Comic Thoughts: Dorohedoro
Last night I finished the manga Dorohedoro, which is mostly about lizards and dumplings.
I watched the anime a little while ago (it was a great time), and decided to give the manga a shot to see where the story went. Turns out the anime ends at around chapter 40, but the manga is a whole different experience.
While the anime was a fun and fairly violent romp, the manga cranked the graphic violence up to 11, throwing in all the viscera and gore they couldn't put on the medium screen.
They also cranked the nudity up while they were at it, with more anime boobs than entirely necessary. I like anime boobs as much as the next internet denizen, but at times it felt like the entire manga may have been an excuse for the author to draw nipples.
The story unfortunately spins its wheels quite a bit after the anime leaves off. It gets confusing, the pacing gets weird, and it pretty much does nothing important for the next 80 chapters. It picks up again after that, however, and finishes strong once things all click together.
Even when the story drags, the gorgeous artwork, ridiculous characters, and wild world building keep you reading. The humour stays pretty consistent throughout as well, and I was impressed how author managed to build a narrative in which the dismemberment, mutation, and even recurring deaths of some characters managed to be hilarious -- and somehow despite the easy access to healing / reviving powers they managed to keep the stakes and tension up when necessary.
It may have been too long and convoluted, but was a totally wild, hilarious, gory bit of fun with a very unique setting and very unique cast of characters.