Dai Dark

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Ah! Where to start? Dai Dark is the second full-fledged manga from Q Hayashida, the zany mangaka behind Dorohedoro. It's a deeply imaginative take on far-future space travel seinen with all the over-the-top violence and low stakes that make Dorohedoro great. If you've read Dorohedoro, read this. If you haven't, well...

Art:
What can be said? Q Hayashida simply kills it. There's no one like her. Both her charming character design and mindboggling background work demand a 10. The story notwithstanding, this one of those mangas you can read just to gawk at the gorgeous, uber-distinctive art. I'd put it up there with Hellper, Blame!, and CSM. ...

Story:
As with Dorohedoro, the one-two punch of whimsical art and bonkers worldbuilding does a great job to carry an otherwise straightforward plot. While there's plenty of gore to go around, the tone is largely lighthearted and it's hard not to have a good time. I'm normally one to dislike stuff with weaker characterization, but the tradeoff here is well worth it. It reminds me of why I got into reading manga in the first place -- it's good, clean fun.

Final Verdict:
Lord knows that Dorohedoro probably won't get a second season of anime, so it's doubtful that this manga ever blows up in the way I wish it might. That said, it's easily my favorite ongoing release, and I'd recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat. Go read it!

Alright, to be honest, you really can't write a conventional review about Dai Dark, its a monthly release, by the same author as Dorohedoro. But none of that matters, Dai Dark, is all about not caring, Q Hayashida, threw the "how to make manga" book on the ground, stomped it, shred it, and threw it inside a volcano. The art is outstanding, the characters have great potential, world building rivals all time greats, and the comedy is up there. Doing all of this, in a style anybody but Q, would have been unable to. So far story wise, we know nothing, there is the basic ... premise but that's it. The potential is out of this world, and I could see this, not only surpassing Dorohedoro, but also becoming a masterpiece, and putting Q's name in the books. Looking forward to what it's got in 5 years. chapter 17

Im really disappointed because Dorohedoro is one of my favorite mangas of all time, this has none of the charisma that made Doro great. I have no investment in any of the characters, the way i can describe them is meeting people at the waiting room of your dentist office, you genuinely couldnt care less about these people. The plot has no direction whatsoever, I tried giving it 10 chapters before dropping it since i was Hooked by the 5 chapter of Doro. the gore is decent at best but the comedy feels kind of dry.

If we can recall why the ending of dorohedoro was ... so generic, was because Hayashida was drawing the story with what she felt like drawing at the time, it was draw first, think later, which i can respect in all honesty but that at the end brought upon such a rushed and unfinished ending.

I think the same happened with this one, i dont think Q is sure what she wants to do with Dai Dark, which makes me really sad that we wont see a piece of what made her magnum opus so good to read.

It gets a 4 only because of the art and character designs.