Drifting Dragons

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.

A bunch of reviews seem to say they stopped at like ep. 3-5. Actual moral conflict doesn't start until the later episodes. There's a saga around 8-9(?) that starts it off. No spoilers, but episodes 10-11 are especially sympathetic to the dragons. My tiny cold heart!

Ignore any supposed real life thematic applications. I really didn't get that "political glorification" of whaling. But it IS a slice of life anime about living aboard a dragon whaling sky-ship, so if PG/PG-13 carcass prep or hunting is unpleasant to you, I'd avoid watching. They emphasize respecting the killed dragon, and not wasting anything, which I appreciate!

I think it's a pretty cool setting. Hay-day of dragon hunting is over, so the ship basically runs on sweat and dreams. The camaraderie and interpersonal relationships between the crew members is super cute. Its also like, half cooking show? Which makes sense, 'cause food is such a big deal with boom & bust resources, ex. On a ship like this one.

Honestly, its just a comfy anime. Soft spot for the big sis little sis dynamic two of the girl characters have going. Animation style grows on you, but it's a negative in my book. Dragons remind me of the creatures from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which is neat!

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.

Ideology/propaganda controversy aside, this show doesn't have much to offer in terms of plot or action. Arguably a great premise and setting, this show fails to imbue a sense of 'adventure'. I was hoping it would be more like 'Castle in the Sky' (or even One Piece) what with the airships and landscape, but it's more like a Rick Stein travel/food log, because all they seem to care about is food and recipes.

The characters are all your traditional anime archetypes, of course, but I've learnt to just accept that, and instead focus on the story/plot, which, as noted above, is pretty non-existant. I did wonder if we were getting a Moby Dick kind of plot, but that dragon was killed and eaten fairly quickly. I do use the term 'dragon' loosely though, as they're more like aliens/fancy goldfish.

Overall, a rather forgettable show.