History Manga / Dorohedoro

In the gloomy, dank and dystopian underworld so dismal it's known only as "the Hole," sorcerers from a different world, the so-called "Magic Users", have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious "experiments" in the black arts. The series follows the story of Kaiman, an unlucky fellow who had such an encounter with a Magic User, that left him with his head transformed into that of a reptile's and [[AmnesiacHero unable to remember who he was before the transformation]]. Since then, Kaiman has been travelling around the Hole, accompanied by Nikaido, his female companion, in hunt of any Magic Users he can come across, hoping to find whoever cursed him and that in doing so he will be able to reclaim the lost memories of his past.

* DropTheHammer: Shin uses a hammer as a weapon. [[RuleOfCool He can even block bullets and cut off your head with it.]]

It was announced in the final volume that it would receive an [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/11/11/bizarre-fantasy-manga-dorohedoro-takes-the-plunge-as-a-tv-anime anime adaptation]] by Creator/{{MAPPA}}, which began airing in January 2020 in Japan, with Creator/{{Netflix}} streaming the series worldwide in May 2020. On January 2024, [[SequelGap four years after the first season]], a second season is in the works and will be released at an unknown date.

[[Characters/{{Dorohedoro}} A character sheet is under construction]]. Feel free to support your contribution.

It was announced in the final volume that it would receive an [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/11/11/bizarre-fantasy-manga-dorohedoro-takes-the-plunge-as-a-tv-anime anime adaptation]] by Creator/{{MAPPA}}, which began airing in January 2020 in Japan, with Creator/{{Netflix}} streaming the series worldwide at a later time.

There's an [[http://ghz.tokyo/2016/03/25/dorohedoro_ost/ OST]] in the making, approved by [[ApprovalOfGod Hayashida Q.]]

* FakeBoobs: [[ACupAngst Ebisu]] orders a pair of these along with an outfit in order to compete with [[BoobsOfSteel Noi]]. Nobody except Noi pays any attention, though.

* FantasticRacism: Magic Users and Devils consider humans to be little more than trash only fit for performing experiments on or eating.

* {{Foil}}: Shin's magic can slice people up; Noi's magic can heal them.
** [[spoiler: Nikaido is a magic-user who lives as a human; Ai/Kai/Aikawa/Kaiman was a human who wanted become a magic user.]]

* FlyingBroomstick: "Broomsticks" are more like wheel-less flying motorcycles, though they can be used for cleaning.
** MagicCarpet: used as taxis.
* GagBoobs: [[ACupAngst Ebisu]] orders a pair of these along with an outfit in order to compete with [[BoobsOfSteel Noi.]]. Nobody except Noi pays any attention, though
* GenderBender: When Asu transforms Chota into Nikaido in Volume 7.

* GoKartingWithBowser: When Fujita ends up playing baseball against Kaiman and crew (and Fujita's zombified partner Matsumura for good measure).
** Also, Kasukabe and [[spoiler: Shin]] end up working together or hanging out with each other.
* {{Gorn}}: '''Oh, lord.''' Every time there are fights, expect body parts flying around.

* BareYourMidriff: Haru in her human form, along with some of Nikaido's looks.

* AuthorAppeal: Food and cooking, especially if it's Japanese street foods like gyoza or nikuman. Several main characters are restaurant owners, and others like Asu are amazing cooks even if they don’t cook professionally. Many important conversations take place over meals, and the eating habits of characters receive special attention that’s unusual for an action manga. In fact, the first opening for the anime is just Nikaido cooking. Intensely cooking, but still. Which is between various copies of Kaiman marching and splatting on the ground, with the second time having their heads replaced with gyoza.
** It should be noted that Q also loves shonen manga and battles, it's quite telling considering her work, also, nudity, both [[MrFanservice male]] and [[MsFanservice female]].
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Why En is in charge of the Magic Users world.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob : How most Devils appear, especially Chidaruma and Haru.

* BalefulPolymorph: Transformation is a very common type of magic, usually limited to specific forms (for example, En can turn anything into mushrooms).

** The main villain for a good chunk of the series [[spoiler:has multiple heads, and can regrow them at will, and it is especially to happen when their multiple personalities are switching. Over the course of that conflict, each head represents a life he has, which requires him to be killed nine times to eliminate all the heads. Multiple heads get killed through damage to the heads themselves, like the Tanba magic users cutting his head longitudinally with a cleaver, Shin beheading Kaiman, Curse beheading Kai, Risu beheading the final head, etc.]]

** During his first fight with Shin, Kaiman is beheaded and killed, though he ressurrects by himself. Vaux, him, and Nikaido attempt to dissect it to see if they learn anything about it, but it vanishes during a power outage. [[spoiler:Risu's Curse is revealed to have stolen and kept it, and through magic, a Devil brings him back to life during the final arc using that head.]]

* CloudCuckooLander: Ebisu, though it is due to brain damage caused by Kaiman. [[spoiler:When she recovers her original personality, she is a quite serious and stoic girl, but in her ressurrection, a magical hairpin ends up in her brain which returns her to her brain damaged personality.]]

* DeathIsCheap: Played with. Most of the main characters end up dying ''at least'' once, horribly maimed, or incapacitated by magic (i.e. being dismantled or turned into a pie) in a way that might as well qualify as dead. However, because of powers like Noi's HealingFactor, normally-fatal or debiltiating injuries can be healed without consequence. It becomes somewhat more problematic if the victim is long-dead or killed instantly, but even then, En has a pet -- er, ''[[InsistentTerminology family member]]'' that can bring Magic users back to life, so long as their Devil-Shaped Tumour remains intact.

* {{Dungeonpunk}}: The setting as a whole falls under this. The Magic Users' World plays this straight, but Hole tends towards more of a traidtional {{Cyberpunk}} aesthetic as the {{Muggles}} there are completely incapable of using magic and use of regular old technologies instead.

** [[spoiler: The two remaining Cross Eyes officers are shown mercy by Kaiman, who worldlessly gives them a gift of Noi's healing smoke in a gesture that simultaneously fulfills his obligation to them as the Boss and ends his involvement with them, to the betterment of both parties (though he still regularly runs into them later as coworkers for Nikado's Hungry Bug restaurant).]]

** [[spoiler: Nikaido's door is shown to be designed like a casette tape, and has fast forward and rewind buttons on it, hinting that her magic is time manipulation]]

* AMillionIsAStatistic: This and that the victims decided to fight is the reason that the [[KillEmAll wholesale slaughter]] unleashed by the Cross-Eyes isn't treated as a MoralEventHorizon.

* MugglePower: The Hole militia, Option 2 (KillEmAll).

* KillEmAll:
** When the Cross-Eyes start hunting down Magic Users. Any that fight get slaughtered and have their heads taken. This results in a truly horrendous amount of heads lying around.
** In a milder example, Kaiman considers doing this when he arrives in the Magic Users' world. [[OnlySaneMan Nikaido]] convinces him not to.
** What the Cross-eyes' leader wants to do to all magic users [[spoiler: or to be more precise, "that thing" -- the collective rage of all the magic users' victims -- that went into Ai when he fell into the pit]].

''Dorohedoro'' is a {{Seinen}} series created by Hayashida Q. First premiering in 2000 in ''Monthly Ikki'' (a magazine specializing in underground or alternative manga), it ended in 2018 after almost [[LongRunners 18 years being serialized]], with 23 volumes. However, it changed magazines a few times during its run; it ran in ''Monthly Ikki'' from 2000 to 2014 before moving to ''Hibana'' in 2015 after ''Ikki'' ceased publication, and then to ''Monthly Shonen Sunday'' in 2017 after ''Hibana'' also ceased publication. Described by the creator as being like "[[LyricalDissonance a song with really dark lyrics, but a melody that's so happy that you want to dance to it]]," it manages a delicate balance of [[{{Gorn}} gratuitous amounts of gore]], [[FanService a fondness for displaying the random boobie or two]], [[BlackComedy and a stark-black sense of humour]].