Doron Dororon is a newcomer to Shonen Jump titles, but, in a few weeks, she is already climbing the ratings. Next big hit, or next Shueisha ax victim? Let’s see it together
Dora Sasaki is a young and vigorous boy, who wants to join the Samurai corps – government soldiers with the task of fighting assassin yokai, here called mononoke. However, Sasaki does not possess even an iota of spiritual energy, which is necessary in fighting the monstrous creatures.
Fate will bring them together Kusanagi, the first and perhaps the only mononoke of good heart, eager to prevent his fellow men from bringing further misery among humans. Their union is effective and formidable, and will allow both of them to fulfill their wishes.
If, after reading this synopsis, you have a strong feeling of deja vu, you have every reason for it. The new manga by Gen Osuka does not shine for originality, and offers a series of clichés already seen in many great titles – Black Clover The Demon Slayer, just to name two. Still, it appears that Doron Dororon functions.
What future for Doron Dororon
Just three weeks after its release, after a rather colorless first chapter, Doron Dororon has readership numbers on MangaPlus similar to those of works like Mashle e Dandadan. Emerging stocks, but of established quality.
Perhaps, the secret of a possible success for this manga could lie precisely in its simplicity, where the classic shonen is in a moment of tired, with few works that manage to be successful and great authors who are forced to withdraw their series. The most sensational case? Shimabukuro with his Build King.
However, the number of manga proposed in the last two years that have yokai as a central theme has reached, on Jump, an almost comic value. The thematic stagnation is now evident, and, in fact, many of these series are truncated before the twenty chapters.
Among them were works with a quality of drawing and story setting superior to that of Doron Dororon. Gen Osuka he’s not a newcomer to the manga world, but despite his years of experience, he has yet to produce a long series. His trait is personal, but not excellent.
The fate of each title on Shonen Jump is always on the razor’s edge, up to the threshold of twenty chapters. We will see if Doron Dororon will miraculously take flight, or will follow the fate of many other manga all too similar to him. Surely, this time the audience took the sides of the opera.