Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan

Dragon Pilot's trailer enticed me to the series because it reminded me of How To Train Your Dragon, still an excellent animated film. It shows a girl who gets picked by a dragon and doesn't understand what is happening at all; it seemed like it'd be funny, and at 12 episodes, it wouldn't hurt to watch it. What I got was a highly original concept, some stunning art and animation from legendary studio, Bones, and some solid voice work--not to mention a killer soundtrack. The Story: Some characters come off as tropey in the beginning, but do not discount them yet. There is a lot of growth to be had between them all, and it seems like there are some more stories to be told here. One of the characters aspires to be a combat pilot, what of her dream? Hopefully a season 2 comes soon. Overall the plot is wholly original, and i will not spoil what happens, but it does echo HTTYD in a lot of respects. Animation: Smooth overall, not many noticeably lower quality cells. Sound: Voices are good, some of my personal favorite American VAs are present here, such as Christine Marie Cabanos of K-On! and Squid Girl fame, Erica Harlacher of Persona 5 and Toradora, not to mention Bryce Pappenbrook from Attack on Titan and Durarara. Soundtrack is great, the big standout is the credits song.

tl;dr good anime if you liked How To Train Your Dragon. Prepare for a bit of an "earn your happy ending" though.

I don't know what it is about the animation, but it nails emotion through visuals. I laugh out loud often, and love the voice actors. There are times when it does not seem to know what it is, or what direction to go, but I'm only halfway through so all may reveal itself. Either way I'm loving it.

This has been enjoyable enough so far! i'm far from a connoisseur of anime, but this one mostly managed to avoid the things that i dislike about the medium (stilted dialogue, fan service, melodramatic monologues, exaggerated humour, etc. - there are exceptions of course), but they're still there occasionally.

the 'messages' in the show and the characters used to showcase them (e.g. friendship) are sledgehammered into your head. still, i thought the humour, which you'll get to see in the very first episode, was pretty good. overall, the show runs a bit on the bland side. it's sort of like if you were invited to a halloween party open to all sorts of crazy costumes and you came dressed as a witch.

my two cents, since there's so few reviews for this show.

There's something wonderful about this cartoon in the way it presents itself and is animated.

The plot is at times confusing often leading you to wonder where on earth it's going and how it's going to get there and that alone captivates you right up to the end at which point you wonder how you got there.

An enjoyable journey, whimsical and innocent. One to watch if light hearted animation is your thing.

The premise is... odd, to say the least. But then, this is anime. Girls piloting dragons from the *inside* is no more strange than girls who are half battleship. Comes with the genre.

What I found most difficult to handle was the English voice-over of the lead character. I don't believe I've heard a more annoying, screeching portrayal of a female voice in any anime. The series may have been more enjoyable if not for that one, constantly annoying issue. It seriously took 6 episodes to get used to it enough that it wasn't annoying.

The plot is basic: new and hesitant recruit tries to fit in with the establishment and bond with her team mates. She's clueless, naive and unskilled beyond belief, but was chosen by her dragon so what can anyone do about it? That's the core foundation of the plot and it works to an extent. However the final two episodes throw all sense out the window and ends on a barely-scrapes-by finish. One wouldn't have to try all that hard to come up with a better finale.

The animation is questionable. Obviously someone really likes fighter jets; they have that down pat. The dragons on the other hand, as well as the rendition of the characters themselves, are well into the realm of goofy. Still, if they'd looked "better" perhaps a sense of the humor would have been lost. But truthfully, I think the only time I actually laughed in this is when she punched her dragon in the "gizzard" (or whatever that organ was). The dragon's reaction was pretty funny. Other than that, it simply wasn't funny.

Overall not an exceptional anime. I'm sure some will find it cute. Others won't find it worth reviewing. Many people won't make it past the first episode or two. Value of this anime will be largely open to personal taste and willingness to ignore gaping plot holes.