Dorohedoro!!

[Xion Valkyrie]

Just checked out this manga and read volumes 1-12. Searched and didn't find a topic so I'm starting one.

The description on mangatraders gives a good idea of the basic setting, but really doesn't clue you in on how crazy it is. The style reminds me a lot of Berserk, with a lot of dark humor thrown in. Of course, bloody violent too.

Anyways, for those peeps that have been reading this, here on some thoughts and speculations on the mystery behind the main character's identity and related stuff. These contain spoilers up to Vol 12, so be warned.

Spoiler:

I think we can establish that Ai is the cross-eye boss. We also know that Kayman's body is Aikawa's body, at least physically. It is definitely some apparition of Risu in Kayman's body.

Let's suppose those things are true (unless the manga in the future states otherwise), then I think the following is what happened in the past. Risu actually has the power of curse. In the chapter where it explores Risu's past life at the school, it explained that curse magic is extremely rare and its effects are basically unknown. In the flashback when Kayman visits the school, he has a flashback of seeing Ai/Kai opening up Risu's corpse bag, and a giant ghost appears, similar to the ghost form of Risu after he leaves Kayman's body.

Basically, I think Risu was killed by the Cross-eyes boss for his power. We know that Ai originally came up with the surgery to transplant a magic user's body parts into himself in order to become a magic user. In the latest volume, we see that he transplants En's brain into himself and is now able to use En's power. It'd make sense if Ai/Kai figured out what Risu's power was and wanted it for himself. In another flashback scene with Kayman we see him waking from a surgical procedure and then saying how there's something "left behind" in the apartment, which looks just like the apartment that Risu's head was found in. Risu's curse probably manifested itself when he was killed and or when his power was transplanted into Ai/Kai.

One thing that still isn't clear is how Risu's curse form went inside Aikawa's body. It could be that Aikawa went to find Risu and instead the cross-eyes boss takes Aikawa and seals Risu's curse form into Aikawa, causing him to go berserk. Sometime after this Ebisu curses Aikawa and turns him into the lizard, causing him to lose his memory. Ai/Kai probably dumps his body in Hole afterwards.

However, that doesn't really explain where Ai/Kai has been since the showdown with En 6 years ago. We know that in that previous battle, Ai/Kai was about to kill En before he started to become overcome with agony. This is probably due to Risu's curse form. However, if Risu has been sealed within Aikaway for the last 6 years, then why has Ai/Kai not shown up until after Risu's release from Aikawa?

A more farfetched idea is that Ai/Kai is Aikawa, maybe some kind of split personality. In Risu's flashbacks he said that Aikawa has some kind of headaches that always cause him to disappear, and Aikawa seems to know far more about the cross-eyes than he lets on. Ai/Kai and Aikawa also look extremely similar, and when the Ai/Kai shows up again, it is only after Aikawa returns and leaves Nikaido and the demon. This would also explain why Kayman has flashbacks of Ai/Kai, when he should only have them from the perspective of Risu.

Looking forward to vol 13, hopefully getting these plotlines cleared up.

[Tyrone Biggums]

I've just started reading this today, got through about 20 chapters. I'll read more later, but I love it. Good stuff and I gotta say I didn't expect it to be this good.

Reminds me of Berserk, Zetman or Biomega...the fighting anyways and the art.

Anyone know when Vol 13 is out?

[Fevvers]

Dark setting? Pfft! This manga is weird and HILARIOUS. Heck, I wouldn't mind just reading this purely for the antics of En's group (Ebisu, you moe, little girl you!).

[stpehen]

Great series. Absolutely hilarious. I wouldn't mind seeing the author do a straight-up comedy next.

[SquirrelLuvsPnut]

I just started reading this and one thing that really impressed me was the chapter in which Kaiman was about to swallow Ebisu. It shocked him that the magic user was a girl, but her swallowed her anyway. In almost every manga I've read, when ever a main character discovered a masked character is a girl, they stop fighting. This is the first time, I've ever seen this "rule" broken, which also tells me that this manga follows no rules.

[Gooral]

16th volume of Dorohedoro will be out on October 28th !!! Can't wait to read it. Certain someone has pre-ordered special edition of it so I'll probably be able to read it in this year.

[ShiroiRyu]

OH FUCK YEAH !
Finally after a year ? Hope Gantz will do the translation fastly.
And remember "It's Dorohedoro !"

[Xion Valkyrie]

Awesome.

It looks like we're close to a resolution though.

[Gooral]

Scanlation of 16th volume has been released by GWR and all I can say is that it was better than I expected and I expected a perfect volume. It was beyond perfect. Not only we go usual amount of chapters but also a massive amount of great omakes. There is also fanservice here (mainly Nikaido), plot is as intriguing as ever and characters are exquisite. Why this manga is more popular is beyond me.

But there is also bad news. Please read this and help if you can:

[Xion Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by Gooral

Scanlation of 16th volume has been released by GWR and all I can say is that it was better than I expected and I expected a perfect volume. It was beyond perfect. Not only we go usual amount of chapters but also a massive amount of great omakes. There is also fanservice here (mainly Nikaido), plot is as intriguing as ever and characters are exquisite. Why this manga is more popular is beyond me.

But there is also bad news. Please read this and help if you can:

Because the art is weird, does't have moe elements, and requires a lot of thinking/re-reading to figure out what's going on.

Man, it seems like mangafox is killing all the scanlators. Maybe they should try putting their stuff on Batoto (it seems a lot of scanlators support that online reader for some reason).

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Xion Valkyrie

Because the art is weird, does't have moe elements, and requires a lot of thinking/re-reading to figure out what's going on.

I'll admit, I wasn't too sold on the premise as I started to read it because of those reasons, but after I read the 2nd vol, and Kaiman and Nikaido fought against Shin and Noi, I was hooked enough to continue reading it. I still don't really know what's going on(I read 14 vols in one straight shot), but I think how the magic is used is a big part of why I kept reading(well, and to see Kaiman + Nikaido =03). Like what En said to Kaiman in one of the later volumes, a magic might seem silly or stupid, but how its used can be the difference btw crappy magic and superior magic. Still, that's not enough for the moe crowd though =02.

...(it seems a lot of scanlators support that online reader for some reason).

It's because the creator of that site, who is also a scanlator, made it so that some/all the revenue gained through the ads are given back to the scanlation groups. This would allow the scan groups to get more stuff, thus benefiting everyone.

[Gooral]

Soon enough we might only get moe/ecchi/shounen stuff from scanlators, so much of it that even most fanatics of these genres will start throwing up with it. With GWR out of the picture we will lose one of the few groups which doesn't pick up projects based on popularity (or "moeness/ecchiness level) but those which seem interesting but no one is willing to scanlate it. Desert Punk and Dorohedoro are both the best manga I've ever read (in the same league as Monster, 20th CB or Vinland Saga for example) and they have tons of such awesome projects. It was thanks to them we got Shingeki no Kyoujin as early as we did, otherwise some group would pick this project about the time the second group started scanlating (this group sucks BTW) once it became very popular.

[Soconfused]

I love finding amazing manga on a whim. Knocked out the first 12 volumes in the last few days, absolutely love it. The art style, the characters, the comedy, all fantastic. This has jumped into my top 10 of all time in this short amount of time, too good.

though it always bums me out when I find a good series, come to animesuki and it doesn't even have a full page of comments. Has happened more time than I would like.

[Poetic Justice]

Just finished reading it a few days ago. It really should have ended earlier, It's dragged on way too long after the lizard head was cut off. I feel there's not much of the characters left and yet its being dragged on anyway.

[Poetic Justice]

It looks like were finally reaching some sort of conclusion and most of the questions in the series have been answered. Still feel like it's dragging on with new developments which aren't really adding anything to the overall story.

[Drkz]

Originally Posted by Gooral

Scanlation of 16th volume has been released by GWR and all I can say is that it was better than I expected and I expected a perfect volume. It was beyond perfect. Not only we go usual amount of chapters but also a massive amount of great omakes. There is also fanservice here (mainly Nikaido), plot is as intriguing as ever and characters are exquisite. Why this manga is more popular is beyond me.

But there is also bad news. Please read this and help if you can:

Oh that explains it. Wonder why they didn't release anything in awhile. Mangareaders make it easy. You just go to one site instead of visiting multiple sites. People love simplicity after all. The same could be said about those anime streaming sites that spawn. A few of the popular ones probably net a lot of ad revenue just from the amount of people that visit their site.

Dorodoro isn't mainstream. Its weird, bloody and gorey, but it isn't like gantz strange. Dorodoro is still good. Its unique? But it also makes the fanbase pretty small. Most of all you ask more questions than you get answers.




It'd probably also make a good fighting game.

[Poetic Justice]

Spoiler for 118:

Ok so what I get from 118 is that the devil is Nikaido, Who brought back Kaiman from the past into the future. Seems plausible enough. Sad that the manga is ending soon as this is the final volume.

[Drkz]

Originally Posted by Poetic Justice

Spoiler for 118:

Ok so what I get from 118 is that the devil is Nikaido, Who brought back Kaiman from the past into the future. Seems plausible enough. Sad that the manga is ending soon as this is the final volume.

Aww really? Well that sucks . Hopefully the author makes another awesome series!

[Drkz]

What the heck..? Was someone carrying Kaiman's dead head into the convenience store?

[Poetic Justice]

I have a feeling future Nikaido did it.