There are few anime or manga comparable to Dorohedoro. The series, based on a manga created by artist Q Hayashida, opens up a seedy universe where sorcerers leave their world to hunt for human guinea pigs in a dismal urban environment appropriately called The Hole.
The Netflix anime throws fans straight into the life of Kaiman, his head transformed into that of a reptile (hence his name), his memory lost, and a lot of other weirdness besides that. His BFF Nikaido is a cook who loves to make gyozas and butcher sorcerers for fun. Even the villains, like En and his clan, are complex and hilarious too. With 40 chapters of manga crammed into 12 episodes of anime, the Netflix series is lightning-paced and makes it easy to miss a few things.
10 Easter Eggs In The Opening Credits
It's easy to only focus on Nikaido and her culinary prowess during the opening credits of the anime— especially the part where she picks up the pace to a manic speed. She clearly loves making her gyoza. It's the details in those opening credits, though, that will give fans clues about what will happen later on in the story.
Aficionados of the manga will recognize clues like Jonson, the overgrown cockroach, who appears scuttling across the floor in the opening for Episode 1.
9 A New Approach To End Credits
In a move unusual in the anime world, the end credits song and animated sequence changes every second episode, and features a wide variety of crazy themes and imagery. In the first season, there are six different musical sequences produced by an ensemble called (K)NoW_NAME.
The third ending, titled "D.D.D.D.," contains a nod to a favorite video game of Hayashida’s: Doom. En appears in a Doom-inspired scenario, with mods including En’s Mind percentage replacing the armor readout, and a health and magic mushroom bar.
8 The Soundtrack
The Dorohedoro manga spawned a soundtrack as commissioned by Hayashida herself. It features dark industrial music, and artists from six different countries from all over the world.
The TV anime soundtrack on Netflix doesn’t include the same songs, but many sound similar, including the music that plays during the action scene where Chidamura enters the story. Fans might also recognize a snippet of the song "Transformations" by Shackleton from that original soundtrack album.
7 Shout Outs To Doom And Dawn Of The Dead
There are many nods to great horror movie classics throughout the Dorohedoro series, an obvious fave of series creator Q Hayashida. The title of Episode 3, “Night of the Dead”, is a, well...dead giveaway.
Nikaido and Caiman use axes to take on the zombies, just like many scenes in the George A. Romero classic Dawn of the Dead. Later in the same episode, the encounter between Shin & Noi and a shambling zombie is quite similar to the very first zombie players come across in original Resident Evil game.
6 Sewer Lid Easter Egg In The Anime
The background drawings by art director Kimura Shinji— renowned for his work on Tekkonkinkreet and Akira, among other major anime franchises— are part of the attraction to the Dorohedoro anime. The richly detailed drawings, like those of manga creator Q Hayashida, are characters in and of themselves.
Sharp-eyed fans will be able to spot Easter eggs like the word "MAPPA" stamped on the sewer grates in The Hole. That’s the name of the animation studio responsible for the show, along for the series Yuri!!! On Ice, among others.
5 Q Hayashida’s Design Inspirations
Q Hayashida, the mysterious author of the original manga, has done few interviews. But when she does give an interview, she usually tends to mention how she was inspired by a number of other manga artists. The military-style look of Caiman’s outfit, and all the wonderfully detailed weaponry, were inspired by the work of Motofumi Kobayashi in the Omega series.
Other influences can be detected, such as the lush detail of Soten Kouro by King Gonta. Hayashida has spoken about her fandom of both series in interviews, along with a fondness for Puri Puri Ken, a romantic comedy manga.
4 Nods To Q Hayashida In The Anime
No one can duplicate the incredible drawings of Q Hayashima in the original Dorohedoro manga. They’re original in both design and concept. Hayashida has mentioned in previous interviews that she is a fan of the anime Akira, and it turns out anime art director Kimura Shinji, who drew Akira, is a fan of Hayashida too.
In the "Night of Living Dead" episode, when the action gets to the cemetery, there's a tombstone that reads "R.I.P. - Dorohedoro - Hayashida - 1987 - Q - 2020."
3 Items In The Store
Episode 4 goes by three different names: "Roast Duck à La Sorcerer," "Formal Attire Requested," or "Another Year in the Hole" and focuses on the En Family and their quest to find the identity of the sorcerer who gave Kaiman his lizard head.
In a subplot, Ebisu finds herself in a store. There, she’s seen holding the Dorohedoro manga soundtrack album. On a shelf behind her, there is a copy of the album Iowa by heavy metal band Slipknot, apparently another favorite of Q Hayashida.
2 Slipknot Shows Up Again
In Episode 7 "The All-Star ☆ Dream Game," a baseball game breaks out in the middle of all the human-sorcerer bloodshed. It turns out that a baseball game between rival hospital wards is a tradition in The Hole, and Kaiman and Nikaido play on a team called the Chuo Worms against another team called the Heiwa Sharks, led by a doctor.
During the scene, there is a shot of four dead men on spikes, designed to resmemble the costumes and masks worn by the members of the band Slipknot.
1 Possible Sightings
Every detail of the background tends to have a meaning in this world. During Nikaido's epic fight with the giant mushroom, there are a few details scattered around the room that are easily missed.
In one shot, where she is seen from behind, a poster on the wall shows what looks like an Alien xenomorph. In another shot, there is another picture on the wall inspired by Kamen Rider. Later on in the same episode, Ebisu uses what looks like a henshin move in her own battle.