*"But, does growing up just change your body? Or, also your soul..."*

  
*-BMO, Adventure Time.*

  
**CORE THEME: Amnesiac, enigmatic, and anti-heroic hulking protagonists of incredibly surreal manga/comic works that follow their journeys across two insane and bizarre realms serving as extreme dramatizations of real world environments. With more of their past being revealed as time goes on, they would learn to come to terms with themselves and the one they originated from, by ultimately letting go.**

  
**CONNECTIONS:**

\-Both are the protagonists of two intensely surreal and bizarre yet emotionally impactful and almost beautifully insane series about finding your own joy in life (Dorohedoro / The Maxx)

\-Both are initially displayed as juvenile, crude, and odd creatures notable for their absolutely HULKING frame, sharp weaponry, (Kaiman's combat knives / Maxx's claws) and menacing jaws/teeth.

\-Both of their stories occupy not one, but **two** different worlds much like and NOT alike our own. The first of these worlds would include a harsh, dirty, filthy, and crime ridden exaggerations of real world lower class environments (Hole, which is a much more grungy, post-apocalyptic slum filled with garbage and grime / The City, which was a dramatization of gritty urban environments)

\-The second world amongst it all was a much more insane and almost mystical dimension that still struggled with many of the same issues the primary one did, it's environment is still very dangerous and wild, only seeming cleaner and cooler from the outside eye at first (The World of Sorcerers / The Outback)

\-Tied to the second realm was an entirely separate race of dangerous beings (Sorcerers / The Isz) that were able to enter between the realms as they pleased, with a group of them being led by a powerful and influential master of the mystic arts who was very strongly implied to have ties to the protagonist in some way (En / Mr. Gone)

\-Back to what our protagonists are, like, *actually* doing with themselves, they both spend a lot of their time hunting down the aforementioned second race to attempt to piece together more of their prior lives, utilizing bladed weaponry and sharp piercing to get the job done (Kaiman's combat knives and eventually his mouth / The Maxx's claws)

\-When they aren't doing *that,* they're seen spending times with their beautiful blonde best friends whom they have a very deep attachment to, as they were the first person they had when they woke up without any of their memories. (Nikaido / Julie)

**Fun little extra thing:** Their demeanors are very contrasting, in that Nikaido is cheerful, friendly, and easy-going while Julie is much more cynical, colder, and closed off. It should be noted she is still a kind person at heart.

\-Their goals, in the start of the story seem to be rather simple sort of "tropey" kind of origins and goals, serving as a sort of mask and escape of their other problems (Kaiman wants to find the sorcerer that gave him his lizard head / Maxx wants to protect Julie and stop the Isz from reaching the real world)

\-Their greatest enemies in the end are ultimately revealed to be intrinsically part of their origins and selves in some way shape or form, being tied to the source they came from (Kai, who is one of the alternate minds and personalities spawned from Ai Coleman, similarly to Kaiman / Mr. Gone, who is revealed to be another spawn of Julie's Outback)

\-The dark truth of their origins is finally revealed to have come from an emotionally unstable and immensely sad human being who sought to escape the environments that brought them down (Ai Coleman was a miserable young child who felt unhappy with his life in the Hole, and as such, desired to become a sorcerer to escape his limitations and live life in a more free sense / Julie desired to escape the troubles of her psyche and her internal issues)

\-Their wishes would ultimately be granted, but not nearly in the way intended, as their psyches completely ***fractured*** into the different states that they would be in the modern day, with some of these characters representing their own messed up mental image.

\-As for our protagonists? Well, in their previous lives they were ***completely*** different people from who they are now. After the death of their previous bodies, some fucked up magic, and the inclusion of an animal (Kai's murder at the hands of Curse and the infusion of Ebisu's lizard-transformation magic / Julie running over Dave Q., the homeless man, covering his body with a lamp, and the infusion of her spirit animal in the outback, being a rabbit) our "heroes" were born, with no memory in sight.

\-After the series caused them to come face to face with the direct consequences of their quests and bits and pieces of their backstories being revealed as the plot progressed, both of them ultimately had to face the direct issue at hand, that being their own internal trauma, and what ***they*** wanted to make of their existence...***without*** the presence of those who *made* them what they are. No more of what the others that made them wanted, what did ***they*** want?

\-Eventually, their stories end with them ***accepting*** who ***they*** are. Not their pasts, not what others MADE them to be, but what *they* were. Contrasting their births of hate and malice, they were given a "new identity" born out of love from the aforementioned blonde best friend they held close in their lives (The Second Kaiman's creation from Nikaido / Julie letting go of Maxx, leading to him shedding his old identity)

**CONTRAST:**

\-The final step of Kaiman's journey of acceptance involved him finding even more appreciation in those around him, embracing the positive influences in his life. The final step of Maxx's life is to let go of Julie, as the two need to pursue their own journeys in life to evolve and grow as people. **One grew by holding on, the other grew by letting go.**

\-Kaiman had a **lizard** head, Maxx is a fusion of a homeless man and a **rabbit.** Reptile vs Mammal.

**ANIMATION POTENTIAL:**

The first and earlier stages would be an agility vs tank kinda dynamic, with Kaiman being harder for Maxx to hit while Maxx has the upper hand in raw brute strength. You have your standard cool blade combat between just Kaiman's normal combat knives and Maxx's claws before it gets even wackier, with Kaiman's extra stuff like his axe and Noi's smoke to heal, with Maxx using his stupider weapons like his rusty trident or his copper tray to detract and remove some of Kaiman's magic.

If it were that simple it would be fine as is, but both of these stories are anything ***but*** *simple.* So let's talk about the higher tier shit.

Once Kaiman solidly gains the upper hand against Maxx, the latter can take the fight to the Outback, where he becomes stronger, faster, and gains a really good healing factor. Now ***Kaiman*** is the one on the back foot, with Maxx's raw strength becoming far too much to defeat with pure brawns. So Kaiman would then use his magic spray to get back to the real world. Realizing the Outback is sorta like a Hulk Green Door scenario where Kaiman will damage Maxx, and then Maxx will go back into the Outback to heal, and then Kaiman will dip, rinse and repeat, we would have Kaiman enter his Gyoza Devil form, finally taking the Maxx ***head on*** in the Outback.

At this point, it would once again be Kaiman using his wider array to try and just overwhelm and destroy Maxx, whereas Maxx would have to power through and kill Kaiman before he's erased. You could have a moment where the kaiju Maxx tries to swat Kaiman out of the way, with Kaiman zooming around him and firing Gyoza at him, etc. etc.

Basically, it starts out as crazy stats battle, and then it turns into a stats vs resourcefulness battle, before finally becoming a batshit insane stats and hax vs stats and hax battle.

"THERE'S CHAOS OUTBACK" - KAIMAN VS THE MAXX (DOROHEDORO VS ...) - RE-SLUDGED