Is no one safe from the wrath of the cross-eyes leader?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Q Hayashida
Translation/Adaptation: AltJapan Co., Ltd. (Hiroko Yoda & Matt Alt)
What They Say
En’s murder sends his gang into chaos as Shin and Noi attempt to locate his killer’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, Nikaido and Kawajiri explore her magical abilities and how they might relate to the search for Caiman. And the Cross-Eyes continue their quest to see their boss—unaware of his role in En’s death, or that their path is taking them straight into danger themselves. A bloody battle royale awaits.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
In this volume of Dorohedoro, everything that can go wrong does go wrong, often in the most bloody fashion possible. The dramatic ending to the last volume leaves the cast scrambling for answers, and few are easy to be found.
En lost his head, and life with it, to the leader of the Cross-Eyes, who came out of nowhere to finish what he started years before. No one was expecting the attack, and the En family is at a complete loss. Fujita went into a state of shock after finding his bosses headless corpse, and Chota and Judas’s Ear are missing in action. Without Judas’s Ear they can’t resurrect En at all, so the race to find both of them is on.
Elsewhere Nikaido is free of her contract and her mushroom curse. Healed by her old friend Kawajiri, who has recovered after loosing his devil form, Nikaido reflects on her abilities. We discover via a unsettling flashback the events which lead Nikaido to abandoning her life as a sorcerer and her magic. It’s existentially terrifying, and when you think of all the things that can go wrong as a result of time travel this is right up there at the top.
While Nikaido is off gathering herself, Kasukabe runs into his ex-wife once again and convinces her to help him search for the leader of the Cross-Eyes. She’s not all there mentally now that she’s a devil-may-care devil, but agrees to help. Also on the Cross-Eyes tail are Shin and Noi. Noi never liked En, but it’s their lives and friends being affected by this turf war. They race off and begin one of the messiest fights in this series filled with gore.
The Cross-Eyes goons who we’ve been following on the side always seemed like a goofy group, but we discover that they can be quite competent fighters when pushed. Still, they are no match for Shin and Noi who tear into them with a fierce bloodlust. The fight is brutal and vicious, and bodies hit the floor quickly. No one escapes unmaimed. The tide of battle shifts quickly once the leader of the Cross-Eyes awakens and hits the scene.
Yes, we finally meet the leader of the Cross-eyes face to face, and he introduces himself by name. The surprise comes from the misdirection that had been set up to lead us here, but the reveal leaves only more questions. Especially since there is a shadowy monster is pursuing the boss for reasons unknown. The boss has the ability to steal other sorcerer’s powers and use them himself. The implication is he might decide to hunt down Nikaido next. Interestingly, Nikaido is probably the only one who can stop this mess before it reaches that point.
The color pages that were reproduced in grayscale are still muddy messes that make me wish Viz had just upped the cost per volume to retain them. It’s the one black mark I hold against the presentation of this series. Considering the final pages of the main story were affected this time it’s very unfortunate.
We get two extra evil side stories included this time, which seem a bit frivolous following the grim climax of this volume.
In Summary
Full of grotesque imagery and brutal beat downs, this is one of the bleakest volumes of Dorohedoro yet. Nikado’s flashback is haunting and the final pages of the main story paint the bleakest outlook on what the future could hold. Look closely though and you’ll still spot humor hiding in a box of fifty chicken nuggets or a random bit of sudden nudity. With Nikado ready to face her magic there’s a chance that the heroes are ready to make a comeback! However, we’re gonna have to see what became of Caiman first, and if the cleaners managed to stay alive.
Content Grade: A –
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 15th, 2014
MSRP: $12.99
