#dorahedoro

Just started watching Dorohedoro with my friends! One thing I noticed as an artist/actor is what fucking tanks all the characters are, and that's a very fitting choice for a post-apocalyptic setting where violence is routine.

I saw one review complaining that Hayashida "cannot draw the human body at all" and I'm like "excuse me??? You're just being mean. I haven't noticed anything that bad about the anatomy or her personal style." I actually like the dieselpunk gritty style, but maybe the guy who said Hayashida can't draw is just mad that her women are beefy, lolllll.

It's just so refreshing to see a post-apocalyptic world where violence is routine... and the people LOOK LIKE violence is routine, instead of being models. A model/gym-fit body is very different from a fighting/functional-fit body, but many readers/viewers don't know that, and the ones who DO (like, you know... actors and fighters) often have to ignore it for safety issues.

In Dorohedoro, I have seen a character smash people's heads into the wall, and I have also seen a character fight with a SLEDGEHAMMER and a CLAW HAMMER. Yikes. After the terror wore off, I went "damn, this person knows how to draw fighters!" Because those characters were drawn in a way to make me believe they can bust open skulls--they have thick limbs, very powerful movements, EXTREMELY realistic thuds/cracks as needed.

With acting/drawing, many people think muscle is all you need to be Stronk(TM), but a lot of actors, models and drawn character-art actually tends to have TOO MUCH muscle definition--first reason is because it's sexy, and for real-life people, they eat INCREDIBLY well for the sake of their looks. With functional/fighting-fit people, they watch their food, but not to the extent that an actor/model does. Actors, gym-rats, and models focus on 1) bulking up and 2) ACTIVELY KEEPING THE FAT OFF. Just not doing the second part will often leave you with more fat than someone like Channing Tatum--a well-known actor AND model, most famous for playing the stripper Magic Mike, and currently playing the superhero Gambit from X-Men, often portrayed in comics as shredded himself.

Another aspect of strength is bone density, which is related to body-fat percentage. Gym-fit actors and models are often very lean and trim; outside of the heroin-chic era where people were starving themselves or actually doing drugs to be fashionable, most modern performers have thick, glorious muscles on regular skeletons, so the men will ideally have wide shoulders that taper into narrow waists (often known as the Dorito / triangle build) and well-shaped arms and legs that DON'T look like tree trunks, while the women will often be VERY dainty-looking on a skeletal view (because thick and masculine-looking women are often seen as unattractive).

You will not find the "too much muscle, not enough bone" problem for Hayashida's characters. She draws people with muscles, AND with thick-ass torsos and limbs. Moreover, she puts the characters in CLOTHES THAT ALLOW FREE MOVEMENT. We got working clothes, we got jumpsuits, track suits, and military gear! It's wonderful! Everyone's bone density must be off the charts in Dorohedoro's world!

Another tell that someone is "acting/model fit" instead of "fighting fit" is when they are literally showing skin. Actors/models have clear and soft skin coating all their shiny, well-defined muscles... because people want to see that. Fighters, who may really only bare skin before a sparring session or a professional fight if at all, don't do it to be looked at--it's because they need to avoid overheating, and they need to keep their freedom of movement. They will have hard skin. They will have scars, blemishes, and calluses, especially on their hands and feet where they hit people the most.

One thing I really like about Dorohedoro's gritty and dingy dieselpunk aesthetic is that it gives the characters a battered and worn-out appearance as well.

Now, trying to replicate "fighter's skin" in real life is not practical at all--those are the safety issues that I mentioned earlier. A director could only get that kind of look by physically abusing their actors (you're getting arrested!), drenching them in makeup (who wants to spend half the day just getting makeup on? Who wants to spend a shitton of money ON THE MAKEUP ITSELF?), or spending time/money teaching them how to fight (may well be voluntary, but how do you keep the actors from injuring each other with their REAL FIGHTING, and therefore slowing down the filming schedule and racking up hospital bills???). This is why the makeup crew relies on coating someone in dirt/blood/mud or scar makeup for key character-building scenes as a shorthand for "this person is a fighter."

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