Dorohedoro

Dorohedoro
Cover of the first volume of Dorohedoro.
ドロヘドロ
Genre Adventure,[1] dark fantasy,[2][3] science fiction[4]
Manga
Written by Q Hayashida
Published by Shogakukan
English publisher
Demographic Seinen, shōnen
Magazine Monthly Ikki (2000 – 2014)
Hibana (2015 – 2017)
Monthly Shōnen Sunday (2017 – 2018)
Original run 2000 – 2018
Volumes 22

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 series was formerly serialized in Shogakukan's seinen magazine Monthly Ikki since 2000, but after its cessation in 2014 the series was moved to Hibana in 2015. However, after the cessation of Hibana in August 2017, the series was transferred to Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine in November 2017 and finished in September 2018.

The series has been licensed for English-language release by Viz Media in 2009 and began distributing the manga digitally when it launched SigIKKI, the former online English version of Ikki magazine.

Synopsis

Setting

Dorohedoro story takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting,[5] split in two major worlds; the Hole, where people who cannot use magic live, and the world of Sorcerers. Sorcerers are individuals who offer gifts to the devil in hope of receiving a unique mask in return. Sorcerers frequently wear these masks, only removing them for instances of food consumption, possible identification purposes, or simply leisure. Sorcerers can produce "smoke" which is the source of their powers. There are several different types of smoke such as transformation, healing and resurrection. It is known that there are Sorcerers who can alter time but that gift is very rare and often thought to be a myth. Usually one Sorcerer can only use one type of smoke (for example a user with healing ability cannot do transformations, or a user with lizard transformation abilities cannot do mushroom transformations). However, smoke can be sold and bought. In bottled or spray form it can be used by other individuals, Sorcerers or not. Magic can be amplified by consuming black powder but this act is looked down upon in the society and regarded as shameful. Frequent use of this black powder turns a Sorcerer's smoke potent for indefinite amount of time. Remains of black powder can be found in the user's smoke. Sorcerers often frequent the Hole for experimenting with their powers or "fun". Their victims are usually left incapacitated or on the verge of death. The residue left by Sorcerers in their world falls down in the Hole as rain. This rain reduces the powers of Sorcerers.

The Hole is where those who cannot use magic reside, often the plaything of visiting Sorcerers. Almost considered a dump, many areas are condemned if not nearing so. However, despite the odds there are some surviving businesses, a large one of which being the hospital for those who have been the victims of magic.

Plot

The plot centers on a man named Kaiman and his search for his real identity, after a transformation by a magic-user left him with a reptile's head and no memory of his former life. Along with his female friend Nikaido, he violently assaults magic-users in the Hole, with the aim of taking their heads into his mouth, where a strange face will appear and confirm whether the magic-user he has bitten onto was the one responsible for his transformation or not.

Main characters

Kaiman
Kaiman is the lead character of the manga. He appears to have been the victim of a transformation, memories of which he is convinced have a man having laid the spell on him. Other than that, he has no recollection of his previous life. He sports the head of a large reptile, with no other alterations in limbs, body, and eyes. (He's quite human right down to the head.) His head sports various spikes that jar out when he is surprised or stressed, and there are cross-shaped marks or tattoos over each of his eyes. It appears that despite having his head chopped off, he can regenerate it in a matter of time. It is eventually shown that Kaiman is actually a character called Aikawa, only previously shown in Risu's flashbacks. Not only this, but that he is part of a conglomerate entity, along with the leader of the Cross-Eyes and several unknown people.
It is strongly hinted that Kaiman/Aikawa was actually the mysterious leader of the Cross-Eyes and is later confirmed in Volume 13. The Cross-Eyes leader was originally a human named Ai from Hole, whom Professor Kasukabe attempted to turn into a magic user at his behest. Ai then encountered Dokuga and his buddies, and formed the Cross-Eyes with them. He then began hunting Elite magic users along with Dokuga and his friends. This provoked En, who sent Noi and Shin to deal with the Cross-Eyes. However, they were easily overpowered by Ai and were nearly killed. They were saved by En's appearance, and promptly retreated. En faced the Cross-Eyes leader, and wanting to end it quickly by playing it safe, he released an enormous quantity of Smoke, obliterating the entire city of Kasmet. However, while barely conscious due to the collapse of the ground, he saw the silhouette of a headless figure walking away. He is haunted by this incident till the current time and went so far as forcing Nikaido to be his partner, just so he could use her powers to confirm whether The Leader really perished or not.
It is unknown exactly how the surgery Professor Kasukabe worked, but it seems to have changed Ai significantly. He is not explicitly shown using Smoke when he fought Shin and Noi or En, but all three of them felt an eerie sense of disquiet when facing him. They feel it again when they encounter him six years later and recognise it. Ai seems to be extremely powerful, being a master of the knife and possessing extreme speed. He easily kills En in Volume 12, decapitating him. He later removes the Devil Tumor from En's head and surprisingly uses En's Magic against Shin and Noi, severely injuring them. The Magic, as noted by Shou, seemed much more potent than En's as even an Elite regenerative Sorcerer like Noi required a month to regain consciousness.
It is shown that Aikawa/Kaiman are actually a split personality of Ai.
Nikaido
Kaiman's present companion, and a woman who owns the Hungry Bug, a family restaurant in The Hole. She found Kaiman after his initial transformation, and has befriended and aided him ever since. They, together, hunt down Sorcerers who enter The Hole, and try to locate the one who inflicted the transformation on Kaiman. As it progresses, it is revealed that Nikaido is also a Sorcerer, and has some ties in the Sorcerers' World. It is later revealed her magic involves the control of time. When she trains with the ex-devil, Asu, she discovers that her magic can only be used a limited number of times before eventually becoming completely unusable.
En
En is shown to be the Corporate boss of a business that sells mushroom based products, ranging from food, weaponry, psychedelics 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, to which he today thinks he transformed his parents into mushrooms, and survived on eating them until a man entered his house and sold him off to a group who extracted and sold smoke from Sorcerers. He escaped when he was nine, where he was found by a devil who dumped him into hell. En only survived the journey into hell, as 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, some time after his devil Chidaruma found him and gave him the name 'En' then sent him back to the surface. A year and a half later he exacted his revenge against the workers in the factory who stole the magic of others, he destroyed the factory and made all the victims inside his friends. It was from there his criminal empire began to grow.
Shin & Noi
Shin and Noi are enforcers for En, a powerful leader of a corporation in The magic users realm. 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 a person faster. Noi refers to Shin often as "Senpai", a reflection of her position in the corporation (that of one who has come after Shin).
Shin is one of the most powerful fighters in the manga and works as a cleaner in En's organization as Noi's partner. He fights with a hammer as a weapon and uses magic smoke which chops up victims into slices without killing them. Shin's mask is shaped like a human heart, although he usually wears it backwards with the front of it facing backwards and two eye holes cut out of the back. Without a mask he is blond with blue eyes, and wears glasses. He is usually in a suit with an un-tucked white shirt and sneakers.
Noi is a powerful cleaner for En's organization and also En's younger cousin. Although female, she is heavily muscled and towering in height. Noi's hair in the Bonus Chapter of 17 is pale white-blond like, and her eyes appear red—suggesting she might be an albino. Her hair is mid length, and she has several piercings on her ears. Her smoke heals almost any injury short of actual death. She is very affectionate to Shin, sometimes to his exasperation. Noi's mask is very detailed, although dark blue and apparently vinyl-like.
Fujita
Fujita is a Sorcerer residing in the Sorcerer's domain, working for a company headed by En.
Wanting to avenge his comrade, Fujita sets out to return to Hole heavily armed but is stopped by a messenger of En, who passes on the message that he's been assigned to find the user who transformed Kaiman into a saurian. A bit of research reveals a reptilian transformation specialist—Ebisu. Fujita recalls passing her while in the Hole with his friend—and so, goes to find her before Kaiman can kill her, too. Fujita's timing is just right, and so he manages to save Ebisu just as she's stuck in the jaws of Kaiman, her fingers cut clean off after she attempts to use her smoke on him. Unfortunately, her life comes at the price of her sanity and her face—En assigns one of the higher-ups, Noi, to heal Ebisu's face and fingers. Although physically in one piece once again, Ebisu is still traumatized by the incident, her personality reverted to that of a small child and memory obliterated.
Noi and Shin are sent to exterminate Kaiman—Fujita tagging along partially because he wants revenge, partially to watch after Ebisu, of whose memory everyone is waiting on 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
Ebisu is a young and sullen looking woman who first appears in chapter three, donning a skull shaped mask. She is walking through the Hole, unable to summon a door back to the Sorcerers' world due to the barrier between worlds in effect. She runs into Kaiman and Nikaido, who advance on her in their common fashion. Kaiman 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. This sudden and jerky movement causes trauma to her face and head, but they both get to safety.
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 (supposedly temporary,) brain damage as seen in her suddenly eccentric behavior. She is commonly seen with Fujita in the manga panels.
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 Kaiman's head. Some of her memories return when she herself transforms into a large dinosaur-like 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 Kaiman when she is temporarily killed and the spell is lifted from Kaiman. It is revealed later that this is due to a bottle of her smoke that she had sold, and not a direct curse.

Release

Dorohedoro was serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Ikki since 2000,[6] but the magazine ceased publication in 2014 and was moved to Hibana in 2015.[7][8] However, after the cessation of Hibana in August 2017, the series was moved to Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine on November 11, 2017.[9][10] Shogakukan has compiled the individual chapters into 22 tankōbon volumes as of June 2017. In July 2018 it was announced that the manga would end in September 2018 with its 167th chapter.[4]

Viz Media began distributing the manga digitally in 2009 when it launched SigIKKI site, the former online English version of Monthly Ikki,[11] and the first graphic novel volume of Dorohedoro was released on March 16, 2010.[5][12] It was translated by the localization company AltJapan Co., Ltd., who has continued to translate all subsequent releases.[13]

Volumes

No.Japanese release dateJapanese ISBNEnglish release dateEnglish ISBN
01 January 30, 2002[14] ISBN 4-09-188271-4March 16, 2010[15] ISBN 978-1-4215-3363-6
02 September 30, 2002[16] ISBN 4-09-188272-2August 17, 2010[17] ISBN 978-1-4215-3376-6
03 June 30, 2003[18] ISBN 4-09-188273-0January 18, 2011[19] ISBN 978-1-4215-3377-3
04 January 30, 2004[20] ISBN 4-09-188274-9August 16, 2011[21] ISBN 978-1-4215-3378-0
05 August 30, 2004[22] ISBN 4-09-188275-7December 20, 2011[23] ISBN 978-1-4215-3379-7
06 February 28, 2005[24] ISBN 4-09-188276-5April 17, 2012[25] ISBN 978-1-4215-3380-3
07 October 28, 2005[26] ISBN 4-09-188277-3August 21, 2012[27] ISBN 978-1-4215-3381-0
08 May 30, 2006[28] ISBN 4-09-188278-1December 18, 2012[29] ISBN 978-1-4215-3382-7
09 January 30, 2007[30] ISBN 978-4-09-188279-0April 16, 2013[31] ISBN 978-1-4215-3383-4
10 July 30, 2007[32] ISBN 978-4-09-188280-6August 13, 2013[33] ISBN 978-1-4215-3384-1
11 February 29, 2008[34] ISBN 978-4-09-188283-7December 17, 2013[35] ISBN 978-1-4215-3385-8
12 September 30, 2008[36] ISBN 978-4-09-188284-4April 15, 2014[37] ISBN 978-1-4215-3386-5
13 May 29, 2009[38] ISBN 978-4-09-188285-1August 19, 2014[39] ISBN 978-1-4215-6535-4
14 January 29, 2010[40] ISBN 978-4-09-188286-8December 16, 2014[41] ISBN 978-1-4215-6536-1
15 November 30, 2010[42] ISBN 978-4-09-188287-5May 19, 2015[43] ISBN 978-1-4215-6537-8
16 October 28, 2011[44] ISBN 978-4-09-188288-2August 18, 2015[45] ISBN 978-1-4215-7795-1
17 September 28, 2012[46] ISBN 978-4-09-188605-7December 15, 2015[47] ISBN 978-1-4215-7796-8
18 June 28, 2013[48] ISBN 978-4-09-188625-5April 19, 2016[49] ISBN 978-1-4215-7797-5
19 June 30, 2014[50] ISBN 978-4-09-188656-9August 16, 2016[51] ISBN 978-1-4215-8391-4
20 September 30, 2015[52] ISBN 978-4-09-188684-2January 17, 2017[53] ISBN 978-1-4215-8710-3
21 September 30, 2016[54] ISBN 978-4-09-188689-7June 20, 2017[55] ISBN 978-1-4215-9487-3
22 June 30, 2017[56] ISBN 978-4-09-188692-7May 15, 2018[57] ISBN 978-1-9747-0023-3

Reception

Reviews have praised Hayashida's writing and her bold artwork with her "in-your-face action and punkish scratchiness." [58] David Brothers 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."[59] 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".[60][61]

References

  1. ↑ "The Official Website for Dorohedoro". Viz Media. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  2. ↑ Douresseaux, Leroy (December 15, 2015). "Dorohedoro: Volume 17 manga review". ComicBookBin. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Caiman". Good Smile Company. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Q Hayashida's Dorohedoro Manga Ends in 3 Chapters". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Viz Media Debuts Apocalyptic Dorohedoro Manga". Anime News Network. March 10, 2010. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  6. ↑ "モリタイシがゴムを研究する美女描く新作＆ドロヘドロ移籍連載、ゲッサンで開始". Natalie (in Japanese). November 10, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Monthly Ikki Magazine Suspends Publication". Anime News Network. July 19, 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "『ドロヘドロ』連載再開！ヒバナ 2015.4 APRIL". q-hayashida.com (in Japanese). 27 February 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Shogakukan's Hibana Magazine Ends Publication After 2 Years". Anime News Network. July 7, 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Hibana Magazine's Individual Series' Plans Announced". Anime News Network. August 6, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Viz Posts English Version of Ikki Mag Online (Updated)". Anime News Network. May 22, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Viz Launching New Series Dorohedoro". DreadCentral.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  13. ↑ AltJapan "American publishers turn to AltJapan for tough-to-localize content". AltJapan.com. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  14. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 1". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  16. ↑ ドロヘドロ　２ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 2". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  18. ↑ ドロヘドロ　３ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 3". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  20. ↑ ドロヘドロ　４ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 4". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  22. ↑ ドロヘドロ　５ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 5". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  24. ↑ ドロヘドロ　６ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 6". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  26. ↑ ドロヘドロ　７ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 7". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  28. ↑ ドロヘドロ　８ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  29. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 8". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  30. ↑ ドロヘドロ　９ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  31. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 9". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  32. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１０ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  33. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 10". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  34. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１１ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 11". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  36. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１２ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  37. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 12". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  38. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１３ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  39. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 13". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  40. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１４ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  41. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 14". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  42. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１５ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  43. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 15". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  44. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１６ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  45. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 16". Viz Media. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  46. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１７ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  47. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 17". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  48. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１８ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  49. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 18". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  50. ↑ ドロヘドロ　１９ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  51. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 19". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  52. ↑ ドロヘドロ　２０ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  53. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 20". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  54. ↑ ドロヘドロ　２１ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  55. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 21". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  56. ↑ ドロヘドロ　２２ (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  57. ↑ "Dorohedoro, Vol. 22". Viz Media. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  58. ↑ "Manga Review - Dorohedoro". BlogCritics. April 20, 2010.
  59. ↑ "Gritty is the New Pretty - Q. Hayashida's Dorohedoro". Comics Alliance. November 23, 2011.
  60. ↑ "Dorohedoro GN 2". AnimeNewsNetwork. October 8, 2010.
  61. ↑ "Dorohedoro GN 4". AnimeNewsNetwork. August 21, 2011.
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