Dragoon

Original Title: 竜機伝承
Romanized: Ryuuki Denshou
Literal: Legend of the Dragon Machine

Plot Synopsis

While the young Sedon is sharpening his sword skills, he comes across a beautiful and naked girl named May in the snow. Little could he dream she's the product of an evil experiment and has a hidden power inside her. A power that can save and destroy. However, May suffers from amnesia and can remember nothing of her past, power, or reason of existing. She and Sedon decide to go on a quest to find her memory, and maybe they'll save the world while they're at it.

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Legion
Review Date: 2000-09-15

Dragoon opens up with some extremely clever foreshadowing, which immediately grabs the viewers attention. Things, of course, calm down and we're gradually brought into the life and eventual quest of young Sedon and mysterious May. It has good pacing, especially for a fantasy anime, revealing the story in small amounts. Most of the characters are stock fantasy, although May has a lot of potential and Prince Lane is funny for the smart aleck comments he makes under his breath. Technically, the series is fine, but not outstanding; the characters and backgrounds are attractive, but most of the fights are disappointing freeze-frame cop-outs. THe music is a similarly mixed bag; some (including the opening) is quite good, while at other times it's lame. Sadly, it's an unsatisfying series, since it stops before it's over.

Dragoon was definitely interesting, solidly entertaining, and worth watching as long as you don't mind having a lot of questions unanswered due to no ending.

US DVD Review

No English DVD exists as of this writing.

Content Guide

Appropriate for the 16-up crowd on account of significant amounts of nudity and some mature jokes.

Violence: 2 - People are killed, but it's not too graphic.

Nudity: 4 - May is seen naked quite a bit more than just in the snow, as are other female characters.

Sex/Mature Themes: 3 - There's some funny situations with Sedon and May, particularly at the beginning.

Language: 1 - Surprisingly mild.

Notes and Trivia

Maker KSS apparently attempted to turn this series into a franchise, though it doesn't seem to have fared well. First out was a series of RPGs for Windows 95 (3 in total), followed shortly after by a radio drama CD and the three OAVs, then an adaptation of the game for the PlayStation, and finally a series of three novels by Shuuichi Kamiyama (who has also had a hand in the screenplay of various well-known anime productions, including, uncredited, Last Exile).

The OAV series was never completed. It's worth noting that the games were captioned "Dragoon" (in English), which, although the anime version apparently wasn't, is where ADV got the English title.

Availability

Available in the US from AD Vision on a single subtitled or dubbed VHS volume, both out of print.

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