Title: Dorohedoro 11 (manga review)

Author: Q Hayashida

U.S. Distributor: VIZ Media

Release Date: Dec 17, 2013

Format and Length: manga; 170 pgs

Genre: fantasy, action

Industry Age Rating: M for Mature

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Similar Series:  Dorohedoro is a unique series and it is difficult to find something else similar to it.

Synopsis:

Nikaido is back with En but she is severely injured.  Even Noi’s powerful healing smoke has no effect on her injuries. It seems that Nikaido hates being under En’s contract so much that her body is physically rejecting it and it is killing her.

Elsewhere, the small group of Cross-eyes has been having their own problems. Something has gotten into their prisoner and possessed him.  The thing turned him into a demon-like creature that calls itself “Curse.” The cross-eyes try to fight it but the two that did attack it end up horrible wounded

Meanwhile, Chidaruma, the former devil that helped Nikaido and Caiman escape, comes across the body of a human Caiman. Believing Caiman to be dead, Chidaruma passes out from exhaustion. He eventually wakes up in a bed being cared for by a man who calls himself Aikawa. Chidaruma manages to teleport himself and “Aikawa” to the room where Nikaido is resting. En, sensing the disturbance, runs to see what is happening with Nikaido, but gets dristracted by a horrible sensation he had only felt once before. And it nearly killed him then.

Commentary:

Dorohedoro 11 was an improvement over the last few volumes. Things finally feel like they are progressing and the gritty art style did not make any panels unintelligible like they sometimes do, especially in scenes with lots of movement. Though I have always liked the art style of Dorohedoro and it really fits with the scenes and plot of the series, in some volumes the roughness of it can often get in the way of being able to tell what is going on in some of the scenes.  That problem was not there in volume 11. In each panel it was fairly easy to see plainly what was happening. Although there were some scenes where the content was what made it difficult to see what was happening. There were many situations where various characters were having strange visions. It looked like they are supposed to have some deep symbolic meaning but it is extremely difficult to tell just what that meaning is. But not knowing the deeper meaning of the visions does not really affect the character development that occurs within the visions. There is dialogue and, while the symbolic meaning is confusing, the dialogue is what propelled the plot and character development so no story was lost in visual translation.

The comedic relief parts are well done as well. Each one, at the very least, gets a small laugh. They are all at least a little bit funny and serve as nice breaks from the harsh seriousness of the main plot of the series.

Overall Grade: B+

Dorohedoro 11 was good overall. The comedy was funny and the action scenes were easy to see despite the rough art style that sometimes makes movement difficult to decipher. Dorohedoro is a unique series and it is difficult to find something else similar to it.