The Dorohedoro Season 2 anime will have Kaiman and Nikaido continuing to track down sorcerers and search for the truth behind Kaiman’s identity and Nikaido’s magic. But when will Dorohedoro Season 2 come out?
The wait for the Dorohedoro Season 2 release date is being made easier by the announcement that there will be multiple Dorohedoro OVA episodes released on June 17, 2020.
Packaged as part of the second volume of the Blu-Ray box set, the six bonus episodes are animated shorts with a combined runtime of 30 minutes.
What’s more, Netflix U.S. is releasing the first season in May 2020, which could include a Dorohedoro dub. (See below for more details.)
The Dorohedoro anime is being produced by animation studio MAPPA, which is also known for animating the To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts anime, Kakegurui (see our Kakegurui Season 3 article), Dororo, Zombieland Saga (Zombieland Saga Season 2 is confirmed), Banana Fish, Inuyashiki, and the fan-favorite Yuri On Ice!
Garo and Kakegurui anime director Yuichiro Hayashi helmed the Dorohedoro anime project. Vinland Saga and Mob Psycho 100 anime writer Hiroshi Seko handled series composition. Then there’s character designer Tomohiro Kishi and music composer (K)NoW_NAME.
For the first season, the Dorohedoro opening (OP) theme song music “Welcome to Chaos” and the ending (ED) theme songs “Who am I ?”, “Night SURFING”, “D.D.D.D.” and “Strange Meat Pie” were all performed by (K)NoW_NAME.
The Dorohedoro Season 2 opening and ending have not yet been announced.
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Updated April 21, 2020: Dorohedoro release date on Netflix U.S. confirmed!
This article provides everything that is known about Dorohedoro Season 2 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Dorohedoro Netflix U.S. release date depends on the English dub
The Dorohedoro Netflix release date in Japan occurred on January 13, 2020. New episodes were streamed on Netflix Japan as they are broadcast on Japanese TV stations. The finale, Dorohedoro Episode 12, released on March 29, 2020.
Unfortunately, the Dorohedoro Netflix U.S. release date for English-only audiences is delayed for binge-watching. The Netflix Twitter account has confirmed that Netflix U.S. will be releasing the first season on May 28, 2020.
In a surreal magical post-apocalypse, Caiman is just trying to figure out who he is, one bite at a time. Dorohedoro arrives May 28th! pic.twitter.com/G5JMlZgKkt
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) April 21, 2020
So far, a Dorohedoro English dub has not been announced in connection to the Netflix U.S. release.
It’s possible that Netflix’s Dorohedoro release only has English subtitles. But it’s possible it could be like the BEASTARS anime, which received a dubbing after a multi-month wait.
Dorohedoro manga’s ending leaves plenty of room for an anime sequel
The story for the anime is based on the Dorohedoro manga series by writer and artist Q Hayashida. Started in 2000, the dark fantasy seinen series suffered from a difficult serialization, jumping from manga magazine to magazine.
The Dorohedoro manga’s ending in Chapter 167 was eventually released in September 2018. The series was released in the tankobon-bound format, with Dorohedoro Volume 23 capping off the series. The book volumes also included extra side stories called Bonus Curses.
North American publisher VIZ Media has licensed the official English translation of the Dorohedoro manga series. As of September 2019, the entire series has been translated into English.
In a 2014 interview, the manga artist talked about her rather chaotic process for creating the manga’s story.
“I just draw it however I feel like drawing it, always. I’m really inconsistent about that stuff. And sometimes I might color with paint that’s supposed to be used for plastic models, stuff like that. I pretty much always use tracing paper, though,” she explained. “Without even planning the layout, I just started drawing it from scratch, and then after a while, I got to a point where I felt it was time to end it, so I did. … I guess I didn’t really have any overall story. I just went on drawing scenes that I wanted to draw.”
Fortunately, the methodology that MAPPA’s writers used for the anime adaptation was not nearly as chaotic. Chapters were adapted in a straight-forward fashion with most of the details making their way into episodes. Not much was outright skipped, with the major exception of the Bonus Curses.
The pacing of the anime was good, with MAPPA adapting a little over three chapters per episode. Each episode tended to end in the middle of a chapter. By Dorohedoro Episode 9 the story was already up to Chapter 31 of Volume 6 and Dorohedoro Episode 10 picks up from there.
All in all, Dorohedoro Episode 12 found an ending in Chapter 41 of Volume 7. It’s the best possible stopping point since it’s the end of a major story arc that begins with Chapter 37 and the arc reveals some of Kaiman’s history via flashbacks.
The good news is that English-only manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime series can jump straight to the English Dorohedoro Volume 7.
Better yet, MAPPA has plenty of source material for making the Dorohedoro Season 2 anime. In fact, completely adapting the entire story with the same pacing will take four cours so Dorohedoro Season 3 seems likely, as well.
(For those unfamiliar with the terminology, a “cour” is a three-month unit of TV broadcasting based on the physical weather seasons. Most anime seasons are composed of 12 or 13 episodes per cour.)
Dorohedoro Season 2 release date: Will Netflix U.S. make Americans wait again?
As of the last update, MAPPA, Netflix, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Dorohedoro Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Dorohedoro sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information. In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Dorohedoro Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.
It’s said that good things come in threes and Netflix has been known to develop a new anime TV series for at least several seasons. Netflix anime exclusives tend to be renewed quickly and BEASTARS Season 2, Ultraman Season 2, Grappler Baki Season 2, and Aggretsuko Season 3 have all been confirmed to be in production.
Dorohedoro reviews have been solid so it’s possible Dorohedoro Season 2 could be renewed even before the Netflix U.S. release date comes for the first season, which is what happened with the BEASTARS anime.
The only negative about being on Netflix exclusively is the delay for international audiences. But since Netflix has been instrumental in growing the anime industry it’s hard to complain too much.
Dorohedoro Season 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
Note: This article was updated after Dorohedoro Episode 12 aired in Japan. These spoilers assume that Dorohedoro Season 2 will pick up the story with manga Chapter 42.
The last time we watched the Dorohedoro anime, Kaiman had snuck into crime lord En’s mansion under the guise of a meat-pie contest of all things. Professor Kasukabe manages to escape from En’s dungeons and attempts to track down his estranged wife to a tiny cottage… but no one expected is home.
Kaiman and Nikaido almost killed each other in the first season and now they’re picking up the pieces. But others still wish to see dear lizard head dead so they have to avoid some revenge plotting.
Kaiman’s trip down the memory hole is just getting started and so far he’s not liking what he’s seeing. But audiences will also get to watch more of Professor Kasukabe’s past as it relates to the mysterious power of the Cross-Eyes.
Lizard head will eventually discover his true face and the identity of the person who cursed him. Facing off against the truth will rock Kaiman’s world, but the secret to Kaiman’s past and the mystery of Nikaido’s special magic may come down to… pie.
Unfortunately, anime fans will need to wait until the Dorohedoro Season 2 release date to watch the revelations about Kaiman’s true identity. Stay tuned!