Source | Image edited in Adobe Photoshop
In my life I've seen a lot of anime, of all kinds and styles, but I could say that I've stayed in the past in terms of my tastes, nowadays I consider myself a lover of retro, good stories and deep character development, animation? Second plane thing for me, if there is a good story that's enough.
I say this because it's my first post in the community, so it can be taken as a little introduction on my part. Now, getting into the subject, I want to share with you a review of an anime that I discovered recently, I really did not know it and I had not come across its manga, I'm talking about Dorohedoro, an anime that was made 4 years ago by Mappa studio, but its manga has its origin in the 2000's and its author is a Japanese mangaka known as Q Hayashida.
Dorohedoro is a rare anime, in the sense that its story as such or its environment is something very different from what we are used to see, its main character is a man with a lizard head who does not know his name and is looking for the sorcerer who changed his head, besides that he has a human inside him who also does not know who he is. At the beginning of the series we have this and that is extremely striking because it is not common.
As we get into the story we will discover many interesting things, one of them is the main fight between mages and humans, which has a background that is revealed to us as the chapters go by, but in summary there is a rivalry between the two that has divided the world where they live.
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Our protagonist, nicknamed Caiman until his identity is discovered, teams up with a woman named Nikaido, who is a tremendous fighter, and also owns a not very crowded restaurant. These two are in charge of taking down the magicians who come to Hole -the place where they live- but like all good plots there are also secrets surrounding their true identity.
One of the things that caught my attention apart from its good plot is the design of the characters and the development that is given to each of them, not only to the "protagonists" but to the villains -if they really are- each one has its space in the story and in many of them their past is glimpsed so that we are aware of their present actions.
The world of Dorohedoro is somewhat bizarre, there is a certain hierarchy there, the demons are the ones who rule and govern everything, but their participation is not the main one, at least in the part that has been animated, the manga is complete but I haven't read it yet. After the demons we have the wizards who live in a Citadel and finally there are the humans, without powers and with only will to live and not be oppressed.
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This series is one of those that puts you in an uncomfortable situation regarding the favoritism of the characters, and in essence I like that because you can easily feel attached to any of the villains, the point is that everyone has something to look for, it is not a killing without further ado, but there is a purpose in what each character does, whether it is on the side that this, human or magician, there is a reason behind it.
I consider it a series worth watching, although it was animated recently its story as I indicated in previous paragraphs is more than 20 years ago, so I could say it is an old school anime. It has no half left elements, there is even a lot of comedy in its chapters, a comedy that is not the main one but that gives appeal to the story and the situations faced by the characters.
Finally, it is a pretty bloody anime, this may be striking or not for many, but for all the environment that Dorohedoro represents I think it is something necessary, however its story is so striking that all the violence and action scenes take a back seat, so without further ado, I recommend it to you with eyes closed, if you have not seen it you can give it a look although it is not complete, but if you have already seen it leave me your impressions in the comments.
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Thanks for reading
Spanish Version
Dorohedoro: Una joya escondida dentro del mundo anime
En mi vida he visto muchos anime, de todo tipo y estilos, pero podría decir que me quede en el pasado en cuanto a mis gustos, al día me considero un amante de lo retro, de las buenas historias y del desarrollo profundo en los personajes, ¿la animación? Cosa de segundo plano para mí, si hay una buena historia eso es suficiente.
Digo esto porque es mi primer post en la comunidad, así que se puede tomar como una pequeña presentación de mi parte. Ahora bien, entrando en materia, quiero compartir con ustedes una review de un anime que digamos descubrí hace poco, realmente no lo conocía y tampoco me había topado con su manga, estoy hablando de Dorohedoro, un anime que fue realizado hace 4 años por el estudio Mappa, pero su manga tiene origen en los años 2000 y su autora es una mangaka japonesa conocida como Q Hayashida.
Dorohedoro es un anime raro, en el sentido de que su historia como tal o su entorno es algo muy diferente a lo que estamos acostumbrados de ver, su personaje principal es un hombre con cabeza de lagarto que no sabe cómo se llama y que busca al hechicero que le cambio su cabeza, además de eso tiene un humano dentro de sí que tampoco sabe quién es. Apenas inicia la serie tenemos esto y eso de entrada es sumamente llamativo porque no es común.
Mientras nos adentramos en la historia descubriremos muchas cosas interesantes, una de ellas es la lucha principal entre magos y humanos, la cual tiene un trasfondo que se nos va revelando al pasar de los capítulos, pero en síntesis hay una rivalidad entre ambos que ha dividido el mundo donde habitan.
Nuestro protagonista apodado Caimán hasta que se descubra su identidad forma equipo con una mujer llamada Nikaido, quien es una luchadora tremenda, y también es dueña de un restaurante poco concurrido. Estos dos se encargan de acabar con los magos que vienen a Hole –lugar donde viven- pero como toda buena trama también hay secretos que rodean su verdadera identidad.
Una de las cosas que llamo mi atención aparte de su buena trama es el diseño de los personajes y el desarrollo que se le va dando a cada uno de ellos, no solo a los “protagonistas” sino a los villanos –si es que realmente lo son- cada uno tiene su espacio en la historia y en muchos de ellos se hace entrever su pasado para que estemos al tanto de sus acciones presentes.
El mundo de Dorohedoro es algo bizarro, allí hay cierta jerarquía, los demonios son quienes gobiernan y rigen todo, pero su participación no es principal, por lo menos en la parte que ha sido animada, el manga está completo pero no lo he leído aun. Luego de los demonios tenemos a los magos quienes viven en una Ciudadela y por ultimo están los humanos, sin poderes y con solo voluntad para vivir y no dejarse oprimir.
Esta serie es una de esas que te pone en una situación incómoda en cuanto al favoritismo de los personajes, y eso en esencia me gusta porque fácilmente puedes sentir apego por alguno de los villanos, el punto es que cada quien tiene algo que buscar, no es una matanza sin más, sino que hay un propósito en lo que hace cada personaje, sea del lado que este, humano o mago, hay un porque detrás de ello.
Considero que es una serie que vale la pena observar, aunque fue animada hace poco su historia como indique en párrafos anteriores es de hace más de 20 años, por lo que podría decir que es un anime de la vieja escuela. No tiene elementos dejados a medias, incluso hay mucha comedia en sus capítulos, una comedia que no es principal pero que da atractivo a la historia y las situaciones que enfrentan los personajes.
Por último, es un anime bastante sangriento, esto puede ser llamativo o no para muchos, pero por todo el entorno que Dorohedoro representa pienso que es algo necesario, sin embargo su historia es tan llamativa que toda la violencia y escenas de acción pasan a segundo plano, así que sin más, te la recomiendo a ojos cerrados, si no la has visto puedes darle un vistazo aunque no está completa, pero si ya la viste déjame tus impresiones en los comentarios.
Gracias por leer
Translated from DeepL
This sounds interesting. I'm also a fan of character developments happening not only among the protagonists, but even villains and side characters. The plot sounds solid! I've heard of this title before, but never really checked it. I'll add it to my to-watch list. Thanks for sharing! :)
Cool, you have good tastes. The anime for now has only one season and apparently for this year they are releasing the second one. However the manga is complete, you can read it if you like manga.
Dorohedoro is a pretty good combination honestly, and every character is given space. It's a good series, I hope you can watch it and enjoy it.
I'd try watching the first season then, and when it's to my liking, I'd proceed with the manga. haha It's frustrating to wait for the next season especially when the story is great. haha Thanks for the info! :)
Hi! Welcome to The Anime Realm community. It's a pleasure for us to have you here.
I just watched the trailer of this anime and yes it is bloody, so you're right about that. I see that the drawing and animation is quite particular, I really liked it a lot; besides, having comedy always helps a lot to relieve tensions.
Thanks for posting here. Hope to see you soon!
Hello, thank you for the welcome.
It's a pretty balanced anime, I think its author thought very well at the time of creating it. You are right, comedy relieves tensions and this anime has it in a moderate way. It is a good series without a doubt.
It has been a pleasure, I will gladly do it more often. Regards
This is also what struck me the first time I saw this blog of yours, it is a bold move to the creator (IMO).
No doubt my friend, they have some awesome designs, quite peculiar really.
Peculiar indeed.
Realmente entre a este post por el estilo de dibujo del manga realmente sentí que seria algo bastante sangriento y en efecto así como lo mencionas así es, me pareció bastante interesante la historia y acabo de ver el trailer del anime no me llama mucho la atencion por el estilo de animación no necesariamente por ser de la vieja escuela mas que todo por ser modelos 3D así que me iría mas que todo por leer el manga, vi que el caiman es bastante característico su personaje y me hace quererlo leer aun mas. Buen post <3
Entiendo tu punto en cuanto a la animación. A mí también me pasa asi muchas veces, incluso suelo leer más manga que ver anime, pero en este caso fue al revés y no he leído el manga pero lo voy a hacer para terminar la historia.
Sus personajes son todos extraños pero muy llamativos realmente.
Oh, what a good anime Dorohedoro is, I really liked it when I saw it, that CGI that MAPPA used on that occasion was really good, it looked kind of drawn but not at the same time.
This year I plan to watch this anime again, because I don't know if you know it but they announced a second season, so it's time to celebrate after so much waiting.