Dorohedoro

__The Basic Plot__ So okay, picture this. A giant man named Caiman wakes up one day with a lizard head and zero memory of how it happened. He lives in a place called the Hole, basically a crumbling, rain-soaked city that sorcerers use as a dumping ground for their magic experiments. People there just... get cursed randomly. Turned into mushrooms, smoke, weird hybrid creatures, you name it. Caiman's mission is simple find the sorcerer who did this to him and bite their head (yes, bite their head, there's a mysterious man who lives inside his mouth who can identify the culprit). He does this with his best friend Nikaido, who runs a gyoza restaurant. That's the premise. Sounds unhinged, because it is. But it somehow works. __The Characters__ This is genuinely where the show shines. Nobody here is purely good or purely evil, which is so refreshing. Caiman is this big lovable idiot who eats gyoza obsessively, picks fights with dangerous sorcerers, and is terrified of ghosts but totally fine with zombies. There's real warmth to him even though he's running around decapitating people. Nikaido is his grounded, competent counterpart she cooks, she fights, and she keeps him alive. But she's carrying a secret that makes her way more complicated than she first appears. Then you have the En family on the "villain" side, and honestly, they steal so many scenes. En himself is this mushroom-obsessed crime boss who's weirdly elegant and deeply unhinged. His cleaners Shin and Noi are a duo you end up loving despite the fact that their entire job is killing people. Shin lectures his partner Noi about her choice of weaponized silverware at a dinner party turned assassination. That's the kind of energy we're working with here. Noi deserves her own paragraph honestly. She's incredibly confident and carefree and is absolutely built like she could throw a car. She enjoys fighting and competes with Shin over kill counts, but she's also just... very endearing. She asks Nikaido to be her friend mid-fight. Icon behavior. And then there's Ebisu. Brain-damaged, barely verbal, chaotic little gremlin. Genuinely one of the funniest characters in the show. Fujita is the only one who truly treats her like family, and their dynamic is oddly sweet for a show this violent. __The Art Style__ MAPPA used CG animation, and honestly, it was a risky choice that paid off. The sharp edges and lines on the character models create an illusion of a hand-drawn, comic book style that makes everyone stand out against the bleak city backdrop. It feels grimy and textured in exactly the right way. Even in heavy action scenes, the world around the characters keeps moving it's packed and alive in a way a lot of anime isn't. The hole looks genuinely miserable and oppressive. The sorcerer's world looks lush and excessive by comparison. That visual contrast does a lot of storytelling work on its own. __The Worldbuilding__ This is where Dorohedoro is genuinely impressive. The Hole is a decrepit, run-down cesspool where poor mutated creatures live, used and abused by sorcerers from an idealistic realm it's basically a class system dressed up as a fantasy setting, and it never has to explain itself too loudly. No two magic users have the same ability, which makes for consistently creative and unpredictable encounters. Magic here feels real and consequential rather than just a power system with tiers and levels. Mealtime conversations function as opportunities for backstory delivery and subtle worldbuilding through dropped names and references. The show trusts you to piece things together, which is rare and appreciated. __My Thoughts__ Look, this show is not perfect. Twelve episodes is not enough for how much it's trying to do, and some threads just... hang there. You will finish season 1 with more questions than answers, and that might frustrate some people. But what I genuinely love about it is that it doesn't spoon-feed you. It throws you into this world mid-chaos and expects you to keep up. The plotlines are tangled and layered Caiman's mystery, the En Family's schemes, the Cross-Eyes gang, and Nikaido's secret, and they're all moving at the same time, intersecting in ways you don't always see coming. There's no clear protagonist or antagonist here it's a pragmatic exploration of unique characters whose backgrounds are slowly revealed, and that's honestly what keeps it interesting. You genuinely care about people on both "sides." It's violent, it's weird, and it's occasionally hilarious in the most unexpected moments. It's the kind of show you recommend to people with a "just trust me" and then watch their reactions. A solid, distinctive watch that earns its cult status,

__The Basic Plot__ So okay, picture this. A giant man named Caiman wakes up one day with a lizard head and zero memory of how it happened. He lives in a place called the Hole, basically a crumbling, rain-soaked city that sorcerers use as a dumping ground for their magic experiments. People there just... get cursed randomly. Turned into mushrooms, smoke, weird hybrid creatures, you name it. Caiman's mission is simple find the sorcerer who did this to him and bite their head (yes, bite their head, there's a mysterious man who lives inside his mouth who can identify the culprit). He does this with his best friend Nikaido, who runs a gyoza restaurant. That's the premise. Sounds unhinged, because it is. But it somehow works. __The Characters__ This is genuinely where the show shines. Nobody here is purely good or purely evil, which is so refreshing. Caiman is this big lovable idiot who eats gyoza obsessively, picks fights with dangerous sorcerers, and is terrified of ghosts but totally fine with zombies. There's real warmth to him even though he's running around decapitating people. Nikaido is his grounded, competent counterpart she cooks, she fights, and she keeps him alive. But she's carrying a secret that makes her way more complicated than she first appears. Then you have the En family on the "villain" side, and honestly, they steal so many scenes. En himself is this mushroom-obsessed crime boss who's weirdly elegant and deeply unhinged. His cleaners Shin and Noi are a duo you end up loving despite the fact that their entire job is killing people. Shin lectures his partner Noi about her choice of weaponized silverware at a dinner party turned assassination. That's the kind of energy we're working with here. Noi deserves her own paragraph honestly. She's incredibly confident and carefree and is absolutely built like she could throw a car. She enjoys fighting and competes with Shin over kill counts, but she's also just... very endearing. She asks Nikaido to be her friend mid-fight. Icon behavior. And then there's Ebisu. Brain-damaged, barely verbal, chaotic little gremlin. Genuinely one of the funniest characters in the show. Fujita is the only one who truly treats her like family, and their dynamic is oddly sweet for a show this violent. __The Art Style__ MAPPA used CG animation, and honestly, it was a risky choice that paid off. The sharp edges and lines on the character models create an illusion of a hand-drawn, comic book style that makes everyone stand out against the bleak city backdrop. It feels grimy and textured in exactly the right way. Even in heavy action scenes, the world around the characters keeps moving it's packed and alive in a way a lot of anime isn't. The hole looks genuinely miserable and oppressive. The sorcerer's world looks lush and excessive by comparison. That visual contrast does a lot of storytelling work on its own. __The Worldbuilding__ This is where Dorohedoro is genuinely impressive. The Hole is a decrepit, run-down cesspool where poor mutated creatures live, used and abused by sorcerers from an idealistic realm it's basically a class system dressed up as a fantasy setting, and it never has to explain itself too loudly. No two magic users have the same ability, which makes for consistently creative and unpredictable encounters. Magic here feels real and consequential rather than just a power system with tiers and levels. Mealtime conversations function as opportunities for backstory delivery and subtle worldbuilding through dropped names and references. The show trusts you to piece things together, which is rare and appreciated. __My Thoughts__ Look, this show is not perfect. Twelve episodes is not enough for how much it's trying to do, and some threads just... hang there. You will finish season 1 with more questions than answers, and that might frustrate some people. But what I genuinely love about it is that it doesn't spoon-feed you. It throws you into this world mid-chaos and expects you to keep up. The plotlines are tangled and layered Caiman's mystery, the En Family's schemes, the Cross-Eyes gang, and Nikaido's secret, and they're all moving at the same time, intersecting in ways you don't always see coming. There's no clear protagonist or antagonist here it's a pragmatic exploration of unique characters whose backgrounds are slowly revealed, and that's honestly what keeps it interesting. You genuinely care about people on both "sides." It's violent, it's weird, and it's occasionally hilarious in the most unexpected moments. It's the kind of show you recommend to people with a "just trust me" and then watch their reactions. A solid, distinctive watch that earns its cult status,

That pinky swear means everything for both of them, so cute..

It brings different prespective about caiman's boss. Caiman's reunion but everything goes south.

Confuse on how the story goes. But, so far the good thing is seeing lizard being an MC lol

Inizialmente non mi ha entusiasmato le animazioni, tutto sommato è uno splatter con i fiocchi. Conisgliato per chi vuole il brividino e il "sangue", da horrormania!

Season 2 is definitely needed as the mystery of the person who cast the magic on Caiman is still unknown. Whereas there are so much more to discover in the Dorohedoro universe.

En had it rough in the past due to his Magic, but he is able to rise from below and reach to the top which is pretty amazing. This episode also reveals the reason why En is obsessed with a time controlling Sorcerer. Fun episode especially at the end with the pie contest as well.

We get to see the contract signing of becoming a Partner. As usual the visual is very shocking where it is definitely not your usual contract signing. There is actually more to the Partner system as later reveal by En, so the lore just keep thickens.

A bit of Noi's past training as well as how Shin and Noi met for this episode. From the past, we see some interesting info about Devil as apparently you can train to become a Devil. So, very intriguing to see what is the role of Devil in this anime.

More world building for the Sorcerer world with the introduction of Blue Night, which is fun as the partner system seems like an important part of the Sorcerer. Now that Caiman is entering the Sorcerer world again, I am excited to see what he will uncover.

Just a little break from the chaos with some baseball game with Ebisu as cute shark. New character is introduced which is Chota, En is really a resourceful guy with such unique Sorcerer in basement. Ebisu's magic is also revealed in this episode which cause some trouble to Noi.

Noi is truly the fighting maniac as she battles against Nikaido without breaking a sweat. Now that Risu is a free man, I am curious of what story he will bring to the anime. Also, the backstory of Shin is sad involving the cruel neighbour association that fights the Sorcerer.

Hole es una ciudad podrida usada como laboratorio por crueles hechiceros. Caimán, un hombre con cabeza de lagarto sufre de amnesia y caza magos buscando al culpable de su estado. Entre gyozas y sangre, el líder En prepara su ataque. Un thriller surrealista de humo negro.

Just when we are starting to learn more about Hole, we are moving forward to the Sorcerer world which is equally freaky. There are hell and devil already being shown in this episode, so can't predict what will appear next. PS another new ED for this anime.

There are so much interesting characters along with their intriguing powers, like Turkey with his living doll magic mentioned last episode and now the emergence of white smoke. So much lores to be discovered in this anime that keeps it interesting.

The fight between Shin and Noi vs Caiman and Nikaido is quick and short. Both duo are tough as they are pretty damaged from the fight. It is very shocking development with Caiman's ability and Nikaido's identity being revealed in this episode. PS, we also got a new ED.

Now we are introduced with the role of cleaner for En, Shin and Noi. The mystery of what exactly is the Sorcerer's job does still is unsolved, so I am excited to find out. Not to mention the diversity of what magic can do in the universe.

If only MAPPA actually hand-drew this, would be 10/10.

Glad that there is no intention in shying away from the gruesomeness, the action is done tastefully with all the clean slashes. Definitely a good first episode as I am still not sure which sides to take on but with enough info to keep going.