All The Announcements from Anime NYC 2024

Good Bye, Dragon Life Anime Premiere is Another Ho-Hum Fantasy Entry

ANN's coverage of Anime NYC 2024 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

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After a brief greeting to the crowd, the screening of Good Bye, Dragon Life's first episode kicked off immediately. The story here follows a dragon whose long, nearly eternal life ended by human hands and reincarnated into the body of a young man named Dolan. Dolan lives peacefully in his home village, where he mostly trains and goes fishing. One day, he was sent to investigate the local swamp for giant lizard sightings. Instead, he finds a young Lamia girl named Celina and rescues her from a giant monster as he learns she is on a journey to find a husband due to her race being entirely female. However, despite taking a bit of an interest in Dolan, she decides to continue her journey elsewhere, and the premiere ends with the two of them parting ways.

It's hard to talk about this one beyond a general summary because, for the most part, nothing much really happens. I hoped that the protagonist being a reincarnated dragon, rather than a hero with maxed-out stats or an all-powerful demon lord, would make for something a little more interesting. Still, nothing about Dolan stands out as a protagonist. If anything, I was a little more interested in his life as a dragon as it was implied that he lived a mostly solitary existence before being attacked by humans for no reason other than fear, but we don't get much there beyond a few vague hints, and it's not quite strong enough of a mystery to negate how slow everything else here feels.

Celina is probably the sole standout here, as her awkward personality and failed attempts to seduce Dolan with her magic were probably the most entertaining bits in the entire episode, so she might make for a fun character whenever she eventually returns. Sadly, much like with Dolan's mysterious past, it's not enough to make up for how by-the-numbers the rest of the episode is. Since nothing much really happens between her and Dolan, it doesn't exactly make for an exciting premiere. If nothing else, the show looks pretty decent, and it seems like it'll be reasonably inoffensive. Still, nothing about it stands out compared to similar reincarnation stories, and even if this kind of show is your thing, it feels like there are plenty of other options if you want to have a good time. Perhaps things will pick up from where this premiere left off, but I can't say it left much of an impression right now. 

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Good Bye, Dragon Life will premiere in October 2024. Crunchyroll will stream the series in North America