Dota: Dragon's Blood

As someone who has probably put around 20k-30k hours into Dota 1 and 2 I must say the feeling of seeing all my heroes come to life in a show like this is amazing to say the least. It's an amazing world and it has so much potential. Now the show itself is entertaining alot of times, has great animations and some funny moments. Mostly, however, it's too hasty and you get the feeling they've had to cut out too much to fit it all into 8 episodes. I didn't quite get as emotionally involved in the characters as I hoped. The jumps from one place, both physically and emotionally between the characters, is way too hasty sadly. I do hope this show hits big so Netflix will want to invest more into coming seasons episode wise to delve deeper in the relationships and characters. Well worth the watch though.

What we've seen is just a glimpse of Dota's lore. I like that the fundamental premises were already presented albeit they could be a vague especially for casual viewers. Hint: ep 1 intro and Terrorblade's statement towards the end of his scene after the fight with Selemene

For the newcomers, or perhaps, even for those Dota fans but unaware of the depths of its lore, this season will be too hazy or too fragmented. As a typical series taken as it is, this series looks bad. Rooting on someone is looking harder, everyone seems to be immoral or has other reasons for one not to be rooted for. Such element could be explained by the lore later on. As a Dota fan, I liked how fleshed out it is. The plot may become slow but this would mean there will be more focus on character story and development. For now, we only had a glimpse of Davion's, Mirana's, Luna's, and Invoker's. We have not really seen the deeper stories for these characters. Davion, Mirana, and Luna for their future and Invoker for his general role in their universe, past and future. All the while, Dota, as the game, has around 120 heroes to offer. I'm just excited of what's to come. The community has waited a long time for this. Before, we were just watching Slacks' Loregasm series in YT for that good 'ol Dota narrative. Now, we've got an actual series that is so far not too bad. Season 2 pleasee!

I was aprehensive about this series because of all the previous movies/series based on games that have ended in disaster. But I must say I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of this show. They've clearly taken their inspiration from the game, but the storyline is all new, and pretty exciting. At times it can be very dense in storylines, and I'm hoping the next season will take its time a little more to flesh some of them out a little more.

*No spoilers*

The action of this show is some of the best that anime has to offer in my opinion, visually anyway. The characters in this show are enjoyable and generally quite consistent in terms of their characteristics and actions. The voice acting is good all around, although I feel like some characters lack emotions and appear to be in the same mood throughout almost the entire show (S1-S3).

However, this show suffers most from severe pacing issues which get worse as the show progresses. For someone who hasn't played the games there are too many questions left unanswered in terms of lore, but I cannot imagine that even those that do play the game are capable of truly keeping up as the pace of this show is weirdly high.

Much like in season 2, season 3 also suffers from this problem. There are only 8 relatively shory episodes per season and the amount of big events that happen throughout just doesn't make sense. This is one of those shows that should either slow down in terms of plot speed, or have double the amount of episodes to cover it.

All in all enjoyable enough to binge watch and I rate it a 7/10 due to how enjoyable the action is. In terms of actual plot, I find it a mess. Had the show's plot and subsequently pace been as good as the action, it could have easily scored higher.

DOTA is very fast-paced and covers a lot of content quickly. It requires paying attention and some thought, but even as someone who hasn't played the game and knows nothing of the lore, it's possible to keep up with and greatly enjoy the series. That said, the show would benefit greatly from a longer more paced run time. DOTA exhibits good animation, an intriguing world, and adventure focused on characters that don't fit into the standard binary of hero or villain. They're layered and each has their own story and complexity for what and why they do what they do, be it "good" or "evil". Give it a modicum of focus and the reward will be an evocative and wild journey.