Dorohedoro
2020
Original language: Japanese
- animation
- action & adventure
- comedy
- sci-fi & fantasy
The story
Amnesiac Caiman seeks to undo his lizard head curse by killing the sorcerer responsible, with his friend Nikaido's help. In the Hole, that's a threat.
What it’s like
Grimy, saturated neon against sooty dark: the Hole's alleys glow in sickly greens, magenta and sodium orange, with hazy steam and smoke turning every street into a murky, layered frame. The 3D animation has a slightly stiff, painterly finish that suits a crumbling industrial slum, and the score leans on jittery electronic pulses and bursts of grinding noise, with quieter moments carried by thin piano and ambient hum. The mood is gritty but loose and often goofy, a sardonic, cozy-grotesque kind of dystopia where bloody brawls and bodily horror sit beside shaggy-dog banter and cheerful weirdness. Violence is frequent and cartoonishly graphic, with gore, dismemberment and grotesque transformations, though it is played as much for laughs as for dread. Pacing is brisk and episodic, with sudden tonal swerves between slapstick and menace. The emotional core is a lonely, amnesiac man and his blunt friend slowly rebuilding a sense of who they are, in a city that keeps trying to swallow them. For viewers who enjoy irreverent seinen fantasy, black comedy and a messy, cheerful world, not for anyone seeking something gentle.
More TV shows like Dorohedoro
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Dorohedoroand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
