Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Is Dragon Pilot Worth Watching?
|
Goto page 1, 2 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 5262 |
|
|||
|
I enjoy Dragon Pilot overall but I liked it better when it was focusing on the slice of life elements about the girls fitting into their roles at the self defense force than all the melodramatic romance. I was just kind of frustrated with how it seemed like none of the show's world building and lore ended up having any real importance and seemed to be easily discarded for the sake of the ending. Like what was the point of the whole thing about spoiler[the girls having to fall in love and break their hearts to pilot when Hisone ended up being able to do both anyway for the convenience of the narrative? ] I did like the characters though with Hisone and El being my favorites and of course I like Masotan and I enjoyed the show's unique art style. But i just couldn't get into the drama parts of the show and it all seemed too conveniently resolved.
|
||||
|
||||
Beatdigga
 Posts: 4646 Location: New York |
|
|||
|
Hey, at least it is properly animated, unlike the other Netflix show with Dragon in the title.
|
||||
|
||||
wolf10
 Posts: 931 |
|
|||
|
I was totally prepared to ignore this show as just another cute girls do improbable things series, but it's actually Mari Okada writing about women in the workforce? Sign me up.
|
||||
|
||||
|
DigitalScratch
|
|
|||
|
The inevitable “getting vored by a dragon” jokes. For how adorable this anime is, it’s fulfilling someone’s kink, out there.
It’s honestly one of my favorite anime of the season already. It’s really soft, has a lovely style, and is just really fun. I love how cute the dragons are and the concept of disguising them as fighter jets, even though I personally have zero interest in military matters. I also really liked the romance cause I’m a sucker for stuff like that, though I wasn’t really a fan of the attempted love triangle introduced later on. The real delight for me is still the dragons. I really wished we got more on their lore and more time spent with just them. Last edited by DigitalScratch on Tue Oct 02, 2018 3:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||
KitKat1721
 Posts: 978 |
|
|||
|
I really loved this show, both aesthetically and how its written. The pilots are weird and endearing, the issues brought up felt extremely relatable to me as a young woman working in a male-dominated field, and I think what was said about the show being light but with real anger underneath is very apt. Because this show really was fun and sometimes biting, and I marathon-ed through it pretty quickly.
The ending worked for me on an emotional level so I didn't have any issues with it. Also, the dub is pretty good based on the episodes I watched of it, so that's always a plus. |
||||
|
||||
Suxinn
 Posts: 251 |
|
|||
|
I'm not a Mari Okada fan by any means (in fact, I think I've disliked most of the shows I've seen from her), but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Dragon Pilot at the end. It's an uneven show, for sure, and I almost dropped it near the beginning, but it definitely ended up growing on me (I think it was the island episode that did it).
I personally also would've preferred more of the slice-of-life bits with the pilots than the melodramatic love parts (though Okada managed to sell me on the central romance more than she has with her other romances, so I'll chalk that up as a win). And I felt that, for a show purportedly about dragons, it spent remarkably little time on the mythology/lore, so much so that the whole introduction of shrine maidens and sacrifices and such seemed to come out of left field. Regardless, I did come out of the show feeling better than I ever had coming out of an Okada show, and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more things from this universe. (Slice-of-life OVAs when?) |
||||
|
||||
|
meiam
Posts: 3459 |
|
|||
|
Heard good things about this show so I was looking forward to it, sounds a bit like a mix bag. Okada is.. yeah divisive I guess, she's done stuff that I liked but most of it I end up disappointed by the over the top melodrama and on the nose commentary and this sounds like it indulge in those to excess. But the MC sounds likable enough, maybe I'll just watch a couple of early episode and drop it when it get to "serious" part.
|
||||
|
||||
Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
|
|||
|
Fun discussion, and the show looks interesting, but these columns bug me when they include so many spoilers. An article with the title "Is <such> Worth Watching?" is presumably for people who haven't seen it yet and are on the fence, and yet if they read the article they'll the spoiled on everything. It feels like every one of these columns is like this.
|
||||
|
||||
darkchibi07
 Posts: 5525 |
|
|||
|
I really, REALLY enjoyed around the first half of the series especially the island mini arc, but yeah all that melodramatic romance stuff just soured it for me. I might check out the later half in another time since that climax does sound neat,
Okada is no stranger in "cute girls doing stuff." She has done cute girls gouging on food, playing children's card game, and having an internal psychological battles (not all at once though). 
|
||||
|
||||
CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
|
|||
I feel that's one of the most difficult things about this show, and what makes it so hard to explain. Yes, a lot of the story is a metaphor, but you gotta say, the flight sequences are absolutely amazing and a joy to watch, and just the story of everyday life on a Japanese military base is interesting in of itself. |
||||
|
||||
|
wolf10
Posts: 931 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
GNX903VSBrave
 Posts: 26 |
|
|||
|
I liked but didn't love this one. Like the first commenter, the SoL and comedy bits were pretty great, but I found the overly-dramatic finale to be nonsensical and somewhat unnecessary. I do agree that Hisone is a great MC and that the cast was pretty likable aside from a few of the male characters.
|
||||
|
||||
DeTroyes
 Posts: 521 |
|
|||
|
The only part of the series I thought didn't work was spoiler[the episode 10 cliffhanger that sees Hisone quitting as a dragon pilot. Up until that point I thought the series was going well, but that moment just seemed to come too much out of nowhere. I get why they took that twist, as it gives a reason for Old Lady Dragon Pilot to fly Masotan, but the execution felt completely out of character for Hisone.] But that's a minor quibble.
Overall I really enjoyed this show. The comedy was amusing, the characters endearing, and the animation was a great combination of cartoony exaggeration and anime realism (you can tell whoever did the mechanical design must love aircraft, because the detail on them was astounding). This is easily one of the best anime Exclusives that Netflix has picked up. |
||||
|
||||
FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2508 Location: United States |
|
|||
|
I thought about watching this, but a reviewer I follow wasn't necessarily fond of the show and the direction it took: psgels.net/category/finished-series-adventure/hisone-to-masotan. But reading this column on it does interest me. Maybe I'll look into watching it later on. I know Okada's writing can be a bit hit or miss at times (Hanasaku Iroha being the worst example I know of, and stuff like Anthem and Maquia is where I feel she's at her best...with some exceptions), though there are parts of her writing that I do genuinely like.
|
||||
|
||||
dragonmastr
 Posts: 210 |
|
|||
|
I echo a lot of what people have already said in that I liked it but didn't love all the melodrama that got shoved down your throat during the second half. I did absolutely love the hilarious tongue/licking thing though. It was pure comedy gold and strangely endearing.
|
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group