Dorohedoro! By Q Hayashida.

 Dorohedoro!

   I am to say this is a manga I found one day not ever in the bookstore but online. Yes, I did the bad deed but alas, were you going to get good manga in the bookstore. Nope, you always have to wait until an anime adaption and even then they might not have it. Really much, this story is interesting for its unique drawings style and the theme and look and even story of the story. Its pretty much about a guy called Kaiman looking for a wizard that turned his head into a Lizard. Aided by his friend Nikado( who is a woman by the way) they go to search for wizards and magicians who practice on individuals their magic-just to see which one turned him into a guy with a Lizard head. At the start of the series, Kaiman puts his mouth over the head of the magician and really much asks them, " what did the guy inside say?" As if they can tell him who did the magic in on him. Its never works however and he ended up killing them. The series is unique because events happen in a dystopian city called the Hole where people without magic are experimented on by magic users  from another world full of magic where magicians gather in some sort of gang authority basis power structure. Meaning that the most powerful magic users are at the top rungs of society however even in this "magic user" world there are individuals with magic who have crosses over their eyes called cross eyes( I believe, its been awhile). Similarly Kaiman as the same crosses. The story is very interesting and profound and very gory in some places. I found myself drawn to its artstyle if not story if not the surroundings you can see. 

   There are many memorable characters and one is called Ebisu who is basically the comedy slapstick of the series. I fondly remember at the end of the series she points out that a character's, "boobs are gone" after saying "boobs". There is a girl cross eyes, she was a cute character until she was killed. It is the essence that in which in this series there are no actually good or bad characters. Just individuals who have their moral issues. Few characters in this series could be considered actually evil in their morales but the one who closes out the series after the mystery of who Kaiman is, is basically solved.

    I am to regulate to you that this manga basically started in 1999 and ended in around 2018 or somewhere like that. It lasted 19 years. When it started I was still a toddler and by the time it ended, I was an adult. I am to stress that this work is not for kids or for the faint of heart. But only for mature audiences past the age of 18.

    Now, there is an anime of the series on Netflix which covers the first part of the story, I guess-the very minimal basics. I watched the series earlier this year and I am to say it does a good job at translating the story, yes it does. Now if to say that wanting for the anime to come back which it is scheduled to do so with a second volume is the best course of action, I am to say that its not. You should read the story itself and really appreciate the art. Namely Japan unlike the United States market actually allows for real diversity and if by diversity meaning women authors writing and drawing their own works and creating the blockbuster animes people enjoy all over especially the west; the work is created by a woman called Q Hayashida. I mean she has been doing this work since the 1990s. It is to say that women are not these political bound vessels and that they can be what they are and don't have to tend to any sort of liberal understanding of "women's freedoms". I find that this work is magnificent in how the genius of the author just shows how much better the manga market is better for anyone let alone women in expressing pure ideas and unfiltered ones. To be truly able to tell their stories with their own convictions not borrowed from any current movement. I am to say that the comic market is severally behind Japan and always probably will be where women don't have any power to create jackshit anything. I feel a great liberty in reading this work of Q Hayashida because maybe it shows just what a liberated storyteller of the comic form is, mainly woman. You would never see an english version of this author. I frankly don't know much about the author and there is not much to be known of the author but I appreciate their existence full and honesty for what creativity they bring out into this story of Dorohedoro. This work has to be one of my favorite anime works of all time. It just brings you into a world of what could be. I am just to think myself, what would it take to get the United States to where women can tell stories that are free and ambitious just like Dorohedoro? I frankly myself don't know the answer but this is what the work inspires out of me everytime I see it and realize how great it is and shows the author's improvement over time coupled with real life backgrounds, there is a great appreciation for this work.

   I do say that this is a work that is more readily available to buy possibly in english these days than any manga I have featured recently. It really goes to say that maybe now that it has an anime it will be placed in bookstores across the United States to some effect and will reach a larger audience. However I do stress that the work is not for everyone and really enough the gore element and the morals of characters could tick people off who like seeing good and bad characters interact. Yet in my opinion, this work is kinda of the most influential manga works ever that did aspire me to new heights. And yea, this is not my first review of the work and probably won't be its last. Buy the work of Dorohedoro on Amazon.