Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes

Animated adaptations of video games are a pretty mixed bag, especially really old ones like Dragon Slayer, a game most Falcom fans don't even really know. Despite that, and despite most of the actual writing in the OVA being pretty bad, Dragon Slayer manages to be a pretty fun experience with lightning fast pacing, some funny scenes and pretty great action capped off with the perfect kind of cheesy, lighthearted ending. With over-the-top, goofy characters who are introduced and sent off with giant explosions and table-destroying brooms, nothing in Dragon Slayer will blow your mind, but it will put it on a fun rollercoaster for fiftyminutes.

Dragon Slayer is good old classic fun. It's got dragons, it's got magic, it's got action, it's got it all. The story might be the most technically generic it could possibly be, with an evil sorcerer and a boisterous prince who was spirited away after his kingdom was conquered, and who is destined under the tutelage of an old mentor to return and defeat that evil that despoiled the land, as he cultivates his physical and metaphysical prowess. Add on a scrappy resistance movement and a journey to retrieve an ancient weapon, and you've basically got yourself a paint-by-numbers 90s fantasy action OVA. Even itsname is generic! This isn't to say that it's not fun- it is! That's just to say that it's not all that special in the storytelling department. More of a beer and pizza with friends kind of affair rather than engaging with a work of art type deal. The biggest problem the story has isn't its lack of originality, but rather the fact that its pacing feels lightning fast, like it's panicking to shove everything it can into the scant two episode run it has to work with. It's almost as if they took 12 episodes worth of storyboard and processed it into an overcrowded OVA run. In any case, you're watching it more for the monsters and battles than the story, and that is something the art of Dragon Slayer certainly delivers on. The art nails what it needs to get right, and it is for this reason that it's the strongest aspect of the anime. Overall, the art direction is pretty typical for this type of show, with a boilerplate fantasy world with weapons, armor, and sorcerer garb that is pretty consistent with what you'd expect. Even the character designs kind of feel like a Japanese translation of your usual western fantasy fare. However, the whole thing comes to life when the fight scenes happen. The animation all of a sudden becomes flashy and fluid, playing with an ambitious sense of perspective that gives each major blow a sense of weight and consequence. These moments really shine, and indeed, you don't have to wait too long at all between them, as they are quite abundant throughout. The sound is solid, meeting the basic standards of quality for the time, even if the voice work is a little lacking. The characters are also sufficient for the story at hand, filling their roles and archetypes well, even if they feel as though they're being led around by the story and its various necessities and whims. At the end of the day, Dragon Slayer is just a good old classic experience, where you can turn your brain off and enjoy the big flashy fight scenes that they paid special attention to. If Blockbuster were still around, this would be the perfect fit for their shelves, and an item I'd recommend you check out on a slow night for sure.