Dorohedoro Season One Review
Netflix has so far offered anime enthusiasts an extensive catalogue of new shows this year that use computer animation over the more traditional hand drawn approach including the second season of Hi Score Girl, Beastars and Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro is the latest manga series to be adapted for the streaming service in this style.
While the show’s world and characters offer a lot of surreal and twisted episodes, was it worth the two year wait to bring the pages to life?
Caiman and Nikaido
The premise is simple, but strange: Caiman (voiced by Aleks Le/Wataru Takagi) is seeking the sorcerer who gave him the head of a giant lizard and amnesia while also trying to figure out who the man is who lives in his reptilian jaws.
Along Caiman’s quest across the dystopian world of Hole, he and his best friend Nikaido (Reba Buhr/Reina Kondo) track down sorcerers and magically enhanced criminals while also taking them down along the way. From there he gets the attention of the masked En (Keith Silverstein/Kenyu Horiuchi), a magical crime boss with an odd fondness for mushrooms, who is on the hunt for a sorcerer with unique magical properties and has a mysterious agenda to Caiman’s true identity.
Throughout the twelve episode season there’s a surprising amount of character depth from both the protagonists and antagonists that I was not expecting. While it could have been another action packed anime that only sold on its wacky premise and gruesome magic (and there is plenty of that), it’s so refreshing to see relationships and chemistry between the colourful cast of characters blossom. Whether you watch it in the original Japanese audio or the English dub, most of the performances from both versions help to sell these dynamics.
En and his organisation members.
The choice to use computer animation to bring Dorohedoro’s world and characters to life is one that has really been pulled off by MAPPA, the animation studio behind this series.
The sharp edges and lines used on the characters and their 3D models is brilliantly effective, being able to create an illusion of a hand drawn and comic book style that make them stand out from the bleak city or the soft warm colours of En’s empire. Whether they’re simply chatting in Nikaido’s restaurant or battling each other in the streets, the character designs and the way they move look great throughout the show.
But that’s not to say that the animation is perfect though. Due to Caimain’s head being that of a giant lizard, his expressions can be limiting despite his emotions often ranging from sympathetic to stubborn. While the more human characters are able to express themselves clearer, they do feel more alluring, especially when their own side stories develop and become more engaging between each episode.
Caiman and his signature move.
Dorohedoro is another great anime title for Netflix. With its absurd world and compelling characters, this is certainly one that has been worth the wait for those who are either fans of the original manga series or anime fanatics looking for a new series to jump right into.