Dragonaut / First Impressions

Summary:

Two years ago, Sakaki had been at the airport to see off his wife Martina and daughter Laura. They had been on the same shuttle as Jin and his family, and Sakaki had watched in horror as it exploded. Back in the present, Jin is shocked to find out that Toa killed his family, but he doesn’t get much time to react because Laina and the ISDA forces suddenly spring their trap. The other Communicators quickly restrain Gio, and Jin learns that Toa had surrendered instead of being captured like he had thought. She feels that there’s something she still needs to do and asks Jin to do what Raina says for now, so he complies. Raina then questions Kazuki on why he and Widow brought the Album here, and Kazuki claims that it was a special assignment from Sakaki to capture Jin and Gio. Though it’s obviously a lie, Raina doesn’t call him on it and lets it slide. Over at the Girouard military’s trailer, Garnet and her men are looking through the resonance data that Raina gave them as part of the deal that they give up on Gio. However, they soon discover that the data is fake.

On the way back to Earth, Raina contacts Sakaki about what Kazuki said, and after a brief pause, Sakaki confirms that those were his orders. After the transmission ends, Sakaki asks his control room operators to show him Kazuki’s personal data. Yuuri meanwhile goes out for drinks with the chief of her research group, Nozaki Kasuga, and is quite happy that they’ve finally gotten their hands on the Album. She thinks that being able to analyze a living original dragon will mean a lot to the D Project, but Nozaki isn’t quite as excited as she is. Back in space, Garnet sends her fleet to attack the ISDA shuttle that’s carrying Toa, Gio, and Jin. At first, the Dragons are forced to stay on the defensive, but Sakaki eventually gives them permission to strike back. Howlingstar, Machina, and Amadeus thus dive into the fray and start destroying Girouard ships, but they realize too late that they’re being led away from the shuttle. While the three Dragons try to get through the waves of enemy fighters, Garnet prepares and fires her flagship’s main cannon in their direction.

Fortunately for the ISDA Dragons and their pilots, a fourth Dragon suddenly appears and shields them. They realize that this Dragon belongs to Habaragi Itsuki, the leader of the Vritra Unit, and she is apparently already acquainted with Laina. There is little time to chat though, because the Girouard ships keep attacking. The shuttle meanwhile is being boarded by a pair of Agathions that Garnet had released. Inside, Gio breaks free of his bindings and tries to convince Jin that they have to protect Toa. Jin is still caught up over how Toa killed his family, so Gio throws him to the floor and reminds him that he said he’d protect her. Remembering all the time he’s spent with Toa, Jin regains his determination and has Gio actualize. Gio quickly destroys both Agathions, and the loss of those forces Garnet to retreat. However, the shuttle is now plummeting towards the planet and is in danger of burning up, so Jin and Gio rush in front of it to act as its shield. They successfully allow the shuttle to enter the atmosphere, though afterwards, Kazuki is as angry as ever towards Jin.

A little while later, Toa gets personally welcomed to the ISDA by Sakaki, and she’s shocked when he introduces her to the Dragon in the large tube behind him that he calls her comrade. Jin meanwhile has been locked up again and is banging on the doors because he wants them to let him see Toa.

Preview:

Well, this episode had a lot of Dragon battling, but it was rather pathetic in terms of the challenge that Garnet’s forces gave (aka. cannon fodder). The most danger the Dragons and their pilots were ever in was when Garnet fired her main cannon, and all that took was a new Dragonaut to swoop in and save them. Given that, I think it’s probably best for them to stay away from more extended Dragon fighting and just concentrate on the story. On that note though, I’m glad that we finally got a look into Sakaki’s motivations with the loss of his family.

What I don’t understand is why Jin and Gio, who had just saved the day, would allow themselves to be captured again. Instead, everyone is under ISDA control now, and it’s beginning to feel like we’re in a perpetual cycle of someone being captured, someone needing to be found/rescued/freed, or both. Having said that though, since Toa willing gave herself up, what she wants to do probably has to take place at ISDA headquarters or something. I just think that it’s stupid for Jin and Gio to be captured along with her – a little communication would have gone a long way. In any case, next week’s episode will hopefully clear up what Toa wants to accomplish, and it looks like we’ll finally get introduced to the guy who appears to be Garnet’s boss.

33 Comments

  3. Besides the “captured to rescued” cycle, we’ve got this extremely annoying Toa running away from Jin every time she says she wants to be with him. I can’t believe we’ve still got 16 (or is it 18?) more episodes of this.

    8GaugeBrett
    Reply

  5. I’m continue to wonder why I’m still watching this. There’s only so much angst, boobs, 3D battling dragons and self-pity I can take in a show. Where is the plot going? Actually, I lost sight of it with all this running away shit. I do realize it’s still somewhat early to judge the show but what I’ve seen so far isn’t really keeping my interest. :/

    Sevenfold
    Reply

  8. I’m still waiting for the story to become more exciting before I continue to watch it (stopped watching at ep 5). I mean, whats with all this “BS” as dimagus states it? Needs more plot-action that propels the story further and less boobs.

    MaimeDaifuku
    Reply

  10. I agree 100% about the saving the day and then letting himself be captured. Only thig I can think is to be close to Toa. Well, Toa’s mission seem to be close to finished, one of the dragons she came for is dead. Every day I think more than the ISDA is the bad guys here and Thanatos only wanted to get his children back and continue on their way.

    golthin
    Reply

  12. Still don´t you see Jin has resonance with Toa and Is her pilot they want both Toa and Jin to join them since Jin is the only one who can obviously pilot Toa and Is the only one allowed due to the rules or sorta of the Dragonaut´s and ISDA and yes Im amazed how much of a lier Toa can be she is always promishing things to Jin which he deserves because the only thing he has known for 2 years Is that he is always alone and no one was willing to accept him. But Jin made one fatal flaw, Kazuki was there for him from the day the shuttle exploded into pieces its just Jin never accepted anyone, which is a normal feeling from loosing your parents.

    Gummi
    Reply

  18. This show just is “blah” at the moment… They have such a staggering opening plot, starting with episode 2 or 3 up till episode 8, however, the first episode was a really god opening to the series but they just failed to continue with it. It also seems so far there hasn’t been any real establishment of the antagonist, Garnet, other than she and her military faction want the resonance… It feels like they won’t actually establish their true motives till episode 15 or so, and they’re just introducing another apparent dragon unit with who knows what it’s purpose is… Honestly I hope they truly establish all this staggering-incoherent plot together in the next 3-4 episodes and gain an honest footing to it. This series does have some potential to end with, I guess you could say, a “bang” or at least a decent ending. I’m still pissed with Gonzo for their Trinity Blood shit ending, however, that final battle wasn’t the real focus of the series unfortunately and I’m going off topic now… Anyways… I really hope this show starts to gain its focus and starts elaborating more in depth the original purpose of Thanatos trying to “come” to Earth and the true purpose/intentions of Garnet, and etc… Plus, NO MORE wasteful episodes that only elaborate very little with the storyline! By the looks of this episode review it does look like they’re starting to bring it together… Hopefully… And ya I know that I tend to write a shit-load when posting my comments lol.

    IfOnlyYouKnew
    Reply

  19. I believe the director wants to keep the best parts of the plot as later they can be. If we are expecting things to be this and that in an episode, the director would have known that that will make the show tensed and not interesting for people to watch. Although I am not fond of the idea Toa causing the death of Jin’s family. For me it does not make sense that why Jin is the only one who survived when he could have died like his family during the crash. I believe there must be some unexplained connection behind that part Toa colliding Jin’s shuttle and Jin being the only one alive unhurt. Well, I believe that director is doing a good job for not making each episode ‘that revealing’ otherwise again we watchers tend to lose interest to the show.

    C
    Reply

  20. It’s just one of those anime that has slow development in the first batch of episodes. I beleave that starting with the previus episode where Toa tells Jin she killed his family that that is the strart of it really, plot wise.

    Since that episode we had more story development in this episode and the next one also seems to have more. So it seems that ep8+ is when the story kicks in gear. Nothing really weird about it, many shows have that slow start for the first 5 or so episodes. The really nasty ones though don’t get good until the halfway point, and that just sucks. A show shouldn’t have to waste 12-15 episodes before the plot kicks in. I can live with 5-8 eps though, these are used to introduce everyone (which they’re doing), set the basis for the plot, the whole dragon and thanatos/ISDA parts. Then show a bit of character development for the secondary characters, ie, the shorty with the big boobs before, and this stuff with Kazuki and his emo haircut.

    It’s all clear now to get deep into the stroy/plot, so that’s what I’m expecting from now on.

    GP
    Reply

  22. I know most animes do have a slow start to them, but how those animes deal with the slow openings is entirely different… Some animes are able to successfully deal with slow openings yet still remain entirely focussed with the series plot and direction. What I don’t like with Dragonaut is the fact that after the opening episode is that the events that occurred from it practically are ignored except for the fact that Jin flew off with Gio, the dragons (Hollowing star is the only one actually shows remorse for one episode) barely remorse for one episode after killing one of their own, Kazuki goes emo, and practically no explanation is left for the dragon and dragonaut going insane for killing/blood except that the Dragonaut was “unstable” so-to-speak. That’s what annoys me with this series is that they completely dropped that plot device in which they could’ve used for the slow opening into the main plot. If they HAD used it (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s them exploring why one of their own Dragonauts and dragon went on a killing spree for the first couple of episodes), Dragonaut could’ve had such a better opening because we could’ve seen what can cause a dragonaut and dragon to go insane, and etc. I guess you could call it a “mini opening arc” and that could’ve really opened the series very well and easily could’ve introduced the characters. But instead we got the “emo effect” instead. But ya, my bitching isn’t going to change episodes 3-8, it’s just my opinion. Oh ya and for those who think I hate this series and I’m just “down playing” it, I’m not… In my opinion dragonaut is 3/5 I just think the director is just being a lazy idiot and hasn’t got his act to together until 8 episodes later….

    IfOnlyYouKnew
    Reply

  24. Both Dragonaut and Shakugen no Shana 2 seem to have wasted away the first 8 episodes with minimal enjoyment. I wouldn’t call them “filler” just yet but if the rest of their seasons pick up and the real story commences, why the heck didn’t they just do a season with like 6 less episodes and get the emo crap limited to the first couple episodes?

    Dimagus
    Reply

  28. HE FORGAVE HER THAT FAST FOR KILLING HIS WHOLE FAMILY AND AFTER BEEN PUT ON MISERY FOR YEARS………..WOW..WOW…WWOOOWWW…..WHAT A CRAP NONSENSE STORY….IS THIS A FREAKING RETARDED KIDS CARTOON OR SOMETHING??????!!!!
    THIS IS GOING THE SAME WAY AS ANIMES LIKE SOUL LINK……WTMF = WHAT A MEGA FUCK!!!

    T_T_T_T_T_T–> >_

    Tensai Otaku
    Reply

  29. Plot development may be a bit show here, but I don’t think it’s too unexpected. After all, if we count this in the same “class/category/whatever” as animes like for example EVA, RahXephon and Argento Soma to name a few, then it really isn’t too strange – in those animes, the plot doesn’t really start unfold nor are we given many answers until, say, around episode 15-18 or so, and I believe it might well be the same here. Personally I think this way – even if the “captured & escape”-cycle gets a bit old – is far more interesting than in those animes mentioned above, where it’s from episode 5 to 15-18 all about “defating angel/dolem/whatever A, B, C, D…” or the like.

    Anyway, this episode gets thumbs up from me. Though I actually hope Jin, Gio & Toa’ll escape the ISDA soon…

    SpectatorBeholder
    Reply

  31. “practically no explanation is left for the dragon and dragonaut going insane for killing/blood except that the Dragonaut was “unstable” so-to-speak. ”

    Other than Kō Yonamine finding evidence Major Garnet had drugged Keiichi Amagi with mind altering drugs causing him? He told Dr Kitajima about it during “Reunion -Attracting Emotions-“

    Dahak
    Reply

  32. Yes it’s slow, but we ARE getting things even in these first 8 episodes. They’re minor bits but they setup the stage for the bigger plot points. One of the big ones is Toa being the one who hit the ship. The other little things are minor for now, but it’s not like these 8 or so episodes had nothing in them story wise.

    On the other hand, you can’t rush things along either, and I don’t see why you should. Most shows, TV/anime and books start off with a slow peace and then pickup after you hit the first big plot point (maybe they have a better/official name for these things?) And like I said, finding out Toa hit the shuttle is one of them. Each time you get another one the peace picks up and bigger parts of the story are known etc. But you really can’t do it all like that from the start, unless we’re talking a movie or a short 6ep OVA. Those have a faster peace, but movies leave lots of things out from the original work (like a novel) so you have other problems with them.

    It just has to be balanced out really. And the only thing I don’t much like is the reused escape and capture bit. But that seems to be over now.

    GP
    Reply

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