is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Q Hayashida. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazines Monthly Ikki (November 2000 to September 2014), Hibana (March 2015 to August 2017), and Monthly Shōnen Sunday (November 2017 to September 2018); its chapters were collected in 23 tankōbon volumes. Dorohedoro tells the story of the amnesiac reptilian-headed Caiman, working together with his friend Nikaido to recover his memories and survive in a strange and violent world.
In North America, the series has been licensed for English-language release by Viz Media in 2009, which began distributing the manga digitally when it launched SigIKKI, the now defunct online English version of Ikki magazine. The 23 volumes were published from 2010 to 2019.
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA was broadcast in Japan on Tokyo MX from January to March 2020. It was followed by a worldwide streaming release on Netflix in May 2020.
Synopsis
Setting
The series is set in a near post-apocalyptic future, taking place across three realms: Hole, an ungoverned human favela megacity, heavily polluted from magic waste. Sorcerers' world, an ethereal, Gothic class society, controlled by crime boss En. Hell, the afterlife of all sorcerers, ruled by demons presided over by Chidaruma.
Despite similar outward appearance, humans and sorcerers are two distinct species; Sorcerers were manufactured by Chidaruma in his realm, whereas humans occurred naturally in another. Sorcerers can also use magic through a circulatory system, which disperses a black smoke that gives them distinct powers. Stronger and rarer powers are highly prized, to the point of directly affecting social status; sorcerers will routinely commit to binding partnerships, resulting in violent competition for the right. Humans are forced to live in the slums of Hole, subject to unprovoked sorcerer violence and overwhelming magical pollution, whereas sorcerers live and travel freely between realms using conjured doorways.
Premise
A man named Caiman is searching for a sorcerer, his erased memories and reptilian head a result of their magic. Assisted by his friend Nikaido, a restaurant chef who runs The Hungry Bug, Caiman wanders Hole in search of his curser, hoping to kill them and dispell their magic. Caiman's only lead is the full-size man who lives down his throat: by placing a sorcerer's head inside Caiman's mouth, the man's head will slide up Caiman's throat and verify if they are responsible. Getting a job at a community hospital for magic attack victims, Caiman works with Drs. Vaux and Kasukabe to reach the sorcerer's world and uncover his past.
The news of a lizard-man killing sorcerers, one with cross tattoos and magical resistance, also attracts the attention of the de facto ruling sorcerer En. En believes Caiman is tied to the Cross-Eyes Gang, subjugated humans and lower-class sorcerers whose leader almost wiped out En's crime family before disappearing. En sends his cleaners, Shin and Noi, to kill Caiman with two low-ranking sorcerers: Fujita, who seeks revenge as Caiman murdered his partner, and Ebisu, who has amnesia after Caiman accidentally tore her face off.
Characters
Residents of the Hole
Caiman is a victim of a magic attack that has left him with the head of a reptile and no memory of his original identity. He works with his friend Nikaido to hunt down Sorcerers who enter the Hole, hoping to find the one who cast the spell on him and kill him to nullify it. By biting down on the heads of Sorcerers, a mysterious presence that lives in his mouth communicates with the bewildered Sorcerer, stating whether or not they are "the one". Caiman then spits them out and asks the Sorcerer to repeat the information to him. This is his only lead to finding his original identity. Caiman's immunity to magic and formidable knife skills make him incredibly skilled at battling Sorcerers. He also has the ability to regenerate his head, allowing him to survive lethal attacks such as decapitation. When not fighting, Caiman loves eating gyoza and frequently sends Nikaido's restaurant, The Hungry Bug, teetering towards financial ruin due to his reluctance to pay his tab. While his imposing figure frightens some, he is generally well-liked in the Hole. At the beginning of the series, he works part time at a hospital for the treatment of magic victims.