YMMV / Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Some theorize Sakura is a latent masochist; he easily puts up with Dokuro tormenting/brutally killing him and even avoiding opportunities to get rid of her.
• Catharsis Factor: Any time that Sakura calls Dokuro out on her behavior towards him, or others in general.
  • Even if it wasn't his intent, Sakura being tricked into taking Dokuro's halo, which causes her to suffer from explosive diarrhea and Gonk expressions.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Or lack thereof. This show has some seriously twisted humor given its premise about an angel frequently murdering a young boy.
• Genius Bonus: With combinations of Shout Outs, for lack of a better category.
  • Excalibolg is a kanabō, a real (albeit archaic) weapon, though with both exaggerated size and spikes rather than studs. It does, however, have the grip of a baseball bat - even the tape!
    • Additionally, its name may be derived from Excalibur and Caladbolg (a somewhat less well known sword from Irish legend).
  • Sakura-kun's school is "St. Guernica's Academy" - there is no "Saint Guernica", however "Guernica" is the name of Pablo Picasso's eponymous famous painting symbolizing the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. "Guernica shows suffering people, animals, and buildings wrenched by violence and chaos."
  • The...uh...very loose interpretations of Kafka's The Metamorphosis in Episode 3. Probably also counts as Big-Lipped Alligator Moment (yeah, even for this show) because it comes out of nowhere.
  • The Corpus cavernosum that Dokuro-chan asks Sakura-kun to pronounce and then loudly start reading about is the medical term for the erectile tissue in the male penis.
  • Dokuro-chan briefly turns Sakura-kun into Commodore Perry for a throwaway gag.
  • For a brief moment, a book with the title Caligula can be seen on the school library shelves. Good, wholesome reading for kids!
  • Most people wouldn't recognize the weird-looking plants in the final scene of the anime as accurately-drawn different types of carnivorous plants.
• Nausea Fuel: Dokuro and Sabato vomiting in Sakura's shirt.
• Shout-Out: when Dokuro and Sakura are walking alone in the forest and Dokuro is saying how she doesn't believe in ghosts and monsters, Sakura replies something along the lines of: "But you're an angel, and if you exist then all those other things must be real too! Like robot cats from the future, reindeer doctors, nurse witches and moving castles ...they must all be real!"
• Tear Jerker: Although these scenes are, technically Played for Laughs, it's very hard not to feel at least a bit sorry for Sabato.
  • Sabato is forced to fend for herself and live in an improvised shelter beneath a bridge; she isn't allowed to return to the future (where she resides) until she accomplishes her mission of killing Sakura. The first season's ending depicts her gloomily sitting inside her haven as she watches the rain pouring. The sad song accompanying it ("Survive") also just adds to the feeling of sorrow, discomfort, and loneliness of her predicament. This is especially jarring when compared to the rest of the show in general.
  • In two episodes, near the end of the ending song, a cat emerges from inside Sabato's cardboard home and she puts it on her lap. This makes the scene take a slightly more heartwarming tone. But in a later episode, the cardboard is completely empty until the same cat comes out and looks into the distance alone, apparently waiting for Sabato to return. The following scene shows Sabato was forced to flee as the police attempted to capture her, meaning she never came back and the cat was most likely abandoned.
    • Jossed, as the same cat makes a brief cameo at the end of It's a Sketching Contest! Dokuro-chan!, when Sabato is suffering the effects of Sakura's expired lunch that was found in the river nearby her new home. With that said...
  • In the second season, Sabato moved to yet another cardboard box and her living conditions have gone From Bad to Worse. She's seen bemoaning and begging her mother to come back home and it's implied she caught a serious cold. The last we see of her, she's crying in frustration because she threw her home in the garbage and is now completely homeless.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Season 1 was known for its macabre humor and intense cartoon violence. Season 2 had none of that, opting instead for a Puni Puni☆Poemi/Eiken/Excel♡Saga-finale-style harem fanservice where they tried to see how far they could push it without turning it into an actual porn. Also, Dokuro's personality was totally different.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The franchise does fairly little with the Plot Point of Dokuro betraying the Lulutie (aka "Angels of the Martial Law Council Precinct").
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Although the titular Dokuro is meant to simultaneously be a sympathetic and hilarious Heroic Comedic Sociopath, she can fall square here due to her immense cruelty towards Sakura; she nigh-constantly torments or brutally murders him, often for sadistic kicks or during Disproportionate Retributions. When he reduces her to tears in the season one finale (See "Why Would Anyone Take Her Back Below"), it comes off as a Kick the Dog moment with her being a Thin-Skinned Bully^note albeit one with the "Bully" part dialed up and not the Tear Jerker it's clearly supposed to be.
• Why Would Anyone Take Her Back?: It's clear Dokuro is a horrible excuse of both a person and a Love Interest for Sakura. However, these lines say it all when he's given an opportunity to get her out of his life:
  Sakura: I've been confused right from the beginning. [Beat.] I kept asking myself, "What's with her? How can she be an angel?" She never does anything at all to help around the house and she's always so lazy. [...] Whenever she actually does do something, she always seems to get in my way. She'll eat my favorite ice cream that I've been saving for dessert. [...] And she bludgeons me all the time with her club for no reason. It's mean and it's not fair. [...] Ever since Dokuro-chan came here, I can't think of a single thing that's gone right. But even still, the last thing that I would ever want to do is to send [her] back to the future world!
• The Woobie: Sabato. Sakura counts as one as well.

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