Netflix's 'Dorohedoro' Season 1 Spoiler-Free Review: New anime series is trippy, ridiculous and so much fun

Based on the manga of the same name, 'Dorohedoro' is a crazy dystopian adventure featuring magic, violence and a weird lizard-headed man
PUBLISHED MAY 28, 2020
Dorohedoro (Netflix)
Dorohedoro (Netflix)

Netflix has added a brand new anime series to its growing catalog of international content and it is, without a doubt, one of the weirdest things we've ever seen on the streaming service. Based on the manga of the same name, 'Dorohedoro' is a crazy dystopian adventure featuring magic, violence and a weird lizard-headed man. Caiman (Wataru Takagi), the main protagonist of the series is a man with the head of a lizard who is trying to find the sorcerer who cursed him. He is joined on this mission by his best friend Nikaido (Reina Kondō) and opposed by a powerful sorcerer called En (Kenyu Horiuchi), who has something of an obsession with mushrooms. 

It's a strange and wild adventure featuring dystopian landscapes, plenty of humor, and a lot of mouthwatering food. However, this one is not for the faint of heart. 'Dorohedoro' features more than its fair share of graphic violence and bloodshed. Case in point, Caiman doesn't have his memories so whenever he meets a sorcerer, he takes their head in his mouth, where a second face appears and reveals whether it's the right person or not. At which point, he kills them. 

There is also a fun pair of assassins, Shin (Yoshimasa Hosoya) and Noi (Yū Kobayashi), who are sent to kill Caiman by any means necessary. For them, that means in as brutal a way as possible.

As far as magical dystopias go, the world of 'Dorohedoro' is pretty grim, with the polluted human dimension known as the Hole and the fantastical yet class-divided world of the Sorcerers standing in stark contrast to one another. But despite their differences, both worlds are filled with plenty of weirdness, including technologically advanced brooms and morbid 'Purge'-style rituals. 

Beneath all that madness, however, is a fun adventure that's equal parts cool and funny. 'Dorohedoro' is a genuine dark comedy that should be a fun watch both for hardcore fans of seinen anime and the average everyday viewer. Here's the official description for the show on Netflix: "Amnesiac Caiman seeks to undo his lizard heard curse by killing the sorcerer responsible, with his friend Nikaido's help. In the Hole, that's a threat." 

'Dorohedoro' was released on Netflix on May 28.

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