Dorohedoro episode 3, The Night of The Living Dead, begins with Kaiman, Nikaido and Dr. Vaux prepare for the event. Elsewhere, En demands that Shin and Noi heal the still faceless Ebisu. Noi restores her face and fingers. Shin is eager to get the mission started. He summons his door and leave with Noi. Meanwhile, in the cemetery, Kaiman and Nikaido look for prizes that they may want. Nikaido shows interest in a food mill that will help her make gyozas. When midnight strikes all the dead reanimate and attack the citizens. Kaiman and Nikaido attack the zombies with weapons, then the monks spray salt on them. Shin, Noi, Ebisu and Fujita arrive. They’re immediately attacked by zombies. Kaiman and Nikaido continue to collect the plates from the bodies of the zombies. Dr. Vaux gets separated from them. He’s surprised by a zombie and gets cornered.
Kaiman and Nikaido vs Shin and Noi
In the shopping centre, Kaiman and Nikaido are eating noodles. The En Family appear. Nikaido warns Kaiman that Shin and Noi are “cleaners,” and he needs to be more careful. However, he doesn’t think he needs to worry as “magic doesn’t work on him.” Noi approaches Nikaido, claiming that she doesn’t want to be too rough with a woman. Nikaido responds by kicking her in the stomach. She staggers. Impressed, Noi reveals that she “shook up her internal organs.” She then spits out lots of blood, alarming Nikaido. They have a brief scuffle, but Noi best Nikaido, knocking her toward Kaiman. Enraged at Nikaido being injured, Kaiman attacks Shin in a fury. His knife get broken by Shin, then he’s hit in the head with the back end of a hammer. After Shin removes his hammer, blood squirts out of Kaiman’s head. He collapses.
As it starts to rain, Shin (assuming Kaiman’s dead) wants to leave. Surprisingly, Kaiman is still alive and he stabs Shin through the chest and eats his head. The man inside his states that he’s not the one. When Shin recovers, he decapitates Kaiman with his hammer. However, Nikaido recovers and shockingly uses her magic and conjures a door. She escapes with Kaiman. Dr. Vaux finds them unconscious in an alley. Kaiman’s head grows back and Dr. Vaux informs him that Nikaido is a sorcerer. Back at the Hungry Bug, Nikaido assumes that her friendship with Kaiman is now over. Kaiman brings the food mill to Nikaido and asks for some gyozas.
What’s in the head
Dr. Vaux brings Kaiman’s head in a jar, hoping to do some experiments on it. Meanwhile, Noi is tasked with curing Ebisu who’s now a zombie. Nikaido tells Kaiman that when they meet she was a cleaner, she found Kaiman headless body. She thought that he was dead. Kaiman decides that it’s time to dissect his head. Dr. Vaux cuts into it, removing the brain, as Nikaido records. When they try to open the mouth the power goes out. As they go to investigate, a strange man shroud in darkness, appears to leave with the head. They review the footage from the camera but the video is still too dark. Kaiman and Nikaido return to Hungry Bug to eat gyozas, like nothing happened.
I’m not sure what this episode was going for with all the transitions, but I found it a little annoying. It only really added suspense when Dr. Vaux was cornered by the zombie. He’s not the most important character, so I did think he might die. The Ebisu being a zombie was played for laughs but I just didn’t land with me. The revelation that Shin was from the Hole and Nikaido was a cleaner where unexpected. I was surprised how quickly the series resolved whether Kaiman would have a bad reaction to Nikaido being a sorcerer. I’m relieved that he didn’t care. The mystery regarding the head of Kaiman is homecoming more intriguing. I would guess that the man inside his head simply walked out with it. Question remain whether he’s a sentient man or a spells creation that is tasked with protecting some secret.