Review: Netflix's DOTA: Dragon's Blood is a fast-paced anime perfect for fans and newcomers alike

Selemene, you rascal.

Netflix’s latest fantasy series is DOTA: Dragon’s Blood, an anime produced by Studio Mir (The Legend of Korra) and based on Valve’s hit multiplayer game franchise.

As someone who barely dipped a toe in the DOTA franchise but loved The Legend of Korra, I found myself mildly intrigued. This fantasy world might be foreign to me, but Studio Mir did fantastic work on Korra - so surely I could get into the show anyway, right?

Having now seen the entirety of DOTA: Dragon’s Blood’s eight-episode season, I couldn’t have been more on the money.

Though the series does pull from familiar DOTA characters like Davion the Dragon Knight, it chooses to dive deeper into their backstories and relationships by moving away from the games’ much larger scope.

Make no mistake - the series is still epic in scale and packed with bloody action, but its tighter focus allows newcomers to easily invest in these characters, and older fans to learn a thing or two about them too.

Slaying dragons isn't as easy as it looks

So, what’s DOTA: Dragon’s Blood about? The series primarily follows two characters whose journeys don’t take long to intersect: Davion the Dragon Knight and Princess Mirana. Davion starts off pretty sure of himself and his dragon-killing abilities, and who can blame him?

People from surrounding towns practically worship the guy for slaying dragons left and right, thereby saving their people’s lives from meeting a bloody end.

That being said, he’s not all-powerful - heck, he’s not even the best Dragon Knight by a wide margin. Early on in the pilot, he backs off from a dragon nest after sensing a powerful presence far beyond his abilities.

He gets derided for running off, but it’s our first hint that there’s more to Davion than meets the eye. He hasn’t gotten this far by dumb luck or sheer power. He’s wiser than he looks.

And then you have Princess Mirana - arguably the show’s central protagonist, since the main thrust of this story is tied so closely to her. Mirana and her sect worship Selemene, the powerful goddess of the moon. Selemene's grown a little obsessed with ensuring her people’s total devotion to her.

When lotus flowers with magical properties are stolen from their temple, Mirana sets out with the assistance of an incredibly loyal friend, Marci, to get them back.

DOTA: Dragon’s Blood makes it clear from the get-go that it’s not playing around. This isn’t some watered-down, kid-friendly fantasy world - it’s bloody and steamy, and folks either end up decapitated or stuck between a monster's teeth on the regular.

The anime doesn’t play it safe, which gives it a refreshingly mature Castlevania-esque quality. Things start off simply: Davion wants to kill dragons, and Princess Mirana wants her lotuses back.

However, the breakneck pace of its story, coupled with the dangers our protagonists face, lead to an insane, out-of-left-field series of events happening in the first episode alone.

The pilot is truly bonkers, and sometimes hard to follow due to the amount of lore thrown at you all at once - but it still makes for a very effective hook. I don’t want to spoil anything, but just try to stop watching after that first episode. I dare you!

The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows

A round of applause for Studio Mir for their work on this show, please. They deserve everything. From vivid backgrounds to kinetic action sequences, this series doesn’t disappoint in its animation.

The first few episodes had me on the fence - certain characters' movements seemed a little too static, and a travel sequence played out via a series of pictures like a slideshow.

After that though, the narrative shifts into high gear and the animation stays excellent throughout. Dragons and assorted monsters are brought to life via 3DCG animation, but much like the South Korean animation studio’s work on Voltron: Legendary Defender, it doesn’t take away from the show’s aesthetic whatsoever.

The visual style of this series is very reminiscent of their work on Legend of Korra - from the character designs to the larger, more fantastical setpieces and of course, the large animal companion that seems compulsory for this type of show.

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There’s so much personality in these characters thanks to the writing and voice acting, as well. Dragon’s Blood has a jaw-droppingly talented voice cast, and boy does it reflect on the quality of the show.

It took me a while to stop hearing Spider-Man or Ben Tennyson talking whenever Davion (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) opened his mouth, but he delivers a great performance here.

Lara Pulver and Kari Wahlgren slay the roles of Mirana and Luna respectively, two characters who find themselves at odds with one another despite technically being on the same side.

And of course, casting Tony Todd as a dragon - that’s an instant win. The characters of Dragon’s Blood are almost instantly lovable, especially Marci, who I foresee being a clear fan favourite.

That’s important for a show like this, which puts a heavy emphasis on developing its characters and building personal stakes.

There are big, tense, bloody fights where you’re not sure if the cast is going to make it out alive - but there are also smaller, more intimate moments where they simply learn more about each other, bicker and grow closer together. If I had one complaint, it’s that the story simply moves too quickly for some of these moments to land believably.

Romances blossom and enemies turn to friends in a weirdly short amount of time, though I suppose that could be more on the eight-episode count than anything else.

Verdict

I’m pretty surprised at how quickly I’ve fallen in love with DOTA: Dragon’s Blood, seeing as I don’t care much for the larger franchise it’s nestled in.

Viewers are given a short introduction to the origins of this world at the very start of the series, so don’t worry about getting confused if you’re unfamiliar with the lore like I was.

Dragon’s Blood shrinks in scope compared to the games it’s based on, focusing on just a few characters and locations instead of trying to throw in a hundred heroes at once.

That might be a detriment to fans who want to see as many recognisable faces and easter eggs as possible, but that simply isn’t what this series is trying to do.

The cast is deeply likable, and their journey is a fast-paced adventure with intense consequences. Episodes so often end on tantalising reveals, making it difficult to not binge the whole show at one go. Studio Mir’s animation is fantastic, and the voice actors are equally excellent.

You might feel let down once it’s all over, as the story feels rushed at times and ends on a fairly dramatic cliffhanger, but it’s absolutely worth the watch. I haven’t seen a Netflix show come out on such a strong note in a long time.

This article was first published in Hardware Zone.