Mio

* 1969 Anime
* Manga

**Mio** (ミオ, *Mio*) was a young girl who lived in an abandoned temple with orphans who lost their parents in the war. In order to provide food for the children, she serves both of the warring clans during night time as a prostitute. She was Hyakkimaru's love interest.

She was killed by troops sent by the order of Hyakkimaru's father, Kagemitsu Daigo on suspicion of her being an enemy spy.

## Appearance

Mio is a dainty lady with long brown hair that curls at the edges, and brown eyes. She has her bangs laid across her face which reaches her mouth.

She wears a frayed red kimono with white flower patterns.

## Personality

Mio is kind and caring as she tends to put others in priority instead of herself. Although her job is difficult, she is determined to work harder and give the best for the orphaned children, serving them as a mother-figure.

As mentioned, she is not ashamed of her job as long as she can earn from it. However, she does have a tendency to refer to herself as "Filthy" because of it, even telling Hyakkimaru not to look at her in fear of her soul's color being filthy, despite it actually being a pure color.

## Relationships

### Hyakkimaru

> "*How strange. I don't loathe these hands.*" ― Mio to Hyakkimaru in Episode 6
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Mio took care of Hyakkimaru when he was injured and also provided him and Dororo shelter at the temple whilst his recovery. Often times Mio will sing songs to sooth Hyakkimaru's pain. Her kindness led Hyakkimaru into falling in love with her and furthermore confessing his feelings towards her. Feeling insecure, Mio tried to shake Hyakkimaru off seeing that she was too "impure" for him. Nonetheless, Hyakkimaru still loved her. Unfortunately, during a time when Hyakkimaru was away, his father, Kagemitsu Daigo deployed troops and killed Mio and all of the children residing in the temple, in which was suspected as enemy spies. Her death has caused Hyakkimaru to go on a rampage and slaughtered almost all of Daigo's men to avenge her death. Mio's death further motivated Hyakkimaru to retrieve his body parts. In Episode 12 when Hyakkimaru sees the soul of the samurai that killed Mio he was about to go on a rampage once again but Dororo stopped him. This shows that Mio's death had a deep affect on Hyakkimaru and continues to haunt him. After Hyakkimaru retrieves all his body parts, It is heavily implied that he grew the rice fields in memory of Mio's dream as seen in the end of the final episode.

### Dororo

> "*It's okay, I'm not ashamed about it.*" ― Mio talking to Dororo about her "work" in Episode 6
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Mio and Dororo were friends. Mio gives Dororo and Hyakkimaru shelter until Kagemitsu's men killed her and orphaned children. After her death, Mio and the orphaned children were buried by Hyakkimaru and Dororo.

### Take and the orphaned children

Mio is the caretaker of all the orphans living in the abandoned temple. When she is out for work, Mio will entrust the responsibility to Take until she returns. Despite not being blood-related, she considers herself and children to be a big family who looks out for each other. Sadly, She and the orphaned children were killed by Kagemitsu's troops allowing their deaths cause Hyakkimaru consumed with rage and slaughtered the troop except for the one-armed man who escaped.

## Trivia

* The song Mio sings is a folk song named Red Flower White Flower (赤い花 白い花, *Akai hana Shiroi hana*).
* Mio made an appearance in the anime Young Black Jack as an alternate character and was married to Hyakkimaru's alternate character Hyakkimaruo.