ドロヘドロ Season2

What a crazy episode. Ebisu died and caused Caiman to lose his lizard face, the man in Caiman’s mouth was Risu’s curse magic that activated when Aikawa(?) killed Risu and got trapped in Caiman somehow because Ebisu was “the one who got in my way” according to the curse magic, Nikaido is back under En’s spell again, Caiman/Aikawa is with Kawajiri now and seems to have died but is reviving after tripping *balls*, and the Cross Eyes boss in the flashback looks an awful lot like Aikawa. So… Caiman is Aikawa, but Aikawa is actually the Cross Eyes boss, who is actually this human from Hole named Ai Coleman. Also just random details like what the fuck was Caiman’s lizard head doing there? That’s just baffling on so many different levels I don’t even know where to start. Just an overwhelming amount of insanity in this episode, even for a Dorohedoro episode.

Every time I think I know where this show is going, it takes me by surprise lol. I thought it would take way longer for Caiman’s lizard head to be resolved! I miss lizard-Caiman already. Ebisu… I’m so sad. Poor Fujita too. At the end, the subs said, “[Kai] I found something amazing… A way to manipulate time.” Is that what they’re calling Caiman/Ai/Aikawa? Or something? I need next Wednesday to come faster 😭

what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck (compliment) I feel like I just got a pile of hot and steaming plot revelations on a gyoza platter, and even though I don't entirely know what to do with them, they're piling up in both interesting and worrying ways. The ending was disturbingly beautiful, as well, which is a unique combination Dorohedoro excels at. So. Uh. Caiman, buddy, how are we doing? Uh. Ebisu?

Even though I've been praising the CG of Dorohedoro for years, I think this is the first episode of the series where I really loved the animation. Dorohedoro's strength in CG was mostly due to how good it was able to emulate the look of 2D anime at the expense of the flexibility and movement that CG provides. But the CG animation in this episode REALLY Moved that I really did not expect.\ Especially that scene of Natsuki escaping the mushrooms. And don't get me started on how well executed the last scene was, the music gave me major Midsommar vibes. Also I know that Gay Muscle Leather Daddies were like a part of the counterculture that Dorohedoro takes some aesthetic inspo from.\ But Human Head Kaiman really does look like he's a Bara Muscle Bottom, if he was in a page in a Tagame or Tom of Finland collection I would not question it.\ ..... I think.... It's the sideburns...

So much happened this episode I don't even know where to start or what to highlight. I guess by the time Ebisu is revived, she'll be back to her old amnesiac, goofy self. Really makes me sad whenever I think about how oppressed most of these people are that they can't even be their true selves, if not true to themselves. I really despise En for selfishly forcing Nikaido to be his partner. Like dude, the girl doesn't want to come/be with you--take a hint and just fvck off. Well, he's not Chidaruma's boy for nothing so I suppose it's only to be expected--devils do what the devil does--if you want something, you go and take it (or something).

Crackpot theory: Dorohedoro is a distant prequel to Nausica. En's mushroom rampage was what eventually caused all the lands being filled with toxic spores. On that note, I love that one of the most threatening person in this verse is a guy who manipulates mushrooms. Other fantasy series will be all like controlling the elements, i.e. conjure fire, lightning etc or psychic powers or some other arcane powers and what not. Not here, just spamming mushrooms.

Best episode of the season by a significant marhin from me. We got incredible action and animation with the en fight and the sequence of Caiman escaping with Nikaido from En was the most impressive animation I have seen in Dorohedoro. It also hit us in the feels with the Ebisu and Fujita part. Finally it featured a shocking moment that will change the story with what seems to be the end of Caiman (I am assuming this was caused by Ebisus death.) and we will be following Aikawa now instead. I am so glad to remember so little of this part because these next weeks are will feel completely new to me and I am very excited for it.

[](/u/KendotsX) - Caiman counting gyoza in an attempt to go to sleep is *so* him. - Uh-oh. Is it because of what happened to the contract? - En’s going after Nikaido now… - Oh geez. - Her whole head was cut in half? - Damn. - Well Caiman, magic might not work on *you*, but it certainly does on your knife. - Oh damn. - Shimmering sky! - Caiman’s head isn’t a lizard anymore?! - What the… - But it has the Cross-Eyes mark on it again… - The shadowy figure went and found Risu, huh. - Well that’s just *terrifying*. - Kawajiri was able to get Caiman out of there at least. - Damn that was a lot…

Huh!? What!? Too much happened! En barely recovers and already is throwing hands, and boy what a scary and goofy power he has, I was expecting a "your lungs are filled with mushrooms" but exploding someone is also effective. Ebisu dies and with that her magic is undone, so we get to see Kaiman's face, which is the same face as the cross eye boss, like we see in Dokuga flashback. Man this is a mess, Kaiman/Ai/Aikawa and now the cross eye boss seem to all have been the same person, but that doesn't make sense, and to close it off, he dies and goes to grotesque abstract afterlife or something. And don't even get me started on Risu, what was that!?

I don't even know how to wrap my head around the episode. This episode does properly confirm Caiman and Aikawa were the same person, but I don't know what kind of magic is at play especially after Curse left his body, and in his "memories" we see a lot of headless bodies and Caiman's lizard head was left behind.  Other than that, I think I'm going to wait until next episode to share more of my thoughts, I'm wondering if forgetting stuff from Season 1 is why I feel this way, or not enough has been revealed, like with Curse.

So with Caiman's lizard head gone, it means Ebisu is dead and her magic went away. Risu in Caiman's head said Ebisu was the one who "got in the way" - what exactly did she get in the way of? I think Risu's magic is to send that curse into his killer's mouth, and from S1, it looked like Coleman was the one who killed Risu since Risu was supposed to pass a lot of black powder to someone. Coleman most likely took that black powder for his experiments and Ebisu got in the way of that? Perhaps Coleman found out about the curse in his mouth and tried to get rid of it but instead lost his head to Ebisu's lizard magic. Intriguing.

I'm totally confused about Curse. First of all, it says to Aikawa "you were killed by someone else, not me"... but we see Aikawa alive after Kawajiri rescues him... so was he revived somehow? Or did Curse just not realize he was still alive? Well, I guess we'll find out in the next episode. Second, still regarding what Curse said... was it some kind of rule? Like "since you were killed by someone else, I am now leaving your body"? Or was it just something like "hey bro you died but don't get mad at me lol the mushroom guy did it"? Considering what Curse said to Ebisu ("you got in the way"), it seems like it was only able to leave Aikawa because Ebisu's magic was lifted, rather than the Aikawa's apparent death. Third... a couple of episodes earlier Risu said that Dokuga \*couldn't\* kill him. Was that because it'd backfire like Curse in the end of this episode? Nah, I don't think so, someone in En's mansion probably tried to kill Risu just fine at some point when he was there. Perhaps I'm overthinking and the reason is as simple as "he's too valuable of a hostage to kill". Or else... Dokuga said he was there when Risu was killed... Aikawa was presumably there too (I don't remember which but some earlier episode hinted that he himself killed Risu)... maybe this was the moment that Curse infected Aikawa and thus made Dokuga fear it? Well... what seems more or less established is that Risu was the Curse's original target (hence it has his face) but it was dormant inside Aikawa because of Ebisu's magic. Now as to who cursed Risu and why it got inside Aikawa in the first place (Risu's death must have something to do with it)... it's still hidden in chaos!

Okay anime only here, trying to summarize, Rundown human (Ai Coleman) begs doctor to experiment on him and make him a sorcerer, eventually, it works, but he dies next day (he actually doesn't, and his grave is empty, unclear details how he survived) He becomes Aikawa, and goes through the door from Hole to Sorcerer World, alongside the broke Cross Eyes. He invents black powder to grant humans magic power and weak sorcerers more magic power. He becomes very strong and influential Aikawa has a best friend (Risu) who dies (it's hinted that Aikawa wanted Risu dead for some reason) Aikawa becomes Caiman (unclear details, Ebisu gives him a lizard head, again details unclear here too). Risu is somehow inside Caiman, and Caiman loses all memory, and is back in Hole We initially think Caiman is Risu because it's the dude inside him, but now we realize he's not Risu Chronologically: human Ai Coleman >> Sorcerer Aikawa (Cross Eyes boss) >> Caiman