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Note: Anime is Japanese animation, usually characterized by a
style of exaggerated eyes in order to better express emotion.
Half Dragon, Half Crazy
Review by Gwynn Grandy
I first heard of Dragon Half in a discussion over whose
producers had been on more acid, the creators of FLCL
(pronounced for some still unexplained reason as Furi Kuri), those
of Excel Saga, or those of Dragon Half. I figured Dragon Half
had to be pretty interesting in order to rival robots popping out of
peoples heads, or a series where every episode has the same
characters but an entirely different theme including game show,
war movie, and animal interest.
The word for this anime is zany. The main character
Mink is an adolescent half-dragon, hence the title, which would be
more accurately translated as Dragon Halfling. Her father was
once a dragon hunter, until he fell in love with her mother. Mink is
being pursued with murderous intent by the object of her
affection, Dick Saucer, because she is a dragon and he is a
knight. The evil, blundering king and his daughter, who is the same
age as Mink, provide further complications.
This anime contains the traditional elements of a medieval
saga with a twist. The greatest weakness of this anime is the
predictability of the general plotline. For example, Minks father
and mother were a large hint at a romance between Mink and the
knight hunting her. What makes this series worth watching is the
unexpected humor out of expected situations, such as the history
of the daughter of the evil king, and the song Saucer sings before
every battle.
A word of warning: Dragon Half is done in an older
anime style. The characters are not as pretty as those in many of
the newer Animes, hairstyles are somewhat dated, and liberal use
of the chibi, or smaller, form of the characters is used for comedic
relief. It is also geared toward a younger audience, but it would
appeal to anyone with a sense of humor. My favorite part of this
anime was the nonsense ending song. It was so amusing I
replayed it just for kicks.
This anime only contains two episodes; I was vocally
disappointed to realize there werent any more. The plot obviously
leaves room for a continuing story, but apparently you are stuck
reading the Manga (Japanese comic) if you want to know what
happens next, which I'm sure you will.
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