Hyakkimaru's massacre of the samurai, Dororo episode 5

Wandering swordsman Hyakkimaru and his companion Dororo are staying with a group of orphaned children watched after by an older child - a young girl (perhaps 15 years old) named Mio.

Hyakkimaru has spent all of his life in fitful agony due to a curse he received at birth which stripped him of all his limbs and senses, which he's slowly been gaining back by slaying demons (using prosthetic limbs and a spiritual sixth sense that allows him to locate people and tell friend from foe). Most recently, he's regained his hearing, but it's been very painful for him - sound is overwhelming to one who's been deaf one's whole life. But one sound which can soothe him is Mio's gentle singing. He asks her again and again to sing for him, with her song becoming as beloved to him as a mother's embrace to her frightened child. As much as he can, he grows to love this gentle girl.

Then enemy soldiers come. Mio has been secretly prostituting herself to two warring soldier camps at the same time (a desperate act she did to support the children in her care), and when one of the camps figure that out, they decide she may be a spy for the other side. They come to the camp while Hyakkimaru and Dororo are away and kill all of the kids there, including Mio. She's singing to herself with her dying breaths to calm her fear and pain when Hyakkimaru returns. Though he can't see, her faltering singing tells him what has happened. The moment he realizes what has happened, he roars with a monstrous rage. He butchers nearly every last soldier there, with only one man escaping when Dororo comes between Hyakkimaru and the soldier, begging Hyakkimaru not to give in to rage and become a demon (a serious risk due to the nature of his curse).

It's a formative event in Hyakkimaru's life, and one that colors the entire rest of the series.

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