Ranked #2391

Kikou Senki Dragonar

With the success of Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam and to some extent, ZZ Gundam, Sunrise decided to create a new mecha series since they felt that Gundam was getting too old and thus created Dragonar, a potential sucessor to Gundam and a reintroduction of mecha anime to potential new fans. Even though it was a fairly popular when it aired in 1987, it is a fairly obscure mecha anime that only few fans will hear about and is main reason why no proper subs exist for it.

Being a "remake" of Gundam 0079, the plot bears a lot of similarities to it. Dragonar takes place in 2087 where Earth is engaged in a war with the Giganos Empire who seeks to dominate the planet and establish a "rebirth" of mankind. Three teenagers stumble upon three prototype mecha called the Dragonars and are thus forced into the conflict. Due to the fact that Dragonar was also made right after ZZ Gundam, it is less serious than the show it was based off on and has a more comedic and lighthearted tone similar to ZZ. The characters in Dragonar also share many similarities with their 0079 counterparts with Kaine being a goofier version of Amuro Ray, Rose Pattenton being a direct reference to Fraw Bow, Linda Plato a homage to Sayla Mass and Meio Plato resembling Char Aznable completely (with the only difference being that his signature color as an ace is blue, not red).

Even with these similarities to Gundam, Dragonar still manages to be a rather entertaining (if not a bit generic) mecha anime. Its starts up fairly similar and ends fairly similar to 0079, but the main difference between the two series is that Dragonar's main focus is not the mecha battles (even though there are a ton), but rather the romance that develops between Kaine and Linda, along with how Kaine and his two friends, Light and Tap becoming increasingly more important to the Earth Federation. The story picks up and becomes more engaging once the cast leaves space and enters Earth, but the introduction of Gon Jem and his lackeys around the mid way mark of the show results to a somewhat weaker second half. Gon Jem's resemblance to a goat man on steroids,who is supposed to be a feared commander, is simply hard to take seriously as a antagonist. His subordinates with the exception of Min and Zin are also incredibly annoying, but thankfully most of them are gone by the finale. This arc is also one of the silliest, with examples such as Kaine seeking out a one armed martial artist in China in order to learn a technique that can help him beat Gon Jem. Thankfully the last arc of the show is able to turn things around and ends with a satisfying (if not slightly rushed ending), but you will feel that it could have been handled a bit better.

If you're a fan of mecha, Dragonar is worth checking out even though it might not be as good as the anime it was "based" off one. Sadly as mentioned before, there are no completed fansubs for this show and it is thus only viewable with completed HK subs that are often very off in its translation and or in Chinese fansubs. But if you can look over this subtitling issue due to its obscurity, Dragonar is an anime that is worth your time. read more

ART & SOUND SECTIONS: 5
Ahhh, it tricked me. It really did. The opening clip was sooo good, I believed this was a lost mecha jewel. Then I watched the first episode and all went to hell. This series is just a Gundam 0079 imitation. Really, the mecha designs are very similar. The way they fight is very similar. The thing is, this series is far worse than Gundam. The explosions are the epitome of fakeness and the movements are quite sluggish. Besides the awesome intro clip, all the rest of it are mediocre at best. Generic character figures and lukewarm voice acting all over the place.

STORY & CHARACTER SECTIONS: 4
As I said, it is a Gundam 0079 imitation. The exact same story, with amazing similarities in character motives and story development. Only worse. For you see, the source material had lots of social-political overtones. This one remains static to the original idea and goes nowhere. Three youths that pilot super robots and save the day by megalomaniacs, is as far as it goes. Utter typicality everywhere. Although the leading characters have some hints of depth, during the course of such a long and brutal war, none of them evolves at all, besides getting into platonic relationships and learning a thing or two. Most secondary characters don’t even have a purpose in the story, other than wasting time and dragging the plot further.

OVERALL & ENJOYMENT SECTIONS: 2
Although the story does have its surprises and even a somewhat decent ending, it offers nothing of interest if you have seen even one Gundam title. Come on, it is a 48 episode series that could easily be summed up in 12 and STILL be inferior to its source material. What do you think I would rate it?

VERDICT
Plagiarism is a crime punishable by law. GUILTY!

SUGGESTION LIST
Gundam (oh, you knew I would mention it, didn’t you?) read more