Es la noche de los muertos vivientes y Caimán y Nikaidô se afanan por conseguir puntos para obtener un premio que mejorará la calidad de las gyôzas del Hungry Bug. Sin embargo, un encuentro inesperado hará que Caimán pierda la cabeza. Más tarde, En lleva a Shin a conocer a Turkey, un mago con el extraño poder de fabricar muñecos vivos a imagen y semejanza de otros seres reales. Mientras tanto, Caimán descubre dos cosas: que Nikaidô ha desaparecido y que arrastra consigo una deuda económica. Al final, se verá involucrado en un torneo organizado en un lúgubre tugurio y tendrá que luchar contra el imbatible Red Brake.
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.
One star is off because I really don't like zombies but everything else was delicious like a mushroom soup. But if you watched "Hannibal" and are a sensitive person you probably skip mushrooms in your menu. I'm off topic I know.
It feels like the creator is writing this book by the seat of his pants, throwing in zombies and an underground fighting tournament just because. And that gives the series an off-kilter tone that continues to appeal to me. The gore and nudity help too (though the abuse being heaped on the female side character Ebisu is really crossing the line).
The first dozen pages are in color, and boy, the art looks so much better with some of the sloppiness covered.
I found out this series runs for 23 volumes, and now my main worry is that it will follow the track of Attack on Titan and get so involved in its mythology and introducing new characters that it will lose the loosey-goosey quality that have made the first two volumes so fun.
of course, decapitation isn't something serious for the protagonist, caiman. i actually expected it a bit but his unknown past is really intriguing. is the guy inside his mouth his 'real' body or if not, who is he? how did he end up having a lizard head?
but caiman carrying his decapitated head while soaked in a formaldehyde is hilarious. i'm actually enjoying his character a lot. he's reckless but his friendship with nikaido is the best, especially when he acted like he didn't know she's a sorcerer to not make it awkward for them, since sorcerers are his hated enemies. he maintained their friendship, and i loved that!
also, shin and the gang might be caiman and nikaido's enemies but following this group's antics is interesting too! they have their own hilarious moments.
Our caiman-headed hero(?) and his busty gyoza-cooking pal enter an annual zombie-slaying contest. For prizes -- they have their eyes on a meat grinder.
It's midnight. Every year on this night, the residual smoke in the atmosphere causes magical distortions.
That's totally mailing it in even as fantasy/horror logic goes, but okay...
The distortions animate the corpses left by the sorcerers.
Why don't they just burn the bodies?
The citizens of the Hole call it the Night of the Living Dead.
Okay, now you're just taking the piss, aren't you?
NO, I DON'T WANT TO ANTICIPATE A DEATHLY FIGHT. But I gotta since it turned out that Nikaido is a freaking sorcerer! Of course, Caiman is a friggin sorcerer hunter, such a Romeo and Juliet moment. The revelation was so awesome by the way, my mouth literally dropped when she bit her finger and the magic fog came out lol, I'm freaking nervous about this!! SHE'S A SORCERER! WHY?! Caiman's seriously gotta lose his mind when it finally dawned on him; he's still being denial about it because the gyoza topped over everything, lol. By the way, Fujita and Ebisu's tandem is so charismatic, I can't!!
This series is too much fun. Surprisingly we got some answers to a few mysteries brought up in volume 1, which was a lot faster than I expected. But there are still a million questions in the air. This manga is really sparking my sense of curiosity like no other. I want to keep reading more and more just to find out what's going on. The thing is, this could easily be a straightforward slice of life series and it would still be a goddamn masterpiece. The way that Q Hayashida depicts such a comfy vibe in such a violent world is effortlessly seamless; the action and mystery is just the cherry on top.
Dorohedoro caters to my taste specifically: -dark gorey horror manga -buff beautiful women kicking ass -complex villains (more like antagonists) who has their own arc and agenda -m/f friendship -have i mentioned buff ladies who are badasses??
Hikayenin ilerleyemediği, iki tarafın da kendilerince buldukları izin peşinden gidip eli boş ayrıldıkları bir ciltti. Ana hikaye ilerlemese de karakter hikayeleri ilerlediği için sorun olmuyor. En önemli gelişme iki tarafın ilk kez karşı karşıya gelmesiydi. Yine bol şiddet ve kaos doluydu. Yine de ton olarak eğlenceli bir havada yaşanıyor olaylar. Zaman zaman anlaması güç paneller çıksa da duygusal davranıp not kırmıyorum.
Caiman and Nikaido are such baddies 🥰🖤 I wanna go on a three person date with them!! ~~~
The style, characters and atmosphere of The Hole is so immersive and gnarly. It’s fun that there isn’t a clear cut villain since everyone is so likable and casual enacting cruelties. I suppose what’s ‘good’ is subjective in a world that is so entrenched in violence. Even so, there is humor within the grotesque and everyone, (that is alive,) is enjoying themselves.
Pure chaos and gore and I like it. I find myself not so queasy with gore in books and manga, I don't know if it'll be the same if I was watching the anime.
In this volume we have the first encounter, some zombies, more great world building and a great reveal. I'm so intrigues by this world and the characters.
Me pesa el trato que hace de la sexualidad femenina. Estoy acostumbrada a que pase pero igualmente, me pesa. Me siguen encantando el tono extremo, la estética, lo inquietante y lo surrealista. También me sigo preguntando si va a conseguir mantener mi atención tantos números.
7/10 The story keeps its balance between episodic nature and overall arc. Characters on both fronts are interesting, they are growing on me. The 'magical' context allows Hayashida to solve quickly a lot of things, but I guess it is fair game in the context of this series. (By the way, like kids say nowadays: damn Nikaido is THICC!) What keeps really striking me is the art, though. Gorgeous! Body proportions remain strange, and I cannot tell how much of it is on purpose. But the inking job in this manga is outstanding. Hayashida is very aggressive in her expressionistic line work. Overall, she seems to be fond of the maru nibs, because most of the lines are very thin. There is also boldness in the way she uses screen-tones, with no fear of covering great line works with very dark greys. In rare occasions she highlights a panel by giving it a pure black and white treatment, with no cross hatching and no screen-tone, ending up looking close to the art of Taiyo Matsumoto. Yeah, republish Dorehodoro without screen tones and she will get a couple of Eisner Awards... [Edit: I have later discovered that Dorohedoro was originally published in Ikku<\i>, a rare case of 'alternative comics' magazine on the Japanese mainstream market, which also published the works of Tayo Matsumoto...so everything adds up...]
I find sad that in less than twenty years the average art level of mainstream shonen manga has fallen from the highs of works like this or One Piece to the lower stuff that you find in the best selling charts today, the likes of Attack on Titan, Chainsaw Man and all the rest. Sic transit gloria mundi, I guess.
This was pretty great! With introductions our of the way, we have our two main groups meet for the first time and fight, all amongst the backdrop of a cool concept like a all night zombie slaughter. The identity of our protag continues to allude both the cast and the reader, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride.
I absolutely love Hayashida's art, it's amazing. Loved the second volume, the funny bits with Ebisu and of course, love Caiman's love for Nikaido's gyoza and the lengths he'll leap into the fray to achieve eating it.