And watered blight
That's right! I don't make promises lightly! (Unless that promise is to continue that damned XCOM Blog, that one is going to take a while longer) After months of 'being on break' I've finally dragged myself back around to seeing the next episode of Netflix's Dragon's Dogma anime, which is something that a Dragon's Dogma super fan like myself should be heavily invested in. In the time off I've actually taken the time to freshen up my memory with a full playthrough of Dragon's Dogma the game, and so I'm much more up to date on things that snuck around me last time, like how this adaptation is absolutely using the rough framework of the game to make it's own world. Ethan looks like the prequel Arisen, but he isn't. Cassardis shares the same name as the sea-adjacent fishing village from the game, but it's clearly meant to be something else entirely here. I'm not personally sure how I feel about an adaptation playing things this fast and loose, but Dragon's Dogma's chief-most strength was never in the robust nature of it's world so I'm not heartbroken or anything. (I just don't know why they needed to pinch concepts like that, it felt a bit like leading me on.)
I'll be honest with you all, I was avoiding watching this episode for quite a bit, and that's because I already sort of knew what was coming in it. Not the broader strokes of the narrative, but the introduction of some creatures that act rather differently than they did in the games. Rape goblins. I knew they were coming. Why is it that Japan are obsessed with the idea of little green goblin men being vicious sex fiends? Heck, there was an entire Manga turned Anime based off that very concept with Goblin Slayer! (Okay, Goblin Slayer is about a little more than just the aggressive sexual proclivities of goblins, but I digress!) I feel like in the West we take this almost piteous view on the Goblin kind, maybe influenced by DnD which constantly tries to hammer home how these are some of the most pathetic creatures to walk the earth. They seem downtrodden, beaten, even cute in a utterly ugly way. But in the East? No, that ugliness spreads a lot deeper than just the surface, it burrows right down to the soul!
But yes, Envy begins with a small retainer of two guards, a noble's son and his wife being overwhelmed by Goblins (someone tell those guards to hand in their badges, damn.) and the wife falling into a decidedly rape-y scenario before Ethan swoops in to spare us from this becoming a much darker Anime then it already seems to be edging at. Once more the animation and general movement of the show is the standout for me, with the action scenes looking like they were extracted right from the game with a little more stylistic flair giving to the shading and flourishes. I think the only thing holding it back, and this might just stretch towards the show in general, is a lack of grand direction. The Goblin chopping sequence was fine but it could have exciting and fast, showing off the sheer numbers of the foes and how clever strategy can overwhelm. Instead they just slay a few and the rest scatter, it almost feels like a waste of a scene. (Maybe Jojo has ruined my expectations.)
As was the case with the previous, almost anthology like, episodes, this one introduces to a few new characters and motivations, just not for the main cast. The soldiers weren't very interesting and I can't remember their faces, but the cowardly husband and his wife did ring a bell. In fact, if I squinted, it almost seemed as though the wife character was based on Madeleine in some vague twisted fashion, although if that is the case then it's easily one of the lesser examples of concept borrowing from the main game. (They aren't overly similar) Funnily enough those two characters were probably the only stand outs from this episode, given that own two main leads are currently Hannah, a pawn characterised by a lack of emotion and desire, and Ethan, who just seems to be angrily hunting this dragon down for something he hasn't even hammered out yet. I suppose vengeance- but to what end? His family is good and dead. At least the husband and wife have an arc this episode.
Although on that note, I am starting to wonder if the cynical tone of the show is starting to edge events into predictability, because I figured out the ending before our hero even popped up on screen. Essentially we have a fairly prototypical setup, with a weak and scared husband character who's so pathetic he can't deal with Goblins (Seriously dude, you live in a world with Hydras; you've got to learn how to deal with footlongs) and his flighty wife who seems a little bit... shall we say, friendly, with old Ethan after he steps in to save her life. (Too bad for her that Ethan is currently in the middle of his descent into a revenge fuelled misanthropy, not really the kind of mood fit for a quick night-time dalliance.) The stage is set for a redemption story, but the precedent of the narrative paves way for a subversion, so the episode really lays itself bare.
One slight irk that rocked me was Ethan and trying to come to terms with his competence, an important part of any characterisation, I believe. We've been given hints that Ethan was much more than just a farmer in his past life, with his combat prowess alone indicating he was something of a solider before. That's evident, and yet he spots a griffin and turns into toddler mode asking "What's that?" One of the most common plains creature in your world? How can you not know what a Griffin is? Plus there was the odd faffing about with Hannah at the climax of the episode where she was readying her fire-bow shot for all of 3 minutes. Not sure what that was about. Actually, it sort of felt like an artificially constructed tension point where she had to be 'defended' whilst aiming her shot like she's some kind of freakin' robot hacking a door. Again, animation great-underlying intention behind that movement, not so much.
The big twist at the end of this episode, and where it earns it's place in the seven deadly sins, is wherein the husband is forced to save his wife from the return of the rape goblins whilst everyone else is busy on the Griffin. He massacres them all, becomes the man he could have always been, and then turns around and stabs his wife too. Turns out the guy didn't want to lose her and thought that this would be the way they could stay together, his envy bubbled up and drove him more than a little crazy, it would seem. A dour ending to extinguish a vaguely triumphant moment and another rung on this Anime's journey to drive something home that is slightly evading me thusfar. The cynicism has already grown predictable, so I'm just riding on there being some sort of satisfying payoff bubbling in the background somewhere. Either that or a finale spectacle which redeems this cursed world just a tiny bit.
Once more another middle of road sort of episode from the Dragon's Dogma anime for many of the reason that I've laid out. Ethan and Hannah aren't making for the most scene grabbing protagonists and the overall arching story is just 'follow the dragon', I'm sure there must be more coming eventually but I'm not sure how far this show is capable of dragging me along until we get there. I appreciate the odd skewered narrative shift, but right now it's feeling like without those this would be a fairly standard fantasy show, and I know Dragon's Dogma as a license is capable of more than that. I just need to see that represented in this show. With all that in mind, I can't really give this episode any mark higher than a C, but I did like the action of this episode a bit more than the last on so I'll bump that up to a C+. It can definitely get better from here, I have hope.
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