Time for some R & R?
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 hunt down his killer’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, Nikaido and Asu team up to locate the elusive 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 battle royale of the bloodiest kind awaits…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
If your wondering who that is on this amazing cover, that would be Haru Kasukabe holding…. herself. Viz’s unfortunate cost cutting measure returns in force at the beginning of this volume, where the once color pages are a wash of muddy gray. Not a strong start to an otherwise solid volume of Dorohedoro, where we find our cast searching for answers and recovering from the hostile takeover of En’s empire.
The Cross-eyes have moved into En’s mansion and spunky Natsuki tries to convince the others that their now super rich, but they don’t believe her until they find the storerooms of home goods. The poverty stricken group is suddenly overwhelmed with all the comforts money can buy, and wanna be followers of the group suddenly show up in force at the gates of En’s mansion.
But what of the former members of En’s family?
Noi awakens in the company of an invisible man from En’s family whom everyone forgot existed. He ends up being the savior of much of the surviving family, but winds up with little thanks for it. Noi took a week to recover but Shin was still a pile of mushrooms. Luckily a little tender loving care from Noi brings Shin back to the land of the living, proving you can’t keep the cleaners down for long. Elsewhere Chota and Judas’ ear are being hunted down by the Cross-eyes, but a last minute save reunites most of the surviving En family lackeys. We even get to see Ebisu use her full magical powers for once!
The same reveal also exposes Natsuki’s magical abilities, a powerful anti-magic cocooning power which makes her a perfect bodyguard. However, Dokuga becomes concerned about her future as he’s hiding secrets about their boss. I’m not sure why Dokuga sees fit to continue serving his boss.
I think this volume has the highest nudity panel count of any volume of the series so far, but I’m reluctant to call it fanservice because… well… gratuitous as it is this is Dorohedoro we’re talking about. Heck, everyone seems to get a little bit of action in this volume, and it’s a fine way to distract from the bleakness of the not to distant past. Even when it’s not full blown nudity there are still scenes like the Kasukabes enjoying each other’s company poolside in hell. Buried in that fanservice is even some gender bending! It’s just that, well, even when trying to be sexy Hayashida’s art is still weirdly grotesque, and I really wouldn’t want it any other way.
What of Nikaido and Caiman? Nikaido is training with her friend Kawajiri, who has her completing devil tasks so she can get a handle on her magical abilities. Her training sends them back into En’s mansion in disguise to retrieve a book that could help her along that path. That’s when she runs back into Caiman, or more accurately Aikawa.
This is where things get confusing. Caiman has returned to his old self as Aikawa, yet with no memories as his time as Caiman. Life resumes to pre-transformation magic school activities. He runs back into his friend Risu, who isn’t exactly right in the head after everything that has happened. We find out later that he’s not quite what he appeared, and goes berserk when confronted by a amnesiac Aikawa. Except things aren’t quite right for Aikawa either. Every time his past as Caiman starts to be brought up an internal struggle begins. If things don’t quite ad up about Caiman until now they only get weirder from here on out. The last few pages of this volume are a shocker that put much of what’s gone in into stark relief.
The volumes closes out with another “extra evil” short taking place back when En’s house was still En’s and focuses on some devil shenanigans. An light palate cleanser after what happens in the closing chapter.
In Summary
Dorohedoro is never dull, but it can get confusing keeping track of who is where and on whose side at any given moment. This volume sees most of the cast picking themselves up, regrouping and relaxing, and it’s almost peaceful in that sense. Until the last few pages of this volume remind you that there is one very real danger looming over everything, who takes no prisoners and sees even friends as enemies worthy of slaughter. And worse, he might be the closer than you think.
Content Grade: B +
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 19th, 2014
MSRP:$12.99
