Review of Dorohedoro

Trying to write a review to explain why this work is just so engaging is rather difficult as much of its charm lies in its visual styles perfectly matched by its eclectic cast of oddballs. Trying to categorize this title under a genre is not easy too. MangaUpdates tagged it with a Biopunk, but it too has the elements of Gothic in its ambience and design. It is violent and dark, but at the same time cheery and energetic as it swings nicely on that precarious line of black comedy. And then there’s the trippy elements that goes in several parts of the series. Forthe most part, the story is pretty straightforward, but as the plot progress there are certainly quite a fair bit of mind screw going on – the macabre art style definitely helped in enhancing the effects.

Really, the only way I can succinctly describe Dorohedoro in one sentence would probably be that it is akin to what it would be like if Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino collaborated to produce an anime.

It’s not the best description I’ve got, but I think the analogy fits pretty well. In the sorcerers’ world each sorcerer are obliged to wear a personalized mask to mark their identity. Throw in the fact that you have manifestations of curses, devils and death god flying around and the place is like a much more macabre mash of Halloween Town and Beetlejuice. And then you have En’s family and his estate. En’s family being clad in suits make it look like the mafia taking part in a Halloween party. The whole imagery is bizarre, but it is also freakishly cool. To round it all up, Dorohedoro is set in a world where gratuitous amount of stylized violence is the norm and thus gruesome deaths are treated with general nonchalance by the cast of eccentric characters. Characters will happily have inane conversations in between slaughtering enemies in grisly manners as though they are right out of a Tarantino film.

With such a unique art style, it was thus initially pretty worrying to hear of an anime adaptation being made. How will the staff attempt to adapt Hayashida Q’s gritty and surreal setting for the anime? Thankfully, it turns out the fears are unfounded. The anime did well not just in capturing the essence of the manga’s style but by also injecting their own flair into the series. You can tell they’ve put a lot of effort into the background from how lavishly detailed they are, ranging from the dirty, gritty slums in the Hole, to the intricate Gothic architecture in the sorcerers’ world and psychedelic colors during the carnival. The background bear reminiscences to that of works like Akira - a quick look at the credits confirms that the art director for Dorohedoro is none other than Shinji Kimura who has indeed worked on Akira.

Now, admittedly I do have some mild complaints about the CG usage, particularly with bits like Caima’s head in the early episodes where it made him look like some kind of a plastic toy. Thankfully however, the CG usage improved in latter episodes and the usual 2D animation is used for key moments in the later parts.

Of course, simply having great visuals is not enough for me to consider this as my favorite anime of the season. The characters too need to actually be interesting. Since this is after all a rather Gothic story with some rather grim setting, it should come to no surprise that trying to categorize them into “villains” and “heroes” is rather pointless. Heck, considering that the different groups get their own share of characterization and screen time, it is also not easy to distinguish between some of them as “protagonists” or “antagonists”. In other words, despite the large cast, the core characters remain interesting while the other supporting characters too get their fair share of spotlight. The result is that even though the characters are supposed to be opposing against each other, I can’t help but root for some of them all the same.

Indeed, much of the charm of the series comes from how the various characters bounce off with each other. This is best demonstrated in how members of the En Family interact with each other. En, the big boss himself, for instance, is portrayed as ruthless when dealing with his enemies, but at the same time, we’re shown his whimsical and vain side such as his penchant for grandeur, obsession with mushroom, but more importantly we also get to see him being a pretty chill boss who genuinely get along well with his underlings. Then there’s Shin and Noi, who have a great chemistry going on as partners, and it’s always a delight watching their rapport as they just want to enjoy some food in between missions. And of course, let’s not forget the friendship between Caiman and Nikaido as they are on their trail to uncovering Caima’s identity. In a way, one of the things I like about Dorohedoro is also what made me took a liking to Narita Ryougo’s works in the first place: the inclusion of multiple viewpoints and what is at first glance a very chaotic story, but which has a pretty focused narrative as you progress; as nicely summed up one of the characters in Baccano!, “Depending on who you place in the same situation, the characteristics of said incident change kaleidoscopically. In other words, there is one incident. However, there are as many stories explaining it as there are people involved in it.” — Gustav St. Germain (aka that guy voiced by Norio Wakamoto).

Next, the other just as crucial element that played a role in making this series such a standout is none other than the audio choices. This series could might as well act as a concept album to promote (K)NoW_NAME’s music. As with the art, anime really nailed the tone of the series with the soundtracks and the theme songs in particular are a just so damn catchy and as whimsical as the series itself. Finally, there’s the choice of VAs: from Kobayashi Yuu as the boisterous Noi, to Takagi Wataru as Caiman, to Hosoya Yoshimasa as Shin and of course Horiuchi Kenyuu as En, they all perfectly captured the personality of their roles.

What we have learned from this anime:
1. It has been a pretty faithful adaptation and the studio did a wonderful job in elevating it by giving the anime their own touch.
2. The music is very addictive to listen to.
3. It is an absolute blast of a series and you should check out the manga as well.

All these and more, in the sprawling chaos that is... Dorohedoro!