Dragon Crisis Review

Hello. This is the Pantless Anime Blogger with yet another review. This is review number sixteen. The spring anime line up are close to ending so I’m pretty excited to try my hand on some of those talked about series. It’s still going to be a long wait though. One more month to be precise but, luckily, I never ran out of anime to watch.

The anime I am about to review is titled “Dragon Crisis”. It has twelve episodes and with the promise of Dragons and crisis then this anime should be a pretty intense one. That’s what I initially thought when I picked up the anime. It’s even tagged as “hot” by an anime download site which means a lot of people have already downloaded it. It should be pretty exciting. Let’s read on.

Story

Dragon Crisis is about a normal high school boy named Ryuuji Kisaragi who was forcibly taken away by his cousin to help her do a mission of recovering an important item. After a little incident with some bad guys, Ryuuji discovers that a little girl is inside the suitcase supposedly containing the important item. This little girl is a dragon and she has taken a liking to Ryuuji.

Now Ryuuji has taken in the dragon and decided to protect her from the people who wish to harm her. Its been told though that dragons and humans cannot co-exist. Can Ryuuji be able to break that rule live a happy life with Rose?

Taking the Pants Off

I have a rule that I follow to heart. Never judge an anime until you’ve watched episode four. Some anime takes time to be appreciated and some anime fumbles on presenting the plot. Dragon Crisis starts with an already established status quo. It means that people who Ryuuji knows aren’t explained in details and important terms are thrown around with no further explanation. In episode one, there are already terms like “Lost Precious”, “The Society” and “Level 10 Breakers”. It will really dampen the enjoyment factor because the viewers are still figuring out what the anime is about. The established status quo also affects the anime hugely.

I’ll try my best to explain the terms because the anime doesn’t really expand on it. They let the viewers form an idea of it themselves. Lost Precious are artifacts that gives people magical powers. The previous owner would have a strong emotional attachment to these artifacts making them imbued with magic. However, some of these artifacts are cursed. Cursed artifacts want to harm human and should be handled with care. The Society is a secret group that handles Lost Artifacts. They consist of collectors, researchers and other shady group who wish to possess the power of the artifacts for their own advancement. Lastly, breakers are people who possess these artifacts and use them. I’m not entirely sure but they possibly are highly skilled in combat and the likes.

The anime only gets interesting after episode three where you eventually get an idea of what the anime is about. Ryuuji’s adventures involve the world of Lost Precious items, the society of Dragons and his normal school life. The story usually shifts from these three points and often crosses with each other. It is an interesting experience to watch Ryuuji and his exploits.

Throughout the episodes, Ryuuji is involved with a lot of conflicts and the mostly include a girl. The anime becomes a harem as fast as it introduces new characters. The first episodes seemingly start with Ryuuji and the clingy dragon, Rose. Then the anime expands with other girls aiming for his affection. This includes a classmate, a half wolf and another dragon.

The characters are interesting and offer a lot to the story. There are no boring characters and though some are super generic, they do provide volume to the story. I mean really, how many girls with huge breasts have we seen liking the main character? Still though, these characters are given time to develop and so the story does get more interesting as you progress.

The anime promises some action and they don’t really deliver that much. There are no fast paced fights even though there some clear villains in the anime. The fights in the anime usually involve one strike moves where the recipient immediately falls to the ground. It’s pretty lame and with dragons involved, I was hoping for a big showdown. Well the anime doesn’t really focus on the action that much. It’s mostly about Ryuuji’s love life or his altercation with some Lost Precious items. That is also enough to keep the anime interesting up until the end.

The anime has a solid pacing and a nice way of introducing characters. Even though the first three episodes are confusing and a little dull, the anime does pick up the pace around episode four. So follow my rule, never stop watching until you reach episode four. An anime like Dragon Crisis is too good to miss.

Sight and Sound

The animation was pretty clear. I have to tell you that it looks really clean. The anime uses some CG in some of the fights particularly in the butterflies and the black mists. For someone who isn’t fond of CG effects, the anime does utilize it pretty nicely.

The background is pretty amazing in this anime. They are really visually and strikingly beautiful. The character design isn’t really that special and some hairstyles are even blatantly repeated with different length and hair color. The characters aren’t really that special to begin with so I think the design is pretty fair. The characters have a nice range of facial expressions though so that was worth noting. It makes the anime more appealing to watch. The first three episodes were so dull that Rose’s loli charm was the only thing keeping me going.

The opening sequence was done pretty nicely. It’s Immoralist by Yui Horie. It was a bit intense though making you believe the anime is packed with action. It’s really not but the OP sequence summarizes the anime effectively and after a few listening, the OP takes a life of its own completely different from the anime.

The ending song was actually better suiting for the anime. It’s Mirai Bowl by Momoiro Clover that is upbeat and a little playful. I personally love the song but the chibi ending sequence was too much. There wasn’t even any chibi in the anime so I don’t really get it.

Overall Score

4/10 “It’s not the crisis you expect it to be but the anime does entertain regardless.”

The anime is a Supernatural Action Harem School genre and while it offers little of its supposed genre, the balance is extremely well done. There’s nothing innovative going on here but the anime still deliver a pretty fair enjoyment value. Try not to think too much and just enjoy.