Review of Dorohedoro

Dorohedoro is an awesome story. A great anime which I effortlessly binged in two days. A story and world so captivating it kept me hooked till the last minute. This is a ruthless story about lighthearted revenge, identity and friendship. ∞∞∞ Art ∞∞∞ The op is totally on crack. Just watching the op is enough to get high, the dynamic color palette, the absolute crazy cooking scene, they are itch a certain vibe within me. It really feels like the animators wanted to challenge themselves and tried to capture the creativity into those 90 seconds. Dorohedoro is an anime which is mostly made by CG. This put meoff at first glance, but I’m glad I still stayed, because the CG isn’t bad at all. It just took me a few episodes to get used to the style. The best thing is that the CG doesn’t feel alienated from the drawn background, and that is important in anime immersion.
The level of detail and colors used is also done splendid. The story taking place in a hole, it is in general all gray and muddy. However the background kept it interesting to keep watching. The opposite of the gloomy hole is the sorcerer world and is painted as a happier place with vibrant colors and attractive costumes. The art is really good tailored with the story and personalities.
I would say that some gore isn’t for all people out here. It can get creepy and bloody sometimes, but it isn’t overdone. Personally I liked the amount of action and sometimes I went “ouch, that must have hurt”. A job well done for this kind of CG.

∞∞∞ Sound ∞∞∞
The op and ed songs are so good. I sometimes listen to them because they are catchy and funky, setting the right tone for the madness of Dorohedoro. The soundtrack gives off the right vibe, making your journey trough the story pleasant and lively.
My only complaint is the voice acting of Caiman. Sometimes he sounds like a man and other times like a man kicked in his nuts. I guess that is part of his personality. The other characters are also done very well and convincing. Their VA sounds a bit more relaxed and low-energy in contrast to Caiman and that makes them a bit more pleasant to listen to.

∞∞∞ Characters ∞∞∞
The characters are what makes me absolutely adore this show. They are painted as people who are trying to survive and live. And honestly for a comedy like show this feels like a breather without all those cliché personalities. The main character isn’t a saint, the antagonist isn’t “just” a bad guy and that makes it so watchable. The side character gets enough time to show they aren’t hollow either but they don’t steal the light of the mc. Ive got to say that Ebisu is so lovely and if I would be a sorcerer, I want to be her partner. Im glad that the character design isn’t unrealistic. Strong characters means muscles, thus adding some brickness to the waifus.

Caiman is first presented as a victim in the start of the anime, which he “unfortunately” is. But soon we learn that he isn’t victim like at all. While he struggles with his identity he isn’t put off by it. We got a strong character which presented himself badass, thus slaughtering all that is and isn’t in his way.

En, the mafia boss, is absolute kick-ass. He loves mushrooms and loves to eat his opponents. He is a feared name in the magic world and for good reason. Not because of plot armor, but because he is not only strong and charming, he is almost a main character on itself. What Dorohedoro did right is not to make him edgy or cliché like. Caiman is his is obstacle and he is an obstacle for Caiman. It was so interesting to see how they dealt with each other.

∞∞∞ Story ∞∞∞
The story is another one of its strong suits. While we know that Caiman is on some sort of quest he isn’t to fixated on it. It comes like a natural flow of events. We get to see him in action and other times we get to see a bit of his thoughts. What is done really well is that I’m convinced that he lives IN a world with problems and tries to battle them. It feels like the world has more to offer and that there is more lore and things to discover with each new episode, like that all sorcerers wear masks. The anime conveniently explains the in and outs of the world without making Caiman look like an ignorant fool (something done in surprising many anime).
The way sorcerers work and their world is also done convincing. While not giving away all their information they show us bit by bit how that “other” world is built up from and how we slowly getting a perspective shift to En (the antagonist).
The story isn’t to serious and neither is Caiman. It feels really relaxed to watch this and since no episode ends in a cliff hanger or tries to climax, the story plays out like a calm river.
Another big plus is that there are no ass-pulls. Those are moves, which are convenient to present an easy plot. Dorohedoro took the hard road and showed us how brutal and powerful story telling really can be.

∞∞∞ Enjoyment ∞∞∞
I really enjoyed watching Dorohedoro. It is so funky and lively to watch making it easy to finish it in two days. If you love story rich anime with lots of crazy action packed characters and a touch of madness I highly recommend to watch this. If Dorohedoro is one thing I would call it unique.