WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Doron Dororon Chapter 13, "Touma Toda," by Gen Oosuka, Camellia Nieh and Phil Christie, available in English at Viz and Manga Plus.
Despite aiming to be a Samurai to kill monsters called Mononoke, Doron Dororon's main character, Dora Sasaki, doesn't have a drop of supernatural energy. Dora's fateful meeting with Kusanagi, a peace-loving Mononoke, provides him another chance to fulfill his promise to his late mother. Although the duo has enough offensive strength to easily eliminate low-ranking monsters, Dora's lack of supernatural energy proves to be their weak point. A new character's entrance in Chapter 13, however, helps solve this predicament.
After being discovered by the Samurai forces, Dora and Kusanagi were taken to the Izanagi force headquarters. Heisuke Ujii backed the duo from the elders, resulting in their temporary acceptance to the Samurai forces. Since the top-ranking Samurai supported them, Heisuke was forced to take the duo under his care. He was quick to pinpoint their weakness after a single exchange, then tasked them to figure out a way around Dora's obvious vulnerability.
Chapter 13 of Doron Dororon introduces yet another new character. Returning from a long assignment, Touma Toda was enthusiastically welcomed by his colleagues and quickly learned of the duo's stay in the headquarters. What intrigued Toda wasn't the fact that Kusanagi, a Mononoke, was staying in their midst, but that Dora was in there as well. While Dora and Kusanagi were busy training and busting their heads to come up with a solution, Toda interrupted them and tried to settle his self-proclaimed score with Dora.
Toda claimed to be Dora's rival and revealed an unsuspecting history with his so-called archnemesis. The two boys' history dated back to before Toda became a Samurai, when he used to continuously challenge Dora despite being knocked by a single punch for four straight months. Dora wanted to repeat his feat but the Samurai proved to be sturdier than he remembered.
He immediately noticed the lack of supernatural energy in Dora's attacks, prompting the latter to reveal their current situation. Toda explained the basics of how Samurai used swords, lighting a bulb inside Kusanagi's head. The Mononoke then shrouded Dora with its supernatural energy, solving their dilemma.
Kusanagi's witty and ingenious solution for Dora's lack of supernatural energy only came into being because of his easily comprehensible explanation. Interestingly, Toda is everything one expects him not to be, which also makes his character hard to hate. For one, he is incredibly righteous and persistent despite how he looks. He continuously challenged Dora for the sake of his underclassmen, all of whom Dora defeated in a 14-on-1 fight. In fact, his persistence to be Dora's rival reminds one of Might Guy and Kakashi's dynamics in Naruto.
From the human-loving Mononoke to the recognition-seeking Samurai, Doron Dororon isn't lacking in likable characters. Toda's introduction to the series further spices up the cast, and readers already can't wait to see more of him in future updates of the manga.
