Anime Hajime Review: Dragon Crisis

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Dragon Crisis. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Ryuji Kisaragi (voiced by Hiro Shimono) isn’t all that remarkable. Quiet and reserved, he prefers to keep a low profile. This changes the day his cousin, Eriko Nanao (voiced by Yukana Nogami), returns to Japan.

Both Ryuji and Eriko have ties to the mysterious group known as the Society. This group’s main purpose is collecting mystic artifacts known as Lost Precious. To do so they use skilled hunters, known as Breakers. Eriko is now on the trail of a powerful S-rank Lost Precious.

The target is under the protection of the terrifying organization known as Fang. Eriko has dragged Ryuji along because he is one of only a handful of level ten Breakers.

The cousins get the jump on Fang and obtain a suitcase containing the supposed Lost Precious. During their escape, the case opens. Revealing something neither of them expected.

Inside is a young blond girl (voiced by Rie Kugimiya). The instant the girl sees Ryuji, she clings to him with a smile on her face. Once safe, Eriko asks how Ryuji knows the girl. He claims that he has never met her before. Eriko then notices a strange insignia on the back of the girl’s hand. The mark of the Red Dragon.

Though unsure of what to do, Ryuji agrees to watch over the girl, who he names Rose.

Series Positives

I didn't dislike this. In fact, I'll even say Dragon Crisis was pretty okay.

Ryuji

The real selling point was this show’s ecchi and harem elements. Don’t take too much from that. In the grand scheme of things, this series was tame.

If you're not sure whether harem anime are for you, Dragon Crisis is a small taste of what's out there. It's a good introduction to the genre.

It Meets the Standard

Rose

Harem anime, like slice-of-life, only works when the characters work. With that in mind, this show worked.

Props, and shame, for the way Dragon Crisis developed Ryuji’s character. Props because the show completely nailed his unremarkable persona. Shame because the show did it too damn well. I don’t care about Ryuji in the slightest, but he wasn't the focus of the series.

The girls of Dragon Crisis were. And yes, they were all quite sexy. Bonus points, let’s move past this.

Odyssey, weren't a few of the girls still in high school?

WE’RE MOVING PAST IT!

They were all interesting. Everyone was varied. Everyone served a role. They all had qualities beyond being a pretty face.

Dragon Crisis did an adequate job with its characters. I say adequate because while everyone was still likable, everyone was interchangeable. No one served as the face of the show. That said, we could do a lot worse.

The Overall Story

Episode one of Dragon Crisis was an intriguing start. In that instant, I became worried. The last time this type of series grabbed my attention like this, it became the debacle known as Majikoi. Luckily this show didn't become that steaming pile.

The story was fun and the majority of it was rather engaging. Dragon Crisis had the right amount of questions in the beginning to create interest. And it did a good job at answering those questions as time went on. If nothing else, everything made sense by the end.

Series Negatives

Before I get into what's wrong with the show, I should mention that I didn’t expect much of the show. From the start, Dragon Crisis felt very familiar. And for the most part, it was. Though the premise was neat, it wasn't anything more than a new hat to complement an old outfit.

An Old Familiar Trap

I've already said harem anime are character driven. And that Dragon Crisis succeeded in this aspect. However, it also made the mistake that plagues many harem anime. New characters got introduced late in the series.

If an anime has over twenty episodes, it can afford to keep bringing new characters. That luxury doesn't exist for a twelve episode anime. There isn’t enough time to develop late entries. It also doesn’t help that Dragon Crisis had the worst understanding of this concept I've ever seen.

The show continued to have new characters as late as episode ten. Let me repeat that. A new character got introduced in the tenth episode of a twelve episode anime. Why do that!?

But I can do one better. I could argue Dragon Crisis introduced a character in the final minutes of the last episode.

Episode 12

The ending was botched.

The road leading up to the finale was shaky at best. Rose wanted Ryuji to help her perform a ritual that would make her a full-fledged dragon. She learns of this from someone with strong ties to the show’s main antagonist. Rose's naivety excused her from not realizing the danger. Ryuji and Eriko, though, should've known better. Especially since they had a friend who was already a mature dragon.

The funny thing is, I may not have even thought about this lapse in common sense. I may have ignored it if the series didn’t take the time to, I don't know, ACTUALLY POINT IT OUT!

Dragon Crisis had a definitive ending and it did everything it could to get to that point. This isn't a good thing. The story wanted to wrap up, but to do that, episode twelve got rushed.

The whole show built up to a showdown between Ryuji and the main villain. I didn't know what to expect. But what happened was an anti-climactic kill shot that made everything meaningless.

Adding to the problem was the transition between episode eleven and twelve. There was about an episode’s worth of information missing.

Final Thoughts

Dragon Crisis wasn't anything fantastic.

You'll watch it and move on like it never even happened.

Doing all the things that make a solid series, Dragon Crisis succeeded in what it set out to do. If you're happy with that, all power to you. There are better series that are worth your time.

                Google+                          Facebook                           Twitter