Dorohedoro
Dorohedoro (ドロヘドロ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Q Hayashida. It tells the story of the amnesiac reptilian-headed Caiman, working together with his friend Nikaido to recover his memories and survive in a strange and violent world. The manga was first serialized in Shogakukan's seinen magazine Monthly Ikki from November 2000 until September 2014, when the magazine ceased publication. It was then serialized in Hibana from March 2015 to August 2017, when Hibana ceased publication as well. Dorohedoro was then transferred to Monthly Shōnen Sunday in November 2017 and finished in September 2018. Shogakukan collected its chapters in 23 tankōbon volumes.
Dorohedoro | |
Cover of the first manga tankōbon volume | |
ドロヘドロ | |
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Genre | |
Manga | |
Written by | Q Hayashida |
Published by | Shogakukan |
English publisher | |
Imprint | Ikki Comix |
Magazine |
|
Demographic | Seinen, shōnen |
Original run | November 30, 2000 – September 12, 2018 |
Volumes | 23 |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Yuichiro Hayashi |
Written by | Hiroshi Seko |
Music by | R.O.N (Know Name) |
Studio | MAPPA |
Licensed by | Netflix |
Original network | Tokyo MX, BS11, MBS |
Original run | January 12, 2020 – March 29, 2020 |
Episodes | 12 + 6 OVA |
In North America, the series has been licensed for English-language release by Viz Media in 2009, which began distributing the manga digitally when it launched SigIKKI, the now defunct online English version of Ikki magazine. The 23 volumes were published from March 2010 to September 2019.
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA was broadcast in Japan on Tokyo MX from January to March 2020. It was followed by a worldwide streaming release on Netflix in May 2020.
Synopsis
Setting
The series is set in a post-apocalyptic future,[1] taking place in two separate dimensions; the Hole, a dismal cityscape where humans reside; and the Sorcerers' world, home of sorcerers. Sorcerers are capable of traveling to and from the Hole by summoning magical doors.
Despite appearing similar, humans and sorcerers are two distinct species, the former evolving naturally, while the latter originated from a primordial devil named Chidaruma. Sorcerers have specialized organs called smoke pipes in their body enabling them to produce "smoke", the source of their unique magical powers. Some sorcerers have weak powers (dubbed low-level sorcerers) while others may be capable of far greater feats such as resurrecting the dead or controlling time; these powers are incredibly rare and highly prized. The amount of smoke a sorcerer is capable of producing determines the effectiveness of their magic abilities. Many sorcerers work to improve their smoke output through surgery, or more commonly, the illicit use of black powder, a smoke-enhancing drug distributed by a gang of low-level sorcerers called the Cross-Eyes. Smoke can also be bought and sold.
The hierarchy of the sorcerers' world is structured around these differences in ability: powerful sorcerers, such as The En Family, enjoy a life of luxury; while weak sorcerers, who produce such low amounts of smoke they may be unable to use magic at all, live in poverty. Powerful sorcerers may undergo a metamorphosis to become a devil — an immortal being with incredible powers, following a rigorous training regimen. Devils are deeply respected by sorcerer-kind and also manage the affairs of a third realm, Hell, where they work with Chidaruma to torture the souls of dead sorcerers.
Sorcerers regularly visit the Hole to practice their magic on humans, leading to large numbers of victims and disfigured survivors. Hospitals have been established to deal with the ever-growing numbers of magic victims, but humans can do little to repel sorcerers.
Plot
The plot centers on a man named Caiman and his search for his real identity after a transformation by a sorcerer left him with a reptile's head and no memory of his former life. Along with his friend Nikaido, he violently assaults sorcerers in the Hole, with the aim of taking their heads into his mouth, where a strange face will appear and confirm whether the sorcerer he has bitten onto was the one responsible for his transformation or not. Somehow, Caiman is immune to magical effects and as a result is extremely dangerous to sorcerers.
The news of a lizard-headed sorcerer-killer immune to magic attracts the attention of En, a powerful sorcerer and head of a syndicate known as “The En Family”, who sends his cleaners Shin and Noi to kill Caiman. En himself is currently attempting to scrub out a gang of low-level sorcerers known as the Cross-Eyes, after an encounter with their legendary boss almost cost him his life years ago.
As the residents of the Hole, the En family and the Cross-Eyes gang, along with many others, collide with one another, the mystery of Caiman's identity begins to unravel, reigniting ancient grudges and threatening to forever change both the Hole and the sorcerers' world.
Characters
- Caiman (カイマン, Kaiman)
- Voiced by: Wataru Takagi[7] (Japanese); Aleks Le[8] (English)
- Caiman is a victim of a magic attack that has left him with the head of a reptile and no memory of his original identity. He works with his friend Nikaido to hunt down Sorcerers who enter the Hole, hoping to find the one who cast the spell on him and kill him to nullify it. By biting down on the heads of Sorcerers, a mysterious presence that lives in his mouth communicates with the bewildered Sorcerer, stating whether or not they are "the one". Caiman then spits them out and asks the Sorcerer to repeat the information to him. This is his only lead to finding his original identity. Caiman's immunity to magic and formidable knife skills make him incredibly skilled at battling Sorcerers. He also has the ability to regenerate his head, allowing him to survive lethal attacks such as decapitation. When not fighting, Caiman loves eating gyoza and frequently sends Nikaido's restaurant, The Hungry Bug, teetering towards financial ruin due to his reluctance to pay his tab. While his imposing figure frightens some, he is generally well-liked in the Hole. At the beginning of the series, he works part time at a hospital for the treatment of magic victims.
- Caiman's original identity is a complicated affair. He was born a human in the Hole named Ai Coleman, who dreamed of becoming a Sorcerer. Working with Professor Kasukabe, Ai underwent an experimental procedure to transform himself into a Sorcerer, utilising the body parts of eight slaughtered Sorcerers. While acquiring a Sorcerer body, Ai plunged into the Hole's central, toxic lake of refuse, where he made contact with an entity formed from the residual magic soaked into Hole's mud and the souls of countless humans slaughtered by Sorcerers. This entity, known as "Hole" entered his body acting as a secondary consciousness that would periodically take over. Following the conclusion of the experiment, Ai was found dead in the corrosive waters of the Hole and was subsequently buried. However, due to the presence of Hole within him, he was revived by the polluted rainwater and escaped into the Sorcerer's world. While living as a Sorcerer, Ai bounced between two distinct personalities; Aikawa, a carefree student, and Kai, the murderous boss of 'the Cross-Eye Gang', who began to orchestrate Hole's ancient revenge plot by slaughtering Sorcerers and collecting their devil tumours (the source of each sorcerer's unique power). Ultimately, Caiman came into being when Kai murdered Aikawa's best friend, Risu, triggering his unique "curse" magic and sending Kai fleeing back into the Hole. Risu's vengeful ghost decapitated him. However, due to the original 8 sorcerer corpses used in the experiment, he now had 9 heads which functioned as 9 lives. As the second head began to emerge, Kai's headless corpse smashed a bottle of reptile-transformation smoke he had been given for protection. These multiple magic effects smashed together, trapping Risu's curse within Kai's body (the source of the man in his mouth), transforming his head into a lizard's and severely damaging his memories.
- Nikaidō (二階堂)
- Voiced by: Reina Kondō[7] (Japanese); Reba Buhr[8] (English)
- Caiman's best friend and owner of the Hungry Bug, a restaurant in the Hole. She found Caiman after his initial transformation and helps him hunt down Sorcerers in the hopes of returning his memories and face. She is secretly a Sorcerer herself, and the only known Sorcerer capable of time manipulation. Unwilling to use her magic due to an incident in her youth, she fled to the Hole at a young age and has resided there ever since. Despite this, she has powerful contacts in the Sorcerer's world, namely a devil named Asu who was once raised alongside her. Nikaido is an incredibly skilled fighter in spite of not using magic, typically utilising hand-to-hand combat and acrobatics to disable foes.
- En (煙)
- Voiced by: Kenyu Horiuchi[7] (Japanese); Keith Silverstein[8] (English)
- The leader of The En Family and the corporate boss of various business that sells mushroom-based products, ranging from culinary, weapons manufacture, psychedelics, automotives and housing. He's shown to be a man who has a large expansive group of lackeys, and is Noi and Shin's boss. He wears a mask that holds over his mouth similar to a surgeon's mask, and his smoke can turn people and objects into mushrooms. He is also quite fond of mushrooms, so much so that he themes every product he sells after them, and tends to only eat mushrooms.
- From the moment he was born, En was surrounded by mushrooms. He believes he transformed his parents into mushrooms, and survived by eating them until a man entered his house and sold him off to a group of low level sorcerers who runs a factory meant to forcefully extract smoke from Sorcerers and sell them. He was thrown away when he was nine, where he was found by a devil who dumped him into hell. En only survived the journey into hell because he was so full of hate that he couldn't risk dying before exacting revenge. In Hell he survived by creating mushrooms to feed upon. Two years after being dumped to Hell, the devil Chidaruma found him and gave him the name 'En', then sent him back to the Sorcerers' world. A year and a half later he exacted his revenge against the workers in the factory where he grew up by turning them into mushrooms, destroying the factory, and freeing all the captive sorcerers. He alongside the victims of the factory formed a syndicate, from which his criminal empire began to grow.
- Shin (心) and Noi (能井)
- Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya[7] (Japanese); Sean Chiplock[8] (English) (Shin)
- Voiced by: Yū Kobayashi[7] (Japanese); Cherami Leigh[8] (English) (Noi)
- En's enforcers or "cleaners". As partners, Shin and Noi are commonly shown competing with one another while on a job, placing bets on who can kill more people or kill a person faster.
- Shin is one of the most powerful fighters. He fights with a hammer as a weapon and uses magic smoke that mutilates his victims without killing them. Shin's mask is shaped like a human heart which he usually wears backwards. Without the mask he is blond with blue eyes, and wears glasses. He is usually in a suit with an untucked white shirt and sneakers. He is actually half-Sorcerer, due to his father being human, and was born in the Hole. Shin's mother was killed by the local Hole militia not long after his birth. Initially unable to use magic, Shin was able to live life peacefully in the Hole with his father, with the two of them keeping his true nature a secret. However an incident at the factory where they worked at exposed his true nature and led to his father's death at the hands of the militia. Shin also became an outlaw and, after killing his father's murderers, went on the run for three months until encountering Dr. Kasukabe, who helped enable him to use magic through surgery. He then took revenge on the militia by killing off several of their members, causing them to disband. Eventually, he made his way to the Sorcerer's world and was recruited by En as one of his enforcers.
- Noi is a powerful cleaner for En's organization and is also En's younger cousin. She is heavily muscled and towering in height, leading other characters to mistake her for a man while wearing her mask. Noi's hair is pale white-blond, and her eyes appear red—suggesting she might be albino. Her hair is mid length, and she has several piercings on her ears. Her smoke grants her the ability to heal herself and others of any injury. Despite being cousins, Noi and En's relationship is very strained, with Noi admitting to have never really liked En. In contrast, she is very affectionate to Shin, sometimes to his exasperation. Noi first met Shin in their adolescence, during which she was training to become a devil. Noi helped heal Shin's arms (which were rotten due to the crude procedure involved in enabling him to use magic), which drove Shin to try and find a way to repay her. A friendship between them developed, and during the final stage of her training, Shin was mortally injured in a fight while protecting Noi. Despite his objections, Noi used her magic to heal Shin, costing her chance at becoming a devil as result, a choice she does not regret. Noi's mask is very detailed, dark blue and apparently vinylic.
- Fujita (藤田)
- Voiced by: Kengo Takanashi[7] (Japanese); Bryce Papenbrook[8] (English)
- Fujita is a low-level who works for a company headed by En. His partner is killed by Caiman. He is assigned to find the Sorcerer who transformed Caiman into a saurian. A bit of research reveals a reptilian transformation specialist—Ebisu. Fujita recalls passing her while in the Hole, and so he manages to locate and save her just as she's stuck in the jaws of Caiman. The incident leaves Ebisu traumatized, and Fujita watches after her while waiting for her memory to return.
- Fujita wears a trapper hat and a Tengu mask, and is known to cover his eyes during horror movies. His magic has yet to be defined, although he fired his smoke like bullets on one occasion.
- Ebisu (恵比寿)
- Voiced by: Miyu Tomita[7] (Japanese); Cristina Vee[8] (English)
- Ebisu is sullen-looking teenage girl who wears a skull-shaped mask. While in the Hole, she runs into Caiman and Nikaido, who cuts off Ebisu's fingers to prevent her from using magic, and bites down on her head after removing her mask. Before he can withdraw to ask her his question, a frantic Fujita appears from a door behind her and forcefully pulls her out of his clamped-down jaws into the door, which results in the skin being torn off completely from her face. After this incident, Ebisu is shown to be haunted by nightmares, and has become somewhat insane. At En's residence, she is restrained until Noi can properly heal and restore her fingers and face. Past that point, it is evident her head trauma caused some brain damage, as seen in her suddenly eccentric behavior. She is commonly seen with Fujita.
- Records state she is skilled in Reptile transformation. However between panels it shows her having attacked someone with a surplus of power after being fed Black Powder by someone who appeared to have met her before. It is revealed she was a black smoke user, and had heard the words said to her from the man inside Caiman's head. Some of her memories return when she herself transforms into a large dinosauric lizard, proving that the consumption of black powder from a young age has caused an increase in power. It is eventually revealed that she was the one who hexed Caiman when she is temporarily killed and the spell is lifted from Caiman. It is revealed later that this is due to a bottle of her smoke that she had sold, and not a direct curse.
- Professor Kasukabe (春日部博士, Kasukabe hakase)
- Voiced by: Mitsuhiro Ichiki[7] (Japanese); Griffin Burns (English)
- A mad scientist obsessed with Sorcerers who has studied them intently for decades. He is approached by Caiman and Nikaido to use his artificial door to the Sorcerer's world. Although in his 60s, he looks incredibly young due to magic cast on him by his estranged, Sorcerer wife, Haru, who has since become a devil. His real name is Haze. He is frequently seen with his sidekick, Jonson. Kasukabe is one of the only characters who remembers Ai Coleman and played a pivotal role in Caiman's history.
- Jonson (ジョンソン)
- Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura[9] (Japanese); Joseph Whimms (English)
- A giant cockroach living in the sewers of the Hole who was mutated by the residual smoke in the Hole's polluted water. Jonson originally belonged to another resident of the Hole who was hunting down magic victims, but is later adopted by Professor Kasukabe and rarely leaves his side from then on. Kasukabe is able to control Jonson using specialised frequencies and can even make him talk, though he is only capable of saying "shocking".
- Vaux (バウクス, Baukusu)
- Voiced by: Hisao Egawa[7] (Japanese); Michael Sorich (English)
- 13 (サーティーン, Sātīn)
- Voiced by: Yūki Kaji[7] (Japanese); Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
- Kikurage (キクラゲ)
- Voiced by: Mayu Udono[10] (Japanese); Cassandra Lee Morris (English)
- Kikurage is a small, pink chimeric creature with the ability to revive sorcerers. Previously, it was controlled by sorcerer who passed off its power as her own; En was planning to make her his partner, but upon discovering the deception, En was enraged and turned her into mushrooms. En found the creature inside her shirt and took it as a pet, naming it Kikurage, literally meaning Judas's Ear, due to its ears resembling Auricularia auricula-judae.
- Kikurage is self-centered and only uses its powers when it feels like it. It is doted on by both En and Ebisu throughout the series. It is called Judas's Ear in the official Viz translation of the manga.
- Turkey (ターキー, Tākī)
- Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki[10] (Japanese); Chris Smith (English)
- Turkey is a high level sorcerer with the ability to create living dolls of people using food, which look exactly like the original. The doll will obey commands to do various tasks as they are usually mindless and obedient, but in some situations they won't, like in the case of Risu's doll.
- The quality of the doll depends on the quality of the ingredients and spices used; if she uses terrible ingredients (e.g. human flesh) with no spices to make the doll, the doll may slowly fall apart overtime.
- Chōta (鳥太)
- Voiced by: Anri Katsu[10] (Japanese); Doug Erholtz (English)
- Matsumura (松村)
- Voiced by: Tōru Nara[11] (Japanese); Tony Azzolino (English)
- Aitake (愛茸) / Maitake (舞茸)
- Voiced by: Mayu Udono[11]
- Tanba (丹波)
- Voiced by: Tetsu Inada[10] (Japanese); Taylor Henry (English)
- A stern, aggressive, but ultimately caring owner of a restaurant whom Caiman briefly works for upon his second visit to the Sorcerer's world.
- Risu (栗鼠)
- Voiced by: Songdo[10] (Japanese); Billy Kametz (English)
- A sorcerer who has a strong connection to Caiman's past, and is evidently linked to the man who resides in his mouth. Murdered three years before the start of the series at the hands of an unknown assailant, he is later resurrected by the En Family through Kikurage's power. Much like Caiman, he bears two cross marks tattooed on his eyes. He is currently in search of his enigmatic best friend, Aikawa, who was the last person he saw before his sudden death.
- Asu (アス) / Kawajiri (川尻)
- Voiced by: Hozumi Gōda[10] (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)
- Asu, real name Kawajiri, is a Devil, and close associate of Nikaido in the Sorcerer's world. He is later revealed to have once been Nikaido's adoptive elder brother. However, Nikaido, in her attempts to undo a tragic mistake in her youth with her magic, unintentionally altered the past which led them to live completely different lives. Nikaido is the only one to remember their former lives of the original timeline.
- Fukuyama (福山)
- Voiced by: Takuma Terashima[11] (Japanese); Michael Chapman (English)
- Insect Sorcerer (虫の魔法使い)
- Voiced by: Hiro Shimono[11]
- Melting Sorcerer (なんでも溶かす魔法使い)
- Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu[11]
- Life-Giving Sorcerer (命を与える魔法使い)
- Voiced by: Miyuri Shimabukuro[11]
- Chidaruma (チダルマ)
- Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba[10] (Japanese); Chris Smith (English)
- The oldest and most powerful of the Devils, and the ruler of both Hell and the Sorcerer's world. A nigh-omnipotent being, Chidaruma is also the creator of the Sorcerers. In spite of his immense power and influence, he suffers from constant boredom, and thus seeks excitement and different ways to entertain himself.
Media
Manga
Dorohedoro is written and illustrated by Q Hayashida. The series began in the first ever issue of Shogakukan's Spirits Zōkan Ikki (re-branded as Monthly Ikki in 2003), released on November 30, 2000.[12][13] Monthly Ikki ceased publication on September 25, 2014,[14][15] and the series was transferred to Monthly Ikki's magazine replacement Hibana, starting publication of March 6, 2015.[16][17][18] Hibana ceased publication after two years, on August 7, 2017,[19] and Dorohedoro was transferred to Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine on November 10, 2017.[20][21] The manga finished, after 18 years of publication, on September 12, 2018, with its 167th chapter.[5][22] Shogakukan has compiled the chapters into twenty-three tankōbon volumes, released from January 30, 2002 to November 12, 2018.[23][24] A 14-page special chapter was published 17 months after the series' finale in the March issue of Monthly Shōnen Sunday on February 12, 2020.[25][26][27]
In North America, Viz Media began distributing the manga digitally in 2009 when it launched its SigIKKI site, the former online English version of Monthly Ikki.[28] The twenty-three volumes of Dorohedoro were released in print from March 16, 2010 to September 17, 2019.[1][29][30] It was translated by the localization company AltJapan Co., Ltd., who has continued to translate all subsequent releases.[31]
Volume list
No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | January 30, 2002[23] | 978-4-09-188271-4 | March 16, 2010[29] | 978-1-4215-3363-6 |
02 | September 30, 2002[32] | 978-4-09-188272-1 | August 17, 2010[33] | 978-1-4215-3376-6 |
03 | June 30, 2003[34] | 978-4-09-188273-8 | January 18, 2011[35] | 978-1-4215-3377-3 |
04 | January 30, 2004[36] | 978-4-09-188274-5 | August 16, 2011[37] | 978-1-4215-3378-0 |
05 | August 30, 2004[38] | 978-4-09-188275-2 | December 20, 2011[39] | 978-1-4215-3379-7 |
06 | February 28, 2005[40] | 978-4-09-188276-9 | April 17, 2012[41] | 978-1-4215-3380-3 |
07 | October 28, 2005[42] | 978-4-09-188277-6 | August 21, 2012[43] | 978-1-4215-3381-0 |
08 | May 30, 2006[44] | 978-4-09-188278-3 | December 18, 2012[45] | 978-1-4215-3382-7 |
09 | January 30, 2007[46] | 978-4-09-188279-0 | April 16, 2013[47] | 978-1-4215-3383-4 |
10 | July 30, 2007[48] | 978-4-09-188280-6 | August 13, 2013[49] | 978-1-4215-3384-1 |
11 | February 29, 2008[50] | 978-4-09-188283-7 | December 17, 2013[51] | 978-1-4215-3385-8 |
12 | September 30, 2008[52] | 978-4-09-188284-4 | April 15, 2014[53] | 978-1-4215-3386-5 |
13 | May 29, 2009[54] | 978-4-09-188285-1 | August 19, 2014[55] | 978-1-4215-6535-4 |
14 | January 29, 2010[56] | 978-4-09-188286-8 | December 16, 2014[57] | 978-1-4215-6536-1 |
15 | November 30, 2010[58] | 978-4-09-188287-5 | May 19, 2015[59] | 978-1-4215-6537-8 |
16 | October 28, 2011[60] | 978-4-09-188288-2 | August 18, 2015[61] | 978-1-4215-7795-1 |
17 | September 28, 2012[62] | 978-4-09-188605-7 | December 15, 2015[63] | 978-1-4215-7796-8 |
18 | June 28, 2013[64] | 978-4-09-188625-5 | April 19, 2016[65] | 978-1-4215-7797-5 |
19 | June 30, 2014[66] | 978-4-09-188656-9 | August 16, 2016[67] | 978-1-4215-8391-4 |
20 | September 30, 2015[68] | 978-4-09-188684-2 | January 17, 2017[69] | 978-1-4215-8710-3 |
21 | September 30, 2016[70] | 978-4-09-188689-7 | June 20, 2017[71] | 978-1-4215-9487-3 |
22 | June 30, 2017[72] | 978-4-09-188692-7 | May 15, 2018[73] | 978-1-9747-0023-3 |
23 | November 12, 2018[24] | 978-4-09-188693-4 | September 17, 2019[30] | 978-1-9747-0880-2 |
Anime
An anime television series adaptation of Dorohedoro was announced in the December 2018 issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine released on November 12, 2018.[74] The series is produced by MAPPA and directed by Yuichiro Hayashi, with series composition by Hiroshi Seko, character designs by Tomohiro Kishi, and music composed by R.O.N of (K)NoW_NAME. It ran for 12 episodes from January 12 to March 29, 2020 on Tokyo MX.[7][75][76] The opening theme "Welcome to Chaos" and the series' ending themes "Who am I ?" (ep. 1, 2 and 7), "Night SURFING" (ep. 3–4), "D.D.D.D." (ep. 5–6), "Strange Meat Pie"(ep. 8–9), "SECONDs FLY" (ep. 10–11) and "404" (ep. 12), are performed by (K)NoW_NAME.[11][77][9] A six OVA episodes were bundled with the series' second Blu-ray release on June 17, 2020.[75]
Dorohedoro was released on May 28, 2020 on Netflix outside of Japan.[78] The six OVA episodes was also made available on Netflix on October 15, 2020 as one long singular episode, labeled as episode 13.
Episode list
No. | Title[79] | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | "Caiman" Transcription: "Kaiman" (Japanese: カイマン) | January 12, 2020 | |
Caiman, a large man with a spiked lizard-like head, and his friend Nikaido fight a pair of sorcerers in The Hole. One sorcerer tries to fight back, only to discover Caiman is immune to magic before being killed by him. The second one, Fujita, gets his finger broken by Nikaido before barely escaping through a magic door. Caiman and Nikaido head back home, and pass by an alleyway where Caiman remembers an unidentified sorcerer transforming him, though the rest of his memory is blank. Ever since, Caiman has been shoving sorcerers headfirst into his mouth where they encounter a head he can't see, and if the head says "you are not the one" then Caiman kills them. Caiman thinks that if he finds and kills that sorcerer, he can get his human head back. Later, Caiman gets a part-time job at a local hospital for people injured or killed by sorcerers. While heading back to Nikaido's restaurant, the Hungry Bug, Caiman finds a rookie sorcerer transforming Nikaido into an insect. Caiman quickly kills the sorcerer and turns Nikaido back to normal. The next day, Nikaido and Caiman take a picture of the inside of Caiman's mouth, unsuccessfully trying to get a clue to the head's identity, when another magic door appears nearby. Caiman quickly shoves the female sorcerer into his mouth, but Fujita emerges through another door to drag the woman, Ebisu, back to the sorcerers' world before she can tell Caiman what she saw. Ebisu escapes Caiman's jaws, but has her face torn off in the process. That night, Caiman has a nightmare about the person inside his mouth, and a pair of Cleaners go to work on several enemies. | |||
2 | "In the Bag" Transcription: "Fukuro no Naka" (Japanese: 袋の中) "Eat Quietly During Meals" Transcription: "Shokuji chū wa oshizuka ni" (Japanese: 食事中はお静かに) "My Neighbor the Sorcerer" Transcription: "Tonari no Machi no Mahōtsukai" (Japanese: 隣の町の魔法使い) | January 19, 2020 | |
Shin and Noi, two super-strong Cleaners working for En, wipe out an entire room full of enemies. Caiman picks up his lunch from Nikaido's restaurant before heading to work, where Vaux, his boss, tells him to toss a trash bag in the incinerator. Caiman sees the bag move, and sees a dismembered person inside who recounts the story of the Cleaners who killed him and threw his body in the Hole. Caiman tosses him in the incinerator to end his suffering. Elsewhere, En reserves a table for dinner. Fujita and Ebisu enter a nearby shop to put on formal wear, but Ebisu is delirious after having her face ripped off, forcing Fujita to try dressing her. Eventually the two join Shin and Noi at the restaurant with En. En offers the Cleaners the job to kill Caiman and Nikaido. The group successfully repels an assassination attempt on En, who then turns the assassins into mushrooms with his magic. Later, Caiman and Nikaido head to another town in the Hole to visit a magical Acupuncturist who might be able to give Caiman his human face back. Nikaido fights off some attackers while out shopping and gains a clue to the Acupuncturist's location. The two then head to a bar where the Acupuncturist tries to change Caiman's face, but all Caiman does is shed his skin with no visible change. | |||
3 | "Night of the Dead - Duel! - In Front of the Main Department Store" Transcription: "Shisha no Yoru ― Kettō!― Chūō Depāto Mae" (Japanese: 死者の夜 ― 決闘!― 中央デパート前) | January 26, 2020 | |
Several Hole residents arm themselves for the "Night of the Living Dead," an annual event where stray magic causes dead experiments to rise from the grave as zombies, and local priests have turned the night into a competition, offering prizes for whoever can collect enough metal plates from the zombies' necks. Caiman, Nikaido, and Vaux decide to join the festivities. Menawhile, Fujita gets Noi to magically heal Ebisu before Shin leads the group to the Hole to hunt down Caiman and Nikaido. However, they land in the middle of the Night. Later, Caiman and Nikaido find themselves facing off against Shin and Noi, while Ebisu gets bitten by a zombie. Shin and Noi quickly beat them down, forcing Nikaido to use her own magic power to create a Door and escape. Five days later, Caiman recovers in the hospital when Vaux tells him Nikaido is a sorcerer, but Caiman doesn't believe him. Caiman returns to the Hungry Bug as Nikaido wonders what he'll think of her past as a sorcerer. Soon after, Vaux appears with Caiman's severed head in a jar, unsure what to do with it after Caiman somehow regrew it. The three head to the hospital to perform an autopsy on the head, but are soon interrupted by an invisible force that shuts off the hospital's power and steals the head in the confusion. | |||
4 | "Roast Duck à La Sorcerer" Transcription: "Kamo no Rōsuto Mahōtsukai Soe" (Japanese: 鴨のロースト魔法使い添え) "Formal Attire Requested" Transcription: "Budōkai He wa Seisō de Okoshi Kudasaimase" (Japanese: 舞踏会へは正装でおこし下さいませ) "Another Year in the Hole" Transcription: "Yuku Toshi Kuru Toshi in Hōru" (Japanese: ゆく年くる年 in ホール) | February 2, 2020 | |
The En Family visits a sorcerer named Turkey who bakes a temporary clone in hopes of discovering the true identity of the sorcerer who transformed Caiman. Turkey's clone leads the En Family to an abandoned apartment, where they discover a rotting head in a box. After fighting the angered clone for it, Noi heals the head and discovers it's the same as the clone's. Later, the En Family goes to a formal party at a mansion where En hopes to find his partner, a sorcerer who can bring people back from the dead. Ebisu gets attention from someone from her past, Shin and Noi kill a couple of sorcerers using illegal black powder, and En discovers the true form of his new partner: a small cat-like creature hiding under the supposed necromancer's dress. En decides to call the animal Kikurage. Meanwhile, in the Hole, Caiman and Nikaido go to visit Vaux's colleague, another doctor, who might be able to help Caiman find his identity. After entering the doctor's home, the duo find themselves unable to exit, and decide to have an impromptu New Year's Day meal. In the middle of the meal, they are joined by Kasukabe, the doctor in question, who tells them the magic dust turned his house into a labyrinth that he hadn't cleaned up yet. Kasukabe then shows the duo a magic door that he created. | |||
5 | "Caiman in Wonderland" Transcription: "Mahō no Kuni no Kaiman" (Japanese: 魔法の国のカイマン) | February 9, 2020 | |
6 | "The Mushrooms Are Ready" Transcription: "Kinoko no Yama wa Tabezakari" (Japanese: キノコの山は食べ盛り) "The First Smoke" Transcription: "Hajimete no Kemuri" (Japanese: はじめてのケムリ) "Manhole Elegy" Transcription: "Manhōru Erejī" (Japanese: マンホール哀歌 エレジー) | February 16, 2020 | |
7 | "The All-Star ☆ Dream Game" Transcription: "Ōrusutā ☆ Yume no Kyūen" (Japanese: オールスター☆夢の球宴) | February 23, 2020 | |
8 | "A Good Day To Leave" Transcription: "Ī hi, Tabidachi" (Japanese: いい日、旅立ち) "Lalala Monsterman" Transcription: "Rarara Kaijin-kun" (Japanese: ラララ怪人くん) "Splendid & Exuberant" Transcription: "Gōjasu & Morimori" (Japanese: ゴージャス&モリモリ) "Welcome To Blue Night Land" Transcription: "Burūnaito Rando he Youkoso" (Japanese: ブルーナイト・ランドへようこそ) | March 1, 2020 | |
9 | "Oh, Flower Smoke" Transcription: "Aa, “Hana Kemuri”" (Japanese: 嗚呼、『花煙』) "Awesome Meat Pie" Transcription: "Sutekina Mīto Pai" (Japanese: すてきなミートパイ) "A Macabre Mushroom Appears!!" Transcription: "Chin Kinoko Shutsugen!!" (Japanese: 珍キノコ出現!!) | March 8, 2020 | |
10 | "Lonely Caiman" Transcription: "Ronrī Kaiman" (Japanese: ロンリー・カイマン) "Before Nightmare" Transcription: "Naitomea Bifō" (Japanese: ナイトメア・ビフォー) "Manju Terror" Transcription: "Manjū Kowai" (Japanese: まんじゅうコワイ) | March 15, 2020 | |
11 | "Let's Meet At The Snack Stall" Transcription: "Yatai de Ai Mashou" (Japanese: 屋台で逢いましょう) | March 22, 2020 | |
12 | "Memories Of School Days" Transcription: "Omoide Sukuru Deizu" (Japanese: 思い出スクールデイズ) "Boy Meets Girl = Battle!" Transcription: "Bōi Mītsu Gāru = Batoru!" (Japanese: ボーイ ミーツ ガール=バトル!) "Pinky Swear" Transcription: "Yubi Kiri Genman" (Japanese: ゆびきりげんまん) | March 29, 2020 |
Reception
Bill Sherman of Blogcritics praised Hayashida's writing and her bold artwork with her "in-your-face action and punkish scratchiness".[80] David Brothers of ComicsAlliance praised Hayashida's Dorohedoro for her ability to find the beauty in the grotesque and compared the drawing to the likes of Simon Bisley, Tsutomu Nihei, and Katsuhiro Otomo. Brothers continues, "It's gritty, but it looks great. Flipping through the book just to gaze at the art is almost as rewarding as actually reading it".[81] Deb Aoki of About.com wrote: "Dorohedoro is violent and surreal, but it's also infused with Hayashida's dark and goofy sense of humor. Between their killing sprees, Caiman and Nikaido bicker and flirt like workin' class stiffs who appreciate a laugh and a good meal after a hard day at the office".[6] On the other hand, Carlo Santos from Anime News Network has criticized the series, saying that the story "never develops a sense of flow" and that Q Hayashida "cannot draw the human body at all".[2][82]
The Dorohedoro anime series has been nominated for the 2021 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.[83]
References
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- Santos, Carlo (October 8, 2010). "Dorohedoro GN 2 - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- Douresseaux, Leroy (December 15, 2015). "Dorohedoro: Volume 17 manga review". ComicBookBin. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
- Chapman, Paul (October 11, 2019). "Dorohedoro Anime Takes a Bite Out of Japanese TV in January of 2020". Crunchyroll. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
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- Aoki, Deb. "Dorohedoro Volume 1". About.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
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- Rafael Antonio Pineda (November 12, 2019). "Dorohedoro TV Anime Adds 6 More Cast Members". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
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- Ressler, Karen (August 6, 2017). "Hibana Magazine's Individual Series' Plans Announced". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
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- ドロヘドロ 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
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- 「ドロヘドロ」約1年半ぶりにゲッサンに帰還、悪魔たちのイタズラ描く特別読切. Natalie (in Japanese). February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
- ゲッサン 3月号 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
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- ドロヘドロ 3 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
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- Hodgkins, Crystalyn (November 9, 2018). "Q Hayashida's Dorohedoro Manga Gets TV Anime". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
- Pineda, Rafael Antonio (January 12, 2020). "Dorohedoro Anime Blu-ray Discs to Have 12 TV Episodes Plus 6 Bonus Episodes". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
- 魔の1 カイマン (in Japanese). Tokyo MX. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
魔の12 「思い出スクールデイズ」 「ボーイミーツガール=バトル!」 「ゆびきりげんまん」 (in Japanese). Tokyo MX. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
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- Sherman, Bill (April 20, 2010). "Manga Review - Dorohedoro". BlogCritics. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018.
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Further reading
- "Interview with Q Hayashida". SigIKKI. Viz Media. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011.
External links
- Manga official website at Gessan (in Japanese)
- Manga official website at Ikki Paradise (in Japanese)
- Manga official website at Hibana (in Japanese)
- Anime official website (in Japanese)
- Manga official website at Viz Media
- Official website at Netflix
- Dorohedoro (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia