
a review by Halith

a review by Halith
Dorohedoro is a manga that manages to wonderfully execute a story driven by the characters that evokes the feeling that the reader is an observer of a naturally evolving world.
The story immediately begins with Kaimen putting his mouth around a magic user's head to know if the little guy inside his mouth pinpoints the user as the cause of Kaimen's curse, which is a lizard head and amnesia.
Upon learning he isn't the one, Kaimen kills him and chases after the other magic user present in the fight, who proceeds to return to their base to report to their leader. Kaimen and his magic hunting partner Nikaido then reflect Kaimen's amnesia and hunt for the user who cursed him so.
The beauty of this first chapter is that it is told almost purely by the actions of the characters and that no part of the chapter is wasted. In 29 pages, Dorohedoro manages to set up a few key players in the tale to be told, with a small gleam into their motivations and an introduction into the the world of the Hole, where magic users go to experiment, and the land of magic users themselves, two central locations of the story.
The rest of the manga manages to follow suit in this style. There is no main character sitting in his classroom, looking out his window to reflect on the characters and monologuing away as a cheap way to explain. Instead, the reader learns about each character through their interactions and expressions. It is through these interactions that the story is told and the reader is left to interpret the inner workings of the world and the nuances involved. The strength in this storytelling is that it spotlight's the mediums strongest feat, the ability to take advantage of show, not tell.
The characters are the focal and best part about Dorohedoro. They do not fit tightly in a good or evil mold or any type of alignment. Each character manages to mark their own place with a unique personality and actions that given their context and identity make sense. Each manages (with maybe exceptions to one gag character) to grow and evolve as the manga progresses and are still as memorable to me as the day I finished Dorohedoro. The best way I can describe them is that they are organic.
Another side and favorite aspect of mine is the maturity in which the manga manages to handle nudity. There are no incredibly overused and cliche nude moments in which other characters freak out about the nudity. Instead clothes may rip and tear for a variety of reasons and the manga either treats it without overemphasis or in a tastefully humorous way. In a manga riddled with violence in some segments, it also manages to not fall upon sexual violence, which is appreciable.
Though the story may drop in quality somewhat during the final arc, which is the only reason I give it a 9/10, it manages to still give it a good send off, which is impressive given the troubles the manga's publishing went through during said time.
TL;DR if you want a character driven narrative with highly memorable, natural characters, then please give Dorohedoro a try.
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