Dorohedoro Volume 1

Life in The Hole is pretty grim. Sorcerers regularly visit this gritty ghetto to 'experiment' with transformation spells that leave the human inhabitants of The Hole looking pretty inhuman. But if lizard-headed Caiman and kick-ass cook Nikaido have their way, the sorcerers will have reasons to fear for their lives and limbs too.

Infused with graphic violence, surreal characters and dark, biting satire, Dorohedoro is utterly original, but a little hard to follow. But if you have a taste for manga that’s got more than the usual daily allowance of WTF, Dorohedoro has got it by the bucketful.

When you first crack open the pages of Dorohedoro Volume 1, you're confronted with a grisly scene: a lizard-faced man has another man's head clamped in his jaws. As the man-creature's teeth pierces his skull, the man screams, "There's a guy here! In his mouth!"

Sure enough, there's a head beneath the lizard man's tonsils. The man in the mouth glares at the trapped man and growls, "You aren't the one." In a matter of minutes, the man is pulled from the lizard-man's jaws and sliced to bits. What on earth is going on here?!

Dorohedoro doesn't waste much time with narrative niceties - it just goes from 0 to 60 in 5 and figures you'll be smart (and intrigued) enough to strap in and enjoy the ride. I'll admit it took me a few chapters until I really got what was going on, but once I did, I found myself enjoying the outrageous violence and dark humor of this series.

Mind you, I'm still figuring out exactly where Dorohedoro is going, but from what I can gather, the story is set in a grim ghetto called The Hole. Mostly humans live there, but a lot of The Hole's inhabitants don't look very human anymore, because a group of sadistic sorcerers have been using them as 'guinea pigs' for their twisted transformation spells.

One such victim of sorcery is Caiman, the aforementioned lizard-headed man. He's looking for the sorcerer who transformed him, but he can't remember who it was. Apparently the guy inside his throat is able to recognize the culprit, so Caiman must interrogate suspects by sticking their heads into his mouth.

Accompanied by his ass-kicking femme friend Nikaido, Caiman is turning the tables on the sorcerers by making them the hunted rather than the hunters. But his trail of carnage hasn't gone unnoticed - Caiman is making some very powerful enemies who will soon be seeking him out.

Yes, Dorohedoro is violent and surreal, but it's also infused with Hayashida's dark and goofy sense of humor. Between their killing sprees, Caiman and Nikaido bicker and flirt like workin' class stiffs who appreciate a laugh and a good meal after a hard day at the office.

If you read between the lines, the turf battle between the human inhabitants of The Hole and the privileged sorcerers gives Hayashida a platform to sling some biting satire about class warfare between the haves and the have-nots of the world.

Hayashida's artwork is also notable for its fine linework and gritty crosshatching, and for her inventive character designs. Yes, I said "her" - Hayashida is a female creator who can draw a butt-kickin' and beheadin' fight scene with the best of 'em. She also challenges gender stereotypes by introducing unconventional female characters, sometimes when you least expect it.

Dorohedoro isn't going to be everyone's plate of gyoza- it's eccentric and a bit hard to follow at first. But if you give it a chance (and in my case, a few re-reads), its wry humor and over-the-top violence just might win you over for this first volume, and maybe other volumes to come.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.