Dragonar Academy Episode 6
What They Say:
A tense hostage situation at St. Valeria Church puts Ash and friends to the test. It all comes down to the Silver Knight and the Ice Blue Princess!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While Dragonar Academy may not be as straightforward in some ways as I would prefer so that it could lay down a big picture storyline, it is continuing to be a fun show. The use of the sister-princess and the kinds of things that complicate situations because of that is predictable but it worked well enough to show a bit more of what’s going on in the world while also establishing Sylvia and her personality a bit more. It may be standard stuff, but it’s considered standard for a reason since there are so many examples of it in storytelling and life in general. What also helped is that a good number of character rallied around Silvia and that reinforced the group dynamic while not forcing everything to be about Ash and Eco and the view of the world through them.
With Avdocha having set up a situation in the church where she has hostages now, including that of Jessica, the challenge has been issued to Princess Veronica and those that are at the academy, which is something that Ash and the others get caught up… because they’re able to hang out with someone like Veronica. The hostage situation itself is pretty basic at this stage but they take some unreasonable approaches that anyone with a sense of strategy would reject, starting with sending Ash in to negotiate and be the one that can help set the larger rescue plan in motion. He is a student, right? One that just got his dragon? That hasn’t had a chance to prove himself in any real way? Yeah. That’s anime for you. It makes sense in the context of the show and the lightness of script, but it’s just a cringe inducing moment.
There’s a lot of odd fluff in a way as the show moves through this negotiating phase, especially as Silvia ends up in there as well and finds herself stripped down completely, albeit with bars of sunlight covering parts of her. Naturally, Silvia finds her resolve just in time for there to be a resounding turnaround in what’s going on that will put Avdocha in her place, freezing her in it in fact, which lets Ash be the man of the hour. That makes him quite manly of course, which is still hard to believe, but he uses his abilities well and you have to laugh at the obviousness of the way that Silvia looks at him at that moment with a certain kind of love that will, naturally, complicate things more. This episode is going where you’d expect it, but it just feels weird throughout. Especially when Jessica topples Ash, strips herself down and declares that she intends to have sex with him on the altar for their first time.
In Summary:
Yeah. After that moment with Jessica towards the end, I admit that the show left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth with it. There’s a lot of fun to be had with the show based on what we’ve seen so far, but this episode is a weak piece that’s designed mostly to bring Ash and Silvia closer together. But it does it in a way that doesn’t really work well within the context of the show itself, especially since there are a million other ways to do it. I do like Silvia a lot and I’m enjoying the way Eco isn’t a dominating factor, but the lack of anything strong going on with the story keeps it to an action oriented high school show, complete with the goofy ending that brings Avdocha into the school as a student. It’s just trite.
Grade: C
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.