Dragonar Academy Episode 4
What They Say:
The infamous Iron Blood Valkyrie pays a visit in the wake of the Necromancia attack, striking fear into the heart of… Princess Silvia?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Dragonar Academy did a pretty decent job in the previous episode to ramp things up a bit with our understanding of the world and also the characters. With our leads of Ash and Eco coming across as a bit more accessible with their backgrounds and motivations and the connection between the two of them, it helped to make it all feel like we could invest in them a bit more. We also got a bit of a better understanding of some of what’s going on in the world, though it’s easy to imagine that will run in the background for a bit as we get to know the characters a bit better. And that does make a certain amount of sense as you want to make sure that both of them are connected well enough so that when the big moments come, they can handle it. Smaller trials by fire before then is parr for the course.
With all that’s happened so far, the changes at the school are pretty simple but amusing as we get the full on introductions done now as both Silvia and Ash have taken on some responsibilities. With Eco being pretty unique as a human form dragon, they’ve also made sure she’s a part of things as she’s now the official school mascot. Amusingly, she’s fine with this but does her best roar in human form to show off in front of everyone only to generate laughter since it’s just so utterly adorable. The usual and expected bits with Eco and her disconnect from her form are likely to be fairly common across the series, but they do make it pretty fun and cute without really damaging anything. Especially since she does have a serious side and is genuinely interested in what Ash has to deal with now as a part of the student council.
This episode spends a good bit of its time doing some of the usual school based antics, some of the cliques that exist and a bit of tension between certain groups that want to know more of what’s going on as the student council is accused of hiding things about recent events from the Necromancia incident. Some of what we get is interesting as there are new folks making their way to the academy with some potential connections there that will cause trouble while others are fleshing out their own stories which ties into it. With the Iron Blood Valkyrie coming to pay a visit and her relation to Silvia exposed, it definitely makes for an interesting angle to play. Silvia’s a character that has had some decent time and you can see her factoring in more as time goes on. But it’s interesting that as the series progresses, we get Ash as the main focus and Eco seems to really be in a supporting role as it explores the cast.
In Summary:
The arrival of Princess Veronica will certainly change the course of events for a bit and it’s done with a decent bit of style as it progresses here. It has a nice bit of pomp and circumstance about it, but the episode mostly works for me in just seeing how the core cast are adapting to things after the events of the first three episodes. Ash has certainly come into his own quickly and there’s a pretty decent dynamic between him and Eco that exists but also a few others. I’m particularly interested to see how well used Silvia is with the series since I find myself gravitating towards her more than the others out of the large group of female characters that exist here. The show is still finding its voice overall – and it’s larger storyline – but it’s proving so far to be a light and enjoyable experience.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.