Audience reviews
18 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
baahsu
The idea for the story is cool, the dragons look cool, but that's as good as it gets.
The characters have no depth, they're all completely one sided, with each having one defining characteristic only. When they get any sort of development it basically gets undone in the same episode.
The show also brings some moral dilemmas, but just like the characters they're as deep as a plate and get forgotten five minutes after being presented.
Lastly, the animation is a cgi fest, which would be fine if it was used just for the dragons and the ship, but it's visible in every single frame and, along with the badly developed plot, it takes some of the enjoyment out as well.
Read at the sourceCayusashi
Drifting Dragons had the potential to be amazing but blows it thanks to the problems with 3D animation and a lackluster (arguable nonexistant) plot.
The plot is mostly slice of life as it follows the Quin Zaza in their daily duties as Drakers (Dragon hunters). From hunting to selling the parts in port, Drifting Dragons covers it all. However, the concept of the show is what does the majority of the heavy lifting. Action and cooking sequences supplement the narrative, they alone aren't enough to make up for an unexplored plot that was set up from episode 1. Within the first few minutes it's mentioned that the Quin Zaza are one of the last few draker crews. Never throughout the 12 episode run time are we given an explanation as to why this might be. We do see the superstitions surrounding d…
Read at the sourceDarynlxm
Do you enjoy a well-paced, well-thought-out plot with interesting and fun characters? Then look somewhere else.
This show doesn't know what it wants to be, and never quite hits the mark in the 12 episode run.
It can never decide if it wants to be a fantasy cooking show, a whaling series, or a fantasy adventure. Sadly, what it does pull from these genres is minimal and poorly executed.
A majority of the characters are completely forgettable and downright unlikable.
Mika is by far the worst. Its like they took the "Im not like other girls!" trope and said "lets me them a guy, but even more insufferable!" His quirky personality trait is that he's always hungry and always thinking of food! How original! His entire reason for being is to eat dragons.
Takita is a complete moron. Joins a…
Read at the sourceChillOtakuBRL
As a member of Sea Shepherd this shit is a disgrace to the anime industry. I don't understand why the overall rating for this thing is 7+.
You will see slayers of "dragons" raving about killing them and eating their meat. Except that the report is quickly made, it's neither more nor less than a kind of propaganda that tries to make the image of whale hunters prettier.
They say it themselves: as long as there is some we will never stop. WTFFF?
I know that in Japan, whale hunting is traditional. But we are in the 21st century, it's time to evolve and understand that our footprint on earth is disastrous .... And what's the satisfaction of killing these beings as rare and majestic as they are?
Frankly do not watch this anime, if we can call it anime ... shame on netflix also for putting it…
Read at the sourceNightSkyBlue
This was a really weird show. I tend to just jump into shows with little to no knowledge of what their content is, and that was the case with this one.
At first I was like, oh cool, they are kinda steam punky air ballooning around hunting dragons. Well, that feeling lasted through the first episode. Then it quickly became "why am I watching this?" After the first dragon hunt, you basically need no more action in the show for a few reasons:
1. It's repetitive
2. There is no clear reason for why the audience should care if they kill another dragon.
3. No particularly interesting choreography.
So if not for action, why watch the show? What else do we have to look forward to? Let me quickly dive into these possible elements that pop into my head.
Story (plot): To put it bluntly, it's non-…
Read at the source-Voidman-
Do you like:
Interesting characters?
What about dragons?
Nice art style?
And you obviously love a good story, right?
Well, this anime has none of the above!
This show is just a fantasy representation of whaling, just with dragons, that's if you can even call them that sins the hunted creatures us an organ to fly, instead of wings, and they all look like flying meatballs, with the exception of one that actually resembled a dragon. Story (1):
There is no story, it's a 12 episode anime in which we follow a group of people hunting down docile dragons, killing them, chopping them up and then either selling their body parts or eating them, typically it's the latter.
There is... nothing, no threat, no suspense, no drama, no romance, no comedy, just nothing it's kinda like an empty shell.
The…
Read at the sourceRickcir
Picture "Carnival Eats" meets Nausicaä with some influence from Moby Dick. Every episode is food heavy with bizarre eats, usually in tandem with killing a dragon. The motivation for everyone is basically "Fly, kill, eat. Repeat." Backgrounds are hinted at but never fleshed out. Most characters are really one dimensional, and the leads are boilerplate. At least the anime is entertaining.
The best part is the dragons. Each new one is more interesting and original, from abilities to appearance. The Anime is 100% CGI, and while that makes for some lack of details, it really takes advantage of it when it comes to epic shots, sweeping vistas and battles.
Read at the sourcegiraffenanime
I remember seeing the trailers for when this first came out... I was really excited to see a group of people on a flying ship hunting dragons... which is what I got buuuut I was still hoping for more.
Let's get into the anime basics! The story/plot was very interesting. A variety of people with different backgrounds and ideals end up on a ship hunting dragons to earn money and survive in the sky. I wish they explained the background of how drafters (I can't even remember what they called themselves now haa haa) came to be and why relationships with dragons can't be better then they are now... dragons are basically sky cattle?! Art; this type of style isn't my favourite yet I always appreciate the hard work that goes into it... this CGI look really suits the story. The dragons were beautif…
Read at the sourceGeorodin
I really love polygon animations and im a huge fan of Blame and Sidonia no Kishi.
For me personally the show had two big issues.
1. The first was that I got the feeling that they try to justify nowadays whale hunting of Japanese fisherman.
2. And secondly: as other people here also mentioned. Mikas main drive is fresh dragon meat. The show was missing some originality in this point.
Otherwise I would say were a bit spoiled from all these epic anime series that fit so much action into 12/13 episodes. In my opinion they did a great job filling the 12 episodes with content, it`s not stuffed with interesting plot and action like a triple A title but still very nice.
The Art and Sound design is stunning as always at polygon, so even if the story lacked something im looking forward to a se…
Read at the sourceCurarpikt93
Feel good anime incoming! (If you can get along with hunting and cooking)
Very nice story without a clear goal. Big Laputa - castle in the sky vibes because of the crew and their airship, I loved it. There is no exact storyline, you just follow the characters on their journey and that was exactly what I needed. I understand the bad reviews, because people maybe expected a big plotline and action and are disappointed. At least there is a bit action at the last episodes. And the comparison with whaling - I kind of see that..
There is very much meat cooking and sometimes I thought I was watching Shokugeki no Soma ;-) Sometimes a bit annoying but that's something you can skip.
The characters are very loveable and and the design is so pretty! You learn to love the characters and the development…
Read at the sourceDatagrave
What an awful anime. I can't help but draw parallels to Japan's whaling practices. This anime seems to justify and even glorify it and instead of using whales they use something that resembles a dragon but are giant slugs, also the two dimensional characters taken from the lowest rung of jrpgs that only you care when you see a little of the slice of life but the rest is awful, selfish and plain characters. Specially Mika that becomes my most hated anime character ever. An anime that works as blatant propaganda for the Japanese whaling industry; nothing more.
But yes, there are a few on good things like some of the backgrounds and some episodes but overall this is only good if you like Food Wars or another anime about cooking. I wouldn’t recommend it but if you want to see it you will find…
Read at the sourcebananek
Another CG series by Netflix. I thought it would be as interesting and engaging as Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai as it had similar elements, but it was nowhere near as good.
This series is mostly about eating, preparing and butchering dragons with occasional hunting and drama, aka, everyday life of a dragon hunting crew.
Takita and Jirou's arcs were okay but the overall experience is still lacking, especially when you're binging it on Netflix. They overused one tune and looking at the CG over and over is not fascinating at all.
Overall, it's okay if you have nothing else to watch.
Read at the sourceShocky1
Basically whaling.... Yep, it's a show about killing flying whales that don't appear to be harming anyone "Dragons", harvesting, eating them and selling them for profit. Okay there is more to it than that but it's kinda hard to get past that if I'm honest, they're not heroes, they're "whalers" killing harmless creatures for profit.
Whats next, animal traffickers for wet markets?
If you can get past it the series does get a a little better, the show has it's moments I guess but most of the characters are unlikable from the start for me.
I know whaling is a thing in Japan but to put out a series out that resembles this act in any way is distasteful and will be divisive. I'm surprised Netflix would want this show, they must be desperate for content.
Read at the sourceKage_Okami
Drifting Dragons can be summed up in two words: Dreadfully Dull. I think watching paint dry would have been a better expenditure of my time. Story really is more of a slice of life about whalers on a ship if those whalers caught funky looking sky whales..er which I guess really is what this story is about.
Art is fair to mediocre at best as it's that typical CGI crap that Netflix is so famous for producing. Color Palettes looked washed out with characters really not that pleasing to look at, symmetry or overall design wise.
Sound exists but nothing to write home about unless you like musical scores that can be heard in pretty much any factory turned out anime. Oh and the dragons, can anyone say "Godzilla"? I mean come on, let's make an attempt NOT to rip off one of the most arguably, a…
Read at the sourcevese91
This is my first review here so I ll try my best.
Story: Never heard about the manga this is based on but I really liked the story base here. There was big potential on never ending exploration of skies for new dragon kinds but at the end it really did not deliver on it. The very last two episodes got my attention really going on: baby dragon, dragon mountain "arc". Most of the show is kind of a filler around basic formula: we see a dragon, we hung it, Mika jumps, Mika eats... So much potential - such a bad delivery.
Sound: Hm... It did not bother me, but it was too quiet most of the time, also sound effects for dragons and action were really mediocre.
Character: The only "developed" or driven character in my eyes is the Takita, she is the newbie dragon hunter and she wants to prove he…
Read at the sourceLIEfina
This is the first time I write a review. A few days ago, this show has a 6.X rate here (now 7.X) and I am very curious as I have watched ep1 when it aired all 12eps. I don't think it will be that low so I go to watch more. I eventually finished up the whole show, which doesn't always happens.
After finished this show, I think people may have two main problems to be disappointed.
First: this is a CGI show, it cannot give us detailed facial expressions with this quality, and the expressions are rather rough especially in close cut for their eyes. And of coz it is in 12 like the other JP 2D/3D animes. (I didn't do any research on this but I believe it is due to the file size or format limitation of airing on TV, or even just the conventions, even Beastar is in 12)
Second: they are killing…
Read at the sourceOsakiSheikah
Kuutei Dragons definitely isn't something that will be for everyone, but I ended up really loving it! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it, at first, because of the animation style. They chose the same animation style as is used on shows like RWBY, which is a show that took a while for me to get into, specifically because of the animation style. Other actual anime that have been done this way, are not ones I've been able to stick with.
However, Kuutei Dragons only took a couple of episodes to suck me in, and align me with a character I could identify with, which is something that is necessary for me. I can't really find it in myself to stick with any form of fiction, where I don't have at least one character I identify strongly with. This story, gave me a few, with Vannie be the strongest…
Read at the sourcedelta5
Kuutei Dragons had all the components necessary for a really interesting show but ultimately failed to put them together in a satisfying way. Airships straight out of Laputa, amazingly beautiful dragons, world travel and adventure...what could go wrong? Well, a few things.
First off, the sole motivating force of the show is just "we hunt dragons for money and because they taste good." We never get much more than that, and it's just not enough to drive twelve episodes unless you really, really like watching dragon hunting (and eating). Almost every one of those scenes, and there are a lot of them, play out identically: people fire guns at dragons, dragons get hit, one particularly reckless character (Mika) jumps on the dragon to kill it, and then we see Mika drool over whatever dragon meat…
Read at the source