and Dororo have already visited, the land itself is bustling and active. The propaganda that Daigo defeated various demons enshrined at the Hall of Hell and that his land is protected by the Goddess of Mercy spreads through word of the lip. The Monk Biwamaru opts to take a look at the place where Daigo was said to have defeated the demons and is shocked by the evil aura emitting from the temple which causes him great concern.
As Hyakkimaru does battle with the Kyubi who was attracted to Banmon, archers under Daigo's command fire at it saving Hyakkimaru's life, the two than stare down each other, Hyakkimaru seeing Daigo's soul as similar to his own, an oddly denser than normal blob with streaks of red rising up from his soul; father and son coming face-to-face for the first time in sixteen years, the mysterious headless Buddha statue cracks from the head down at their confrontation.
Daigo furiously asked Hyakkimaru about his survival before ordering his men to kill him only for Hyakkimaru to escape. When the Banmon wall collapse from Nui's blood offering, Daigo and his troops retreated and swore vengeance on Hyakkimaru as he claimed to his son brought "misfortune" to him.
Final Defeat & Death[]
In Episode 24, in spite of all his preparations, Daigo's battle against the Asakura Clan went badly. No longer protected by the demons magic and with his forces weakened due to a combination of famine and disease, the Lord of Ishikawa's forces were gradually pushed back. In the midst of the engagement, a messenger informed Daigo that a second Asakura army was preparing to attack their flank. As Daigo prepared to personally head out and meet this new force, a second messenger told him that his castle had been destroyed by a fire and that his wife and heir were both missing. Though he already suspected what this meant, Daigo had no choice but to go ahead with his plan and led his men against the Asakura forces.
Despite his resolve, Daigo was defeated and his army was slaughtered. Through means unspecified the Samurai Lord managed to escape, but not before sustaining serious injuries. Mortally wounded, his realm in ruin, his people scattered, his army slain, the Asakura closing in and his wife and heir both dead, Daigo retreated to the one area of his palace not destroyed by the fire, the Hall of Hell. There as expected, he found the twelfth and final demon statue broken. Knowing that his pact with the demons had been broken forever, Daigo Kagemitsu sat on the floor and calmly awaited his fate.
Some time later, Hyakkimaru arrived. Now able to truly look upon his father, the younger man finally saw what his sire looked like, ironically within the very same hall where his father had sold him away. The now completely restored Hyakkimaru beheld a broken man. Barely acknowledging or looking at the son he'd betrayed, Daigo asked the boy if it had been worth it? Hyakkimaru had gotten his body back, but at what cost?
As Daigo had anticipated, Ishikawa was now in ruins. Most of its people were dead and the rest were either starving or dying thanks to Hyakkimaru's actions, a fate they would no doubt suffer for many years now. Despite this, Daigo, in contrast to his wife, continued to show no remorse for his actions. The demons, he proclaimed, had kept his realm safe, whilst giving him the power and prosperity he (and every samurai lord) craved. As his vengeful son advanced towards him, Daigo stated that if given the choice, he would gladly repeat his actions all over again, with one exception. Declaring that he should never have entrusted Hyakkimaru's fate to another, Daigo said that he should killed the boy himself. Had he done so, his pact this calamity would never have happened.
Hearing Hyakkimaru pick up one of his swords, Daigo, believing that he was about to die, calmly told his son that he was free to kill him if wished. Showing no fear, he declared that it made no difference and that once he was dead, his spirit would go on to join that of the equally damned Tahomaru and that together they would protect this realm as demons.
To Daigo's astonishment however, Hyakkimaru did not kill him. Instead of his back, the young ronin plunged his father's katana into the samurai lords helmet. Declaring that he would rather suffer as a human than be transformed into a demon, Hyakkimaru removed something from his kimono and placed it onto the floor. After telling Daigo that he should also live on as a man, the young warrior left his dying father to his fate. Looking down, Daigo saw that Hyakkimaru had left behind a wooden carving of the Goddess of Mercy, carved from the same one his wife prayed had prayed to daily. It was now repaired and its head restored.
Only then did Daigo Kagemitsu realise the full gravity of his mistake.
Turning his back on the destroyed statues, the dying Lord spent his last remaining moments bowing before the statue of the deity. Recognizing his sons strength and resolve to survive, the Lord of Ishikawa finally understood that the Gods had infact answered his prayers after all. Hyakkimaru was meant to be this lands salvation and Daigo had thrown it away via his pact with the demons. If Daigo had just been patient and raised Hyakkimaru to be a leader, the prosperity that he had dreamed of may have come about naturally and all of this carnage may been avoided.
Unfortunately for Daigo Kagemitsu, this epiphany came too late. He had already lost everything and due to his pact, was now doomed to damnation. Lord Daigo Kagemitsu of Ishikawa was last shown weeping inside the Hall of Hell, despairing and lamenting for what might have been. Although Daigo's final fate is not shown, it is safe to assume that he succumbed to his injuries not long afterwards. The despairing man died alone inside the Hall of Hell, fittingly and ironically meeting his end in the same place where he had unknowingly sealed his own fate, sixteen years previously.
Differences between the adaptations[]
- In the original manga and anime, Daigo made a deal with forty-eight demons rather than twelve.
Creation and Conception[]
The original manga and black and white anime's version of Daigo is a much different character than the re-imagining of the story that the 55th-anniversary anime presents. In the manga, Daigo intentionally sells his unborn son to the demons and later tries to recruit him shameless to the fact that he had abandoned and discarded him once before. Daigo in the story is meant to be a just as evil or much more evil character than the demons that Hyakkimaru fights against to add a way of people being just as bad as demons.
The first meeting between father and son is also quite different in the manga, with Hyakkimaru already having gotten one of his eyes and being able to see again and sights Daigo and his men at Banmon which gives him a sudden "longing" at the enigmatic man despite having never seen him before.
Trivia[]
- Due to his cruelty toward his wife and his failed murdering attempts on his eldest son, Hyakkimaru, Daigo is considered to both a terrible husband and father.
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 Villains
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Daigo Kagemitsu | Tahomaru 48 Demons | ||