For the longest time, Dorohedoro was seen as un-adaptable. A manga full of dense, detailed, and meticulously drawn pages, it seemed like it would never fit as an anime series. Pretty soon, though, we’ll know just how right (or wrong) we were. A full-on anime adaptation of the manga series Dorohedoro is in the works, and now we have some new info.
The official Twitter account for the television anime adaptation of Dorohedoro, the manga by Q Hayashida, shared a wealth of new information about the upcoming anime adaptation. The info was accompanied by a new trailer for the television series, which includes the opening theme song for the show. It’s titled “Welcome to Chaos,” and is performed by the unit (K)NoW_NAME.
We also received information on a set of new cast members for the show:
- Tooru Nara as Matsumura, a Sorceror and Fujita’s partner
- Takuma Terashima as Fukuyama, a Sorceror who works at a pie shop and can make any pie
- Mayu Udono (who also plays Kikurage) as Aitake (left) and Maitake (right), Sorcerors who work at En’s restaurant and can transmutate
- Hiro Shimono as an insect Sorceror who can change humans into insects
- Takehito Koyasu as a Sorceror who can melt anything
- Miyuri Shimabukuro as a Sorceror who can grant life
The previously announced cast for Dorohedoro includes:
- Wataru Takagi as Caiman, an amnesiac man whose head was magically transformed into a lizard’s head
- Reina Kondo as Nikaidō, Caiman’s friend who is absurdly strong
- Kenyuu Horiuchi as En, the boss of the En family, who are major players in the world of Sorcerors
- Yoshimasa Hosoya as Shin, an assassin and cleaner who works for the En family
- Yu Kobayashi as Noi, Shin’s partner and En’s cousin
- Kengo Takanashi as Fujita, a lowly, crybaby Sorceror who serves the En family
- Miyu Tomita as Ebisu, a Sorceror and hanger-on of the En family
- Hisao Egawa as Vaux, a doctor who specializes in treating magical injuries
- Mitsuhiro Ichiki as Kasukabe, a doctor researching Sorcerors
- Mayu Udono as Kikurage, a mysterious creature that can use magic
- Songdo as Risu, a member of the Cross-Eyes organization
- Tetsu Inada as Tanba, the owner of a pie shop
- Shinichiro Miki as Turkey, one of the En family’s top brass
- Hozumi Gōda as Asu, a demon
- Anri Katsu as Chōta, one of the En family’s top brass
The anime adaptation for Dorohedoro is being handled by studio MAPPA, with Yuichiro Hayashi set as the director. He previously worked on Garo the Animation, Garo: Divine Flame, and Kakegurui. Series composition is being handled by Hiroshi Seko, who has worked on Banana Fish, Mob Psycho 100, and the currently airing Vinland Saga. Character designs are being drawn by Tomohiro Kishi, who previously worked on 91 Days and Garo -Vanishing Line-. Finally, the music for the series is being composed by [K]NoW_NAME, who also worked on Sakura Quest and Fairy gone.
The Dorohedoro anime is set to premiere on January 12th at 24:00 JST on Tokyo MX. This basically translates to a January 13th, 12AM premiere time. The anime is set to stream in Japan on Netflix, with an early premiere on the streaming platform before it hits Japanese airwaves. An overseas release hasn’t been confirmed yet, but considering the show is being streamed on Netflix in Japan, it will likely come to Netflix globally sometime later in 2020.
The original Dorohedoro manga originally debuted in Shogukan’s Monthly Ikki magazine all the way back in 1999. When that magazine ended serialization in 2014, the long-running science-fiction manga moved to a new publication, Hibana, before swapping again to Monthly Shonen Sunday when Hibana shut down in 2017. The manga finally ended in September of 2018, in the October issue of Monthly Shonen Sunday magazine. The 23rd and final compiled book volume of Dorohedoro was released last November.
Viz Media began distributing the manga digitally back in 2009, when it launched an online English version of Shogakukan’s Monthly Ikki seinen manga magazine titled SigIKKI. Viz Media then began releasing Dorohedoro in physical English volumes for North America in 2010, with the 23rd volume being released on September 17.
Viz Media describes the story in the manga’s first volume:
In a city so dismal it’s known only as “the Hole,” a clan of Sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious “experiments” in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they’re hunting and killing the Sorcerers in the Hole, hoping that eventually they’ll kill the right one. But when En, the head Sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of “cleaners” into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds.
