Dragon's Dogma

Preface: 7 out of 7 episodes watched.

Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen video game that this show is based off of never had a fantastic story. It was always ambiguous and that added to some of the atmosphere. It is interesting to try and base an anime off of the super ambiguous story that is DDDA.

While most action scenes are rather successful, the show likes to add some amount of shock value. While some shock is welcome and spices up a good story, some of these shocks seems out of place and unnecessary in an attempt to be edgy.

The aesthetic of the CGI is pretty distracting. While I can get used to the animation of the main character and pawn, the side characters are at times laughable and a major distraction from the show. A traditional 2D style of animating would have done wonders for the feel and emotional portrayals of side characters. While the CGI of the monsters remains distracting, the motion of the actions during fights does feel well enough done.

Most characters besides the pawn (Who is devoid of all emotion) tick me right off with their logic. I found myself having difficulty connecting to any of the characters or understanding any of their decisions.

TLDR: Action is good. Non-action is not good.

The show doesn't allow the viewer to get to know the characters. The characters' reactions to unexpected and tragic things that happen around them feel absurd and alien. The side-characters introduced are unmemorable. This all leads to the story feeling bland and almost pointless. If I don't care about the character why would I care about what happens to that character? I like the theme and the art style but this show could be much MUCH better with some solid writing.

I've only watched 2 episodes so far but I will say I'm liking this quite a bit, the main issues I have with the show is the CGI/2D mix art style, and the voices sound really bad in English so I had to change it to Japanese With subs and that issue was fixed for me, other than that I'm loving it so far.

I'm not a fan of this cheap-looking 3d animation that tries to capture the marvel of 2d, but I can overlook it. I only made it through half of one episode, so I cannot judge the story, I just couldn't handle the horrible voice acting. I just had to turn it off.

I'll preface by saying I'm a huge fan of the game, and I cannot help but approach the show in a manner that reflects that bias.

Dragon's Dogma, the game that is, is classical kind of fantasy. Adventurer's home is besieged by a dragon, he goes on a mission to slay it and many more monsters along the way, save his love, etc. Kind of boiler plate plot wise but lifted up by some interesting characters, fantastic dialogue, cool lore, and second to none gameplay.

When I heard of the show I was... skeptical, but hopeful that they could capture the mostly upbeat action romp adventure the game was. I was disappointed in that way. Besides the titular Dragon, there were absolutely 0 characters which made it to the show from the game. The Netflix adaptation of Dragon's Dogma takes itself far too seriously. Where there were once silly asides of being paraded around in a jester's cap, there's now a protagonist fueled by rage and brooding. In all honesty Ethan seems like the sort of character a 15 year old would role play in his D&D game. I know because I did the same thing. With such little resemblance it's a wonder why it bares the same name at all, it may as well just be called "Dragon Slayer."

For a show with several seasons planned apparently it also has a serious problem of telling, not showing, it's plot to you. Ethan's tragic backstory eluded to in a couple of glimpses but is ultimately told to the audience by some unnamed kids. The show attempts to provide an ending to the first season with some kind of philosophical malarkey about 'human nature' and the various sins for which the episodes are named after, but it comes across as extraordinarily forced and just plain nonsensical.

More minor complaints include the fact than several monster's models, including the dragon itself, are not textured very well at all. In fact they may have looked better just being copied and pasted from the game itself. Lighting is lacking, and many animations are stiff and floaty, very much unlike other cg animations like Beastars.

Unfortunately it turned out to be a show based on a great story, but not capturing the spirit of it at all, and I can't imagine people seeing it as anything more than your average power-fantasy.