Dragon's Dogma Netflix Episode 4: Sloth

 Ah! Where gone those days,

Coming back to Dragon's Dogma Netflix edition is a lot more appealing now that we've put the goblin episode behind us, although as we move into the final handful of episodes the question really is whether or not the show will focus up and get to start making it's ultimate points. And to that end I think that yes, the show has begun to tickle the prospect off paying off those set-ups, albeit with about two or three episodes left to go. Heck, maybe by the end of this there'll actually be a fully competent reason why the episodes are themed after the seven deadly sins, because so far it's feeling a little arbitrary. If I didn't already know that Capcom and Dragon's Dogma's creator hadn't gotten themselves involved with the project I might have accused the anime makers of not having actually experienced the game themselves just for employing such a core central thematic device. But I'm no bore, I'll give them the chance to win me over. (Spoilers, by the way.)

This episode is entitled 'Sloth', one of my favourite of the deadly sins to see represented due to the not-exactly obvious nature of the sin leading to quite some diversity in the ways we can see some one can depict the idea of slothfulness. It's like the old-ball sin next to the odd-ball Horseman of the Apocalypse 'Pestilence'. And how do they represent it in this series? With drugs. Yeah, this is the drug episode everybody! The anime uses psychedelic moss and the stupor it sends it's users on as a metaphor for disassociation and ignoring one's problems, which is totally valid on it's face even if it's simultaneously a bit shallow. Were this a greater length series which was taking a greater look at the concept of 'Sloth', rather than 20 minutes of an anime episode, I might chide this display as situationally reductive; but the episode doesn't linger on the topic too much, so the drug-addiction short-hand works well enough.

As I mentioned before, in the show's attempt to be subversive and therefore unpredictable with it's hard view on morality and karmic retribution, the show does wobble close to predictability for the mere fact that you know something untoward is going to happen to otherwise underserving people. Last episode it was the twist double homicide at the end, this time it was Lennie, wife of the drugged out adulterer, being munched on by a Hydra, if anything the only part of this episode that did honestly surprise me was the fact that Lennie actually survived inside the beast's belly! Although she did lose her eyesight. (There's the typical fatalism I was missing for a scant second! I almost had a hope for a second! Perish the thought.) Aside from that the raw body of the episode was fairly generic to the series' own standards and that would typically dampen the amount of enjoyment I could see out of it, and yet I did end up liking this episode more than the last one.

Part of that comes down to the beast of this episode, the aforementioned Hydra. The fight against this beast is straightforward in choreography, but stands out for the talent of the animation. I've said it before, but in action this show visually sings and that has proven no less true against a beast as large and somewhat iconic as this one, (It's the first proper monster you fight in the game, so I'd call that pretty iconic) if only the action writing and combat staging could match that level of quality then this show could be an excellent action anime. For example, the show remembers enough lore to show us the 'Hydra heads regenerate' thing play out, very cool, but then they totally neglect the whole 'unless you set the wound on fire' caveat which the game touts. It would have fit into the narrative neatly too, as Olivia seem to do nothing else but shoot fire magic about the place, but they wanted a wholly more contrived finale to the encounter which, though narratively significant, kind of diminished the sort of tangible deathly threat that a Hydra should pose. (His Berserker rage could have made him more clever in order to solve the fight, rather than just '/kill' it.)

It was the glimmer of character work being introduced to our character which made this episode really stand out for me for it's decent set-up and execution. Already we'd had it established that our view-finder, Ethan, is something of a typically heroic protagonist, driven to try and solve every problem he comes across and to see the strength in the belittled man. Each episode has shown Ethan be punished for his naiveté, where the people he sought to help end up worse than before or the 'little man' brings about their own destruction. This is the episode where those lessons actually start to take hold, and we're lucky enough to see the shift happen real time over the course of this episode alone. And it's actually this sort of 'answer-response' writing which I think can be the most effective when displaying a journey of character growth, so I definitely appreciated seeing it here.

At the start of his journey to slay the Hydra, Ethan and his pawn Olivia discuss the futility of Lennie' struggles in her hoping that her drug addled husband will magically snap back to normal once the dragon had been slain and structure was restored. Ethan is his typical optimistic self whilst Olivia is stoic on the matter, rather unable to connect to the humanity of the situation. (Being a pawn and all.) After the events of the episode however, with Lennie being briefly vored and the mine camp being all-but destroyed, Ethan and Olivia walk the exact same stretch of land and have an almost identical conversation only with their perspectives utterly reversed. Of course, the key switching moment was when Ethan thought he'd lost Olivia, before learning that Pawns don't die like humans do, and went all red-eye berserk for a time. And I like the interesting implications this opens up for where this series is going.

We know that part of the journey of a Pawn is to attach to it's arisen and leech of their personality and knowledge to eventually morph into a copy of them once their arisen ascends to either Seneschal-hood or Dragon-hood, so seeing Olivia start to cotton onto the 'wonders' of the human spirit is fully in-keeping with that journey. Ethan losing his faith in humanity, however, to the point where he even refers to 'humans' as separate from himself, is atypical to the Arisen destiny. Perhaps we could see this as a consequence of being separated from his heart, but only if we accept the classical biological mythology that the heart is the font of emotion and humanity, and despite seeming to a standard medieval fantasy world in appearance I've never felt that particular concept as being present in the Dragon's Dogma setting before. What's more likely is that we're seeing the slow descent of Ethan, through grounded human stumbling, into the state of a Dark Arisen, perhaps the most fascinating current chunk of Dogma lore which was only ever touched on by the game's first and last DLC.

What on it's face is a rather standard episode of Dragon's Dogma, shapes up as the beginning of the fulfilment of this series' purpose, and that alone made it a more interesting episode for me. I still lament the action and wish a bit more structure could be introduced to how the fights play out, but the visuals are robust enough to keep my attention as it is. (I just think there could be a lot more to it.) I wasn't a fan of the individual story of this episode, doing a 'drugs = laziness' plot feels dangerously close to a cop-out and it's only the wider narrative of the series that saved it, but only just. Ultimately, I think this was a  decidedly average episode of the show with the hope of something more. But I'm going to knock down a mark for the resolution of the action, which was just lazy, so it's a flat C Grade. I have faith that things are going to start getting more interesting from here...

Dragon's Dogma Netflix Episode 3: Envy

 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.

Dragon's Dogma Netflix Episode 2: Gluttony

Cross loamless plains

So it's been a decent chunk of time since I last touched on this review-esque blog type, such to the point where I'm starting to feel like a tardy delinquent, so it's about time I got around to fixing that. In my defence, it was because even watching Dragon's Dogma spurred me on to start the game once more and power through to the end over the space of about a week, so now I've just got a bunch of completely refreshed memories about what that game was really about. I know the dragon was actually Grigori, as opposed to whom I though it was last blog, I know that the Arisen from the prologue, Savan, is not the guy portrayed in this anime despite the similarities that they share. I also remember a whole lot that the Arisen is supposed to be put up against, and I'm unsure of how the Netflix series is going to handle it. Ethan had his entire life burned away in the first episode, which sort of comes at odd with the traditional Arisen journey. I won't raise my specific concerns right now, but rather wait and see if they solve themselves. In the meanwhile, let me get back into the show itself.

So Episode 2 is entitled 'Gluttony', and it was here that I realised we were doing the Seven Deadly Sins with this. Somehow the first episode entitled 'Wrath' didn't tip me off, I know... Still, I both get excited and concerned when I see a story that wears it's convictions and lessons so freely on it's sleeve. On one hand it shows straight-up that there's a direction and purpose behind the stories being presented, so I can take solace that the show isn't just going to waste time until the Dragon pops up. On the otherhand going this route does portend exactly what to expect from the story and also opens up some hefty expectations that need to be met. "How is this story going to portray the concept of Gluttony to it's fullest; what are it's lessons, examples, resolutions" etc. Heck, even looking back I feel like they could have leaned heavier into the concept of Wrath, perhaps during the moments before the dragon showed up. (They could have switched up the pointless wolfhunt for something more thematically appropriate, for example) Because otherwise the show is invoking the name of 'Wrath' in it's most bland and boring sense, anger. When I feel like the sin aspect could open up the consequence of wrath and vengeance overtaking justice. And yes, you could argue how that's the story the entire series is telling, but then why not call the last episode 'Wrath'? Why not call the whole series 'Wrath'? Am I getting caught up in insignificant topics again? I am; onto the episode. 

Gluttony begins by scoring immediate rapport with fans of the game like myself, by showing our Pawn make her way through the rift in search of the newly arisen. Perfect lifting of concepts from the game, nailed the sound, look, presentation; everything. What they didn't nail, however, was the city which was burnt down around our protagonist. Is that meant to be Cassardis? I think it is. But Cassardis is a fishing village in the games, built atop the slope of a hill that effects the shape of the whole location and makes it stand out as weirdly unique. There aren't a great many towns that slope down a hill in such awkward fashion, afterall, so that serves as kind of it's instant visual flair. Not sure why the Netflix show decided to turn it into a flat pancake generic city. I didn't even see a single fishing boat or anything. Again, you may argue 'Small details.' But those are the details that make the world breath. Without that we've haven't got a world, just a backdrop, and the show's starting to feel like its in front of a backdrop right now.

Our Pawn lady picks up unconscious Ethan, tucks him into bed and then is there in the morning to tell him all about what he is, as an arisen, and set him on his merry way. To which I must say, my Pawn never carried me to bed after a stressful day! How supremely courteous, I wish my pawn thought enough about me give a piggyback ride every now and then, it would save me some back-ache that's for sure. I also thought it was funny that, after hearing all this exposition, Ethan suddenly hears the voice of the dragon out of freakin' nowhere explaining all the important details he glossed over last night. "Oh yeah- crap- listen dude; you kinda should hunt me down and beat me if you want your heart back or something. No pressure and all but, it's sort of your duty. Nuts, the Seneschal is going kill me!" Didn't know that the Dragon could use long-distance mind phone to call you up. That's a new one.

That night Ethan is camping in the woods and ends up having a heart-to-heart with his Pawn where he discovers that she doesn't have a name. Touching on a curious topic I never really thought about where Pawns aren't just given their personalities by their masters, but their identities too. It's a wonder that some can still persist after their master's death. It also makes me wonder how Pawn's both observe the wider world and seem oblivious to it, where they can identify character traits of monsters but don't know what the concept of 'kidding' is. (Maybe that's just the script trying to have its cake and eat it at the same time) Ethan calls her Hannah, after the child he would have had with Olivia, which I suppose creates a parent and child bond with this woman of the same age that's going to become his murder-buddy over the course of this journey. Not sure I understood what was supposed to be thematically appropriate about that, but there it is. It isn't long, however, before the plot rears its head and gets our story focused once again.

A cyclops is getting ready to chow down on a woman who's been tied to a rock, rather obviously deliberately and Ethan decides he's not about that thus  he thrusts himself into the hero role like any good generic protagonist would. (Hannah almost seemed reluctant to get involved. Odd detail to throw in there, wonder if it'll pay of.) From here on the themes start to stand out in the plot, but in very plain and simple definitions, kind of how they did with 'Wrath'. The Cyclops is a hungry monster that the villagers need to feed every year with sacrifices. The local town (which is unnammed and doesn't relate to any location in the game) has a system where they elect out their own children to be eaten so that the family who 'donates' will be given extra rations. The leader of the town hoards all of the food to himself and divvies it out sparingly in order to keep the starving populace desperate. It's all very surface level hunger-related topics which is certainly fitting in a story named 'gluttony', but once again; there's more to the concept than it's face value.

There's no real surprises in the narrative to speak of. Ethan and Hannah go to hunt down the cyclops and free the town of the sacrificial ritual, during which they learn that the town's mayor is in contract with the cyclops to feed it villagers. (Not really sure how that works, given that cyclops' are incapable of higher thought) The pair showcase uncanny levels of teamwork considering they just started fighting together, and manage to fell the Cyclops with a bit of elemental magic ("Take my fire!") and a stab directly in the eye. Which killed it, oddly, instead of just sending it swinging blindly like what happens in the game. The Mayor storyline also manages to wrap itself up in the same fight, because apparently this show is on speed mode to do one story an episode on a 24 minute constraint. (Not wise.) The only twist, and I'm glad this angle was addressed, is that when Ethan shows the people their Mayor for what he is, the starving masses store his citadel and tear each other apart to get at his food. Showing desperation mixed with greed and human folly. Yes, it isn't the most unique message in the world, but it just about saved this episode from narrative mediocrity.

I actually enjoyed this episode a lot more than the first one, with the actual task of travelling the world and becoming the Arisen taking centre stage. I will bemoan that the villain was painfully cliched and obvious in this episode, and the dialogue (Are we sure that this was written in English first?) feels like it was sleep-written, it's so by-the-numbers. But the action was fun, the story has a point, and I'm actually coming around to liking one of the main characters. I mean, that character I like is actually Hannah rather than Ethan, because she wields that bow like a god, but at least there's someone I find interesting. Ethan lacks huge amounts of character, but that is in keeping with the game so I can't deride him too hard for that. Given that this is only the second episode, and nothing outside of the animation stood out as exemplary, I'm only comfortable rating this episode with a C. Better than the intro, still not enough to make this series shine like it absolutely can do.

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!) 

Dragon's Dogma on Netflix

Finish the cycle of Eternal Return

Oh baby, you knew I had to bring this one up! If there's one person who had to weigh in on the brand new news that Dragon's Dogma was getting it's own Netflix series it was the lunatic who can't stop praising the damn thing. Seriously, even seeing this game's title in the headlines was enough to make my brain do a backflip out of it's skull- you know- before reading the rest of it and settling down a bit again. But hey- baby steps am I right? If Dragon's Dogma has the kind of life left in it's body to be paraded around in front of the Neftflix animation-consuming audience than maybe, there's a small chance, that we can get around to actually seeing the damn thing come back to the world of gaming. You know, the world it left oh-so-long-ago with a measly one entry to it's name? (Dragon's Dogma's China exclusive 'Online' entry does not count.) 'Castelvania' at least wracked up a good number of games before resorting to a Netflix adaptation! But I'm getting worked up, let's break this down to it's base.

So on the off-chance that you are here and somehow haven't come across the unhinged adoration I have for this title, firstly there's a blog on the topic that you can read, and secondly let me give you a quick rundown. 'Dragon's Dogma' is a third-person open world hack-and-slash adventure game that was the first game of it's kind to come out of the storied studio of Capcom. It was a title that took a very literal look at a world positively seeped in European Medieval fantasy and did it's best to replicate that to-the-letter, as opposed to Dark Souls which merely used that setting as a historical backbone for it's own creations. The basis on the gameplay was on moments of 'David v Goliath' type fights, wherein the player character's party would be towered over by intimidating beasts and they would have to whittle down health bar's in order to bring the beast down.

The reason that the title stood out so profoundly to me was because  it was a game that focused on the journey far more than the destination. Much of the game required the player to travel to a spot, or escort a merchant somewhere else, and every time it would involve crossing great tracks of land that would cover varied environments. It was up to the player, with the help of their pawns, to learn about the dangers they could encounter in each location and arrive prepared for them each and every time, thus it was a title that encouraged crossing over the same tracks of land beacuse it was all about learning as a player. The bigger monster fights were an exciting and flashy cherry on top of that cake, but that basic gameplay loop of crossing dangerous medieval lands and slowly learning how to cope was the soul of the game.

That, as you can imagine, is one of the reasons why I'm so dubious about a Netflix adaptation; because there's no way on god's green earth that they'll manage to replicate that feeling through a TV show. (At least not completely) However, there's still the case of the big epic boss fights that'll lend themselves beautifully to the Anime-looking aesthetic and that's something to keep an eye out for. What I want to see out of this anime, should the fates be merciful, is some sort of representation given to the game's trademark ability to clamber up and over the big monster in order to get a good hit on them; it was a selling point during the marketing and I still do it whenever I play to this day. (Even if it's not quite as effective as one might think.) Or at the very least I want to see one of those ogres get it's eye shot in, that's literally one of my favourite spam moves in gaming.

I think what interests me the most about a Dragon's Dogma anime-style show is the potential in terms of tone, because that's something which I think the game struggled with. In visual style, the game featured a great deal of muted fauna, oppressive grey skies and dark deadly dungeons; but given the open nature of the game and the player's constant encouragement to get familiar with the peril, it was hard to quite make the world feel as deadly as it always seemed to want to be. With a story line and more characters to it, I can certainly see Dragon's Dogma Netflix adopting an incredibly brutal tone in order to match the setting, perhaps peppered with sudden and violent moments that shock and keep the viewer ever unnerved for the next scene. I'm thinking something akin to 'Attack on Titan' or 'Demon Slayer', as the world of Dragon's Dogma seems just as deadly at times.

What I'm a tad more dubious about, If we're being totally honest with one another, it's the content of the main story itself, which was notoriously weak with Dragon's Dogma.The tale of discovering what the deal was with the Dragon felt like the first act to a story and unfortunately it turned out to be the entirety of the main game's narrative. It was almost entirely lacking in memorable characters (Aside from the side character who briefly touched in, only to have their more interesting arcs solved in optional quests) and only really the final battle stands out as a memorable set piece in my mind. (And, I guess, the initial Hydra fight; but that was literally the first major monster battle in the game, so that hardly counts.) That being said, the finale of the story is genuinely fantastic in terms of story and the post game contains some of the most interesting lore I've ever seen explored in a fantasy game, so it's not like the show will have nothing substantial to draw on. (If I were them I would play on the concept of 'Eternal Return' heavily, instead of just saving it for a surprise reveal at the end.)

Another elephant in the room is what the team intend to do about the infinitely better written 'expansion'; 'Dark Arisen'. That was a whole new storyline added onto Dragon's Dogma which transported the Arisen to a heavily Souls-inspired gauntlet of challenging bosses whilst adopting that series' allure for obscure and subtle storytelling. The narrative of 'Dark Arisen' is great tale that absolutely should be told in Netflix form, for it bears such great moments of rebellion, betrayal and the inability to escape the inevitability of fate, but it also doesn't even remotely fit in neatly with the main plot and so I wonder how they will address it. (Probably with a second series of the show that'll follow a fresh protagonist or something, that's how these usually go.)

Even though my initial response to this news was mild repulsion, I didn't want something so personal to be ruined, I'm starting to warm up to the idea and see the potential in it. They could make it so that every series of the show follows a new plotline and has a new protagonist, similar to how 'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure' does it, in order to keep things feeling new and interesting. But even then that only leaves them two series' of story to tell which means that they either have to start making new stories or Capcom have to make a new game (or DLC content) and I'm literally down for either, anything to stay in this world just a little while longer. So, as the biggest English fan of Dragon's Dogma I officially give this adaptation my blessing, which I know will be a huge sigh of relief for the team involved, whilst crossing my fingers and hoping beyond hope that this serves as a prelude to something big coming out of the franchise. (Please guys, I'm begging you at this point!) So go watch Dragon's Dogma on Netflix when it debuts (This September) in order to show Capcom that the series has some legs in it, and go buy the game on Steam while your at it, and go write Capcom a letter about, whatever it takes to bring the Dragon's Dogma series the justice it rightly deserves.