This was the worst possible point at which to write a Dorohedoro double post. Not only did I start a new job last week, but the show started unloading all its groceries in a single trip beginning with episode 5. I can just picture director Yuuichiro Hayashi with fourteen sets of plastic handles digging into his palms, carrying too many bags of source material at once in the name of efficiency. Not being a manga reader, I don’t know which part of the story he’s trying to reach before this cour ends, but I sure hope it’s worth this frantic pace.
Complaining about an adaptation being “rushed” without elaborating is default anime criticism for dummies, so let me provide an example. In last week’s episode, there’s a neat scene where the pairs of Shin/Noi and Caiman/Nikaido arrive at the same building, but approach it from opposite sides. The cleaners enter, while the second pair leaves, assuming they’ve lost their man. Here are some cuts we don’t see as the scene unfolds: Shin/Noi making their way through the building after entry, their departure after killing a bunch of guys, and Caiman/Nikaido’s entry after they double back. We see the violence and the second pair’s reaction to its aftermath, and while a lot of people might consider those to be the important parts, the sense of timing and place that tricks your brain into thinking of the show as “real” is absent. How long did it take the cleaners to locate the room where the altercation took place? Were they invited in, or did they use intimidation? How soon after the cleaners exited the place did our protagonists charge in? Was there any danger that they might spot each other?
The example above was probably the most damaging to my involvement in either of these episodes, but there were plenty of similar (albeit smaller) omissions throughout both of them. And that sucks, because Caiman and Nikaido’s trip to Hole feels like a crucial juncture for the series. It brings the audience and the characters closer to the truth – about Caiman’s identity, Nikaido’s sorcerous past, and the hybrid nature of the magic users’ world. There were plenty of cool details and artistic choices spread throughout the 1.3 episodes we spent away from Hole, but I’d rather have gotten 2 full installments set in this other realm. I just wanted to keep soaking up the atmosphere, like the maggots on the wall during Nikaido’s conversation with Asu, or the thorny barricade protecting the smoke broker that Nikaido swindled earlier that day. I guess what I’m saying is, I wanted more of Nikaido walking around the sorcerer’s world like she owned the place. She was a fantastic guide through unfamiliar territory – it’s just too bad Caiman had to be kept in the dark while she was kicking all that ass.
Speaking of Caiman, we seem to have learned who he was before he got decapitated and had a lizard’s head magically sewn onto his neck. I say “seem to” because Risu, the reanimated head of Caiman’s corpse, doesn’t recognize the apartment where he was found, leading me to believe that he could have been planted there. Am I overthinking this? The show obviously has a reason for clueing us into this discrepancy, but it’s hard to figure it out when sorcerers are spewing smoke and mushroom forests are exploding on screen. And then there’s Nikaido’s involvement in his death, which may have been more than simply discovering his dead body. The last segment of episode 6 centers on a sewer-dwelling wannabe sorcerer who says that she was in the area just before his death. He wasn’t exactly implicating her, but Caiman is slowly putting together some pieces now that Risu has gained consciousness, and Nikaido’s involvement in his passing might be a part of that puzzle.
Perhaps my favorite plot from either of these episodes was Shin’s backstory. We already knew that he was born in Hole, but now we understand so much more – his half-magical parentage, his stitched hands, how Kasukabe-sensei unlocked his abilities, and his history of violence. It’s that last part that gave significance to the shape of his mask, since the on-screen beating of his heart immediately preceded his awakening as a killer. Most series that focus on war between two societies feature this sort of storytelling, where both sides are at each other’s throats for so long that the genesis of the conflict becomes obscured. Kids like Shin are the byproduct of those tragic circumstances – after being mistreated by the other guys’ soldiers, they become soldiers themselves. After what we saw this week, Shin’s personal history is unquestionably the darkest that Dorohedoro has supplied thus far, but there are plenty more mysteries to be solved. With assassins, transmogrifiers, and literal devils at its disposal, there are no limits to how twisted it might become.
I’ve been following the manga, but only reading up to where each episode stops. The story is a crazy train with no brakes. There are a few things that were skipped, but overall the anime captures the Dorohedoro experience well in that nothing skipped would have added much value to the adaption. The pacing is quick, and while the anime could have improved the viewing experience by slowing things down a bit, maybe the production studio wanted to stay closer to the original material’s pacing?
“Speaking of Caiman, we seem to have learned who he was before he got decapitated and had a lizard’s head magically sewn onto his neck.”
One thing I’ve noticed so far is the attention to little details in the background. One of them is here. If Caiman’s memories were returning, then the short flashback of Risu introducing himself is from CAIMAN’S perspective. That means Caiman is NOT Risu.
We also learned that all sorcerers can use magic, but not all of them can produce enough smoke to learn what their magic does. When asked what type of magic he can use, Risu basically says “I can’t produce enough smoke to find out, so I don’t know”. Now, combine this with the tidbit about Shin’s past (he cut his arms off by sections to find the smoke emitting vein), the first episode (Matsumura’s detached finger opens a door to save Fujita), and the surgery poster (widen the smoke carrying veins to produce more smoke). We’ve already seen magic be used immediately after the user is dismembered, we’ve seen one case where dismemberment also increased smoke production, and it’s known in the sorcerer’s world that surgery can increase smoke production.
We know that Risu and Caiman are connected somehow beyond having the red cross eye tattoos. Combining the above, is it possible that when Risu’s head was cut off, his magic activated automatically? If so, he was already dead when his body used his magic, so he couldn’t possibly know about it when En asked him. If true, then does that mean Caiman was near Risu when he died?
Another possible Chekov’s gun is the time stamp on the security camera in the smoke broker’s store. Is that a world-building detail or will it become important to the story? It stood out quite a bit to me.
I see where you’re coming from regarding the timing/POV of Risu’s self-introduction. It does happen while Caiman is dreaming in the bathroom during episode 5, and there’s a blurring effect on screen to show that we’re seeing through someone’s eyes. However, Risu’s disembodied head was also struggling to remember its identity at the exact same moment. I think the likely answer here is that their consciousnesses were briefly linked, as a way of illustrating that they are (or were) the same person.
Your attention to smoke production and the information surrounding it is great. That’s the kind of tracking that creates good material for blog posts. I’ll try to keep my eyes peeled for similar connections as we go forward.
I just love this show. I actually think that it is a great mystery story.