Dokuro

毒狼

6.49(1K votes)

Ranked #18017Popularity #13345

chapters

volumes

Status

Finished

Published

2004

Authors:Saruwatari, Tetsuya

ActionDrama

Worth Reading? — Global Verdict

4.5/10

Average Review Score

Recommend It

Reviews Worldwide

International Reviews

DoktorHaus

Mixed Feelings

When you pick up a Tetsuya Saruwatari manga, you know what you're going to get: a protagonist who looks like Riki-Oh, a sibling or childhood rival, cartoonishly sadistic villains and absurdly violent martial arts fights rendered with excruciating anatomical detail (Seriously, the guy must have had anatomy textbooks off-hand while drawing). Dokuro is no exception, and its only differentiating factors are an evil religious organization and the hero's gimmicky weapon - a hook-on-a-wire that results in many scenes of decapitation, hanging, lips getting torn off and faces stripped off skulls. With Saruwatari, you come for the spectacle, not the story. As usual, there's little plot orcharacter development to find; The hero goes from one fighting set-piece to another with little reason (including the author's favorite setting, a maximum-security prison), and he's pretty much an invincible force-of-nature the whole way through, so there's little tension. The author also stinks at writing endings; They often feel too easy, rushed and anti-climactic. Speaking of which, a detective gets introduced and the manga seems to be building up to a final clash between him and the hero, but it never happens. With that said, if you enjoy a little mindless carnage (I know I do), you shouldn't be disappointed.

7 found helpfulJan 19, 2019

Community Discussion

Synopsis

The story is set in a dystopian near-future where Japanese society is experiencing an explosion of crime; one in which a powerful and secret religious organization, with mysterious goals, acts as an invisible hand behind the scenes. The main character is their strongest assassin, lent to them by his fanatical mother when he was a child; nurtured into becoming a ruthless killing machine, one whose fists and feet alone can cause serious damage to his adversaries, and whose weapon of choice is a special cutting wire which grabs and scorches his victims. He's a man-hunter, whose childhood has been stolen by his fostering tormentors; but when the road of forgiveness is precluded to him what can be left to a man to obtain redemption? He decides the answer is found in vengeance—and in eradicating that same fanaticism which bore him. (Source: MU)

Dokuro is a mature character study about the dehumanizing effects a negative influence has on the person, like narcotics an intrusive doctrine can offer greatness and salvation- KILLER GRANNIES! just kidding this story is nowhere near close to good. If you see this as a comedy you'll have a great time with the goofy brutalities, the laughable predictable archetypes, the ridiculously unrealistic acrobatics... and of course the worst, most immersion breakingly bad weapon of all times. HOW ON EARTH DOES THE WIRE THING SHOOT OUT!!!!!!!!!! seriously how?! it doesn't have a jet propulsiony thingy! I mean... you could at least make a half-assed attempt to justify it's propulsion-ness!but no, it wouldn't look cool if there was a gas canister in bland jesus-kun 3000's arm. no, gravity and physics itself must bend to accommodate his aesthetic. you might be wondering why I'm on about such a little detail but he uses that weapon ALL THE TIME! and the author really wants you to appreciate the weapon in all of it's goofy glory... he pans to it dozens of times... it gets really alienating after a while so... it's not just nitpicking... (imagine if in star wars they grabbed the lightsabres by the laser part... it's that bad) it's not like there isn't anything to like about anti-religion empowerment fantasy the manga... I really enjoyed the themes in the flashbacks showing the allure of (albeit admittedly over the top) religion when you are at your weakest, or most unhappy... the delusion of being granted catharsis by doing actions for the church and not doing things for yourself. the intrinsically constricting nature of scripture and rules... but all that get's over shadowed by KILLER GRANNIES, RIDICULOUS ACROBATICS, IMPLAUSIBLE WEAPONS, GOOFY FATALITIES etc. etc. I ate bread with more personality than these characters. forgettable archetypes. MOVE ON. In summary: it's like watching a ridiculous 80's Schwarzenegger film but with religion as the flavor. could be better if it wasn't so cheesy and predictable... actually... no this script is basically unsalvageable... NEXT P.S the art's alright... nothing special... just alright. BYE