Dragoon

Dragoon is a three episode fantasy OVA from the late 90s. It's kind of an obscure one too. I couldn't find much information for it. I'll be honest, the only reason it even caught my eye was because I saw the title and thought of the playstation classic, Legend of the Dragoon, although the two works aren't related in the slightest. This is based off of a different game that I've never played. Still, I like fantasy as a genre. So, let's give it a shot. Story: We open with a battlefield where a naked woman emerges from a dragon machine that bears more than a slightresemblance to Chrono Trigger's Dragon Tank. Don't ask me why she's leaving an armoured machine and making herself vulnerable or why she's piloting a hunk of metal completely starkers. Anyway, that short intro ends and we cut to a different time where the same woman is being transported somewhere. She escapes after being threatened with rape and she's found lying naked in the snow by Sedi, our protagonist. He takes her somewhere safe and warm, but can't be bothered to find her any clothes, and asks why the soldiers are after her. She can't remember because of that old RPG cliché, amnesia. She only knows that her name is Myuu. The pair eventually go on a journey to discover who she is and why the Empire is pursuing her. The biggest issue with the writing in this is just that it's incredibly generic. Every single major plot point: the invading Empire, the amnesiac with a mysterious power, the son of a hero going on a journey to come into his own, the character seeking revenge for their destroyed home, the evil minister who holds the real power in a monarchy... These are all common elements to not only RPGs but fantasy stories in general. And they've all been in works where the execution was vastly superior to this. This one just doesn't do anything new or interesting with them. Rather, it reduces them to their most basic, bog-standard usage. It doesn't help that the OVA also has plenty of moments that are just kind of stupid. The aforementioned dragon tank thing is one. Sedi randomly gaining new abilities because he's given his father's sword is another. No, he doesn't just have them because he's been training with his dad for years. He gains them because his dad levelled up his sword. The prince being unable to do anything even when he has proof that their minister is evil is another big one. Yeah, the minister has the real power but you'd think having proof he was aligned with the enemy would be enough to take that away from him. There are some elements of this series that could have been promising. The mystery surrounding Myuu's identity had promise. The way it mixes magic and machinery has potential. The indirect connection Sedi has with Bashua could have worked. All of this generic stuff has been used to great effect in other works. But using it well requires clever writing, taking some risks and subverting some expectations at times to keep things fresh. None of which are on display here. Characters: As surprising as this may be for an OVA with bland writing, the characters are completely trite. We have the hero, the mysterious girl who will serve as a love interest, the one who's royalty (male variant), the tricky one and so on. There's never a character you look at and think “well, that's different” or even “that's an interesting take.” No, what you get is just boring. Art: The artwork looks more like it was made in the early 90s than the late 90s. What I'm getting at is that it's a bit dated, even for its time. But the big issue is with the fan-service. It's like some knob decided that if they couldn't have interesting characters or writing that was compelling in any conceivable way they'd make up for it by throwing in gratuitous boobs. Which they do a lot. Myuu spends long stretches of time nude. Lilith takes off her clothes at one point for no good reason and has a long bathing scene. We even see statues of topless women. It's like they're afraid that if they don't show some tits every five minutes the audience will all fall asleep. Which may not be unfounded but you fix that by writing something interesting, not adding boobies to your generic schlock. Sound: This is one element I can give the OVA some credit for. They did get some good actors. Our leads are voiced by Ishida Akira & Kouda Mariko both of whom can deliver really good performances. We've also got Koyasu Takehito, Imai Yuka & Ootsuka Akio. All of whom are really good. And their performances in this are perfectly passable, which is about the best you'd expect given what they have to work with. The best part of the music is Imai Yuka's theme tune performance. The rest is, and I know this is super hard to believe given how innovative this series is, pretty standard fare. Ho-yay: There's a scene where Millie randomly gropes Myuu. But there's nothing about their dynamic to indicate it means anything. It's almost like it was just tossed in for fan-service. But would this series really just toss something in for fan-service besides the egregious number of exposed breast scenes and some up-skirt shots and... Final Thoughts: Dragoon is an OVA, and probably based off of a game, that hasn't an original thought in its head. Rather, it tries to make up for it's lack of interesting content and dull characters by throwing in a bunch of tasteless fan-service. Which, ultimately, makes it a below average viewing experience. The final rating is a 4/10. Next week I'll review Dirty Pair Flash. Which I'm sure has no fan-service based problems whatsoever. Well... maybe it makes up for them with something good.

Dragoon is good old mindless, generic fun. It finds itself adrift in the teeming ocean of 90s fantasy OVAs, and exists as the platonic form of that particular genre, indistinguishable amongst the crashing tide, stumbled upon only by mere chance, be it in the back of a video rental place back in the day, or deep in the internet's virtual recesses today. Beginning with the story, it is, like I said, extremely generic. A boy finds a mysterious magical girl with amnesia and goes on an adventure to find out about her past- with his father's sword in hand hegradually accumulates an adventuring party made up of various common tropes, all while fighting against an evil empire that has advanced technology. I could have told you the rest of the story as soon as I finished the first episode. Despite this, Dragoon is still passingly enjoyable, and if it were to randomly come on TV somehow, I'm not sure if I'd change the channel right away. Notably, there are some ecchi elements that feel a bit out of place in the rest of the story, which were for sure included to sell some more copies of the OVA. At it's core, it's still a good old adventure story, and while it doesn't stand out, it doesn't really do anything wrong, and follows the well-worn footpaths of its formula well. The art is that familiar, warm 90s style, complete with a visually interesting, if somewhat generic, fantasy setting. However, it leaves something to be desired in terms of animation, which feels stiff and rigid throughout. The sound, like the rest of the anime, meets all basic standards for quality, though the voice work is distinctive. The characters are pretty much all tropes, with Sadi being your young idealistic swordsman with dark blue hair, Myuu being the mysterious amnesiac magical girl with white hair, Prince Rain being the long-haired blonde aristocratic gentleman, Lilith being the red-haired tomboy with fire powers, and so on. Despite how tired and predictable this is, the characters are still my favorite part of the show, given that their interactions feel engaging, and at times, natural. Of them, my favorite was the villain Bashua, as he was badass whenever he was onscreen, and had cooler lines than pretty much anyone else in the show. Overall, Dragoon is a fun, paint-by-numbers 90s romp that almost feels like you took all the other ones, blended them together, and diluted the essential principles of what was left into a short OVA series. While it's not a must-watch by any means, and there are certainly much better anime out there, it must be said that if you particularly like the genre, or are just looking for a way to kill some time, it might be worth a watch.