This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
Dorohedoro is a story that begins as chaos and remains so, but somehow pulls you in so much that after watching, you already have a new favorite on your list.
The basis of the anime is the manga by Q Hayashida, which was published from 2000 to 2018 and collected in 23 volumes. By the way, the manga is published in Ukrainian by "Nasha ideya," so soon you will be able to purchase a book that includes all the volumes. This is a seinen with a very recognizable authorial style: rough, detailed, and a bit punk. The manga long held a cult status: it was recommended to those tired of sterile fantasy. Hayashida has a rare talent: she draws grotesque in a way that does not repel but draws you in. In this universe, the ugly is not opposed to the beautiful — it is its form.
The anime adaptation was taken on by MAPPA. The first season was released in 2020 and consists of 12 episodes (+ 13 bonus). In spring 2026, the second season began airing. For MAPPA, this was quite a challenge, as Dorohedoro is difficult to translate to the screen without losing texture. The world of the manga is very dense: walls, masks, smoke, dirty signs, scars, kitchens, magical doors, clubs, alleys, strange bodies. The anime chose a combination of 3D models with hand-drawn backgrounds, and while not everyone likes the noticeable CGI, many viewers acknowledge: this is where it works better than you expect. The movements may sometimes seem artificial, but the overall stylization, character design, and the crazy energy of the world hold everything together.
The events unfold between two dimensions: the world of wizards and the Hole — a city of humans that wizards use as a testing ground for experiments. At the center is a man with a lizard head named Kaiman, who is searching for the one who turned him into this creature in a specific way. He captures wizards, shoves their heads into his mouth, and a mysterious man inside tells him whether this wizard is responsible for the curse. Alongside him is Nikaido — a friend, combat partner, and owner of the diner "Hungry Bug," where they prepare the very gyoza that make watching without a snack a morally challenging trial.
The anime itself resembles a mix of horror and black humor. In one moment, faces can be ripped off, and in a few minutes, the heroes are already arguing over food or getting into an absurd domestic scene. And this is one of the reasons why Dorohedoro is so loved. It allows you to experience the entire emotional spectrum at once. So it definitely won't be boring.
Visually, Dorohedoro hits hardest with its atmosphere. The Hole looks like a city where it never stops raining, and dirt has long become part of the streets. The world of wizards, on the other hand, has a gothic, almost carnival luxury: masks, costumes, doors between dimensions, mansions, restaurants, rituals, and strange holidays. And the color palette here is not entirely "dark." This is not the case where gloomy anime is simply drenched in black. Dorohedoro has a taste for color: even in the darkest scenes, there are spots of yellow light, green smoke, red accents, dirty pink, or sickly turquoise.
In reviews on Anime-Planet, MyAnimeList, AniList, and discussions on Reddit, several reasons for the love of Dorohedoro are often repeated. The first is world-building. The human Hole and the world of wizards do not feel like a backdrop for adventures; they live their own lives. There is medicine for victims of magic, criminal families, restaurants, partnership rules among wizards, social hierarchy, everyday habits, fashion, food, jokes. Fans often write that they want not just to find out the resolution of Kaiman's mystery but also to spend a little more time in this world, to see how it functions, what its laws are, and what other strange people walk its streets.
The second reason is the characters. It's hard to divide everyone into "bad" and "good": each has their own motivation and goals. Comments often mention that even characters who do terrible things here are not "flat." The anime constantly gives them everyday life, humor, attachments, and weaknesses, which creates a certain sympathy for them. Kaiman and Nikaido also kill wizards, but remain incredibly charismatic and surprisingly cozy.
The third reason is the balance of chaos. Dorohedoro has a lot of violence, body horror, and black humor, but it does not fall apart into a random set of shock scenes. Fans often describe it as controlled chaos: the series looks wild but gradually reveals a cohesive structure. The mystery of Kaiman's identity, the origins of the wizards, Nikaido's past, the internal rules of the world — all of this is revealed not through dry explanations but through adventures, fights, food, masks, strange rituals, and jokes on the edge of absurdity.
This is not universal anime, like any other. Some may find too much blood, others may find the humor too strange, and some may notice the CGI. But if you are drawn to stories with character, original worlds with their own rules, characters without sterile morality, beautiful grotesqueness, and a gloomy atmosphere, then Dorohedoro will easily find its way into your top.
