I never would have looked at this series were it not for the constant urging of one of my close anime-savy friends. I feel as though I have to say this because, frankly, I do not like this series. Or to be more precise, I do not care for approximately 36 percent of it. Or to be even more precise I could not stand 36 percent of it.
In truth, I find it very hard to judge this series as good or bad, but I'll try to break it down like this: The first nine episodes are terribly boring. The characters are bland, the plot is paper thin, and the pacing is slower than a snail on morphine. However, episodes 10 and onward are fine and dandy all things considered. There's nothing here you've haven't seen before; but that's not bad, just mediocre. A fairly standard sci-fi action series. Still, I cannot stress enough how awful these first nine episodes are. My attempt to finish them all was a downright chore.
Of all the factors I listed that make this series bad, by far the most glaring is the romance element of the story; and I lose the word romance loosely. Much of the plot revolves around Jin and Toa (the two lead characters) opposing the forces that try and keep them apart because, you see, they're in love. Which is all well and good, except there is no reason they should be in love. We never see them bond or see a slowly unfolding relationship. Toa drops out of the sky (literally) and declares her love for Jin, and Jin immediately reciprocates. That's it. And no matter what else you may try to throw at the viewer, I simply cannot get invested in two characters trying to protect their relationship if no relationship exists in the first place. This would perhaps be permissible if the supporting characters or action scenes were their to pick up the slack. But as I stated before, these other elements are mediocre at best.
There is one exception however, and that is the character of Kazuki. This guy is hilarious, but not for the reason you might think. He starts out a Jin's best friend but becomes his enemy after Jin "betrays" him. First of all, what happens is in no way Jins fault, Kazuki just blames him anyway because he is an idiot. But it's this dynamic that is so entertaining in a kind of sad way. In all rights, Kazuki should have been the hero: He trained hard to earn the right to be a dragonaut, but the character who was literally created to serve him chooses to serve Jin instead. After this, Kazuki tries constantly to get revenge on Jin and attempts are always such abject failures that they become hilarious. And usually this has nothing to do with Jin's actions; Jin is a useless putz, but he has powerful friends who put a hell of a lot of effort into helping him. Kazuki on the other hand, has a legitimate reason to be fighting, but has only one ally wiling to help him. Normally this would be downright depressing to watch a character be put down so many times, but he always gets back up; each time with a more harebrained scheme to exact vengeance. This series's idea of justice is simply ludicrous. T o put it simply: Jin is a loser who always wins, while Kazuki is a winner who always loses.
Bottom Line: An incredibly average series with a romance that's only one step above Twilight. I can't really recommend this for any other reason than as something to kill time.
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