Kûtei Doragonzu

A glorification to whales killing, dragons are just an excuse. Anyway, mediocre. It's a boring attempt with a very weak trama. At the end of every episode there is a stupid recipe, who would care? And 'the whales fly because of their big heart'. A waste of time, poor dialogues, poor environments, nothing really stand out. It's not bad, it's just so 'meh'. Unsophisticated.

The animation is deceptive as the premises are good, a world of dragons and humans on air balloons going dragon hunting. But the story itself is shallow, nothing much happens, no character development or backstories, it is without substance. This is a disappointment considering the animation art, background score and voice overs good.

The art and production values are great. I thought at some point that this would turn into a story of at least one of the characters changing their ways and becoming a friend to the dragons (whales). I've watched four episodes and it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So this is just unapologetic propaganda about whaling. It's too bad because otherwise it's quite interesting.

I'm by no means a vegetarian. I realized animals are slaughtered every day to provide food for humans. But there is a marked difference between quickly and painlessly killing a cow (which is done by instantly deadening its brain)... and hunting down and slowly "executing" a whale. Not only are whales far more intelligent than cows, the pain they go through in the whaling process is nothing short of torture, beyond butchery. Many won't be able to enjoy this anime because it will make them sick to their stomach. It's very difficult to identify with a crew of people who seeming take enjoyment out of slowly executing what some would consider a magnificent creature. In short, this anime is too predictably offensive to earn a good rating. I'm actually surprised that anyone gives his an 8-10 star rating... and that we don't see more under-5 ratings based on thematic issues alone.

Anime should not be judged purely by the graphics and characters. Story and theme is equally important.

Drifting Dragons is worth watching and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses in the upcoming seasons. The animation is beautiful. The two main female characters and the two main male characters are interesting in their own unique ways. This show is getting unnecessary hate from soft people that can't seem to comprehend they are watching a fantasy anime.