Dragonaut / First Impressions

OP Sequence

OP: 「perfect blue」 by ATSUMI
Watch the OP! Mirror 1, Mirror 2

Summary:

At a spaceport, Kamishina Jin is getting ready to board a shuttle piloted by his father that’s headed for space, but before departing with his family, he says goodbye to his friend Tachibana Kazuki. Unbeknownst to them, a large asteroid-like object has just shot three projectiles at Earth, and one of them hits the shuttle just seconds after it takes off. Jin somehow survives the explosion and gets thrown down back towards the planet. Two years later, Jin leaves for school, and as he looks up at the clear sky, he thinks about how he’s alone. During this time, Laina Cromwell, the leader of the Lindblom Unit of the International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA), is being interviewed on TV about the Thanatos asteroid. He explains that Thanatos has stagnated in the old Pluto orbit, but it’s not impossible for it to approach Earth again, so they started up the D-Project. Listening to the broadcast is a man named Yonamine Kou, and he notices when Jin walks past his car. He gets Jin’s attention and points out an article about Jin returning alive, but Jin ignores him and keeps moving.

Not giving up, Kou persists with talking about how Jin was the only survivor from two years ago and the son of the pilot who made an error, so Jin tells him to leave him alone and runs onto a bus. Shortly after this, Kou notices a certain girl standing across the street, but by the time he grabs his camera to take her picture, she’s gone. On the bus, Jin hears the other students whispering about him, and he decides not to get off when the bus arrives at school. Kou meanwhile shows a very fuzzy picture of the girl earlier to Kitajima Yuuri, an ISDA researcher, but she can’t tell if the girl is a Communicator or not. When she gets up to leave because she doesn’t have time to waste, Kou calls her cold and holds onto her coat, so she makes him let go. Returning to the ISDA base, Yuuri heads deep down special chamber where she finds her boss Nozaki. After informing him that they’re doing a new Resonance tonight, she also reveals that coming here makes her think that all meetings have meaning.

For the Resonance, the ISDA has Jin’s old friend Kazuki strip down and approach a dragon embryo. The tentacles that suddenly sprout out from it and attach themselves to Kazuki cause him much pain, but it’s soon over. Yuuri tells Kazuki that the Resonance was a success, meaning that he has a dragon now. Elsewhere in the city, Jin hears a woman screaming and finds her being feasted upon by a brute-ish creature. When he realizes what’s going on, he runs away screaming, but the creature chases after him. Escaping into a nearby building still under construction, Jin realizes that even hitting the creature with a metal bar doesn’t have any effect. He then heads up to one of the upper floors, however the creature still corners him and tries to smash him. This sends Jin flying out the window in a free fall that reminds him of when he fell out of the shuttle two years ago. He had seen his mother and sister’s bodies falling beside him back then, but they got hit by wreckage, and Jin had been saved by a bright light. This time however, it’s a girl who leaps through the air and catches him.

The creature jumps after them and eventually catches the girl, so she’s forced to put Jin down and fight. Able to hold her own, the girl kicks the creature in the face and sends him reeling long enough for a truck to come over the hill and hit him. She then takes Jin and leaps away again, but the creature emerges unharmed from the flaming wreckage. Not pursuing this time because he sees another car coming – one that is carrying an old man named Amadeus and a girl named Sieglinde – the creature decides to go the other direction. Jin meanwhile wakes up on a hill overlooking the harbor, and he remembers what happened. Standing nearby is the girl who saved him, and she introduces herself as Toa. The two link hands as the sun rises, and Jin recalls that at that time, he felt that he wasn’t alone.

ED Sequence

ED: 「Rain Of Love」 by福井裕佳梨 (Fukui Yukari)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2
The name Fukui Yukari may not ring a bell, but her voice certainly does – she played Nia in Gurren Lagann. It’s a decent song, thought I think I like the OP a bit better because of its chorus part.

Preview:

Well it wasn’t too hard given the shows I’ve watched, but this is easily the best show of the new season for me, based on first episodes alone. There’s plenty of action, lots of plot potential (they introduced a lot of concepts and explained very little), a romance being set up, and Hirano Aya in an antagonist role. Actually, pretty much the entire main cast of Suzumiya Haruhi was in this, though I had to listen closely to realize that Kyon/Sugita Tomokazu was voicing Jin’s father and Mikuru/Gotou Yuuko was the big breasted lady (Makina) in the car with Kazuki. And as expected of GONZO, the first episode’s animation quality is very, very nice. The 3D looked a lot better than I thought it would from the trailer, but there weren’t any actual Dragon battle this episode. It also remains to be seen if that holds up for later on in the series.

If the OP is any indicator, then it would seem that they’re setting Jin and Kazuki up to be on opposite sides of whatever conflict is coming, which I guess would have Jin taking Toa’s side and Kazuki staying with the ISDA. This wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve seen old friends split apart like that, but we’ll have to see if they can develop it in an interesting way. For now, I’m getting some good vibes from this show and look forward to seeing next week’s episode.

75 Comments

  9. Looks interesting….and it has Yukari Fukui and Aya Hirano, so I’ll definitely have a look at the first episode at least. Yet, there is about an 80% chance that the animation quality will go down a notch by episode 2, or if we are really lucky (Romeo x Juliet lucky) episode 3/4. Let’s pray Gonzo won’t make a mess outta this!

    Konata-chan
    Reply

  11. Well, Gonzo showed a few years ago with Blue Submarine No.6 that they can handle 3d stuff, or Yukikaze. And that they can good stories was proofen for me when I watched Last Exile.
    However either the setting nor the art style appeals to me, so I doubt that I’ll watch this show~

    mutio
    Reply

  18. There is absolutely no such thing as “too well endowed.”

    Well okay, there was Eiken, but that’s what we call “macro.” I’ll check this show out–I need my share of explosions now that Gurren-Lagann’s over. T_T

    Anonymooo
    Reply

  31. “This is easily the best show of the new season so far for me, based on first episodes.”
    +1
    Here we go for the first (and I hope not the last) good surprise of this Fall :D.
    I just watched the raw and I have the same thoughts than you.
    Now we need to pray it will not turn out like idolmaster after the first ep >

    algent
    Reply

  35. “fanservice

    no go for me

    if thats all thats going for in this series”

    Why don’t you actually watch the episode then comment about said fanservice, because there wasn’t that much of it.

    Alex4life
    Reply

  36. @Setsuke: I believe that character is actually voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara, who voiced Simon in Gurren-Lagann. I do not recall hearing Tomokazu Sugita’s voice in this episode. It seems that character (Kazuki) and the main character are going to have a Lelouche/Suzaku kind of relationship where they’re old friends who end up being enemies.

    JKTrix
    Reply

  37. THIS IS MADE OF GOD AND WIN!!!

    Hirano Aya – Garnet
    Chihara Minori – Toa
    Goto Yuko – Makina
    Ono Daisuke – Kanashina Jin
    Sugita Tomokazu – Howlingstar

    Season is over! Dragonaut wins.

    SplitFatality
    Reply

  42. Boobies! Why are there so much boobies! Why are some of them sooooo big?!
    Seriously are they necessary? Tone them down a bit, damn.

    Episode looked okay though. A lot of the other shows are failing me, so this is winning by default along with other mediocre shows.

    Well, time for the big guns.

    Rembr
    Reply

  44. I had a feeling that this would have the strongest opening of any show so far this season, and not because it had the damn Haruhi cast (which everyone things is like the best cast ever for some reason, it’s bait, nothing more nothing less), but because it’s the only one that stood out for me since I first became aware of it back in the summer. Personally I couldn’t care less if OMG Aya Hirano and Haruhi Friends are in it, I’m interested in the plot and characters.

    Kaioshin Sama
    Reply

  47. Who’s the seiyuu of Toa again??!! OMG!!! An expressive role!!!!! Gonna give it a few more episodes.

    Shows that I’ve seen and enjoyed:
    Sketchbook (Aria vibes. Loving it)
    Mokke (Ayako Kawasumi = I’ll watch it even if it’s a black dot on the screen for 23 minutes)
    Dragonaut (Can’t seem to stop thinking of pokemon for some weird reason, but all in all, a solid first episode. Love Toa fighting. Feels like Eureka)
    Blue Drop (feels like it’s gonna be really emotional later on with lotsa action)
    Night Wizard (feels like Mai HiME, except the male lead isnt such a wuss. Definitely gonna be following this)
    Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro (Haruhi’s dad’s voice, was it? In any case, could use one or two new detective animes)
    Bamboo Blade (Nice visuals so far, quite funny, but gonna wait for more characters)
    Ninomiya kun (While fanservice isn’t anywhere near Girls Bravo, can’t seem to stop thinking of it as Girls Bravo with aphrodisiac-overdose… weird, but I like it)

    As for Myself;Yourself… seems like we’ve got a tsundere character going on, but I dunno if my ears can take any more of chiyo-chan on helium (yes, chiyo-chan from AzuDaio and NOT the seiyuu). Might be able to endure it if I listened to some extra loud music before hand… will see.

    Jayars
    Reply

  52. Toa’s Seiyu is no other than Minorin which is the seiyu of Yuki Nagato…. and I love Minorin. This would be promising show…

    Daisuke Ono (Kazuma Yagami) now Jin and Minorin (Yuki Nagato) now Toa the nice pairing this season.

    and Toa seems look like Minorin in some way.. talk about character similarities

    arigatou
    Reply

  57. Well the show seems like it has potential. The events in the first episode point towards the development of a engaging and interesting plot and it certainly has a large cast of characters to hopefully keep the show in full gear.

    However the sheer number of CLBWs (Comically Large Breasted Women)that appeared in the first episode alone makes me fear that this is going to end up as another A-typical Gonzo production… =(

    8GaugeBrett
    Reply

  58. Just saw the episode…

    This definitely looks promising. It has an impressive character cast and great music and animation. I hope that stays for more than just the first few episodes. I think Aya Hirano will make a great villain character. I really enjoyed hearing that cockiness and arrogance in her voice(I love arrogant characters, if they also have the power to back it up).

    I’m definitely getting some SEED/GEASS vibes from this as well – two friends going two separate ways only to be reunited under the strangest of circumstances and on opposing sides. I hope they come up with something original in this series instead of the traditional – they fight and in the end make up again. This theme has become sort of a cliche lately.

    Also, is it just me, or does the main char really remind me of Sasuke? They look similar, have similar demeanors and both of them lost their families.

    Finally, I also couldn’t ignore the ridiculous size of most of the women’s assets. Hey, I like big boobs and they are pretty common in anime, but there have to be some limits.

    Darklord
    Reply

  60. Generic useless emo male lead, really weak writing, a disregard of physics that make Gurren-Lagann look like Planetes… Not good signs.

    Wake up people, this thing is just a big pile of crappy clichés!

    Ninjacat
    Reply

  62. Am I the only person who thought the first episode resembled GSDestiny? D: Except I guess Jin isn’t as angst as Shinn, but still. And either I’m stupid or something, but the fact that they threw every characters in the first episode didn’t help me. I got confused. Everything seemed clichéd, like I’ve seem them before.

    But on the other hand, I like the art, the character designs, and definitely action, so I’ll probably keep up with it anyway. It does have potentials and so far from what I’ve seen it might be the best series this season :X

    Fuugetsu
    Reply

  65. Show Spoiler ▼

    SGerbil
    Reply

  66. boobies, big boobies, all of them. Save for that one chick: the one driving and making fun of Kazuki. and that chick next to her, the seat belt seperating hers… man. I dun know. This one seems kinda cheap to me. only thing I liked was the fighting Tao vs. Monsterdood.

    JommyMarkButt
    Reply

  67. @DarkLord
    When I saw Jin I thought “OMG this is Ritsuka at his 20’s!!” but I have never thought about Sasuke, they are pretty similar too XD. And the Lelouch/Suzaku thing is pretty similar too (even the hair colors are the same, lol). The show looks promising, though ^_^

    meromero
    Reply

  69. Okay, since it’s apparent that it’s a little difficult to figure out who’s voicing who, and what are the names of some characters (I had to research a bit and sound out several names from the offical JP site myself, as only a few characters are named), I’ll try to impart what I’ve figured out. Romanizations are taken from ANN (except as noted); I don’t know if there are official romanizations yet.

    First off, for the Haruhi fans, to get that out of the way, who is playing who (these have been noted above, but the show didn’t mention a number of names):

    Daisuki “Itsuki” Ono — Jin (protagonist)
    Minori “Yuki” Chihara — Toa (heroine) romanized as “Thor” on Wikipedia
    Tomokazu “Kyon” Sugita — Howlingstar (redhead with “fighting game hair”), jin’s Father
    Yuko “Mikuru” Gotou — Makina (woman with “seatbelt” breasts), Jin’s Sister Ai
    Aya “Haruhi” Hirano — Garnet (pink-haired Urd clone with “B.B.B.”)

    Ono is easily recognizable, as is Gotouzu-sama (at least as Makina), as they are basically doing their Itsuki and Asahina (big) voices, respectively. Sugita is almost unrecognizable as Jin’s father unless you know it’s him, and is using his “Rotton za Wizaado” voice for Howlingstar (slightly toned down). Minorin is using a fairly normal voice, but there is some Yuki in there. Aaya-chan is definitely unrecognizable (at least for me) unless you know it’s her, but she has a fairly short appearance in this episode. I thought it was Megumi Toyoguchi in full-on Revy mode when I first heard it.

    There are a number of other excellent seiyuu, though, if Haruhi wasn’t your cup of tea:

    Tetsuya Kakihara (GL’s Simon, RxJ’s Mercutio) — Kazuki (childhood friend)
    Junichi Suwabe (FS/N’s Archer, FMA’s Greed) — Gio (guy with long black hair from OP)
    Nana Mizuki (FMA’s Wrath, Nanoha’s Fate) — Sieglinde* (blond loli), Jin’s Mother
    Jouji Nakata (Hellsing’s Alucard, KG’s Giroro, etc.) — Sakaki (ISDA Commander)
    Yukari Fukui (GL’s Nia, Umisho’s Shizuoka) — Saki (bridge bunny that spoke in this ep), ED Performance

    The two Gurren Lagann seiyuu were pretty obvious (but I was looking for them), and Nakata is always obvious. Feito-chan only had a line and a half, and Suwabe’s character never showed up. We’ll see more of all of them, later on, though, I’m sure.

    *The official site has this as ジークリンデ, which would be “Jiikurinde”. While ANN has this as “Jacqueline”, since ジークフリート is “Siegfried” (a la Soul Edge), and her last name according to the official site is バウムガルド or “Baumgard”, which is also Germanic, I’m leaning towards Omni’s translation.

    quigonkenny
    Reply

  74. Aside from the fact that the Army Lady (her name escapes me) has the biggest breasts of them all in this series (as far as I’ve seen), it’s a good anime. Makina scares me a bit too… everytime she’s shown, her image looks more fitting in a porno (sorry Makina fans) that in this anime. It’s nice to know half of the Suzumiya Haruhi cast is on this XD;

    Lils
    Reply

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