Random TV Show Review - DOTA: Dragon's Blood (Seasons 1-2)

 

As you may have heard in the news recently, Netflix are facing trouble with a huge loss in subscribers and because of that, many of their animation projects are either on hold or scrapped. So with all that being said, let's take a look at another animated series of theirs, this one being an anime based on a game by Valve. Yes the people who, for some reason, cannot count to 3 but have given us some great game franchises in the form of Portal and Half-Life (which are both apparently set in the same universe) and Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead and Dota which this series is based on. Specifically the second game in the series, but Dota nonetheless. Let's take a look at this series, which funnily enough has only got two seasons at the time of typing this post up:

Book 1

Set in a world of magic, fantasy and mysticism, the story focuses on Dragon Knight Davion (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) who, following his slaying of a dragon, discovers that other dragons have killed each other in a mad fervor. He heads to his home village to celebrate his victory, but soon becomes aware of a much greater threat when an elder dragon merges its soul with his own. This first season is yet again, another attempt to prove that you don't really need to have played the games to understand it. But as someone who has played a bit of Dota, it would have been nice to see more elements of that here in this series. Despite that, it's wonderfully animated in the style of Voltron: Legendary Defender and has a lot of charm to it despite the intensity of the battles and the seriousness of other parts too. 8/10

Book 2

As the fighting continues, Davion makes a deadly discovery and encounters a number of other things as it looks like his group is doomed. But help can come in all shapes and sizes in the end, but who knows if it will help him and those that follow him. Another pretty good season that further explores the Dota universe with a good narrative, great animation and a few good character arcs too. 8/10

You get what you expect with this series and for what it is, it's alright. Fantasy, magic and mysticism are at the heart of it as is this battle between demons and dragons and like I say, it's alright. Not perfect or anything, but fans will get a kick out of it if nothing else. 8/10