Dorohedoro

Dorohedoro is a dark fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Q Hayashida. The story is set in a grim, post-apocalyptic city called the Hole, a lawless slum where pollution and violence are rampant. The inhabitants live in constant fear of Sorcerers, beings from a parallel dimension who use them as test subjects for dangerous magic. The narrative follows Caiman, a man with a reptilian head who suffers from total amnesia. Together with his tough friend Nikaido, a chef who runs the Hungry Bug restaurant, Caiman hunts Sorcerers in the Hole. His unique method involves biting a Sorcerer's head, which transports both into a mysterious smoky room inside his mouth, where a human face appears in his throat and questions the victim about the curse. If the Sorcerer is not the one who cursed him, Caiman kills them. The series also follows En, a powerful Sorcerer leader, and his assassins as they try to eliminate Caiman.

Dorohedoro was serialized in Shogakukan's magazines Monthly Ikki from November 2000 to September 2014, Hibana from March 2015 to August 2017, and Monthly Shōnen Sunday from November 2017 to September 2018. Its 213 chapters were collected into 23 tankōbon volumes, published from January 30, 2002, to November 12, 2018. In North America, Viz Media licensed the series for English release, publishing the volumes from March 16, 2010, to March 12, 2019. As of January 2020, the manga had over 13 million copies in circulation worldwide.

The series is known for its genre-blending mix of horror, action, comedy, and noir, with themes of amnesia, identity, morality, class oppression, body horror, and found family. Q Hayashida's detailed, visceral art style is widely praised. Critically, the manga holds an 8.41/10 on MyAnimeList, and the anime adaptation by MAPPA scored 8/10 from IGN. A stage play, Dorohedoro: The Stage, ran in 2021. The series has developed a strong cult following, influencing works like Chainsaw Man, and is noted for its inclusive LGBTQ+ representation and iconic character designs.[edit]