This week En and his underlings returned as the center point of the show. Starting the episode riding their hot new brooms, this is the first episode that feels like a continuation of the last. The story of Dorohedoro is finally starting to take shape while still holding on to all of its quirks.
Thanksgiving Turkey
Admitting that he has little idea as to who Caiman and Nikaido are, En takes his underlings to visit a sorcerer by the name of Turkey. With just a little bit of sorcerer dust, the aptly named Turkey-headed sorcerer can bake up a clone of whoever the patron was thinking of at the time. This clone will behave the way it’s original would, even going so far as to visit their regular locations. With this, Shin is able to use his memory of the man inside Caiman’s throat to make a clone of him. Successful, the sorcerers follow him to what appears to be his home.
Another Dimension
This week was the first time we saw a dimension that was neither the sorcerer’s known home location nor the Hole. In their pursuit of the homegrown clone of the man in Caiman’s throat, they were lead to what could only be described as the ghetto for sorcerers. Full of rundown European style homesteads graffitied with ritual circles, Dorohedoro used a more historic rendition of sorcerers no create an outcast class of magic users. Lead into one of the manors by the clone, En’s gang interrogates one of the locals who had lived there for 8 years. While knowledge of the original man’s presence in the building, he had never even seen his face due to the culture of keeping-to-yourself and laying-low in this dimension.
It’s fairly impressive how Dorohedoro has been able to depict two different styles of ghettos for two different-yet-similar social castes. Combined with what we’ve seen of the sorcerer’s main realm, the world-building of Dorohedoro is looking very promising.
Corpse Party
After finding the head of the man they had created a clone of, our gang of aristocratic sorcerer friends heads to yet another lavish party. Prompted by En to cover their noses with plugs before they enter through the main gates, the rookies are met with disgust as they find an assembly of corpses hanging over the tables. First inclined to see this as a fetishist gathering, we are then greeted by two cloaked figures who claim to have the powers of resurrection. As they revive the corpse and take their offerings which we didn’t originally see, En is taken aback by the female sorcerer’s aptitude. In the most aristocratic way possible, he decides she is worthy of political marriage and sends the rest of the gang off to take out her male counterpart.
Ebisu, lured away by someone who knows her past, finds herself pressured into taking an elusive black powder. Hinting at a history of drug abuse, she reacts badly to the powder and ends up killing the goon who lured her in. As it turns out, the female resurrection sorcerer was also using this addictive, power raising substance. Overcome by disgust, En puts an end to her misery, only to find that she was in possession of a feline-like animal. Determining that it was the little critter who was the sorcerer responsible for bringing back the dead, En takes it home as his own.
A Visit to the Doctor
With our first scene of Caiman and Nikaido at the outset of the episode, we get to spend some time with the two as they pay a visit to the doctor who they provide all the sorcerer cadavers to. Shrouded by mystique, the duo doesn’t know what to expect when they arrive at his quiet and seemingly abandoned large Japanese styled property. Without hearing any responses from the inside, the two enter only to find themselves lost in a shifting maze full of dissected sorcerers.
After giving up their search for the doctor who isn’t there, Caiman and Nikaido decide to sit down and enjoy the rest of their new year’s eve. Eating away their worries, the doctor finally appears. After explaining that the shifting hallways were caused by deposits of sorcerer dust from the cadavers, he leads the two to a makeshift door to the sorcerer realm. Built exclusively out of dismembered sorcerer remains, it was quite the sight to behold.
It will be interesting to see where the show takes us to now. With clear motives on both sides, the story has finally grounded itself and progressing in a meaningful way. With this episode behind us, I am far more confident that Dorohedoro will deliver in spite of prior concerns.