Blue Dragon

It was entertaining, and the characters closely resemble those from the Dragon Ball franchise. To be fair, I remember watching this on TV a few years back, so there's a nostalgic factor contributing to my higher score.

The opening and ending songs were very memorable, and the voice performances were great. However, it lacked action for an action-adventure animation. Unfortunately, the pacing was fast towards the end, making it feel rushed.

There wasn't much in terms of world-building, but I loved the adventure parts. There were a few character developments and power-ups, though some characters were quite annoying, leading to a love-hate relationship with a few of ... them.

Overall, I would recommend it.

The game was a lot better - but it did come first - and if it followed the same plot as the game I would give it a 10.

The characters were very childish (they're like 12 in the anime and 16 in the game or something) and sometimes they were unbearable - Bouquet (the hippo girl) was incredibly frustrating and the primary reason why the character score is a 4. Her only use is in the second season and even then she's still annoying and pretty much useless.

I do however absolutely love the plot and the whole shadow concept, words can't describe how ... unique and amazing it is.

Ahhh... A series with artwork by the guy who made Dragon Ball. What can go wrong? ... Surprise! Everything did. It got some fame because of the hype behind the illustrator and then lost it all in a few episodes because it’s a show for children. If you thought Dragonball’s plot and characters were simple, they are Shakespear next to this one. The show was obviously a callback to old JRPGs which were by default simple and cheerful, but that is not enough to make an interesting show out of them. Not even the similar in tone Dragon Quest anime adaptation managed to do that, ... despite being the most famous title all fantasy and isekai anime were inspired from.

Without much of a source material to work with, the result was a dull fantasy adventure any 10 year old can think of. Not that a good source is enough to have an amazing adaptation, since as we all know by now, they suck as a whole. Classics like Final Fantasy, Persona, Shadow Hearts, Xenogears or Chrono Trigger don’t translate to series well. They are meant to be played, not turned into a story you sit back and do nothing. As good as the plot may be, it will feel very weird if you don’t interact with it. So imagine how worse it will feel when it’s just a fairy tale that lasts ten times more than most people would stand.

The characters are not even fun to follow. They are the most cliché stereotypes you can imagine. As simple as Mahoujin Guruguru was, it had fun characters. Blue Dragon has white noise. You will struggle to remember their name, much less their personality or looks. And no, simply using the Toriyama artstyle doesn’t make them stand out.

Seriously, there are thousands of better series to watch or things to do in general than wasting your time with this thing that is nothing more than a lazy advertisement of a subpar videogame. Blue Dragon only managed to blue ball anyone who expected something more.