Dragon Half
Sex/Nudity: Brief Nudity (one scene at the end)
Music:
Runtime Episodes: 2/26
Overall Rating: A-
Artwork: A-
Story: A-
Comments: based on a manga that has not been translated.
Voice Acting English: B +
Voice Acting Japanese: B +
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
Extras: Clean Closing, previews for All Purpose cultural cat girl Nuku Nuku, Devil Hunter Yohko, Excel Saga, Steel Angel Kurumi, Sakura wars: Flower Power, Golden Boy
Date Reviewed: 12/8/06 Last Updated: 9/5/10
Basic Premise: Mink is a girl whose dad is a human and her mom is a dragon. Her dad was sent to kill a dragon years ago by the king and decided to marry the dragon instead. They then gave birth to Mink who is known as a dragon half. She is like a regular teenage girl and loves the teen tv idol Dick Saucer. In the first episode she is trying to get a concert ticket to see Dick Sauer. Meanwhile the king who sent Ruth to kill the dragon wants to kill Ruth in order to marry the dragon instead, but he can't because Ruth is too strong so he sends his sorcerer to kidnap his daughter Mink instead in order to get to Mink. In Episode 2 Mink enters a tournament with Dick Saucer in order to get the money to get a concert ticket to see Dick Saucer.
Review: For a two episode anime there are a lot of side plots as well and they seem to all get tied up in the end in one way or another. It's hard to know where to begin, but there is a rival fan, a warrior who wants to hunt dragon half, the quest for a people potion, who is really a human and who is not. Heh, but it is all really pointless anyway. It's best not to think about it since it is not meant to be taken seriously anyway, but it is a lot of fun.
The animation style is not consistent at all except for maybe the background scenes. The characters go from chibi to normal proportioned from second to second as well as every variation between. Almost on a side note the characters do not usually have any feet, but walk on the tips of their toes if you can call them feet.
The music seems to be a cross between Beethoven and insanity and looney tunes since the lyrics just make no sense. I would so love to explain it, but the ending song just defies any type of logic. It just makes no sense at all. This song is also one of the best examples of how utterly strange the Japanese sense of humor as well as how they think can be. We Americans may think that we are odd or look odd to other countries, but the Japanese here prove that they are the true masters of the weird and wacky, indecipherable, and unfathomable in their humor.
The anime seems to parody dragon warrior with the use of slimes and going up levels an dragons and such. There also seems to be some references to pokemon somehow in the second episode during the tournament.
For really silly characters in a really silly anime I can safely say that the voices and characters sounded in character and didn't seem forced or overly dramatic. The plot is nigh unfathomable. The pace is pretty fast and well paced. It is kind of hard to criticize an anime that doesn't take it seriously in any way. The creators just had fun with it. It is not that the anime is well designed or that a lot of work went into it, because there is plainly almost no effort that went into this show, but it is so very funny anyway and the humor is unknowable unless you are from Japan. Overall this seems to be a well received anime everywhere and I just had to try it out for myself to see what people are talking about and now that I have seen it a few times I can say that in order to really understand the charm of this show you have to see it for yourself. This show is also a good example of the anime style of the early 90's as well as the craziness that is Japanese humor. If you are looking for an anime that does not require a lot of brain cells give this one a try. If you are fortunate to be able to add this to your anime collection other people will have no idea what this show is, but it is a good edition anyway.
This is one of the first of the more rare anime out there as I will occasionally try to find overlooked gems of anime out there that may have been forgotten or was just never all that popular.
Conclusion: This is an anime for people who love the ridiculous. You don't want to laugh, but you just can't help it. Seems to be aimed at the teenager audience.
Publisher: ADV
Related Website:
Where Found: ebay, other than that good luck.
Copyright: 1993/2002
Author: produced by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa Shiro Sasaki
If you enjoyed this anime try: Project A-KO
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