Hello everyone, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to be returning to Dorohedoro, a show which has swiftly established itself as one of 2020’s very best productions. Heck, Dorohedoro would still be a top show even in a year less beset by plague and isekai; from its charming cast and confident worldbuilding to its absolutely gorgeous background design, the show is an embarrassment of riches, with only the unfortunate weak point of its CG character designs holding it down. But it’s a credit to this story’s appeal that even though its actual fight scenes are pretty lousy, it’s still keeping me gripped with its narrative turns.
Dorohedoro is a fusion of many things, but one of my favorite of its combinations is how it transposes old school magical ritual to a gritty urban setting. Magic isn’t a clean or obvious process here; it’s personal and unmanageable and terribly messy, in the way you’d see in an old-school fairy tale (or more recently, something like The Ancient Magus Bride). Dorohedoro has taken that old-school woods magic and recast it as both the symptom and cause of urban decay, the dark energy that runs through the drainage lines beneath Hole’s concrete jungle. It’s a fascinating mix, like a witchier variation on cyberpunk, and I’m eager to see what else Q Hayashida can do with it. Without further rambling, let’s get to Dorohedoro!
Episode 5
Aw shit, they’re really going in. Caiman has put on his bunny ear suit and everything, and the gang appears prepped for an offensive into the realm of the sorcerers
Amused by Doctor Kasukabe’s guide to their world, which is literally formatted as a tourism guidebook
“Don’t ditch me if I turn out to be ugly, okay?” “Can’t promise anything!” God, Caiman and Nikaido are so charming together. The advantages of centering your narrative around couples who are already as close as this; both on the human and the sorcerer side, Dorohedoro is driven by couples who it’s rewarding just to see spend time together, regardless of where their adventures send them
“Caiman in Wonderland.” For the very first time, we’re seeing the world of the sorcerers from a visitor’s perspective, and thus get a full pan down to appreciate the intricate gothic spires of this very different world
Caiman is eager to start killing every sorcerer they can find, while the sensible Nikaido urges them to kill every sorcerer quietly, where no one will see them
This world clearly conveys not just the power, but also the decadence and ego of the sorcerers. There’s no graceful continuity to their architecture, beyond the generally gothic look; they contrast harshly in color and aesthetic, and are crammed so close together that it ends up evoking its own version of ugly urban congestion. They are too selfish to create a beautiful city, and instead have created two thousand mismatched monuments to themselves
And this city still has its dark alleys, as Fujita is happy to demonstrate
Some jerk named Yoshioka shows up, and immediately starts bullying Ebisu. Poor Ebisu
His friend is absolutely played by Shuuya Nishiji, a voice I can recognize anywhere. He played Kinkaku in The Eccentric Family and Honda in Shirobako, and no one else out there sounds like him
Noi and Shin show up and just utterly dismantle these jerks, literally. As always, this show’s violence is so extreme that it loops back around to weightless and comical, like something from a Quentin Tarantino movie. Anime frequently has an issue where it achieves that effect unintentionally – it hammers on the extremity of its violence in an attempt to convince the audience of its seriousness, but only ends up proving how juvenile and silly it is. Dorohedoro uses this phenomenon for its actual, useful effect: intentionally defusing ultraviolence to make it compatible with its general comedy-drama tone
Even the design of this ice cream shop they go to is so distinctive and beautifully realized. It’s an unusual sensation to watch a show where every piece of background art is a marvel worth celebrating
Caiman’s determination to kill all sorcerers does not prevent him from enjoying the fun of a magic carpet ride
En’s aesthetic has been vastly enhanced by this pink fluffy sorcerer-pet
Love this shot of a demon crossing in front of the moon. When these models are reduced to silhouettes, the show can achieve a unity of aesthetic intent that they normally tend to undercut
“Our restaurant’s pride is a restroom that uses fire-flushing. It’s connected straight to hell.” Fantastic. Bravo, Hayashida
Sometimes it feels hard to offer much critical insight on this show, because a great deal of what makes Q Hayashida’s work compelling isn’t really structurally based or replicable – it’s the continuous parade of inspired individual ideas like this, or the revival banquet, or the ice cream shop. The show’s structure is well-executed, but it’s these inspired tangential inventions that make it brilliant. I suppose the actionable takeaway is “write down all your ideas, especially the weird ones, because all stories are made richer for reflecting the unique corridors of your personal mindspace”
Ooh, lovely aerial shot descending on Nikaido at the bar, framed through these classic hanging devils. I like this show’s use of old-fashioned devil designs, like we’re watching a film version of Faust from the 1930s or something. Also, a shot like this is a perfect fit for animation, where the logistics of getting a crane shot descending through a bunch of ceiling ornaments is irrelevant
A looming devil has a message for Nikaido. Meanwhile, Caiman drank himself sick and passed out in the bathroom
And at last, the man inside Caiman remembers his name: Risu
Oh my god Caiman don’t flush the hell toilet while puking into it, this is why Nikaido can’t take you anywhere
Oh hey, the toilet also emits the shrieks of the damned. “Sorcerers are all weirdos”
Goddamn this architecture is gorgeous. I love this shot of the man with Caiman-style tattoos leaving, which features both dense steel girders and general urban architecture in the background, contrasted against this whimsical slate-roofed shop of magical supplies in the foreground. Multiple genres coexisting in the same space
This part of town seems to have been partially consumed by undergrowth, whose dark vines make for a stark contrast with the sickly yellow streetlight
Ooh, clever perspective shift here, spinning round the building to shift between our two groups. By separating the planes of the vines and the building itself, they effectively create the illusion of a circular pan
There’s a whole gang here with Caiman’s cross tattoos. And unfortunately, one of them has the grave misfortune of attempting to shoot Shin, and hitting Noi instead. This will not be pretty
Noi heals up from a bullet to the forehead in seconds. Noi and Shin’s absurd power level naturally points to the fact that this show isn’t about power levels; it’s a cat-and-mouse game revolving around several mysteries, and if the cats find the mice again, things won’t end well for Caiman and Nikaido
Caiman suddenly remembers the name Risu, as well. Things are moving along pretty efficiently regarding our central mystery, which makes me wonder how this manga has been ongoing for almost two decades. Clearly there’s more story to tell than what we’ve seen so far!
Nikaido suggests splitting up to look for him, presumably so she can take advantage of her sorcerer powers and contacts. You gotta tell him, Nikaido!
Meanwhile, En’s version of Risu is actually doing quite well for himself, and now has a cyborg body, along with a fair portion of his mental faculties. He recognizes En quickly, and begs En not to kill him
Shin introduces his bag of still-living guts over a meal of tea and cakes. I love the crass, sugary-sweet decadence of the sorcerers, and how they so frequently combine this production’s love of food with its casual violence. Nothing quite demonstrates your easy familiarity with violence like talking to a bag of entrails over tea and cakes
Risu claims he was new to the gang, experienced an instant death, and never met the leader. He’s pretty darn useless, actually
I love the intricate machinery this old man uses to evaluate the quality of Nikaido’s smoke. Feels like a H.R. Giger-style design, though it also reflects Hayashida’s history with Tsutomu Nihei
Whatever her smoke is, it certainly impresses the old man. It seems Nikaido isn’t just “some sorcerer,” she’s actually a figure of renown and fear
She exchanges the old man’s money for a meeting with a devil named Asu
I like what they’re doing with this vast space and red light for Asu’s appearance, but this is unfortunately one of those scenes where the CG models are awkwardly detrimental to the scene’s intended effect. It’s hard for CG models to look mysterious, or evoke much sense of menace
“Wouldn’t using your magic be the shortest route?” “I won’t use magic. No matter what.” Nikaido’s history is looking even more intriguing than Caiman’s at this point
“Why are you going to such lengths for Caiman? Are you in love with him?” “It’s nothing like that. Caiman is a friend. An important one.” Presumably he’s the first friend who came to care about her as a human, rather than a powerful sorcerer
I appreciate that Ebisu’s skull mask can actually contort itself into a variety of expressions
And so Nikaido invades En’s mansion alone. Hooooo boy
And Done
Goddamn, what an eventful episode that was! Rather than offering your familiar “welcome to a wild new world” introduction to the sorcerers’ home, we hit the ground running this time, and immediately learned a variety of key insights regarding the cross-eyed sorcerers, as well as Nikaido’s past. In fact, we’re barreling through this show’s initial mysteries with such speed that I’m beginning to wonder what happens next, what veil might be pulled back to reveal the actual scope of Dorohedoro’s narrative. This story’s confidence and inventiveness impress at every turn; each scene is full of great incidental ideas, and no beat feels either rushed or dragged out. All that, plus a wonderful cast and the best background art of the year; Dorohedoro continues to be an absolute gift of an experience.
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