First Impressions: Dragonaut -The Resonance-

It's time to churn out some impressions of a new show that's a little more action-oriented. I wasn't particularly expecting much from Dragonaut; it was just one of those shows I had kept my eye on just in case it turned out to be really good. After watching the first episode, I am disappointed to say I'm still unsure about whether this show will be a hit or what it's even about for that matter. The story is somewhat disorienting. The style and animation seems to drop off at certain points in terms of quality. Some of the fighting was cool though.

Read on for more.




Story:

Our protagonist's name is Jin Kamishina. Jin is eighteen years old. Jin is very emotional and lonely because two years ago, he lost his parents and younger sister in a space shuttle accident. The story of Dragonaut seems to take place around our own current time period, perhaps slightly more into the future where ordinary citizens can take a commercial flight into space like we do today with airplanes. The shuttle that was carrying the Kamishina family was almost into orbit but then suddenly it was stuck by one of three foreign objects from outer space. It exploded high in the sky leaving the people in the space port that saw them off in shock. Jin was aboard this shuttle and somehow managed to survive the impact and the long fall into what I assume was the ocean. The first episode doesn't show us how Jin survives. Perhaps this will be used later on in the series as a part of Dragonaut's seemingly complex storyline.

Two years after this horrible tragedy, we see Jin living his current life with some relatives. As I stated before, he seems to be very lonely and not at all content with the company of his current household. Since he survived the shuttle accident, Jin seems to be well known. I say this because we see a reporter or investigator tracking him trying asking him questions regarding the event. Jin tries to lose him and succeeds.



So what happens to Jin next? I'm not sure to be honest. We are then taken to other scenes involving unknown characters. We are also introduced to some organization or group called the "International Solarsystem Development Agency" or "ISDA" for short. We see various members of the ISDA are taking amongst themselves, and we hear that something called "Resonance" will be initiated that night.

If you are confused at this point, don't worry, I was as well. A monster is loose in the city and we see him attack and devour a woman walking home at night. It's dark and many mysterious noises are generated piquing Jin's curiosity, whom was also walking home nearby. He investigates but then realizes that something is very wrong and backs away. As he does that, his foot strikes a tin can on the ground and that catches the monster's attention. He then proceeds to attack Jin who tries to run away. We begin realize that Jin isn't exactly your typical macho man who's willing to fight anyone and anything, but then we see he's not some sissy either. He does what every man should do when being pursued by large monster and fights back. Our hero happens to find a steel pole laying on the ground. He picks it up and swings straight at the monsters head. Too bad it had absolutely no effect on the monster. He didn't even flinch. It was a nice try though, Jin.

This part of the show was pretty dark so it's rather difficult to tell what exactly is happening. The monster pursues Jin a bit longer. Jin escapes but the monster comes through the floor. Somehow they end up on top of a tall building and the monster attack Jin with his gigantic arms. He misses and does a lot of damage to the building and then Jin is now free falling straight towards the concrete streets below. Throughout the entire episode, a mysterious girl has been following Jin. And that's good for Jin because she jumps from a rooftop and catches him in midair and then lands on the roof of another building and jumps away with Jin still in her arms.

Of course their pursuer was not far behind them. He catches up to them on a highway and an awesome fight occurs. Don't judge the girl by her size. She gives their opponent some very hard kicks. It doesn't last very long. A gas tanker is driving down the highway and hits the monster head on causing a large explosion. The monster walks out of the flames and by that time the girl and had fled the scene with Jin.

Jin then wakes up. He falls asleep or loses consciousness somewhere amidst all the action. He quickly remembers that a monster had attacked him and was angry about it. Then he sees the girl who rescued him standing a few feet away from him with a pleasant smile on her face. She introduces herself as "Toa" to Jin. They grasp each other's hand and that's the end.

The Bottom Line:

Once again, for the third time in a row, I'm giving a sort of mediocre impression for the title anime. Dragonaut was alright, but it's nothing to get excited over. At least not yet anyways. A lot of characters were thrown at you and not many of them properly introduced or their roles explained. I even believe on the official website for Dragonaut, a chart is available that details all the characters and their relationship with each other. I believe that Dragonaut will have a very deep and somewhat complicated storyline so it definitely has the potential to become a very solid show later on down the line. But as for me, I just wasn't excited about it. I will keep my eye on Dragonaut though.















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