Dragon Half

Original Title: ドラゴン ハーフ
Romanized: Dragon Half
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

In a rather odd fantasy world lives Mink, a Dragon-Half--half red dragon and half human (dragon slayer, in fact; her father was commanded to slay a dragon, and ended up eloping with her). Mink is a happy teenager who longs to be with Dick Saucer, an incredibly popular and equally handsome pop singer. Oh, yeah, and he's also a dragon slayer between concerts. As if that wasn't enough trouble, there's the fact that the King is really angry at Mink's father for running off with the dragon that he's now got the hots for. So, of course, the King's going to send out his best dragon slayers (including Saucer) to take down Mink and lure her mother to him (or something like that). And then there's the Princess, who dabbles in the black arts, is the president of the Dick Saucer fan club (and intends to marry him), and really hates Mink. That's more or less the setup, and you can guess where it's headed...

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-02-06

Dragon Half is the supreme ruler of silly fantasy anime. Plot, logic, and any semblance of maturity are hurled out of the ring in favor of a no-holds-barred SD free-for-all of epic stupidity. It's sure funny, but only for those prepared for a straight hour of chibi nonsense. Perhaps the best part, though, is listening to the entire cast repeatedly go from straight to baby-talk in mid sentence.

Anyway, Dragon Half is about as un-serious as anime comes, and it has as much absolutely ridiculous animation, fantasy parodies, really basic humor, and SD as you'll find anywhere. Maybe too much. It'll either be one of the funniest things you've ever seen, or the stupidest.

US DVD Review

ADV's DVD features the Japanese stereo soundtrack plus a 5.1 channel English dub. Extras include a commentary track by some of the dub staff.

Content Guide

Not that much objectionable material, save a few gross jokes, a couple of "violent" scenes, and a small amount of chibi nudity. ADV rated it 15-up, which is quite strict; even 13-up is on the high end.

Violence: 2 - Plenty of fighting and violence, but it's not serious at all.

Nudity: 2 - The requisite skimpy armor, and one shot at the very end of the second part.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - An accidental kiss, and a handful of raunchy jokes.

Language: 2 - A couple of expletives.

Notes and Trivia

SD, for those unfamiliar with anime jargon, stands for Super Deformed, an art style frequently used in parodies (usually of popular characters/series). Artistically, the style basically consists of characters with huge heads and little tiny, chubby bodies, and they're generally involved in off the wall acts (more along the lines of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons than anything). The characters also usually speak in higher pitched voices than usual, and frequently use "baby talk."

The animated version is based on a mid-length comic book series of the same title, by Ryusuke Mita. I'd say personally that the animated version is funnier (and may actually be less serious, or at least more SD-heavy) than the original, but if you're dying to see how the story turns out, you can try to track a translation down (it's not officially available in English as of this writing).

Availability

Available in the US from ADV on bilingual DVD. Was previously available on subtitled VHS.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store