Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku – 03
“Can you see the horrible CGI, man?”
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As a whole this episode wastes no time bringing us back up to speed, again, on the nature of the conflict, both in the world at large, and in Ibuki. We also get a few clues about some of the newer characters. But, essentially, this was more unpacking of the general plot as a whole, and the journey to meet the new character. |
I can’t say that this show is improving by leaps and bounds, but I also can’t say that it’s taking a slide backwards either. There are a great many adventure shows that have to inherit complex points from it’s previous episodes, and Chaos Dragon is no different. It’s much better than it’s first outing, and it’s getting better by the merest of inches…
Nobody Trusts Anybody (yet?)…
Lou, “…no you let me see the back of your character sheet first…”
With Swallow and Lou we have two characters that live with a curse of some sort themselves. Swallow seems to have been born with his, while in Lou’s case, her curse picked her. Both seem to be doing, more or less, alright with it. At least as the show makes out. So at this point you can either classify ’em as being either Blessed with Suck or Cursed with Awesome. Everything goes to pieces in Swallow’s hand, but he has a swords a plenty in his Unlimited Blade/Rust Works. Lou is happy to provide more cups for their drinking this episode as both throw some shade each other’s way and Swallow tries to woo the back-story out of her.
…just an average night out…
But Lou is another story as she seems to revel in her curse, and that her weapon choose her. But I think, as with all the character’s, we will get some tragic back-story in due course. She’s not well liked on any side of the conflict, and seems to be operating on the side of I’m the Necessary Evil. I do like that blade of hers, and the power is pretty unique. Why bother killing enemies when they would kill each other for you? She’s deliberately inscrutable, and loves to play mind games with both friends and targets alike. Not that that make any difference to her; both are the same. In this go around, she outplays Swallow like a boss, turning his questions around on him. We also see that she and Swallow share a goal in the broadest of terms; the elimination of Red Dragon. I guess Lou just see’s offing Ibuki and Swallow as a bonus….
…and she packs luggage like a charm…
And speaking of back-story, Meryl Sherbet, attendant to Sir Swallow, is rich. For all outward appearances, she’s pretty much both support role and owner of, like, all the item shops in this part of fantasy land. So yeah, that’s going a great deal deeper than I would have expected. She’s actually managing his bankrupted estate! This might even dovetail into the fact that D’natia is a much younger nation than Kouran. Oh, Meryl! Please be a cool character always. She even works in the background as an information scrounger…and I hope the better part of her bosses party. She might even be able to put the works to Lou if things get sticky….
Ibuki: “Sorry I blew my diplomacy dice rolls earlier…”, Eiha, “Just shut up and hand over the bento…”
But back to our lead. Ibuki is not in the lightest of moods. He’s having trust issues with everyone and that amounts to the worse when Eiha saves him due to his carelessness. He comes off as unappreciative of her service. With her being a Bound One, appreciation is not necessarily in the contract. Later she gives him a gentle rebuke to start trusting her. Inherent to her nature is her much shorter lifespan, so in the process Ibuki’s curse is not something she fears; especially given her strong past with Mashiro and that early sacrifices sense of duty. With the other character’s busy painting targets on Ibuki, my money is on Eiha being the last one standing. Hell, given how abject her character is at the start and that terminal condition just working working against drama, she might outlive Ibuki, not just the rest of them.
Adventure Quest
What’s an RPG without a map?
But the aim of this episode was to go from point A to point B. Just like any good start of any RPG adventure. The journey starts from Shubka, the city they start the show in, on the Island’s north, and they must journey to Haiga in the south, the home of the Undead Merchant, ruler of wealth! That means Narita-san’s (DRRR’s creator) character. There’s always the late arrival to any game, you know?
But Haiga sits in the middle of hotly controlled Kouran territory, and is under siege. Seems that the city might be in cahoots with the Revolutionary Army. We do cut back to those guys. Their leader doesn’t seem at all concerned that Ibuki is in a nest of vipers in this expedition. That guys is counting on the dragon flame to sort things out. Anyway, Haiga is very prepared for a siege, and it’s remarked upon that the Merchant’s digs are the most protected. Naturally.
They treat the journey in the shortest of manners, preferring to focus on the characters, the various plans they concoct with each other, and the political landscape a bit more. Which is a good thing this early on. I guess the GM doesn’t want a random monster/encounter generator yet? But for all the planning, it’s a simple matter for the Master of Assassins ,Lou to get Ibuki into the city and deep into the heart of the Merchant’s house. So much for not splitting the party? But I think they got more to do next episode.
The Undead Merchant:
>Attack
>Magic
>Item
>Run
>Ask him to join party
Final Thoughts
Well for being based on a game, my major gripe isn’t that it’s a publicity stunt, it’s that it just doesn’t have that punch. I’ve played in and ran hundreds of games, and pretty much the majority of them had punch. I mean, yeah, we all got bogged down in comparing back-stories and what spells and equipment we picked or were going to get. But we knew when to get up and go. I just don’t feel the dice rolling. Now it may be that the game is in early days yet, and all of that is to come, so I’ll be patient a bit longer.
It’s survived the three episode rule, and I’m putting this on firmly in the guilty pleasure column. I shouldn’t like something this clumsy. But I do, and not just for the gaming aspect either. I think it’s a very earnest story, despite a great majority of the flaws. It’s got great parts, and I’m giving it the chance to really throw down in future…..even if the plot forces Ibuki’s hand again, something he avoided this episode….
…and I really really want to see what this guy can do…
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Anime News: WIXOSS Film’s Title, February 13 Date, Visual Unveiled
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Woot! LOLi Destruction!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
More LOLi suffering!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
MWHAHAAHAAHAH!~
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Also, whoever wants more of the the Tsunderie Wonders has Aria AA to look for…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, Chaos Dragon goes into my “passable” list. An altogether below average series where there aren’t any expectations and I can pretty much let anything slide because there’s nothing I’m hoping for. Not something that would have me begging for the next episode either.
If anything, this lackluster series has devious eye candy in Lou. I guess that’s something of note.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
For me there is, above the TRPG thing, a weird crazy glue that holds it together.Lou is good eye candy and one heck of an interesting character. Why they did’t have her bust out in the first episode instead of nearly any other scene, I don’t know. I like Eiha’s design well enough, but I want to see her be much more active in the proceedings. Heck it might go to pot after the party gets together for all I know…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Definition, please.
I like female characters like her. Hot, smart, deadly and you’d do well not to turn your back on them. Right up there with Kurumi Tokisaki. Those types always manage to be the last ditch effort to nail you down.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
See my previous post for Chaos Dragon. It’s under the “Behind the Game Master’s Screen” spoiler.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
MMM….
DejiKurumi…*adds Jibril to the List* 😛
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I can only see SEIBA.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…but not in the wedding dress alternate…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Hadaka Apr0n SEIBA.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Can the source game be played overseas, or is a Japan-only release?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’ve been trying to find bits and pieces for Red Dragon since I did my part of our Summer Picks. AKAIK, the game is in Japanese only, as I’ve only found some amazon dot jp links. I provided some links in my coverage for last episode, it’s under the “Behind the Game Master’s Screen” spoiler for some of the game’s fan translations. I would love to get a copy of the rules, just to see if any of it survived from the game sessions to the screen, but really, I doubt that much of it did…
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Well, if you have the time and patience, I suggest going through the threads in Beast Lair. They have some translations snips of different stuff. Be careful though, it’s somewhat cancerous there and is prone to go off-topic
alwayssometimes. The first one is the translation thread while the second is the discussion thread.POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
There. Corrected again. 😛 The Prisma Illya thread went Luviatastically Booby due to the lack of a chapter last month. >_>
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I actually did give myself a credit of time and patience to poke around. But just a poke. Lay of the land, so to speak. It really is exactly as you say…low signal to high noise…
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
This isn’t bad so far, even if it is getting a little boring. I like Lou and her talking vampire sword, and the blond knight with his curse of constantly destroying tools, is one I haven’t seen before.
Ibuki is probably the most boring character in this so far. I wish it wasn’t so, but there you are.
At least they didn’t kill anybody this time, though I don’t think that will last.
And is Lou constantly trying to push herself as Ibuki’s friend in order to qualify herself as a sacrifice so she can fight Ibuki when he has the Red Dragon power? It’s just weird how she kept pushing it.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, it’s like Ibuki doesn’t have the one good reason to avoid Lou…