These three anime are among my favorites and have a lot in common, so I thought it would be fun to make a shared tribute to them by writing a bit about each one and making the page look cool or something idk. But also talk about their issues a bit and how they are all nasty in their own special unique ways, just so you have an idea of what you're getting into if ever you do decide to watch or read them (although if you need detailed content warnings probably look elsewhere).
Or for the TLDR, check out this crappy venn diagram I made:
(Open in a new tab to better view the diagram)
*** Note that when I say "sexy" I really mean more like "sexualized" but space is tight in the diagram so I settled for the shorter word.
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Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
A lot of things are weird on 1 or 2 levels, but Jojo is weird in probably like 10+ ways. There's the story structure being broken into parts with different protagonists/settings/genres, the 3 different power systems, the crazy character designs and how they morph over time from muscle men to fashion models, the constant music and fashion references, the poses, the obsession with Italy, the shifting color palettes, the absurd way all the characters talk, and so much more crazy stuff going on. It makes Jojo really hard to explain but it's also what I think makes it so captivating, since all these elements come together to make something that is just not quite like anything else (except maybe the other two shows on this page). Literally no one except Hirohiko Araki with his extremely specific set of interests could have made it.
It's by far the most popular out of the three, and it gets a bad rap for the annoying fans that spam Jojo references everywhere and for being problematic at times. Which I can't really argue with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. But it was one of the first anime I got really into (and for a good 2 years I was like, REALLY into) so it holds a special place for me.
Although Jojo's violence is generally more bloody than gorey, it's also creative enough to come up with ways to injure its characters in relatively minor but still cringe-inducing ways. Think of Dio yanking Jonathan's artery out of his neck... there's not even any blood but it's still incredibly uncomfortable to watch. It's also not above toilet humor or undressing its female characters for the sake of a joke.
Dorohedoro
My favorite part of Dorohedoro is definitely the world building. The concept of magic taking a physical form as smoke which can be bottled up and sold or settle into the ground and raise the dead or get into the water supply to make magical acid rain is just so cool. I also really like the sorceror's personalized doors, and the devils as these weird carefree yet cruel gods.
And while the other shows have their cool and good female characters (Asirpa and Jolyne in particular), Dorohedoro has more of them and so its cast comes the closest to an even gender balance. It's also the only one written by a woman, which is probably no coincidence. Buff female character designs like Nikaido and Noi that are not once treated as a joke are very refreshing, and they kick ass as much as the male characters. However, the women do get naked a lot in the manga, which doesn't bother me that much because they're never really framed or posed super suggestively but YMMV. Well there's that one Nikaido outfit that I don't really like (if you know you know)... but yeah.
Despite the dystopian world with heavy stratification between devils, magic users, and humans and tons of violence and gore, the characters are very casual and chill about it and the show generally has a light tone and a sense of humor. Nikaido and Kaiman's increadibly wholesome friendship is the heart of the show and brings it back to a positive place no matter how dark it gets.
Golden Kamuy
This is the only one I haven't read the manga for, since I'm waiting until I've finished the fourth anime season to read it. So, I don't have as much to say about it as there's still a lot of mysteries and plot threads yet to be solved.
However, I can definitely say that this is the most educational of the three. I imagine that many people probably would have never heard of the Ainu if not for Golden Kamuy, and the exploration of their culture is very interesting. A lot of research and consulting went into it and the manga even won an award for it. The setting is also very specific: Hokkaido in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese war, which is a cool historical moment to learn about, although don't expect extreme historical accuracy which will absolutely be sacrificed to make something cooler and/or funnier.
The cast is pretty big but very colorful, somehow they are all almost equally fun to watch. Like Dorohedoro it's hard to pick out a good or bad guy because pretty much everyone is super violent and some shade of morally gray and allegiances are always shifting.
It's possibly the most openly horny out of the three shows, the other two definitely have their moments but neither are as consistent with it as Golden Kamuy. However the horniness is almost exclusively focused on the male characters as the author just likes drawing naked buff hairy men, apparently. There's also a healthy dose of potty humor and a theme of skinning people and hunting and butchering animals.
