The daughter of Ruth the Red Lightning, and the red dragon he was sent out to slay so long ago, Mink is what is known as a Dragon Half. Half human, half dragon and totally cute. Mink is strong, she can fly, and breathe out fire – but even after all of that, she’s still just a young, naive girl at heart.
The one thing she wants most from life is to be loved by the famous idol dragon slayer, Dick Saucer, but to get him to accept her, she will have to journey to find the magical potion in the hope of turning her into a full human.
However, trouble lies in wait for our young heroine in the form of an evil king who desires her mother for himself. Facing vile henchman after henchman, Mink is going to have to work hard to finally realise her dream in this fun-filled, mad-cap quest to become a human and capture the heart of the man of her dreams!
Dragon Half is a 2 part fantasy comedy anime OVA released back in 1993, directed by Shinya Sadamitsu, Masahiro Koyama, Takahiro Kishida and produced by Victor Entertainment.
This is a little comedy-charged romp through a fantasy world filled with dragons, swords and sorcery. The story revolves around the Dragon Half Mink and her quest to locate the magical potion that will enable her to become a human in order to woo the love of her life, the idol dragon slayer, Dick Saucer.
But she happens to fall in the sights of the evil King and his daughter Vina who move to eliminate her for good. The sets up the short two-part OVA perfectly for a few hilarious encounters that will leave you with tears in your eyes. The comedy is silly, the wit dry and the action absurd.
The characters for Dragon Half all fall straight out of any traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy book, but what makes them stand out is the outrageous and cute character designs. The length of the series means that no real character development takes place, but then that really isn’t the goal of this little story.
The animation uses a very loose, deformed style that complements the comedy perfectly. The use of super-deformed characters, silly facial expressions and exaggerated animal designs are all well used throughout the OVA. The voice artists fit the tone of this OVA perfect, as does the soundtrack. Note: Dick Saucer’s attempts at singing are particularly funny to listen to.
There really isn’t much to say about this little OVA, except not to expect too much from it and just sit back and enjoy the fun. This title fits very much in the vein of Slayers, and fans from that series will really enjoy this little distraction.
(Historic Note of interest: This review was written back in 2004)
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Half