The works of Q Hayashida have a unique cult appeal due to the author's dark and highly detailed artwork, strong characters and twisted sense of humor. Though Dorohedoro has yet to see the popularity of similarly dark manga, it earned a dedicated following and enough support for an anime adaptation by studio MAPPA. Dai Dark is currently publishing; while it has less readership than Dorohedoro, readers know it shares many of the same charms.

Aside from a shared art style and similar likable qualities, both of Hayashida's manga share something else: they take established elements and terminology from hugely popular genres and reimagine them by applying them in unusual and dark ways. Dorohedoro features many common elements of fantasy fiction, including sorcerers, magic, and demons and devils. Dai Dark has the trappings of a science fiction story complete with space travel, alien encounters and artificial intelligence. However, almost none of these elements are used traditionally in either series.

RELATED: What Is Dark Fantasy Anime - and What Are the Best Series to Watch?

Dorohedoro manga Attack

Dorohedoro’s main character is Caiman -- a man who holds a grudge against sorcerers for magically transforming his head into a lizard face. Sorcerers are known for experimenting on the denizens of the Hole, the grimy dimension where humans live. They can freely travel between the Hole and their own dimension by creating magic doors and dissipating them to prevent anyone from invading their world, making it easy for sorcerers to curse people without risking them seeking revenge. However, Caiman is immune to sorcerer magic, making him an ideal sorcerer hunter.

Traditional depictions of sorcerers vary between fantasy stories, but they are most commonly depicted as people who possess inherent magical powers of some sort. Some franchises like Dungeons and Dragons create definitions to separate them from other magical beings like wizards and warlocks, but even these sorcerers can be of any race or backstory. Dorohedoro’s sorcerers are a separate race created by a devil-like being called Chidaruma. While they strongly resemble ordinary humans, they have a special organ called a Devil Tumor that produces black smoke, the source of sorcerer magic. Instead of using magic scrolls or tomes, focus objects or any other traditional spellcasting items, individual sorcerers produce unique smoke varieties that allow each one to have different powers and specialties. While this is akin to D&D’s portrayal of sorcerers as beings with innate internal magic, D&D has no unified sorcerer power origin to allow for player character customization. Characters of any D&D race can be born as a sorcerer.

Dorohedoro further sets itself apart from traditional fantasy in many ways. Both the Hole and the sorcerer dimension have near-modern levels of technology, an element of urban or modern fantasy. Hayashida’s characters reflect this by using informal language and wearing modern clothing and accessories. Besides Caiman, many other characters are somewhat atypical for a fantasy story. Caiman’s best friend is Nikaido, an accomplished martial artist who kills sorcerers alongside Caiman when she isn’t running her restaurant, the Hungry Bug.

The story frequently shifts point-of-view to other major characters, such as En, the head of a powerful sorcerer mafia clan; Shin and Noi, a pair of assassins employed by En; and Ebisu and Fujita, a newly-paired team also working under the mafia. With so many characters holding death grudges and working as killers, combat is gloriously gruesome and occurs frequently. Despite many characters possessing magic, many of these fights are brutal throwdowns involving close combat and blades; Caiman is not a sorcerer, and Shin and Noi simply enjoy the thrill of killing without magic.

RELATED: The Best Anime for Fans of Urban Fantasy

dorohedoro

Dai Dark has a similarly dark and grimy aesthetic, but it instead features the exploits of the most dangerous beings in space. Zaha Sanko is hunting someone down much like Caiman; someone started a rumor that Sanko’s bones can grant wishes, and ever since, he has been attacked by many who hope to change their fortunes. He is accompanied by Avakian, a skeletal being who can be worn like a backpack, and Moja, his ship’s artificial intelligence that unusually resembles a dog with a skull head. They are sometimes joined by Death Shimada, a character who feeds from the energy of the dead and possesses supernatural abilities more akin to a fantasy deity, and Hajime Damemaru, an immortal man who can be blown into pieces without dying. Each of these characters has their own quirks and backstories, and Hayashida gives them each enough time to develop.

Characters with magic bones, undying bodies and the powers of death incarnate are archetypes most commonly associated with works of high fantasy. However, they fit right into the world that Hayashida has created. Her detailed and dark backgrounds and environments cater to her expressively-grim character designs, while each character has enough silly quirks to prevent them from becoming unrelatable. This sense of humor is complemented by the world-building; instead of traditional aliens, most planets and races encountered in the story are bound by absurd themes. The planet Klinik is home to an entire race of doctors, though it is unfortunately noted that they are not necessarily good doctors. Another pair of aliens encountered early on are the Mini-Bucketlings, who naturally have bucket-like heads.

Hayashida also has unique ways of depicting how advanced society is compared to other science fiction stories. An entire storyline involves Sanko and his friends spending time in a Marutech Store -- part of a chain of automated department stores built on isolated asteroids. Another involves Sanko infiltrating a space station manned entirely by robots owned by the Photosfere corporation. A major group of antagonists, the Lighthead Order, is a cult whose uniforms evoke fantasy imagery but are actually an offshoot of that same corporation and possess advanced technology. Dai Dark almost has more elements of fantasy than Dorohedoro, but most instances are subverted in some way. This results in a science fantasy atmosphere full of violence and dark humor that resembles a loving parody at times.

RELATED: Rust-Eater Bisco Is a Great Blend of Trigun and Dorohedoro

Zaha Sanko, Avakian, and Hajime Damemaru from Dai Dark

By creatively subverting tropes and inventing her own meanings for well-used ideas, Q Hayashida has twice been able to create unique and memorable manga with dark but fun interpretations of genres. She seamlessly blends various tones by including silly moments, including a random baseball game, and likable characters to prevent the dark and violent moments from being taken too seriously.

Dorohedoro and Dai Dark are two dark and gory stories with sprawling casts of memorable and distinctive characters supported by highly detailed art and well-placed humor. Dorohedoro enjoyed a lengthy run of 23 volumes while Dai Dark shows no signs of slowing down. Their success is evidence of Hayashida's talents as a creator and artist who can expertly balance different tones and reimagine tired story ideas into fresh and unique worlds and characters.