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Note: This will cover both seasons
In a dystopian cyberpunk-like setting, a fantasy premise unravels through an amnesiac man with an alligator head instead of his own, hunting down magic users to find out who the hell did that to him, and inserted another man on the back of his mouth. Even though the show is mostly wacky violent action, there’s an underlying (but far more evident in the second season) theme of class difference, seeing that the sorcerers, or people that can use magic, live above the slums and transport there to use their powers on the common citizens for reasons, and they are also fairly wealthy, if not directly live in mansions. The other group in turn do all sorts of criminal and common jobs just to survive the day.
At the centre of it all there’s the amnesiac protagonist who despite that, manages to have a strong presence and personality, a rare thing for protagonists with his condition, I would say. But because of that, it also means that he has no initial backdrop, and finding the tiniest thing about it and of him takes time, as it’s shrouded in mystery. His female partner in crime also has a strong presence and personality, as a semi dynamic female lead, that actually has a secret power and a backdrop, that chooses to hide herself. Eventually it is revealed that the latter has had some implication on the situation of the former, but by that point their bond was so solid, that the development and catharsis of the main character was prioritizing that over finding out more about his past.
The antagonistic group is hunting down some crossed eyes gang for backstory reasons and a certain power, which the woman MC happens to have, so they’ll hunt them down. Unlike those two, these aren’t shrouded in mystery, and their relationship and backstories are most of what carries the show, instead of the plot itself. I’m not one to care about couple ships or anything related, but these two pairs have enough charming chemistry and cool fight choreography together, that you can probably find yourself rooting for them, both as items and as a group of characters. Pretty rare for a heavy brutal action show to make you want to see both sides win, even when one side’s objective is to hunt down the other.
Notice how I said antagonists but not villains? Well, despite being criminals, they are basically just doing their job, and even the protagonistic pair themselves go around and kill a lot of people in brutal ways. There is no clear good or bad side in the first season, as morality basically does not exist in such a rotten setting. The second season throws more clear bad guys to the mix though, and I can tell you from what I looked up from the source that there will be more down the line, so there are actual villains in this title, we’re not just not quite there yet.
As I said, the characters are what carry the show instead of the plot itself, which because of the objectives, is shrouded in mystery, and since the needed and wanted information is revealed slowly, and not actually close to the main explanation, it is also partially going in circles. The second season is better in this regard, as there is a more clear plot progression and revelation of the identity of the main character, how he came to be, what happened to him, which characters and powers were involved in it, and even the antagonistic group of the first season gets to face off against the group they were searching for in the previous entry. It also explores the backdrop of Nikaido in more detail, and sets up the importance of her power and a possible character arc for her to develop in future entries.
Despite that, the actual writing doesn’t make the tiniest bit of sense, partly because of the wacky nature of the show itself, and partly because of its setting, where magic lacks any sort of rules, thus anything can happen at any moment and for whatever reason, and a lot of weird creatures can and do pop up, resulting in an eventual complete lack of questioning but why does something happen?, but also a lot of questioning of but why does something not happen, you know?
This randomness of the show is what lots of people found appealing about it from the beginning, but also what can make its first season feel inconsistent in quality and slow in progression. The second season fares much better in that regard, but it still contains its fair share of what feels like random side content about side characters.
Another flaw is that the main characters from both sides have strong plot armor, whereas for being close to immortal or for having broken healing powers, thus you feel the lack of stakes for the whole first season. Eventually there seems to be a striking and surprising permanent effect in the second season, but that carries another issue, which is, for plot reasons, two of the main characters being taken away from the story, and the rest losing screentime to the more uninteresting side characters. Thus, although the second season is more focused and starts and fares stronger and better than the first, it also loses steam near its end, and it finishes with a big cliffhanger and unnecessarily cruel finale to one of the most wholesome characters from the show, which I guess is fine for reminding the audience of the bleakness of the setting, despite the wacky tone of the series.
The visuals are fine to good, the CGI is not the best but looks better in the second season, and although it is not as memorable and raw looking as the minimalistic artstyle from the manga, it still manages to convey the wackyness and dirtiness and bleakness of the setting just fine, the backgrounds in particular look pretty neat thanks to it. The actual animation is another thing that got better in the second season, more fluid and with better fight choreography. Also, the second season ramped up the brutal content to the point of outclassing the second season of Jigokuraku and the Hokuto no Ken third remake in gore in the same year, which is quite the feat. What sucked in the newest entry was the abuse of swipes for the transitions, which made me feel like I was watching Star Wars every ten minutes.
The music is just absolutely not of my taste at all, but it is also frenetic and fits the nature of the show just fine, thus I can appreciate what it does for the show, and the opening and ending sequences that go along with some of its tracks. The voice acting isn’t quite great obviously, but everyone fits their role and did their job just fine. Sound effects were good I guess, whatever.
Due to its craziness and weirdness, Dorohedoro manages to be a somewhat memorable show down the line, but due to its constant randomness, it is also true that some of its content will just inevitably escape your mind, even more because of how long it took (so far) for a continuation to come out. I don’t think it is top material, I did not enjoy it myself, and what I spoiled myself from the wiki and manga ending does not make me want to keep watching it further, but at least its first two seasons are fine worthy watches, at least for a one time experience, even though some rewatch might help in noticing or reminding details of how the mystery is slowly unraveling.
6/10
