What can I say about Dragon Eye? Er, then again, i’m not exactly sure what I want to say about it. It wasn’t fantastic, and it wasn’t all that bad either. Overal this series just had a very generic feel to me. The same kind of generic when you get the generic/cheap brand of something from the store. So this series is like the generic version of the big name shonen series like Bleach, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Although it has a generic feel, it did manage to hold my interest and I was willing to read all 6 volumes my library had without being bored. So that definately means something right there (and I most certainly enjoyed this series more than Naruto).
Story: The story is nothing special really, in the first 6 volumes its like a bunch of mini-arcs loosely strung together, creating a very episodic feel. Its like the mangaka is making up stuff as they go along with only a rough idea of what they want to include later on in the story. The basic story of it all is your run of the mill story-line of the last of humanity fighting of a virus that plagues the world and the creatures that have been infected by it. Which that idea is nothing new, its been done before in other forms of media afteral.
Art: This is probably what I liked most about this series. Most shonen action series ive read have a rough sketch look to it, like it was drawn very quickily. So it was nice to see a typical shonen series not drawn in this style for once, and they do a pretty decent job at it too. The action scenes had a pretty good flow to them, and you can follow them without getting lost. As for the character deigns, they where alright for the most part. Although, no matter how many volumes I read, the eyes of the 3 main characters bugged me. The lead guy, his eyes looked much like Edward’s from FMA. The lead girl, her eyes are like these large circles staring into my soul. Then the other guy, his eyes have a blank look and have these square blocks that mark where the shine on his eys are. Just really odd overall...
Characters: The characters are alright for the most part, but they all remind me of characters that I have read from previous series. So like the story, theres nothing special here either.
Enjoyment: Did I enjoy this series? To be honest it was hard to really tell with the serve case of deja-vu I kept having while reading this. Some of the stuff I kept thinking that I must have seen it from somewhere before. I know for a fact that in volume 1 I wasn’t imagineing things. In the very first chapter of volume 1, Issa (the main character) rips off his shirt to unveil what was underneath and he makes a very dramatic speech about it. Sound familar? Edward Elric did the exact same thing in the first chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist. Thats right, the mangaka here, actually copied FMA! And sorry Issa, you can never pull off such an awsome scene the same way Ed can. Anyways, becides the severe case of deja-vu, this turned out to be one of the more enjoyable less-known shonen action series ive came across. I even found the pacing of both the story and the art work much easier to follow than some series ive encountered, making this series quite enjoyable to read.
Overal: As stated, this isn’t the worst or best manga ive encountered, and I didn’t waste my time reading it either. I found it a nice series to pass the time with, and I wouldn’t mind reading future volumes (even an anime if they ever made one). I also think this series would be better off read by someone who hasn’t read or seen it all like I have, this way you can appreceate it without having the same case of deja-vu like I did.
In conclusion, if youre looking to get away from the main stream shonen series and want something thats decent, Dragon Eye here wouldn’t be a bad option.