After a number of misses or subpar animes in the last year or two, it is refreshing to have something that is unapologetically funny, gruesome, weird, and mysterious. To quickly summarize and give an idea of what is happening, the story takes place in a world divided into two parts: the Hole, where humans live, and an unnamed place where sorcerers live. Caiman is on a journey to find his real identity with the help of his friend Nikaido, a local woman who owns a small restaurant but also packs quite a punch.
To talk about any more of the plot would seriously ruin a lot of the fun of the show. Every episode teaches the audience more about the world without being heavy-handed and leaving often more questions than answers. This can be annoying in other shows, but here it is charming and engaging to be thrown into such a fantastical world of transformed humans, different worlds, magic, hyper violence, and crazy science. The story doesn’t stem from learning and understanding everything, but it comes from seeing the characters do whatever they need to in order to reach their goals.
The sorcerers are clearly looked at and often are the enemies, but we get a lot of time from their perspective and their personal storylines too. We can see what they do and why they do it. Some minor plotlines and characters seem like filler here and there or are not well enough explored, but overall the plots are great.
Lastly, the animation is finally a great use of the 3D anime style Neflix keeps pumping out. We’ve seen it used well in things like Berserk, but the last couple of shows that have popped up on Netflix have been bad, and their animation only made them worse. But Dorohedero implements some 2D style into the animation, making the show feel like a normal anime. I could see some people not loving the style, but the characters, plot and writing making it totally worth watching.
I’d highly recommend this show if you’re just wanting a crazy anime with insane characters, brutal violence, a weird universe, and wacky story beats.
