Dragon Half – A Fun Adventure Cut In Half

I’ve thought about this show for a little bit and I don’t have as much to say about it as usual. I mean, this is a short two episode ova with each episode being about an average tv show’s episode length. It is also an early production from production I.G., was based on a manga by Rysuke Mita, and was planned for four episodes but was cut in half from the lack of interest and probably the Japanese bubble economy bursting. I feel like this is yet another example of that era’s ova industry falling apart along with anime failing until the inevitable return to anime’s glory in the mid 90’s. 

This ova series is so hilarious and I enjoyed it a lot more with this being my second time watching it. Dragon Half takes place in a weird space of late 80’s and early 90’s technology while being a part of a fantasy sort of world too. Basically, it’s a perfect avenue for really good and silly jokes. Something which is good because that is Dragon Half in a nutshell. It does have some semblance of a story, but it’s barely there. Like it’s a suggestion rather than the entire rule. A lot of really cool and hilarious sorts of meta jokes and modern jokes in a fantasy setting? Yeah, that’s Dragon Half.

The main character of this show is Mink, a half human and half dragon teenage girl. A teenage girl that wants to see her favorite idol, Dick Saucer, in concert and wants to get a record signed by him. Very average sort of teenager stuff. The problem comes in when the kingdom wants to kill Mink because she is half dragon. Especially since Dick Saucer isn’t just an idol, he’s a dragon slayer. So there is that bit of a journey that occurs as Mink and her friends travel to find a potion that will turn her completely human. So she wants to sacrifice her really attractive and strong body for a normal teenager one. Kind of crazy when none of them get there because this series was cut in half. 

If this show was longer, then the jokes would feel so much more drawn out and overused. Everything works for meta sort of humor in shorter batches because none of it is pushed out too much or overdrawn at all. Combine that with perfect visual comedy and voice actors really getting into their roles and that is Dragon Half. Highly recommend checking it out because it feels like something that people from older anime generations just know so much more then now where ovas from the 80’s and 90’s are not as important or just left behind in that sort of conversation. Go ahead and check out this short ova if it sounds interesting.