Kûtei Doragonzu

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.

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.

Drifting Dragons is worth watching and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses in the upcoming seasons. The animation is beautiful. The two main female characters and the two main male characters are interesting in their own unique ways. This show is getting unnecessary hate from soft people that can't seem to comprehend they are watching a fantasy anime.

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.