Dragonaut - The Resonance Review - 62/100
There are basically two kinds of Gonzo. The first is Good Gonzo, which searches the borders of anime with new and engaging concepts, and which delivered us series as Bokura no, Master of Epic, Red Garden, Gankutsuou, NHK ni Youkoso and Last Exile. Then there is Bad Gonzo, which consists out of a bunch of lazy writers that are stuck in mediocrity and brought us series as Rosario to Vampire, Gravion, Romeo x Juliet, Glass no Kantai and Giniro no Kami no Agito. Dragonaut, unfortunately, without a doubt is a product of Bad Gonzo.
It’s a shame, because on a second look, the story has a definite epic potential, about Pluto undergoing some kind of metamorphosis and sending dragon-like creatures to earth for some strange unknown purposes. It has the making of a great mystery-series. Unfortunately, any attempt to develop this story is held back by an abysmal cast of characters.
There are just one or two characters that aren’t badly written. Everyone else spends the entire series angsting about nothing, and this series has really weird character-development. One moment characters hate each other from the depths of hell, and the next they’re passionately hugging each other like they’ve been friends for ages. Motivations for each character are badly explained, and they’re lucky if they can have a background. Especially the main couple will get on everyone’s nerves with their endless whining of “Jin?” “Toa?” “Jin!” “TOAAAAAAAA!!!!” Oh, and let’s not forget to mention one particularly bad character: Kazuki. This guy is a true joke and entirely ruins every scene that he appears in.
And of course this series has been dubbed “Boobonaut” for a reason. The character-designs try to be different, and they’re done by the same guy who did them for Witchblade, but something tells me that his hormones were really bugging him when he sat down to draw the different characters. Nearly half the female cast has a ridiculously over-endowed bosom that defies all senses of logic.
The past half year really hasn’t been good for Gonzo, with this… thing and Rosario to Vampire. Thankfully, their next line-up of Druaga no Tou, S.A and Blassreiter look more promising, and let’s hope that the people from Bad Gonzo are taking a very long holiday for the upcoming season. For Dragonaut, I really see no reason to recommend it. Even if you want cheese, Suteki Tantei Labyrinth is a much better choice, because at least that one is well-written.
Thumbs up psgels, for giving this crap the rating it deserved.
Comment by nofizzleforshizzle — March 27, 2008 @ 19:53
I think if every girl has realistic smaller breasts, people might have given it a passing score: 65/100.
Comment by alida — March 27, 2008 @ 20:46
Goodness, I can’t believe you watched this crap.
You are a masochist.
(Humm… Blassreiter looks promising ?)
Comment by Windspirit — March 27, 2008 @ 22:09
Ack, that was a typo. What I meant was that the combination of SA, Druaga and Blassreiter looked more promising. Obviously, I’m looking forward more to the first two than the latter.
And yes, I still can’t believe I stuck with this series either. I guess that I hoped that the second half would turn out better, but the only thing that did slightly improve was the plot. The characters never improved at all.
Comment by psgels — March 27, 2008 @ 22:24
I enjoy RxJ very much but to me it seems to be aimed at the shoujo demographic considering the heavy star cross lover plot.
Comment by zaeris — March 28, 2008 @ 6:47
Psgels - He watches the crap, so you don’t have to!
…Just kidding XD!
But seriously, this is the most horrible and ridiculous Anime of the season.
Almost funny…
Comment by Wallace — March 28, 2008 @ 22:27
This was my first Bad Gonzo anime. I dropped it after 2 episodes, so I saved myself from the pain I guess. Today I’m finishing a Great Gonzo anime: Gankutsuou. I’m also finishing xxxHOLIC too!
Comment by BlueYoshi — March 29, 2008 @ 4:57
Wow, this is almost generous for Dragonaut.
Comment by Kaioshin Sama — March 30, 2008 @ 19:45
I just watched this, and I don’t egree with this being utter crap. It has originality in it and most of the characters have their own function in the story and in its developpement, plus they’re engaging and have their own personnality with their own values and path. What I also liked were the philosophical dialogues on the meaning of life and why one should live it at the fullest until death puts an end to it. And also why it’s so much better to live as individuals and not as a mass of souls combined together. Why humans have to struggle for it anyway, since death is the sole outcome of human life , why should we even bother to live it? But yes, there’s a lot of fan-service , god knows why, that series would be definitely better without it, it’s its main flaw, if we look pass it, then it’s great! Maybe, I enjoyed it because I really like ” train-wrecks”( kinda looks similar to Code Geass in some points), but well , it doesn’t change the fact that it was an enjoyable watch.
Comment by windy — January 24, 2010 @ 23:58
Ya i personally really liked this series for the characters i found them to each stand out although the story was great it could have been stretched more episodes my only regret is that it ended so quickly
Comment by Alex — July 9, 2011 @ 19:09