Review of Dorohedoro

At first glance, Dorohedoro has a very specific target demographic: high school kids who saw Hellraiser when they were ten and now own a gasmask, a bunch of knives, and every Slipknot album. It's edgy, violent, and full of gore. But it's also far more. Set in the industrial, violent slums known as The Hole, it's quickly revealed this world is merely the garbage dump of another: The Sorcerer World, a sunny, extravagant, seemingly perfect European city pulled straight from a Miyazaki film. Mirroring this aesthetic duality, the genre ricochets between comedy, action, horror, and mystery, all within the span of an episode. Dorohedoro sets itself apartfrom other anime by omitting exposition; like a mushroom-fueled ride through Hell, the rules of the game are only ever experienced, never explained. Despite the chaos, the intricacies make sense organically because we're shown them, rather than told them. When mysteries arise, they never interfere with understanding the rules of the world, which impressed me.

The plot does an incredible job of juggling the main arc and standalone episodes, which lends the characters a lot of depth. Once you get past their bloodstained exteriors, the cast is surprisingly lovable and complex. Even the dysfunctional villains get so much screentime, it's hard to call them villains.

What criticisms I have are slight. The CGI is decent, but still has the occasional unnatural look to it. Ebisu is a trite and annoying trope more than a character. There's a rapey bit in episode 10 that's treated like a joke. Sometimes the tension of the show is undercut by how inconsequential mortal violence is, in the face of magic powers and the staggering body count. But all in all, Dorohedoro is a very unique anime. I am shocked Netflix picked it up, and I cannot wait for season two.