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Hole—a dark, decrepit, and disorderly district where the strong prey on the weak and death is an ordinary occurrence—is all but befitting of the name given to it. A realm separated from law and ethics, it is a testing ground to the magic users who dominate it. Possessing free access to and from the cesspool, and with little challenge to their authority, the magic users appear indomitable to most—aside for a few.

Set in a gritty world of hellish design, Dorohedoro manages a healthy blend of comedy and lightheartedness with death and carnage. Taking plenty of twists and turns while following the lives of Hole's residents, it weaves a unique world of unearthly origin and dreary appearance.

3910 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2020

21 people are currently reading
83 people want to read

About the author

Q. Hayashida

81 books602 followers
Q Hayashida (林田球, Hayashida Kyu) is a manga author from Tokyo.
Hayashida studied oil painting at Tokyo University of the Arts. She has discussed her childhood and artistic inspirations in interviews but maintains a high level of privacy about her personal life, to the point that her true name and face are unknown.
Hayashida's first major manga was Maken X Another (1999-2001), a comic book adaptation of a video game.
Her most famous work is the 23-volumes long Dorohedoro (2000-2018). It was originally serialised in the alternative manga magazine 'Monthly Ikki', but it was later moved to 'Hibana' when Ikki ceased publication, and finally transferred to 'Monthly Shōnen Sunday'. Dorohedoro has been partially adapted into an anime on Netflix in 2018.
Hayashida's most recent manga series Dai Dark began serialisation in 2019 in the pages of Monthly Shōnen Sunday.

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5 stars
213 (71%)
4 stars
72 (24%)
3 stars
11 (3%)
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2 (<1%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for C.
215 reviews14 followers
July 21, 2022
Review in English • en Français • en Español

This was an awesome manga and it’s well complimented by the anime, although the anime series is not finished 😭 The dystopian setting and the horror depictions are highly detailed and well built. The manga has a great balance between comedy and gore. And the end was just one of the most satisfying I’ve ever read 🥟

Ce manga est génial et il est bien complémenté par l’animé qui est une excellente adaptation, malheureusement la série télé n’est pas terminée 😭 Les dessins de paysages dystopiques et les représentations d’horreur sont incroyables. Le manga a un bon équilibre entre comédie et scènes sanguinaires. Et la fin de cette histoire est une des plus satisfaisantes que j’ai jamais lues 🥟

Este manga es genial y su adaptación en anime es excellente, desafortunadamente la serie de tele todavía no ha sido terminado 😭 Los diseños distópicos y de terror son asombrosos. El manga tiene un buen equilibrio entre comedia y sangre. El final de esta serie es de la mas satisfactorias que haya leído 🥟
Profile Image for Eurídice Hilam.
9 reviews
February 4, 2021
This might be my favorite piece of fantasy of all time. Seriously, I have no words to describe it, just pure perfection.
I don't really like mangas, it was never my reading preference, I read this one because the 2020 anime really got me hooked on the story, and it was the best decision I ever made.
Profile Image for Step Quiroga.
1 review1 follower
April 28, 2022
I really loved this series it was so unique and so ahead of its time the art style, the plot, THE CHARACHTERSSS, ugh everything about it was just the best thing I ever laid my little eyes on. my only problem with it was the ending it has been a couple of years since the ending dropped and I read it but it still fuels me because it did feel bittersweet which I wouldn't mind but it was just slightly rushed, I only ever say good things about this series but its one of my favorites even got the artbook <3 but please and support Q. Hayashida they...SLAYYY.
Profile Image for Lu.
4 reviews
August 27, 2025
It's the best twisted fucked up series. It doesn't follow any established manga arc structure and is just unapologetically it's own thing.
If you disliked this one we can't be friends sorry. I love it. And gyoza.
Profile Image for Riikka Lehtinen .
16 reviews
September 3, 2025
crazy good — loved the quirky aesthetic that still somehow felt completely grounded thanks to the stellar world building. Beautiful story of loyalty, found family and anger. don’t be scared of by the title ”manga”, if you can read Persepolis or Watchmen you can read this, and you’ll be in for a RIDE.
Profile Image for Kapitol Tank.
776 reviews4 followers
May 23, 2025
Trece tomos gordos (incluso el final que es simple y equivale a uno solo) que suman los 167 maleficios numerados, los 23 maleficios extra, los maleficios del demonio de bonus, todos los "que aprendimos hasta ahora" y los amigos que hicimos en el camino.
Profile Image for Ollie.
458 reviews30 followers
April 19, 2023
I couldn't find a more fitting entry to review the entire series, so this will have to do.

I’ll never stop singing Dorohedoro’s praises. Something about the 2020 anime struck a chord with me with its colorful characters, rich story, and peculiar setting. It’s been years and I still find myself looking up clips of it on Youtube. The anime has only had one season, and looks like it’ll stay that way, so to quench my thirst I turned to the manga. I didn’t know what I was going to find, but I didn’t think things would get so deep.

The story of Dorohedoro is hard to explain and things get even more complex in Q Hayashida’s manga. The anime season that encompasses the manga barely scratches the surface of this layered and complex story. Interestingly, the manga spanned 18 years since its first chapter until the end of the story and, as one would expect, Q Hayashida’s art style develops a lot in that time, from a raw and rough character design to a more polished look which the anime adapts. Characters who look downright evil and perverse get a smoother edge to them, not to mention the consistency from panel to panel. Throughout the span of the book, Q Hayashida’s art becomes grander, more compelling, and her characters more “human” (her ladies even become “babe-ier” as time goes on), and the whole look of the manga starts to resemble Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, which is high praise in my book.

One of the draws for me of Dorohedoro is how this colorful cast of characters gels and works together whenever they need to, and the players expand greatly in the manga. Believe it or not, they are all downright lovable (with the exception of Ebisu who can be pretty annoying) and their own personal stories are intricate, touching, and compelling. Each person has a specific role to play that helps develop this complex story. Speaking of which, the layers of this mysterious onion get peeled, only to reveal several inner onions with their own layers to be peeled away. I don’t know if Q Hayashida had this story planned out in advance (some of it reads a little like introducing a new concept just to tie up a loose end then disposing of it), but plenty of characters and elements introduced early on keep recurring and are brought back in a way that is relevant to the story. We get plenty of questions answered (and the reader is constantly reminded of these revelations, which I am very thankful for), which feels incredibly satisfying. Still, I’m not completely sure how Caiman, Risu, and Ebisu are fully related in this story.

I don’t know what to say at this point about Dorohedoro except that I am pleased the story is at an end, even though I will seriously miss these characters. The end verdict is simple: Dorohedoro is masterpiece.
Profile Image for Quetzal Daniel Beltzasar.
41 reviews1 follower
October 24, 2021
Un buen manga, una trama interesante, llena de intriga que deja al lector con ganas de seguir leyendo para desentrañar los misterios de hole, ¿quién es Caiman?, ¿quién el jefe de los ojos Cruzados? ¿porqué nikaido no usa su magia?. la familia de En se lleva la presea al evadir un sin número de riesgos para devolver el equilibrio en el mundo mágico. simplemente gracioso, emocionante, surrealista. Me gustó
20 reviews
March 15, 2022
Some works of fiction suck me in so hard, I can barely concentrate on the world around me until I’m done. This was one of them. Thanks to online scans and library apps, I was able to thoroughly immerse myself in this one until I finished all 23 volumes (and definitely fall behind coursework in the progress). The art is fantastically detailed, and the mystery that drives the plot took me in so many directions that I didn’t know where to look next! I loved the grimy worldbuilding, the nuanced takes on socioeconomic class, the gore, and the morally grey areas of the characters. Also, obsessed with Noi.

REALLY ENJOYED THAT NIKAIDO AND CAIMAN WERE NOT ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED AT THE END. I love a will-they-won’t-they as much as the next guy, but I would have found a hetero “they kissed and lived happily ever after” to be a pretty mid-tier ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Geoffrey Jonas.
Author 1 book33 followers
May 21, 2025
Phew, this was a long haul! Twenty three issues of approx. 300 pages each makes for a lot of information and art to wade through, but it is a great read.

Sorcerers, devils, magic, mushrooms, and gyoza! This was a fantastical journey of incredible imagination. There is whimsy, humour, and touching stories in this series, as well as horror, gore, and bizarre nightmare fuel.

However, about 3/4 of the way through it becomes quite convoluted and, at times, hard to follow, leading to the loss of a star. That is overshadowed by the great, detailed art throughout. From elaborate, dark, focused pages to what appeared to be inked sketches, the sheer amount of great art in this series is almost too much to take in on just a singular reading. I will likely read again.
24 reviews
January 2, 2023
Violent, chaotic and trippy as hell.
Reminiscent of the works of Naoki Urasawa, Dorohedoro is a fun mix of action and mystery, with a creative art style backing it.The wonderful world building with class and caste systems are big pluses for the manga. Moreover its biggest strength lies is in the fact that every single character are grey, ,with substantial backstories and motives which prevents the reader from siding with anyone. Dorohedoro is a roller coaster of a manga, that I am glad I picked up to close of 2022. People who are okay with hyper violence ( which is a given in these kind of mangas) should definitely give this one a try.
Profile Image for Luiza.
222 reviews14 followers
February 27, 2022
This was a really fun story with amazing art, best thing about it were the characters, theres quite a part group of them but everyone gets good potrayal, the thing i liked about it the least was the amount of times the female characters were naked, they had their clothes ripped off basically every fight and this ofc didnt happen to male characters, really unnecessary, it also dragged a bit at the end
Profile Image for Artur Artborg.
49 reviews
July 29, 2025
Not long after it came out, I watched the 12-episode anime adaptation of "Dorohedoro", and thoroughly enjoyed it. For whatever reason, it took me years to seek out the actual manga itself. Upon finally reading it, I soon discovered that it was even greater than its anime counterpart. An insane rollercoaster of a masterpiece, filled to the brim with phenomenal characters (90% being blood psychopaths), hilarious dark comedy, brutal scenes of action and horror, and gorgeous artwork. A must-read!
Profile Image for Kaia.
12 reviews4 followers
June 6, 2021
Started this series with the anime, but I loved the story so much I had to go back to the manga to read it!! Fantastic and Unique at the same time!! I love Q. Hayashida's story as well as her art. It's like the perfect blend of visual interest and story development. Highly HIGHLY recommend if you are into manga.
8 reviews
June 1, 2025
The first manga I've touched. Humour drives everything with a theme of power imbalances and cruelty, which makes for a strange mix.
The only critique would be some needless nudity choices and maybe 23 books meandering a little too much without a big payoff but that seems to be the nature of the format from what I gather.
Profile Image for Grace.
636 reviews64 followers
did-not-finish
August 11, 2021
Read volumes 1-7 in 2021. Ratings were all 2-3 stars
8 reviews7 followers
October 8, 2022
Davvero un bellissimo manga. La giusta combinazione di fantasy e mistero, comicità e un pizzico di romance. Le illustrazioni sono meravigliose. L'ho adorato!
Profile Image for Christina V-A.
25 reviews
August 8, 2023
crazy, confusing, scary, funny, and endearing. i love caiman <3 and i crave a mountain of gyoza dumplings as a result
Profile Image for Vishnu.
15 reviews
July 21, 2024
What an absolute classic. She's a modern day genius. The gore, humour, style and extremely cruel darkness, unparalleled.
Really enjoyed this one
Profile Image for Anastasia Kyselova.
13 reviews
January 7, 2025
The level of madness is off the charts! I love both sides of Q Hayashida her imagination and her artistic style!❤️
Profile Image for Alex Kelly.
11 reviews
Read
March 29, 2025
I forgot how much I love comics, reading this was awesome didn’t realize how far the story goes outside of the anime
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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