Dragon Half

Dragon Half Review

My brother always tells me I have a problem only picking OVA animes when I buy them. There almost always way too short and they lack the fan power most long running series has. I enjoy OVA because of the rich characters they feature without dragging them on for 200 episodes, that being said, does Dragon half an only 2 episode anime OVA even stand a chance of being good?


The Story:

Life is never easy for anyone, except for Mink its much, much worse, see she happens to be a Dragon half: half human half dragon, and its because of her dragon half that Mink gets into so much trouble. Mink's in love with the number one world pop singer, and dragon slayer, Dick Saucer. Unfortunately, because of her dragon nature, Mink fears he will never love her because it is Dick's job to slay dragons. So Mink and her friends go out on a journey to find a magical people potion to make her pure human. Only problem is, Mink's rival Princess Vina, her father the King and a slew of other crazy bad guys will do anything they can to stop and kill her before she finds the potion.


The Good:

I love to laugh, be flat out honest, nothing makes me enjoy life more then watching something that'll bring me to tears of laughter. When I first got into Anime I forked over 20 bucks on dubbed VHS anime tapes since the DVDs were twice as much money, and one of my first purchases happened to be Dragon Half. Needless to say, that was one of the best damn 20 bucks I ever spent. Dragon Half is a ridiculously over the top, over exaggerated, and overly hysterical anime that never holds back any comedic punches and delivers a perfect 10 in humor and cleverness every time I watch it. For a story so simplistic, its amazing how funny they can make the show. What really sells Dragon Half is the over the top exaggerated responses. Characters will suddenly go from super serious, to deformed midget versions of themselves and spout bizarre sounding noises and giggles just to crack your smiling faces open a little bit wider and a little bit bigger.

The voice actors really know how to sell their lines, particularly special credit has to go to Brett Weaver, voice of the iconic dim witted knight, The "Mighty" Damaramu. His performance of his block headed goon alone is worth the price of admission, his roaring "manly" screams and witty one liners make him a hilarious side character who outshines Mink's people quest in humor. In fact, all of the bad guys have funny quirks that make them not your typical baddies. The animation is a unique mix of super detailed to super deformed. The show constantly shifts from goofy to serious looking, its not about the animation that makes this show so damn funny, its the humor. Even the ending song is by far one of the silliest little tunes I've ever seen. Its lyrics are completely nonsensical and the ending animation sequence is even funnier.

What makes Dragon Half so damn lovable is the fact so much humor is packed with in a short amount of time. The basic plot is irrelevant to worry about because your having too much fun watching these strange characters do their own thing and are not afraid to poke fun at their own jokes, including a very funny "video" gag about noticing plot holes.


The Bad:

The content is perfectly fine, the AMOUNT of content is the only really negative thing I have to say about Dragon Half. Like most OVA anime, their episode amount is dismally allow and usually lasts about 13 episodes or even 6. Sadly Dragon Half goes even lower then that, its only 2 STINKING EPISODES!!! This is a tremendous insult to the show because there is so much spontaneous humor here, to contain it only 2 episodes is an insult to the show's potential and creativity. The short running time tends to put off people. Its hard to convince someone to spend 20-30 dollars one just 2 episodes, even though I feel its worth it for this show. Dragon Half has real potential and its a crying shame this show is reduced to such a dinky running time, the worst flaw of the entire show lies in the fact that so much came out of so little and there won't be anything else coming out for Dragon Half in anime form. To be blunt, its a crying shame.


The Conclusion:

If your looking for an anime that is short, funny, and well worth the expensive price, Dragon half is and should always be your first choice. Dragon Half serves up more clever humor, fresh gags, and comical characters then most 100 episode animes serve up in their entire lifetime. The cast is funny, witty, and fills the characters with truck loads of memorable lines, and their exaggerated super deformed cries and appearances just make it funnier and funnier. Forget the plot and just sit back and relax to laugh for an hour. The fact its only 2 episodes is a true tragedy in my opinion, but on the other side of my opinion, it would be an even bigger tragedy if anyone of you readers miss the chance to see one of the funniest OVAs ever to grace a DVD/VHS shelf. Highly recommended.


Voice Acting: 9/10
Visuals & Animation: 8/10
Story: 4/10
Music & Sound: 6/10
Overall: 9/10


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