Hisone to Maso-tan (Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan)

Seeking to find purpose in her life, Hisone Amakasu enlists in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and is stationed at Gifu Airbase. During a visit to a part of the base she did not know existed, she stumbles upon the JASDF's largest secret: the Organic Transformed Flyer (OTF), a dragon that has the ability to camouflage itself as an aircraft. After being swallowed up and spit out by the OTF, her commanding officers inform her that this encounter means that she has been chosen to be the next in a long line of Dragon Pilots.

Together with her fellow pilot cadets and "Maso-tan," her own OTF, Hisone must overcome her insecurities in order to discover her true potential as a Dragon Pilot and unravel the secrets behind the OTFs.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Originally conceptualized by BONES, Mari Okada, and Shinji Higuchi. Hisone to Masotan was announced at the 2017 Tokyo Comic Con. It premiered on April 13th, 2018 at 00:00 JST (effectively April 14th) on Tokyo MX. It has been licensed by Netflix for Domestic and International streaming.

Winner of the Excellence Award at the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Hisone to Maso-tan: Nao no Sora
Summary:	Hisone to Maso-tan Digest Douga

Park, Romi
Japanese

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Staff

Matsuda, Akio

Producer

Amano, Naoki

Producer

Oomori, Shinji

Producer

Miyagi, Souji

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Soujo wa Ano Sora wo Wataru (少女はあの空を渡る)" by Riko Fukumoto (福本莉子)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Hisone & Nao ver.)" by Misaki Kuno & Tomoyo Kurosawa (eps 2)
	2: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Hisone & Nao Chorus ver.)" by Misaki Kuno & Tomoyo Kurosawa (eps 3)
	3: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (El & Liliko & Mayumi ver.)" by Satomi Arai & Maki Kawase & Kaori Nazuka) (eps 4)
	4: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Hisone & El ver.)" by Misaki Kuno & Maki Kawase (eps 5)
	5: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Hisone & El & Liliko & Mayumi ver.)" by Maki Kawase & Kaori Nazuka & Misaki Kuno & Satomi Arai (eps 6)
	6: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Liliko ver.)" by Satomi Arai (eps 7)
	7: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Hisone & Nao ver.)" by Misaki Kuno & Tomoyo Kurosawa (eps 8)
	8: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Hisone ver.)" by Misaki Kuno (eps 9)
	9: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (All Members ver.)" by Misaki Kuno & Tomoyo Kurosawa & Maki Kawase & Satomi Arai & Kaori Nazuka (eps 10)
	10: "Le temps de la rentrée~Koi no Shingakki~ (Le temps de la rentrée〜恋の家路（新学期）〜) (Instrumental ver.)" (eps 11)

Reviews

Jun 29, 2018

TakaCode

Recommended

If there was one anime that consider to be a sleep hit of year it would Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan. Despite being done by Studio Bones who are well known for My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist and Eureka Seven this beautifully crafted series unfortunately fell below under people radars as they all interested of watching My Hero Academia Season 3 as well some other hits like Megalo Box, Steins Gate 0 etc. Also this was the anime I was looking forward the most from the Spring 18 season because this show in my eyes had the potential to be truly great. Thankfully this series ...

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Aug 12, 2018

CarelessForce

Mixed Feelings

Hisone to Maso-tan is a relaxing, feelgood anime, a bit different to most others. It has a charming style but the story, setting and characters are all pretty poor.

It's about adults, but so much about the characters, the way they look, sound and behave, is childlike that the fan service, which there is a bit of throughout the show, is a bit unsettling.

On the whole, Hisone to Maso-tan is enjoyable enough, it's a nice change of pace with a few laughs here and there, but I wouldn't recommend it because of the poor writing and the creepy fan service.

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Jul 2, 2018

syncrogazer

Not Recommended

It isn't too often that an anime can promise so much with its presentation only to vomit out a big nothing. This anime is a big, bland pile of nothing. However, this doesn't mean the anime necessarily goes the way of many other shows, staying the course and playing it safe as it fades into obscurity forever. And it isn't as if the writing is conceited enough that it makes it out to be more important than anyone would care. The problem lies in that while the anime does (at times) try to be original, relatable and emotionally engaging, it does so in the most ... unfocused and impersonal way possible. (Meaning: it doesn't really do any of those things).

Yes, I think it's pretty obvious that this anime tries to be a character driven show. The military setting is a personal favorite of mine because the setup allows for a cast of characters of various importance and personality to interact in a way that might not seem natural in any other story. Maybe it's the way the military is almost like a workplace, with its rigidness countered by the personalities of the cast that makes it so endearing to me. Bonding over alcohol, hard work, silly antics, and drama these are all things I can expect from a good military/unit/team-based anime. And, let me be clear, we do get some downtime. However, it is only included as part of the bigger picture, and never seems to exist for its own sake.

This lack of organic interaction mixes poorly with characters who feel inadequate. We never get to know these people, and it's weird because it isn't as if the cast is so huge that they ran out of run-time to try and expose us to them. Amakasu's personality gimmick can barely sustain itself throughout the series, and we end up with another character having to remind us that it was something that defined her. And maybe it is the reliance on these gimmicks, which masquerade as depth, that makes the characters so hollow. I will give credit to the staff in that they clearly engineered each female character to be immediately 'relatable' in an obvious way. They're not written in the way most anime fans are used to seeing female gimmick characters, so it makes sense that it would trick people. But these ladies are still pretty boring, it's only that a female audience might actually like them (and as far as I can tell they do). But, gimmick personalities can be incredibly endearing if written well, and it is very possible for characters like these to have a strong, static personality that can be rewarding to witness. Sadly, the interactions and their personalities don't really make for anything interesting aside from the faux realism that they emphasize.

In this way, truly great characters are often written with simple personalities, but alongside this there is always an underlying capacity for them to reveal real human emotion, which should be apparent even when they express themselves in the most pedestrian way. A 2D caricature with a soul, now that is what a good anime character should feel like, especially when they're drawn so expressively and cartoonish, as in this anime. However the characters we get are written only to mimic humans in both personality and emotion, in the most basic and superficial way, which is why the expression always seems hollow. For, how can anyone expect to be moved by the words of a character who has no soul? They are caricatures who make caricature of emotion and expression.

And, it isn't as if the ritual/mythological element to the story was focused on in any great detail that a character focus would need to be sacrificed. If anything, the anime did a pretty good job of not expositing too much about the mysterious and existentially important ritual, keeping it understandably mysterious. However, it never feels mystical. Perhaps because the anime treats it as more of a natural disaster, like an earthquake or typhoon, which makes sense for the story.

So, what does the anime actually focus on then if not some semi-serious story element or the characters? I couldn't tell you. Having watched this weekly, I'm drawing a blank. However, the general movement of the story is a military slice of life to contrived romance drama that all of a sudden becomes super important to the plot (because we all really want to see Aquarion EVOL again, right?) to the ritual that unravels the previous point.

Despite all of my complaining I wouldn't say the anime is egregiously or offensively bad, it's just tasteless. This makes the designs; characters and art style (which I do like) to feel like such a waste. A waste of setting and design. I should also be up front about my bias as well though. I didn't like the dragons. Now, I knew there was going to be dragons going into this, but this ended up being deviantart:the animation, with dragon vore being the method of piloting, with vomit as the icing on the cake. Maybe this is why I liked Hoshino so much in the beginning, if she got her way this anime might have been about fighter pilots instead. And speaking of Hoshino and her romance, it was quite funny seeing the weekly reaction from the peanut galley: people clearly would rather get angry than use their heads. All in all I couldn't recommend this. However, it is clear that at the surface level a lot of anime fans seem to be happy. For me, this is just a very bland anime that doesn't really leave too many lasting impressions or say anything interesting. And even with the great art and visual design, it was still aesthetically uninspired.

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Poll: Hisone to Maso-tan Episode 8 Discussion RafaelDeJongh - Oct 6, 2018	5 replies	by Assassin2112 »» Mar 15, 5:41 PM
Poll: Hisone to Maso-tan Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 19, 2018	90 replies	by BigBoyAdvance »» Mar 2, 4:27 PM
Poll: Hisone to Maso-tan Episode 9 Discussion RafaelDeJongh - Oct 6, 2018	10 replies	by Fuwa_san »» Jan 8, 7:35 PM
Poll: Hisone to Maso-tan Episode 12 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 8, 2018	30 replies	by hikari_kuroo »» Nov 25, 2023 12:16 PM
Poll: Hisone to Maso-tan Episode 7 Discussion Stark700 - May 24, 2018	30 replies	by L01MK »» Jun 29, 2023 12:53 PM

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