Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan

syncrogazer★ 4

It isn't too often that an anime can promise so much with its presentation only to vomit out a big nothing. This anime is a big, bland pile of nothing. However, this doesn't mean the anime necessarily goes the way of many other shows, staying the course and playing it safe as it fades into obscurity forever. And it isn't as if the writing is conceited enough that it makes it out to be more important than anyone would care. The problem lies in that while the anime does (at times) try to be original, relatable and emotionally engaging, it does so in the mostunfocused and impersonal way possible. (Meaning: it doesn't really do any of those things). Yes, I think it's pretty obvious that this anime tries to be a character driven show. The military setting is a personal favorite of mine because the setup allows for a cast of characters of various importance and personality to interact in a way that might not seem natural in any other story. Maybe it's the way the military is almost like a workplace, with its rigidness countered by the personalities of the cast that makes it so endearing to me. Bonding over alcohol, hard work, silly antics, and drama these are all things I can expect from a good military/unit/team-based anime. And, let me be clear, we do get some downtime. However, it is only included as part of the bigger picture, and never seems to exist for its own sake. This lack of organic interaction mixes poorly with characters who feel inadequate. We never get to know these people, and it's weird because it isn't as if the cast is so huge that they ran out of run-time to try and expose us to them. Amakasu's personality gimmick can barely sustain itself throughout the series, and we end up with another character having to remind us that it was something that defined her. And maybe it is the reliance on these gimmicks, which masquerade as depth, that makes the characters so hollow. I will give credit to the staff in that they clearly engineered each female character to be immediately 'relatable' in an obvious way. They're not written in the way most anime fans are used to seeing female gimmick characters, so it makes sense that it would trick people. But these ladies are still pretty boring, it's only that a female audience might actually like them (and as far as I can tell they do). But, gimmick personalities can be incredibly endearing if written well, and it is very possible for characters like these to have a strong, static personality that can be rewarding to witness. Sadly, the interactions and their personalities don't really make for anything interesting aside from the faux realism that they emphasize. In this way, truly great characters are often written with simple personalities, but alongside this there is always an underlying capacity for them to reveal real human emotion, which should be apparent even when they express themselves in the most pedestrian way. A 2D caricature with a soul, now that is what a good anime character should feel like, especially when they're drawn so expressively and cartoonish, as in this anime. However the characters we get are written only to mimic humans in both personality and emotion, in the most basic and superficial way, which is why the expression always seems hollow. For, how can anyone expect to be moved by the words of a character who has no soul? They are caricatures who make caricature of emotion and expression. And, it isn't as if the ritual/mythological element to the story was focused on in any great detail that a character focus would need to be sacrificed. If anything, the anime did a pretty good job of not expositing too much about the mysterious and existentially important ritual, keeping it understandably mysterious. However, it never feels mystical. Perhaps because the anime treats it as more of a natural disaster, like an earthquake or typhoon, which makes sense for the story. So, what does the anime actually focus on then if not some semi-serious story element or the characters? I couldn't tell you. Having watched this weekly, I'm drawing a blank. However, the general movement of the story is a military slice of life to contrived romance drama that all of a sudden becomes super important to the plot (because we all really want to see Aquarion EVOL again, right?) to the ritual that unravels the previous point. Despite all of my complaining I wouldn't say the anime is egregiously or offensively bad, it's just tasteless. This makes the designs; characters and art style (which I do like) to feel like such a waste. A waste of setting and design. I should also be up front about my bias as well though. I didn't like the dragons. Now, I knew there was going to be dragons going into this, but this ended up being deviantart:the animation, with dragon vore being the method of piloting, with vomit as the icing on the cake. Maybe this is why I liked Hoshino so much in the beginning, if she got her way this anime might have been about fighter pilots instead. And speaking of Hoshino and her romance, it was quite funny seeing the weekly reaction from the peanut galley: people clearly would rather get angry than use their heads. All in all I couldn't recommend this. However, it is clear that at the surface level a lot of anime fans seem to be happy. For me, this is just a very bland anime that doesn't really leave too many lasting impressions or say anything interesting. And even with the great art and visual design, it was still aesthetically uninspired.

TakaCode★ 8

If there was one anime that consider to be a sleep hit of year it would Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan. Despite being done by Studio Bones who are well known for My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist and Eureka Seven this beautifully crafted series unfortunately fell below under people radars as they all interested of watching My Hero Academia Season 3 as well some other hits like Megalo Box, Steins Gate 0 etc. Also this was the anime I was looking forward the most from the Spring 18 season because this show in my eyes had the potential to be truly great. Thankfully this seriesdidn’t disappoint me one bit because not only this show is a beautifully done character drama that puts Darling in the Franxx to shame but it also manages to be a wonderful fun series that I really liked. Now with that said Hello Everyone this is Shawn aka KurataLordStage and welcome to my review of Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan. Story. The story follows a rookie named Hisone Amakasu who is part of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, where she is situated at the Gifu air base. She decided to join the force to distance herself from people as, her whole life, she had found it difficult to interact with others due to her candid style of speaking and oftentimes hurtful words, despite that not being her intention. Hisone's decision leads to her life being changed when the concealed "OTF" – Organic Transformed Flyer, or dragon – inside the base chooses her to be his pilot, leading her to discover her destined role as a dragon pilot during their ascension in the skies together. According to legend, dragons are thought to possess a key to unlocking the future of the world. Despite this being the anime version of one of my favourite animated movies How To Train A Aragon I thought the story to be pretty good for the most part Right on the bat Dragon Pilot Hisone and Masotan does something that not a lot of anime like to do and that is actually start with a bang. Most series including anime originals feel comfortable taking it slow because they either want adapt the source material carefully as possible to avoid filler or slowly introducing its characters and setting. Dragon Pilot Hisone and Masotan doesn’t go any of this as it’s immediacy gets straight to the point by introducing its characters and setting in a way that is magical and interesting. By the end of the third episode, I got hooked. The character drama in this show is brilliant and well executed. Unlike Darling in the Franxx where the character drama was nothing but contrived bullshit the drama actually matters to the overall narrative where we see characters going thought mini character arcs and development. The show is well paced for the most part that keeps the audience interested with the shows events. Not only that the show does a great job of tacking themes and topics such as trust, loneliness, friendship, commutation, love etc. Plus the way the character developed with theses themes are great. The only issues that I have with this show is that it show is quite predictable as having too much foreshadowing and at times meh writing but don’t you worry they are not as that the other character drama show Darling in the Franxx. Besides thoeses minor issues I thought the story was pretty good for the most part. 8/10 Characters. The characters in Dragon Pilot Hisone and Masotan are all fantastic they own ways. Every single character in the show is likeable, relatable well written for the most part and they are all fun to watch from start to finish. Like with A place Future than the universe the show does a great job with character interactions where the anime how different and unique the characters just based from they character expressions from the aggressive Nao, the soft and subdued Liliko to the straightforward and innocent Hisone. Some people may find some of theses chararater annoying in the beginning but least they redeem themselves as they all go through chararter which is more than about any character from the Thireenth Planation from Darling in the Franxx where they don’t even any character development for shit. Overall the characters in Dragon Pilot Hisone and Masotan are all great and well thought out. 9/10 Visuals. Gorgeous is honestly the best way to describe the visuals Dragon Pilot Hisone and Mastoan. Studio Bones really did a wonderful job with the overall presentation from its great use contrasting heavy strokes on the character designs, the warm soft colour palette to the overall great shot composition and camerawork. The animation is fantastic. While it may not be in the same level as some other Studio Bones works My Hero Academia or Blood Blockade Battlefront the actually is still great enough to be one of the best looking of 2018 with it’s smooth movement, and well animated fights. 9.5/10 Sound. The soundtrack is amazing. Instead of having a generic music score that you have seen before from many anime this year the show’s mostly uses classical orchestral song pieces to give the show more life and atmosphere. There are however a couple of moe light-hearted tracks in this show but I thought it fitted well the show tone. The opening theme Soujo wa Ano Sora wo Wataru by Riko Fukumoto is fantastic opening theme that perfectly captures to tone and setting of the show. Plus the visuals for the opening was fantastic and well animated. The ending theme Le temps de la rentrée by D Pai is by far the most catchiest and ending theme of the year. I really adore that song with a passion. The voice acting is top notice. Every single Seiyuu did a fantastic job with the roles that they were given and it really made the anime more alive. Sadly this show hasn’t got an English Dub but I hope Netflix will dub it sometime soon. 10/10 Final Thoughts. Dragon Pilot Hisone and Mastoan is a wonderful anime that I really adored. It may not be as masterful as Hina Festival which was my favourite anime of the season it was still a great show that deserves to be loved. The story while mainly character driven was pretty. The character is all great and enjoyable the visuals are fantastic and the soundtrack is brilliant. The show may not be for everyone but if you want to a watch a great character drama that is filled with charm I would strongly recommend Dragon Pilot Hisone and Masotan. Final Score 8/10