Drifting Dragons

OK, so it would be unfortunate to compare this with the Japanese whaling industry, but there it is. That aside, it is a very interesting idea to translate the whaling industry concept into a fantasy world where dragon hunting in airships is a thing. Yeah, sure, they say that dragons are a threat to humans and their numbers must be controlled. There again, that said, this seems like it might be worth watching. The animation is mediocre. There are quite a few personalities to track. There are conflicts, such as in the first episode the dragon hunters encounter hostility from the landlubbers they serve due to their nomadic, non-town based existence. All-in-all, as I said, it looks like it might be worth following.

It started with potential. I will say right away that I got about half way and could not handle the lack of anything interesting happening. No plot twists or anything about if they should question the killings like I sort of expected.

Or any other story development. They do that thing that I've seen in other anime where they say, "So THIS is what a _____ is". In this case it's a dragon hunter. I just feel that's quite cliche. Maybe I've watched too much anime at this point.

But back to the plot... or lack there of. It was pretty much, kill the "dragons", then eat them. Talk about the ways to eat them. Repeat each episode. How boring.

Maybe it gets better but I could not stop falling asleep so I gave up.

The animation is deceptive as the premises are good, a world of dragons and humans on air balloons going dragon hunting. But the story itself is shallow, nothing much happens, no character development or backstories, it is without substance. This is a disappointment considering the animation art, background score and voice overs good.

Substitutes whales for dragons, hunting "dragons" is portrayed as only for eating. Even has an episode that references the annual massacre of dolphins. Again, the "dragons" get hunted because they taste good.

Tone deaf Japanese propaganda.

The art and production values are great. I thought at some point that this would turn into a story of at least one of the characters changing their ways and becoming a friend to the dragons (whales). I've watched four episodes and it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So this is just unapologetic propaganda about whaling. It's too bad because otherwise it's quite interesting.