Mink is no ordinary teenage girl, being half-human and half-dragon. Her father had fallen in love with a red dragon he intended to kill, and instead of slaying the dragon, he married her. Their union gave birth to Mink, who inherited horns, a tail, retractable wings, and incredible strength—characteristics which signify her dragon half nature.
Mink spends her days accompanied by her friend Pia, a dwarf girl with overprotective parents, and her best friend Lufa, an elf with great healing powers but impressively bad magic. The three find themselves mooning over the dreamy and charming dragonslayer, Dick Saucer. But in a sudden, absurd turn of events, Mink gets closer than ever to the object of her fantasies, only to realize that her love may never be reciprocated because of her dragon heritage.
Thus, the trio sets out on a quest to find a potion that will make Mink fully human. They may unwittingly make enemies, but they are sure to have one heck of a good time.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Colonelfancy
The early and mid 90's were probably the golden age of mindless comedy in anime as far as my viewing goes. A lot of it was just as hit and miss as any other period of time, but the field was vast, filled with various styles of comedic offerings, like Compiler and Junk Boy. Dragon Half is one of these, an OVA parody of RPGs and fantasy adventures, and is the best of the sub-genre I've seen to this day, without a close second. The plot is incredibly simple, but it's all the motivation a comedy needs. Something as easy as a half dragonwho wants to win the affections of a super pop star who slays her kind in his off time by becoming human is just absurd enough to rank very high on a comedy scale. Getting into a comedic show for a plot is asking for trouble, and you might rob yourself of fun. So, it's about as easy as The Little Mermaid-er, Dragon, as Mink and her friends make a complete mockery of the adventure genre. It deserves it after giving me Those Who Hunt Elves.
Character designs are really cute and vibrant, with virtually every cast member shifting between vaguely serious mode to wacky chibi in a matter of frames. The show spends most of the time in super-deformed mode. It's hammered down your throat, but this was back when chibi characters using physical comedy was still pretty damn funny and fresh to me before becoming a fairly predictable and stale novelty that it is today. The animation is mildly dated, but still looks pretty great with Production I.G, as the visual gags and dialouge are perfectly timed, making the best out of SD characters and a silly script. I loved them all, from Mink's completely perverted father, to Vina and her father, including his assistant. As well as Damaramu, who was Kamina from Gurren Lagaan for his time, only 5000 times funnier and more enjoyable to me.
The English dub is one of my favorites, including some of ADVs best best talents from the mid 90's like Marcy Rae as Mink's mother, the fantastic Brett Weaver doing what he does best; voicing a loud-mouth buffoon as Damaramu, and Jessica Calvello (A woman who needs more work) as Mink. Probably the only English dubbed animes I've found this funny were GTO and Azumanga Daioh. The ending theme is very, very catchy as well, I believe it's singing about breakfast. God, I dig it so much.
IN CLOSING: This is a rare treasure. It's from a different era of satire, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea for younger veiwers. Probably the biggest drawback against it being a satisfying experience is that the manga continues the story, so you might feel a little gipped when the OVA just abruptly ends. Even above and beyond that, it's almost comedy perfection that does little wrong and is probably only hurt by the passage of time and the fan's palette for what defines a farce. It's earned a permanent, golden plaque on my shelf as one of the funniest things I've ever seen come out of Japan.
P.S. Sorry for sounding like an old man again in my reviews.
STORY: 6
ART: 9
SOUND: 8
CHARACTERS: 10
ENJOYMENT: 10
OVERALL SCORE: 9 out of 10
PROS: Fantastic retro satire, Dungeon & Dragons-inspired parody, a pioneer of the chibi-SD humor, great ADV English dub,
CONS: Lack of continuation might dampen experience, out of date style of comedy might not sit well with younger audiences
Prede
Note: this is a review of the R1 DVD released by ADV films. That includes the English dub and Extras. Enjoy ;) "Dragon Half" is a little OVA, that does a lot more then I ever thought it could. It's not the deepest most profound anime, and it's not the most exciting thing to watch either. But it's got some wild and crazy characters, and it's laugh out loud funny. Sure it's a little stupid, and a bit shallow. But it's a cute show, and hey I LOVE the dub. Plot/Story - 7 This little OVA series takes place in your standard "sword and sorcery" fantasy realm,and although it's not original, it gives the series a bit of an edge. It's a great setting for a comedy in my opinion. Also it does have a bit of a twist, like for example some non-coventional stuff will apear from time to time. Anyway this anime is about Mink and her friends trying to get tickets to this concert. Yes they have concerts ther ein this fantaysy world, and the guy Mink wants to see is some famouse idol, who sings all around the land, and fihghts bad guys, and does everything else. He's quite the hot shot, and "big thing" going at this time. Mink's a huge fan. The King of this land has it out for her, however, and wants nothing more then for Mink to be dead! He wants to marry her mother, and will do whatever it takes. For some reason he thinks if he does away with Mink, it will make this much easier on him. Her mother is a dragon by the way, and she's still married to her father, a knight who slays dragons. Yeah a match made in heaven...or hell :P. Anyway the King and his men try to capture/kill Mink, Mink doesn't seem to notice much and wants to go to the convert, her friends join her, hijinks ensue. It's a very simple story, but one that works. Later Mink ends up in this huge tournament/fight against some of her enemies, and that's where you will really start laughing your but off! The story is interesting, and never boring, thats for sure. Crazy things keep happening, at yet the story still moves along. And the ending is also quite fun. The show is very light hearted, goofy, and stupid at times, yet never too dumb. It may not be a smart show, but the way it does everything makes you feel dumber then the show is. This is a plus in my book. Also when everything is over, you get to see Mink with her top off. Not sure if this is good or bad, but you do. As Matt Greenfield so blunty puts it (in his commentary track) "And there's the fanservice. The reword for watching it to the end ;) ". Boobies and humor. Yes this show has it all folks.
Usually when/if I review a comedy I'll try and describe the type of humor (slapstick, dialogue based, character based, parody, satire, puns, nonsensical, etc), but trying to pin down the type of humor in "Dragon Half", is like trying to pin down a tiger. It won't be easy, it's crazy, and you will probally fail trying. So I'll just say that "Dragon Half" is incredbly fast paced, and very very funny. To try and get you to understand what type of humor this is perhaps this will help. Greg Ayres once called it "Excel Saga...before we had Excel Saga". So yeah...think about that one. I think that works quite nicely. This show outright paradies many different fantasy tropes in anime. It makes fun of a lot of things, and it also makes fun of its self. It doesn't "reference" any shows in perticular (that I noticed), but it makes fun of common fantasy themes. It's also completly random, and makes no sense. Yeah there's a story, and it ends. But nothing you will watch will make any sense at all. This show is incredbly surreal. Laugh as things that make no sense happen in weird ways! I know I did! Much of the humor is slapstick, but not in an anoying way. There is some great wordplay once in awhile (and I must compliment ADV Films for the great script), and off the wall stuff happening constantly, and the dub really makes everything 10 times funnyer. You can tell ADV had fun dubbing this one. Anyway yeah the type of humor in this changes with the mood, although it tends to stay clearly on the "stupid" side of the humor equation. So yeah no real witty remarks, or intelligent satire. Just plain, dumb, (but FUNNY) jokes. And it's not even high brow stuff. It's not offensive, but this isn't "Jokes with Einstein" either. Oh and although all the characters are stupid, even they laugh at Damaramu for being an idiot. He's one of the "bad guys" out to get Mink for the King. And you should too, because he's pretty stupid, yet funny. He keeps saying his own name when he talks, not because it makes him sound tough. But because if he didn't he'd forget his own name. Yeah dumb as a herde of snails, running right into a pile of salt.
Art/Animation - 6
This is an OVA, and so I judged it as one. Despite being an OVA, it seemed to have gotten a rather poor budget. It has aged quite a bit by today's standards. Comedy seems to never get the big budgets, but boy did they save on this one. It's not bad or anything, but the animation is rather average. It does it's job, with all the crazy and random things happening, but it is nothing to write home about either. The art is nice looking, although rather plane and undetailed, even for 93. It has some cute character designs that I really liked. And the color palette is very nice, incredbly bright, full of like, and cheery. A little TOO colorful at times, but I liked it. The backgrounds are rather average and plane looking.
Also I must bring up the fact that the characters are constantly changing from super deformed (aka Chibi form) to regular anime form throughout the show. They do a good job at this, although they didn't blow me away either. It was a great choice however, and I admire the effert. It works with the crazy pace of the show, and the just so bizarre and outlandish nature of it all.
Sound (Music & Dub) - 9
Music
The background themes, when played are quite good. Light hearted, poppy, and very cute. But where this series shines is in it's AMAZING ending theme. "Watashi no Tamagoyaki" is a crazy pop song verson/remix of a famouse Beethoven song. Yeah they don't mess around here. On top of that you have the meaningless, nonsenical lyrics such as " Pappara funi-Funi Papparu hoe-hoe" song with such effert, feeling, and enthusiasm that you can't help but love it. It's so in your face, it's so cute, it's so fluffy, yet it all sounds very nice. This si the type of song you will get stuck in your head, and never be able to sleep. Yet you won't care because the song is so catchy.
Dub
Dragon Half was dubbed in 2002 by ADV Films, in their Houston studio (Amusement Park Media, although its been known as a lot of things over the years. They keep changing the damn name I have no idea what they called this studio back in 2002. Anyway I rank it as one of, if not THE top ADR studio in North America). This is an anime ADV released sub-only YEARS before hand, and was known in some circles as "un-dubble" just because of how fast paced it was, and how much is going on. According to the commentary track, this was dubbed around Christmas, so they could have the largest talent pool possible (many actors who moved away come back for the Holidays). Also they seemed to have wanted Jessica Calvello to play the lead, and by this time she had already moved to New York City. Greenfeild (the ADR Director) said they could have dubbed this whenever, but he waited until it could have a great dub, as best as they could do. And I must say I am truly glad they waited to dub this. As this is one of the funniest dubs out there. First the casting of Jessica Calvello as Mink...dead on! I love her in this role. She's perfect in every way. Not that Mink is a very difficult charcter to "get", but I really can't picture anyone else playing her. Also Amanda Winn Lee as Vina, the main bad girl and the King's Daughter, was another brilliant casting. She is truly funny in this. Like I fell off my stea with some of the stuff she says. Hilary Haag as Pia, one of Mink's friend, was another great choice. She fits these "little, tiny and silly" characters quite well.
As far as the performances go, Not sure what I can say really. This isn't a Shakespeare play, it's a lowbrow comedy, off the wall anime, with lots and lots of crazy dialogue. But as far as comedies go, I dare you to find a better acted one out there. This show's dub is just great, truly top grade! I just love how insane everyone is. The main cast, the small roles, the one line guys, everyone does a great, no wonderful job. And as I already said, Jessica Calvello is amazing in this. You can tell she had a lot of fun with it. No one out there could do what she did with this one here. Also shout out to Tiffany Grant, who plays a small, but important character from the second episode. She gives Dug Fin, this small magical critter, such a cute, yet mean spirited voice, that you just gata love it. Everything she says will have you rollying on the floor laughing. Aaron Krohn as the idol Mink wants to see, Dick Saucer, is so OVER THE TOP, you will smile. You will just totally get this guy, every bit of him. He did a great job as Kaji in Eva, and you can tell this was no fluke. He's a real fit for these types of characters in my opinion. In fact you can tell a lot of thought went into the casting of this show. And Greenfield's mark is all over this one. I expect the best from him, and I got nothing less then that. One of the best ADR directors in the biz.
Enjoyment - 9
This is very subjective, as if this humor style doesn't work with you, you probally won't like this show very much. But I can't help but to love it. I laughed, I laughed,I kept laughing, I laughed some more. It's really a fun, enjoyable, and cute little OVA. I'm glad it didn't overstay it's welcome, as two episodes is more then enough. Anymore and the jokes would get stale, it wouldn't be able to keep up with it's fast paced nature, and the characters could get anoying. But as this is it's perfect. In fact all of the characters are likeable and cool, even the truly stupid ones. That takes some good writing, because sadly many times the truly DUMB characters get anoying fast. Not so here. Now the show is kind of hallow, shallow, and devoid of anything more then joke after joke really. But I feel the crazy characters get me though that. They're not really deep, or very well developed, but their likeable, and you enjoy watching them.
Extras:
Commentaries can sometimes be the most boring thing ever, or the best extra feature on the DVD. Luckily for us, the latter is true for this one. Matt Greenfeild the ADR director, and one of the head honchos at then-ADV Films (now Section 23) is main voice you will be hearing. And he actually talks in debth about the this very shallow show, and explaisn the dubbing process. His wife, and voice actor Tiffany Grant (who has an important role in this) joins him. And he tried to talk matter-of-factly about the show, but he really can't because it's so funny. Ok maybe because I'm a nerd, and fan of Greenfeild, or perhaps because this commentary track is truly funny, either way I found I really enjoyed this.One of the better commentaries out there by far. Not only is it interesting and informative, but it's also very funny. It's like if your up for more laughs after watching the show, put this on to kill another hour. Now it's not as good as his commentary on "Puni Puni Poemy" but it's still very good. (In the commentary for "Puni Puni Poemy" he tries to talk about the show, but CAN'T because the entire cast is there with him, and everyone is constantly saying something laugh out loud funny. This constant struggle between Greenfeild trying to talk in debth about another very shallow show, and everyone just goofing on the show is really an undrescrible listen. It's one of my favorites! Very enjoyable. In fact funny/more interesting then the show its self, at least for that OVA). So in short, give the commentary a listen if your a dub fan. It's one of the better ones out there.
Final Vertic:
This is a very shallow, and stupid show. But it's also very very funny. It's humor is hard to pin down, and you never know what it's ganna do next. The fantasy setting is a plus, and the characters while, 2 dimensional, are very likeable (even the bad guys and stupid dudes). The dub is one of the best for a comedy, and you will be on the floor with this one. The show may be a little too crazy and fast paced for some, but it's weird nature is something I couldn't help but love. Also Beethoven ending theme for the win! And boobies. First they try and hide them, but then they show all. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it's boobies.
Yeah...watch this crazy show. It's well worth the price of the DVD.
Luquillo
"Funniest anime ever made". When one hears the name Dragon Half, this is normally a claim that isn't too far away. Even though I can't fully say as of yet that I agree; this short OVA does make a strong drive to the title and the funny thing is, it only took two episodes to make its mark. This is actually something to brag about since there are many titles either the same length or much longer that end up as total failures. Dragon Half is like a well disciplined soldier; it knows exactly what its objective is, and it heads straight for it with intentionson accomplishing the mission. From go, the anime is non stop comedy and never, ever, lets up. The interesting part about the anime is that it doesn't have to rely on sex oriented jokes or an overabundance of fan service to get a good laugh out of the viewer. Although they are used in very low supply, it never had a forced feel to me.
The laughs are provided within the dialogue, character's actions, and the sheer insanity on the screen. Most of these hilarious moments appear out of nowhere and they work most of the time. Those out there whom are big fans of characters shifting into the deformed disproportionate versions of themselves will love this one because it seems to revel in it.
Character development is rather low, but this is the most memorable group of characters I can remember from such a short series. The solid voice acting for both languages do them justice and only helps to provide more laughs. The anime is virtually plotless, with things happening at random only to provide more comedy; but a solid plot clearly wasn't the aim here anyway.
Another aspect of the series that I really enjoyed was the abandoning of certain anime cliches. The series isn't the least bit predictable which adds to the fun factor a great deal. The animation is decent at best; I really didn't notice anything noteworthy. The goofy character designs are top notch for this type of wacky anime, and the soundtrack fits well by meshing perfectly with the silliness. This also applies to the ending theme, which is just as wacky and makes very little sense. The voice acting or should I say overacting, hits the mark every time. Both the sub and dub shined brightly for me and it was pretty much flawless.
Dragon Half to me is a pretty good OVA, but one thing I don't agree with the fans on is the short length. Despite the mindless fun of the series, I think two episodes was enough. This type of insanity for me began to overstay its welcome and a couple of jokes began to grow stale: such as the super deformed bodies. When it comes down to anime comedy for me; one or two seasons can actually damage the show due to many re-used jokes, because eventually they begin to lose their appeal. The anime series Slayers, definitely comes to mind with its repetitive gags that carried through to the very end of the series, and once they reached into the movie features, nearly the entire franchise lost all of its steam and eventually Slayers became a shadow of its former self. Dragon Half could have very easily fallen victim to the same fate.
I only recommend this title to the most diehard, comedy driven anime fans. If you enjoy the comedic elements I mentioned. Then this is for you. If you're new to anime, then I recommend avoiding this and going straight into Slayers because even though I have issues with it; the series(not the movies) still provides a great story, better characters, and a rock solid plot.
Highs: Excellent voice acting, comedy that works...
Lows: ... but can overstay welcome for some
RuneYue
Dragon Half is one of the older anime shows that you find yourself loving for the humour, plot(-holed like swiss cheese), character personalities but not much in the aspect of imagery. The animation was well done at the time it came out, and still better than half the things I end up finding on TV, but as of recent days it would either be considered of a \"skilled wannabe\" or \"classic\" quality depending on your tastes. Duller than what\'s around nowadays, in anotherwords. Although it kept me vastly entertained (and somehow made my supply of pocky disappear), I find the fact that after only twoepisodes it\'s done and over with to be extremely disappointing - especially at where it left off. It\'s like diving into the ocean and then being yanked out by a rope as soon as your swim suit became wet.
The entirety of this series (and I use that term loosely!) has enough to pull you in, but due to longevity (or lackthereof) not much to keep you...
I couldn\'t wholeheartedly reccomend this to anyone who\'s a hardcore anime fan, but if you don\'t mind cliffhangers or just want some time to burn whilest awaiting your ultimate doom at your current family reunion, a day you\'ll mostly likely wipe all memory of anyways, then go for it! (You\'ll need all the laughs it can provide if your situation for viewing is of the latter...)
Also, a nice rainy-day possibility for dragon fans everywhere - atleast, those still with power.
kekekeKaj
Take the dumbest anime you can possibly imagine, multiply that by 2, and what you get is something that's probably only half as stupid as "Dragon Half". This is an anime of the dreaded "comedy" genre. I'm not a fan of the comedy found in anime in general, and "Dragon Half" represents the worst of this kind of comedy, containing just about every anime comedy cliche under the sun. Over the top? Check. Nonsensical? Yep. Super deformity? Hell yes. The whole thing is a big joke, and not a very funny one at that. Basically, there are a couple of hilarious moments, and the rest justbored me to the point of tears. Making witless noises such as "Piri piri fumi fumi" (I'm sure you'll forgive me if I don't get these incredibly profound lyrics exactly right) over a mix of Beethoven songs in an attempt to pass it off as a funny ending theme isn't clever. It's retarded. And that's exactly what this show is.
I watched this in dub, and unusually enough, the dub actually fits the anime quite well. Having said that, even if it did suck, I can't imagine watching it in sub will be much of an improvement. Shows like these can't be saved by having good voices - they're far, far beyond redemption.
On top of the random nonsense contained in the anime, it has no ending, just a beginning, because it was planned for more than two episodes - I'm knocking off major points for that. Although I guess I should be thankful that this didn't go on for any longer. If it did, my sanity would probably be beyond redemption as well.
Unless you're a fan of the most silly type of anime comedy imaginable, avoid "Dragon Half" like you would avoid a dragon that's bent on eating your brains for lunch, because that's the effect this anime will have on you.
Arjman89
Just to preface, I would have rated "Dragon Half" a 10/10 if it were even one episode longer, the show simply isn't complete. I wish I could go back in time, rob a bank, and then buy buttloads of VHS and LD to fool the studio into producing more installments (and then hopefully figure out a way back to the future to avoid prosecution). I love this show!! I even feel that it makes the world a better place with its good-natured silliness. But animating shows isn’t cheap… …And it is possible that coming hot on the heels of the classic "Record of Lodoss War" OVA,but before the perennial 90’s staple "The Slayers," that Dragon Half’s screwball envisioning of the anime/high fantasy world simply got lost in the mix. It is shame, as the manga was fairly long lived (Update: I have read it now!) and could have supplied at least a few more adventures. One can find the show’s kindred spirits in stuff like "Ultimate Teacher" and of course "Excel Saga," but "Dragon Half" is still a shining gem that old-school headz likely love already and younger peeps should give a chance.
As you may have surmised, this joint is funny. and not always in the usual anime manner either. The creative staff were clearly fans of Merrie Melodies/Looney Toons tradition: mallets, rope-weights, X-Lax and other tricks out of the Warner Bothers playbook are thrown in with hilarious results. And where else can you get a “sinister royal vizier” who uses dry-ice to make his dramatic entrances? If you know, please DM me RIGHT NOW.
What really sells this pair of OVAs are the lovable and well designed characters that are expertly used by the screenplay and voiced to perfection. Our heroine Mink is a bucket of fun (voiced by none other than Sailor Moon herself, Kitono Mitsuishi, and Jessica Cavillo, who seems to be training for her throat-murdering work as Excel). Think Judy Jetson if she was also a half-dragon wrecking ball. Mink follows the proud tradition of anime girls who are harder than steel and not always aware of their strength. It is a trope that I like, and she could hold her own against the likes of A-Ko and the mighty Diacon-Girl if the need arose. The supporting cast are equally awesome, and feature Princess Vina, a stuck-up fire-mage with a (hilariously) tragic past, the doofus warrior Damaramu, who has a “compact brain,” and the perfectly named Dick Saucer, who is somehow both a teen idol and a chivalrous dragonslayer. Saucer also is the object of affection for most of the female characters, and has to balance his duty as a warrior along with entertaining his legions of adoring fans. Mink and Vina, of course, are among those fans.
Visually, the show is awesome, showcasing highly fluid and dynamic battle scenes alongside adorable and goofy “chibifications” of the characters when events go awry. And these two styles are tied together seamlessly, not a simple task. At the same time, many of the backgrounds are a little simplistic, but work because they keep the focus on the characters. Even so, a prospective viewer should keep their eye out for any sight-gags not immediately obvious. Of course, when watching anime featuring scantily clad females, one can just FEEL the loving attention paid to their bodies by the animators. As the titular dragon-half leaps about the screen, we see that the pen and paint jockeys took care in telegraphing her gainaxing whenever possible and making sure that her bikini-bottom is visible from all sorts of compromising angles. Princess Vina and Mink’s friend Lufa get affection from the camera as well. Extra-kudos for the “generous” proportions of the female character’s lower-halves. It is cool to see a Japanese character designer who enjoys the booty and thighs. I digress.
As stated before, this series is incomplete. It’s pretty upsetting how we are left hanging after the awesome “Brutal Killer Martial Arts Tournament.” Seriously, mega-bummer. We never get to find out who Azetodeth the Warlock is or if Mink can win over her beloved Dick Saucer. What isn’t upsetting is that the show has survived in the fandom over the years with several reissues. And the long awaited release of the manga in English is terrific. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Or if you take yourself too seriously…don’t.
**More extra points for the best song about omelets ever conceived***
Paraturtle
Story: In all honesty, there isn't one. Well, there is, but it's not the focus. The comedy is the focus. So, is it funny? Heck yeah! I had a blast watching Dragon Half and the biggest joke of all is that nobody ever picked this show up for real. First off, why are there only 2 episodes? Ridiculousness, I say! RIDICULOUSNESS!! Are there drawbacks with a weak story and an intense focus on comedy? Sure, cause I forget mostly everything, but I do know that I had a great time watching and can't wait to show a friend or two when I get the chance. Art: Impressive animation thatgoes very well with the comedic theme of the show. I just wish everyone's outfits were a little less... provocative. Beyond that, I felt everything looked pretty great, characters each had significant differences, and the show itself was as enjoyable to watch as it was to laugh at.
Sound:
I can't remember a dang song from the show but I recall the VA work being quite excellent. Everyone's voices were all over the place and really helped sell some of the jokes, puns, etc.
Character:
Since it's a comedy, you can't expect characters with a lot of depth. That said, everyone sells their part well when it comes to the comedic department.
Enjoyment:
This is one of those gems you come across when you're perusing short anime you wanna watch just to increase your 'completed' list. Highly recommend watching solely for the comedy, though. This was pretty dang fun and I'm eager for another watch sometime down the road.
((If you liked this review, feel free to check out my others! I review most manga and anime I finish!))
rohan121
The story of Dragon Half was surprisingly original for a comedy anime. It is very short, but it sets up a ton of hilarious events that resonate great with the tone of this series which is a very lighthearted comedy. This anime also does well in parodying common tropes of medieval stories which was great. The art and sound are fine overall. I do like the unique art style which really ressonates with the comedy of this anime. The characters of this anime are excellent at making the audience laugh for this anime. The characters are very silly, buttheir motivations are well done. I thought this series was very enjoyable overall in which it had the funniest tornament arc of all the anime I seen so far. Overall, this anime is definitely a hidden gem retro anime that I would reccomend to any fan of comedy in general. It is very short, but definitely worth the time to watch!
Shunhades
This is a good thing to watch if you want a good laugh. Being only two episodes the whole story does get across, even though the plot does tell you over and over what it's about. This particular anime is mainly good for laughs.
ktulu007
Dragon Half was a two episode OVA based on a seven volume manga by Mita Ryuusuke. It was handled by Production IG. That's right, the studio behind Chocolate Underground, Usagi Drop & Stand Alone Complex, to name just a few. So, how does this one hold up? Story: We open with our heroine, Mink, trying to watch a pretty boy idol on the television while her parents fight. She leaves the chaos to converse with her friends about Dick Saucer & his upcoming concert. Unbeknownst to her, the king, Siva, has the hots for her dragon mother and plans to kill her father for his crime of... notkilling the red dragon he was sent to kill so he can get together with her.
Okay, I know this is a comedy and the story doesn't matter that much, but why did the king send a knight to kill a dragon if he wanted to have carnal interactions with said dragon? Wouldn't it have made more sense if he'd sent the knight to try to woo her for him or something?
In any case, the king's wizard, Rosario, has a cunning plan, he's basically Baldrick. If they kidnap Mink, her father will be forced to try and come to her rescue which will get him right where they want him. This rapidly devolves into schemes to get Mink from Siva & Rosario. All the while Mink and her friends are looking for a potion to make her a normal human because Dick Beaker doesn't like dragons.
Okay, this gets on my nerves. She's going to try and change who she is to appeal to this Dick Nugget? You know what? Just be who you are. If a potential romantic partner isn't interested because they can't handle what that is, they aren't worth your time and effort. You should be able to be a dragon if that's who you are. Just incinerate anyone who doesn't like it because you're a motherfucking dragon.
The humour of the series is largely based on absurd, over the top stupidity. For example, the ending theme tune uses a composition by Beethoven but gives it lyrics heavily focused on food and a lot of vocalisations that aren't actual words but just weird sounds. There's also the obvious gag of the antagonists having all their traps backfire. As a whole, it's not bad but it's also not really funny. About the funniest it gets is with Damaramu's over the top entrances, followed by very anti-climactic exits.
Characters:
There's not much to them. Dick Sauce is a generic pretty boy. Mink's friends have very little in terms of personality. Mink herself is just a hyperactive comedic protagonist. Now, I've talked about how comedies don't need great, complex characters before. They just need characters who have strong comedic interactions. Unfortunately, that's not really something we get here.
Art:
The bulk of the series uses a very simple, chibified style. Occasionally, it pulls out of it and uses a more standard action style. A lot of the time it pulls a Panty & Stocking and uses that for fan-service purposes. Because if you can't be all that funny, you might as well show some boobs.
Sound:
I will say, Mitsuishi Kotono is a really good choice for the protagonist in the type of fast-paced, absurd comedy they're going for. Her performance has a lot of energy and, if it were paired with stronger comedy, it would be infectious. They've got some other good actresses like Sakuma Rei, Kouda Mariko & Kawata Taeko but I have to call them "good" based on their performances in other anime. In this one they're just mediocre. The music is fine. I'd be tempted to call it better since they do use classical music, but they kind of weaken it with their attempt at giving it a comedic twist.
Ho-yay:
There is a scene where Mink's elf friend decides that she should kiss Mink for a really stupid reason, but it's obviously intended for a joke and they both have the hots for Dick Frisbee so, obviously, nothing happens.
Final Thoughts:
Dragon Half does have a few funny moments but the comedy is largely just over the top nonsense and, overall, it's pretty sub-par. If it sounds like it could be your type of comedy, I would still suggest trying it, especially since it is short. For myself, I can only give it a 4/10. It's not bad, but it is weak.
Tyrannicswine117
Warning possible Spoilers You know you've found a gem when you see a character called Dick Saucer and that the show gives off a strangely nostalgic feeling of old cartoons from the 90's and early 2000's. The story is about Mink a half human, half dragon that is a big fan of the dragon hunter Dick Saucer and wants to get concert tickets to see him, however King Siva has a plan to stop Mink from gaining her goal so he can make Mink's mother his wife. Looking at the description I wasn't really putting a lot of faith into enjoying this yet in some ways I did,despite being only 2 episodes this show gave off a vibe that I hadn't felt for a long time and that feeling is the funny randomness that you get from old cartoons where you see the main character outdoing the main villain in ridiculous ways and that is what I got from this since the way Mink always win's is by sheer dumb luck which surprised me and made me think this kind of show could've lasted a long time, but it didn't.
Considering this is only 2 episodes it's quite difficult to describe the characters other than their there for comedy.
Mink is the female MC and despite being half human, half dragon she can fly, breath fire and has incredible strength though these aren't really what she uses to win her battles, her personality is very much like a school girl is has a huge crush on a popular idol hence Dick saucer and she can be a bit clueless, but whenever she gets stopped in her tracks towards her goal she does manage to clear the rubble in front of her.
Mink also has her companions to help her who are Lufa and Pia though they don't really do much other than getting in Minks way when it comes to the battles.
Mink also has a rival called Vena who is actually a half human, half slime and she also has a fangirl crush on Dick Saucer so their pretty much in the same predicament making it look like a childish fight over their high school crush.
King Siva who is also Vena's father is stupid and mainly relies on others to do his bidding's though despite being stupid he doesn't seem entirely like a cruel king.
Dick Saucer is the crush of pretty much all of the female characters and has to put up with their attics that usually impact quite a bit like Mink accidentally giving him a laxative or accidentally becoming his enemy after he was told that Mink was an evil Red dragon, however despite being a popular guy he does seem like a nice person who put's the people above fame.
The artstyle looked really weird and the same can be said for the characters too since they have extremely tiny faces and the way their heads are shaped doesn't look right too, but what also seems weird is how the female characters have surprisingly large thighs and legs making the rest of their body small in comparison and the show does mix it up with them being in Chibi form when the scenes turn into comedy.
The comedy was a little funny and nostalgic as it reminded me of the old cartoons that relied on the main hero or heroine in this case going on random adventures and beating the bad guy in some ridiculous way and this is no exception as one way they defeated a villain was by him accidentally throwing his sword and somehow hitting him right through his head so yeah pretty ridiculous then again it has the parody tag so it makes sense having that.
Overall this is something that you watch in an hour that will give a decent laugh, it certainly isn't memorable, but at least it wasn't completely stupid and ridiculous where it isn't funny.
TigerSkyy
I find that I am very glad that this is just a short OVA series. While I am glad I had the chance to watch this for the anime watching contest, it is not something that I will ever likely watch again. The actual story itself is very sound, but the execution of the overall art style and character design were not to my taste. Often the characters are chibi in design, and other than for very rare instances I do not care for this style. I feel that the creator should have picked one or two character designs for Mink and stayed with them. Also,Mink seems to be about 15/16 years old, and her and her best friend walk around wearing nothing but glorified bathing suits/underwear. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against fan service, but I think it should be done in moderation.
Definitely worth the hour to watch the 2 episodes if for no other reason than exploring early 1990's anime.
tesora
No. Just no. One of my friends bought Dragon Half at Anime Punch and we decided to watch it on the way home, because our bus had a dvd player. I felt my ears begin to rot at their voices, especially at the main characters. The plot was....ridiculous. It was basically a small chibi half-dragon that wanted to get laid by some random Dragon Slayer/singer. HELLOOOO YOU'RE A DRAGON. HE WON'T WANT YOU, HE'LL WANT TO STAB YOU! SOOO, because she's THAT DESPERATE to have him, she decides "Frick, I need to become full human or he'll never love me. -tears-." God.... I think the onlyreason this show isn't forgettable is because of the squeaking and squealing like pigs they called "voice acting."
Seriously, this attempted for comedy and it FAILED badly. There wasn't a good moment in this series at all. The character designs sucked, so did the story itself.
To those considering this anime: DONT. Save your ears A LOT of misery...
Longnines
A young girl born to a dragon mother and a former dragon-slaying father becomes infatuated with pop-singing dragon-slayer Dick Saucer. Unplanned interventions occur when the dragon-half girl and her friends set out to attend his concert. Dragon Half is a short 2-part dumb-fun comedy with lascivious undertones. The humor is mostly slapstick, the circumstances in which the characters find themselves are often absurd, and the story is ridiculous. The animation fluctuates by the scene, caricaturizing its own characters and oversimplifying their designs, and then shifting back to fully illustrated; the animation itself is good. The writing is parodical of the fantasy/adventure genre, picking on classic tropesand characterizations.
Somehow, this very brief OVA has bundled adventure, villainy, rivalry, fan service, a tournament arc, a love interest (and the subversion of mutual attraction), and a myriad of classic fantasy elements into 40some minutes of runtime. It is a whacky and somewhat amusing ride, though a lot of the gags would appear to be simple compared to what else has been released in the past 30 years.
If you are seeking a quick fantasy comedy with low viewer investment required, I recommend Dragon Half. It is short, simple, and stupid fun. It does nothing outstanding, but nothing wrong either.
Dennis_King
You know, as a general rule in anime, OVA series that are 1 or 2 or even 4 eps long are quite simply..Crap. But as is not so often the case there are some rascals out there that manage to not only break that rule but produce to the world something amazing, something that is worth watching. This little blast from the past is possibly the best comedy show I've seen in a great long while and maybe i'm wrong here, but i think it has to do with the fact that it's only 1 hour of pure fun. I mean take this for a-somewhat-story! Half dragon girl…Dragonslayer…And a dude named Dick Saucer. i do really believe that someone was on some very very naughty stuff when writing this but i don't care a bit..In fact i want to meet the whole team that made this possible and have some old school time fun with prostitutes, drugs and silly anime.
Back to the story, a dragon slayer and a dragon fall in love…Now before you say AWWwwwwwww or anything like that i need to remind you that despite what this anime wants you to believe having fiery sex with dragons is not only illegal but cruel to these noble animals. Well the dragon slayer not only fucked the creature but also impregnated her which resulted to a half dragon daughter, Mink. Like most female teens everywhere in the world she tends to have a crush on pop idols..Enter our pop idol and her fated enemy Dick Saucer and my god what a beautiful lad and what a name..Strikes fear into the hearts of maidens.
As the "plot" thickens we learn that there is another pervert in town..Namely the king of the land who wants to take his revenge against the fellow bestiality enthusiast(the father of Mink) and have the female mama dragon for himself..So basically the king tries to kill the father to become the rightful dragon fucker and Mink is trying to find the magic “People Potion” which will make her all woman cause as it seems Sir Fucksalot is the only one not into dragon pussy.
At this point you might think that this sounds a lot like another kids story...I think it was called "Pinocchio"..You know, he wanted to be a real boy so that he could join the fun the other kids had..It's a sad story really but what pinocchio lacked was fan service and that was the main reason it never really caught on. But Dragon Half has fanservice in spades and thank lord for that..Who came here for the story anyways?
Which brings me to this..What is this anime all about then?
I trully believe it was made to poke fun at all the anime being made that time period, with its' weird characters and weird animation and even more weird music...It's a giant orgy of parody,hysterical laughter..Who gives a fuck about the animation? It doesn't need great animation! It works like a charm for this show and the characters themselves are quite well developed considering this is 1 hr long.
Should you watch it? Hell yes and if you don't i'll smack you silly.
megadrivesonic
When going into this OVA knowing ADV’s track record it was going to be bad, however after watching this I loved it was pissed that there were only 2 episodes. Let me get this out of the way, don’t take it seriously assholes it’s a comedy. Its humor while at times off the walls it’s incredibly fun to watch. If you’re going to watch it I recommend the English dub as opposed to the subs as the English voice acting is surprisingly good. Animation: The animation to me is a mixed bag. While most of the non-human characters look fine, the human looking ones have derpishfaces, likely intentional at that. Also many of the woman’s faces are weird elongated at times.
Characters:
This aspect of an anime is important as if you don’t have characters we like your anime will fall flat, Dragon Half doesn’t have this issue. I’m astonished this ova gave us characters like this. Even the main character while some may consider her annoying at times is very fun to watch. The characters in this ova can range from demon warlocks like Doug Finn or musical sensations like Dick Saucer (yes that’s his actual name) and he has his own theme song.
Overall:
Like I said before I had no expectations for this OVA going into this and was pleasantly surprised. If you’re looking for a funny off the walls ADV dub with likable characters then this is for you. However if your that one guy who watched attack of the killer tomatoes was stupid for all the wrong reasons then don’t watch this anime.
CodenameCMB
Picture this. A Dragon and a Human fall in love and have a child. Yep that is basically the premise of this story. It is a very simple concept and I found it so enjoyable, I went into this BLIND. And what I took away from this was buying the manga along side it. This OVA was so wild and insane, it goes a mile a minute and if you get overwhelmed easily this can be a lot to take in. Basically a Dragon Girl is a teenager who attends pop concerts and wants to become a human again because is mocked by everyone she meetsalong the way for being a Dragon Half.
It seems stupid but I understand the feeling of being unwanted by society, what I did not expect was the insane stuff that happened afterwards. It really feels like something you should watch with a group of friends, I still find it...odd as it relies on that one word: "Fan-service" especially with a teenager. That screams screwed up to me.
Just try it and hey you may personally like it.
BrotherMeSoftly
The 90s OVA laid claim to some of the wackiest, experimental shows the anime industry had release thus far. This period wasn’t quite as sensational and over the top as the wild West of the 80s, and although much of the OVA market at this point was made up by industry veterans and they were the ones deciding to throw ideas to the wall and see what sticks, the OVA shorts affected by the economic decline still had some hidden gems not often discussed in most modern otaku internet threads. Normally, if it was an anime original, under appreciated manga, light novel, or even literaryadaptation it would be made as an OVA. One such example is Dragon Half.
Dragon Half was once meant to be a four episode OVA but then, ironically taken the title literal, and halved the planning into two episodes instead. This was unfortunately another incident related to budget and interest from the higher ups. Despite the concern of adapting a couple arcs of this show into two episodes (even after the knowledge in assumed issues that come from only having four episodes originally), they made it work. These episodes are not anything extraordinary in terms of a suspended payoff you could only get from a story set in the span of 12 or 24 episodes, but they are simple fun and enough to care about the characters. Out of the OVAs I’ve watched from this decade, this one is a personal favorite of mine.
Comedy is the key component of this show. Part of the enjoyment of Dragon Half stems from recognizing the RPG parodies and overall nonchalant take on being a teenage girl who is half dragon and the pressures that come from it. Mink is that girl. She is the daughter of a dragon mother and human father. She’s a fangirl over her celebrity crush Duck Saucer, a pop star who also happens to slay dragons, something Mink happens to be. To combat this she wishes to turn into a human to remove this conflict form ever taking place before she meets and marries him, hopefully. Some hijinx occur from this and it becomes more of an ill fated romance (maybe quite literally), but this isn’t a shock or deal breaker for Mink as she kind of expects it. She’s also very aloof and stubborn which certainly seemed to add a mental block between that problem.
If you thought Dragon Maid was the start of cute dragon-humans trying to fit in with society, realize Dragon Half was the precursor to that. This show was no short of ecchi moments, and although comedy governs most of the writing, never did those lewder moments feel like I was being pandered to. The funnies came first here people. In fact, I’d even argue those moments were done more tastefully and at “earned” checkpoints of the show. It’s just a nice bonus to those who enjoyed what they were laughing at and hope to check out the manga after these episodes.
You can find these two episodes on YouTube and will be the first to pop up too. If I were you, do what I did and knock these two episodes out of the way and log in the progress made on here. The parodies, the chibis, the RPG elements turned inside out, they’re all there! I haven’t looked into the manga yet, but if it’s anything like this then I’m sure I’d enjoy it. Kind of frustrating when you remember there was a lack of an interest during the pre-planning of Dragon Half’s production. It’s a cute comfy sort of show and although its on the short side, has good art but nothing that standouts out too far from the crop, and has a lack of progressive story that isn’t rushed, you’ll still find plenty to love about the show and not even bother with much of the downsides because you’ll be far too enamored with Mink and her friends to even worry about it all. It’s a show that’s a mix between Dragon Maid and Mahoujin Guruguru but only two episodes, and if that doesn’t sell it for you, then maybe check out those awesome shows too and come back, then you’ll know what I mean.
TrashDax
Dick Saucer is the best name for a character ever, hands down. Story: Dragon Half is a fantasy parody, plain and simple. This is all about the jokes and not so much about actual adventure. Back in the early 90s fantasy was more about D&D stuff than what we get to see today and it plays with all the clichés. The two OVAs are episodic in nature and while there is somewhat of a goal (the concert), it's just an excuse for the plot to revolve around Mink, Dick (hihi) and the others. For a comedy, that's all you need, provided you are able to work withit. Dragon Half is more slapstick oriented, which is not my favourite kind of comedy, but I don't mind it either. What I missed however was any kind of ending. It appears that more episodes were planned but never came to be.
8/10
Art:
Simplicity in comedy is not at all unusual and works well most of the time. Dragon Half takes simplicity to new heights though. Even for 1993, this is very...whatever the opposite of visually amazing is. The times a character is drawn "seriously" can probably be counted on one hand. At times I started to wonder if Mink ever had feet to begin with or if that was just the way she's drawn right now. It's still above ugly, but you might be appalled by the quality.
3/10
Sound:
You can tell the voice actors had a lot of fun recording their lines. They also did a really well job, since most characters have a serious and a joke voice, so it's basically twice the work they did. The background music is stereotypical fantasy fanfare, which contrasts nicely with the slapstick sound effects. The ending song is awful in a funny and cute way and quite the earworm.
9/10
Characters:
They are all jokes, no exception. While they are not as clever parodies as the characters in Konosuba for example, they still work. Mink is the one closest to normal, a likeable, happy-go-lucky girl who just wants to see her beloved Dick (hihi) in concert. They're all funny and that's what counts (not that you could give them much depth in two episodes anyway).
7/10
Enjoyment:
I had a good laugh with this, even though some jokes are a bit dated, which is to be expected in a comedy that is more than 20 years old. The artstyle looks horribly dated, which will undoubtly put off many people from giving Dragon Half a chance. But if you're into slapstick and you don't demand an artistic masterpiece, you should be able to have an amusing hour with this.
7/10
Overall:
6.8/10
