Dragon's Dogma Netflix Episode 1: Wrath

'Neath a faulted sky

Okay, now this isn't suddenly an Anime review blog, (and if it was you could expect my comprehensive review of all 152 episodes of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anytime now, so count your lucky stars) and if you've been around here you'll know why I'm covering this here show right away. Dragon's Dogma is a game that I positively adore, and one which is unfairly shafted far too often in conversations about action RPGs. Did it have it problems, yes, but the execution, man-v-goliath gameplay, unfailing epic music, ponderously paced exploration, weighty movement, and everything else made it a game so brilliant, in my eyes, it's a damn shame it never got the recognition it deserved. (My gorge rises at it) There was but a unique China-only online spin-off (which I can only assume is non-canonical) an expansion rerelease which fixed the core game's biggest issue, a lackluster story, handily and that was it. Or at least it was, until September 2020 when out of nowhere Capcom decided to announce their very own anime collaboration with Netflix to bring Dragon's Dogma back from the dead. I cannot rightfully explain to you how confused that announcement made me. (Although you can read about my reaction right here)  Long story short, I was worried about what they might make of a series I'm literally desperate to see revived, and so I ignored it.

And yet, even in my intentional ignorance I heard little snippets here and there. A lukewarm reception, (makes sense considering the actual game suffered from the same) full 3D animation that doesn't look like the devil spawn (wish they'd taught 'Speed Racer: The Next Generation' such a valuable secret craft) and next to no news on a season 2. (Again, just the luck of Dragon's Dogma fans) But stolen opinions of others hardly make for a clear picture, and so I finally got around to watching this anime myself, reasoning that if I keep up watching Golden Wind in-between I can't feasibly get too disappointed, right? Still, it must be said that I am no vast expert on the wide world of Anime, I just like what I like, so bare that in mind as I make my impressions. Now that's out the way, how do I feel after coming out of the first episode?

Meh. Yeah, that pretty sums up my feeling to a tee. Nothing awful just yet but nothing which had exploded out to me in surprise. Now to be fair, it's difficult to go and judge one's feelings off of one episode so I could very come back here and laugh at my pedestrian understanding of a masterpiece. And yet, I do recall the very first time I watched Jojo and the way instantly become intrigued in what was going on and where these character's would go. And that's before 'Sono Chi no Sadame' was even first played, so you know my interest was piqued by the quality of the show. Dragon's Dogma hasn't done that so far, and in fact I spent a lot of the first episode rather bored and hoping that the thing would wrap up a little quicker. Although, the place they left it does hold promise for the future, I just wish that the storytellers took a leaf out of the game's books and started there. Kay, those are my spoiler free thoughts, now I'll go into specifics that'll be spoiler soaked.

For the narrative the very first episode made the bold choice of screwing about with pointless backstory for it's runtime. Now know that I'm not the sort of person who lives and breathes action and complains when an episode of his favourite show doesn't have story progression every two minutes, but there's a difference between taking your time to explore the world and your characters and just wasting time. Ethan, our protagonist, is just some guy who has a pregnant wife and appears to be pseudo-adopting the neighbour boy. He has a dream about the Dragon showing up, which is odd because no mystical link should exist before he's been inducted into the Dogma but I guess we're making up new rules now. (Great). Ethan decides to go hunting with his annoying kinda-but-not-officially adopted son and comes across some of the castle's knights who have been situated in town in case of a Dragon attack. But that's redundant, I'd say, considering a Dragon attack hasn't happened in 100 years. And yes, that is the exact topic of conversation they strike up in the few moments we have with them, because apparently foreshadowing and subtly attend different schools.

Their impromptu hunting trip is cut short when Ethan bags a deer only for it be jumped on by some terrifying beastie from the woods. Oh, I remember thinking, what classic beast could this be? Goblins? Saurians? Heck, maybe a Chimera? Nah it's wolves. Just... just wolves. They weren't even dire wolves. I know that Dragon's Dogma is often criticised for it's rather classic cast of monsters, but they do have cool ones in the rooster. They do. Then, and bare with me because this makes literally no sense to me even with several hours of after thought, Ethan sends the kid running home. Fair enough, makes sense, they can't outrun this pack of wolves and Ethan thinks he can take them, but that isn't why he sends the kid off. He tells him to warn the town. About the wolves. The huge town with walls. Ethan wants them warned about a small band of wild wolves. As if these pack of animals who typically avoid hubs of activity are going to single-handily wipe out the town. (At best this warrants a caution in the hunter's lodge, not a full blown city alarm.)

The kid with the annoying voice, accent and face sets off the guard into a tizzy about the terribly intimidating pack of wild animals that's apparently meant to be a true menace worthy of this order of knights sent here to watch for dragons, (Glad to know the capital sent their best) and then something turns up to really warrant their fears. Yep, it's the dragon. That big titular lizard who the show should have started with, apparently it took the scenic route to get here but she snuck in before the credits thankfully. What follows is the summary destruction of a town who's name I never learned, all the crack dragon-soldiers being useless, and Ethan returning from his wolf slaughter just in time to watch annoying kid get eaten (Yay!) and pregnant wife be burned to a crisp. (Not so yay. In fact, rather horrible.) After which the Dragon seems to size up Ethan as perhaps being a solid next Seneschal, nabs his heart and eats it. Although, and this upset me, it's not in the same way as it was in the game. In the game the dragon literally stabs one giant claw into your chest and pulls out your heart on the tip of it with ludicrous precision, whereas here he just used stupid magic. Not nearly as fun.

The next morning Ethan wakes up, in bed bizarrely, (I guess the Dragon tucked him in after the day's events?) and walks out to survey the carnage of his home. Behind him pops up an odd blonde lady who soon reveals herself to be his very first Pawn, and so the cycle of the Arisen starts anew. Or rather, does starts a-old. Because I realised, pretty much the second we saw pregnant Olivia, that this isn't an adaption of the events of the game. Rather, and this should have occurred to me much sooner, it's telling the story of Ethan; an Arisen not unlike the one you play as in the prologue of Dragon's Dogma on your very first playthrough, making this series a prequel I suppose. I'm not sure what potential difference that could offer to the story, or what revelations the lore might be treated to consequentially, but I'm interested to find out. Plus, I wonder if this series will go all-the-way, so to speak, as if I recall the events of the game well enough, the Arisen journey has a tendency of going really south for a few candidates. But I heavily digress, I can talk more about all that when I get there.

First I want to start with the writing and performances I endured in this episode, because I sincerely hope none of these are indicative of the whole series. To start, Netflix insisted to me that the original language of this show was English, thus that's what I watched it in, despite every line reading and sounding like it was created from a painfully rudimentary translation job. All of the characters I met felt empty and/or annoying, to the point where I didn't really care if anyone lived or died, and the kid's English accent hurt me. The only character who sounds like his voice actor was dedicating themselves significantly to their performance was Ethan, which makes sense as he is the main character and only survivor out of episode 1. (Okay, Olivia's actress was actually pretty good as well, but I found her dialogue super generic and jarring so it made it hard to notice.) Again, I'm mostly critiquing side characters here but that is the sort of stuff that tends to worm under my skin and throw me out of the world. Additionally, and this may be a bad point thrown towards the script, they threw in old English really sporadically and ineffectively, it actually made the Dragon's speech grate a little with how ineloquently it was constructed. So overall, I found the performances and script in episode 1 to be just below average.

The Animation, however, was certainly a lot more positive, and this is probably a point I'll be able to carry on for the breadth of the series because I can't imagine them getting too crazy with things over the course of these handful of episodes. The 3d models go for this smoothed style that really responds well to humans and making them look breathing and alive, I can see this really being a solid foundation for the series to come. (Though it doesn't blow my mind or anything) In movement, however, I did notice a few moments of stiffness in moments that were outside of action. Character's walking in a way that looks like their arms have locked up, or subtle hand movements that look more laboured than they needed to. (The action scenes were both very lively, if not all that exciting given the stakes) I did, however, have one problem with the art in that, though the style works well on humans, I didn't really like the effect it had on the Dragon. I recognise that it matches incredibly well with the dragon's appearance in the game, but the smoothed surface made the creature look oddly flat against his 3d background. In the game that question of depth is solved by the player's interaction with the world, they can essentially feel the size and weight of this dragon, (And even then it's not my favourite design in the game by a long shot) but in the show I just didn't like how it ended up. Finally, and I understand this is a slightly separate concern but I think it makes just enough sense to stick it on the end of this section, the shot of Ethan and that child having a back and forth with some drunk guards was composed genuinely badly. The shots were too split, it looked like they were being filmed at separate locations, which I shouldn't ever feel considering we're talking about an animated show that's rendered, not filmed. Despite all those issues, however, I did like the 3d aesthetic and think it was above average for what shows of this calibre typically can produce.

Finally, and if you read my blog on how I feel about Dragon's Dogma ya'll knew this was coming, we've got to talk about the intro. What. The. Hell. Now I recognise that I'm coming from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, an anime literally renowned for somehow having at least 8 fantastic openings. (Haven't reached Traitor's Requiem yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll be great too.) I'm spoiled in that department, I realise this. But Dragon's Dogma (specifically the Dark Arisen rerelease) had a truly brilliant opening theme which was so fast paced and diverse that it could have easily served as an anime opening! It's range complimented the exemplar scope of the game, it bought both an orchestra and a choir into the mix and it had lyrics! You have to give your anime intro lyrics, Netflix, what's wrong with you? (Just wait until I find out Castlevania, which I also haven't watched, doesn't have lyrics in it's intro.) The intro they settled on is boring. Forgettable. I've forgotten it already. I had to watch Fighting Gold again to remind me what excitement felt like. Terrible job. 0/10. I want my subscription money back, Netflix.

Pardon me, I tend to get animated when talking about Dragon's Dogma. I don't really want my money back (besides, it's a shared account; that'd make for an awkward conversation with the account owner) and it's not really a 0/10 just because of the intro. (Though I'm close.) It might have sounded like I really hated this, but I understand how sometimes you need a little momentum to get things going so I'm reserving ultimate judgement. However, I was less than impressed with what I've seen so far. Overall I just wish that this show had the good graces to start as the game did, with the moment the dragon creates the Arisen, so that we could have gotten into the meat faster. I feel like too much effort was put into a lazy backstory that was ultimately useless because it was all hollow come paydirt. That being said, the action looked more lively than I expected and the story seems like it's finally getting started so I'll see where things go. This episode still gets an overall D though, really hope things step up in the future. (Don't you go making a mockery of my Dragon's Dogma now!)