Kûtei Doragonzu

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.

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.

I'm by no means a vegetarian. I realized animals are slaughtered every day to provide food for humans. But there is a marked difference between quickly and painlessly killing a cow (which is done by instantly deadening its brain)... and hunting down and slowly "executing" a whale. Not only are whales far more intelligent than cows, the pain they go through in the whaling process is nothing short of torture, beyond butchery. Many won't be able to enjoy this anime because it will make them sick to their stomach. It's very difficult to identify with a crew of people who seeming take enjoyment out of slowly executing what some would consider a magnificent creature. In short, this anime is too predictably offensive to earn a good rating. I'm actually surprised that anyone gives his an 8-10 star rating... and that we don't see more under-5 ratings based on thematic issues alone.

Anime should not be judged purely by the graphics and characters. Story and theme is equally important.

A glorification to whales killing, dragons are just an excuse. Anyway, mediocre. It's a boring attempt with a very weak trama. At the end of every episode there is a stupid recipe, who would care? And 'the whales fly because of their big heart'. A waste of time, poor dialogues, poor environments, nothing really stand out. It's not bad, it's just so 'meh'. Unsophisticated.

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.