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Fresh from the Fall Animé Season in Japan comes a sci-fi animation co produced by Gonzo and NAS (Nihon Ad Systems). With competition from Gundam 00 in this arena does Dragonaut have enough in its locker to keep anime fans watching?

Twenty years before the storyline starts an asteroid destined to collide with Earth instead obliterates the planet Pluto on route. Now taking place of Pluto’s orbital path the asteroid is dubbed “Thanatos” however due to the previous incident its orbital path has considerably slowed down, increasing the chances of it colliding with Earth once more.

To combat the likely event of the Earth’s destruction an agency was set up to develop and to protect the planet - The International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA). Consisting of the finest minds in their field they have constructed a project dubbed “D-Project” named after the “Dragonauts” that were developed after obtaining a Dragon’s Egg under the ocean.

The Dragonauts primary goal is to destroy the asteroid Thanatos in case of a collision with Earth however it became apparent to the ISDA that Thanatos is not the only concern. From recent events monsters have roamed the Earth killing everything in sight and it because their duty to protect the innocent from such acts.

The story follows a young man called Jin Kamashima who has lost his parents and sister due to a shuttle collision two years ago. He was on his way with his family to the Moon with his father as the pilot. A mistake was apparently made during the flight causing the shuttle to collide with debris soon after take off. There were no known survivors bar Jin himself, who shoulders the weight as people blamed his father for the whole incident. Jin himself does not know how he was the sole survivor of the shuttle incident but his journey begins from here as he becomes intertwined with these dragon like monsters, a mysterious girl and new encounters of both good and evil.

One thing you can rely on from a studio like Gonzo is fluid and vibrant animation and it is clear to see CGI assisting the animation routines throughout. This itself is not a negative thing as techniques have become so advanced that such effects complement rather than stand out from the traditional cel animation. Oh and you might notice that the female character designs seem rather… Ample, along with often skimpy outfits.

The pacing of the first episode allows you to appreciate the situation Jin finds himself in as he struggles to live the life of a teenager alone. Details are revealed about the Dragonauts and these Monsters which are dubbed “Albums”. The action scenes and explosions are fairly detailed but you can tell it only serves as a taster of things to come.

In terms of character design as mentioned earlier females seem to play quite a prominent role with the camera angles but thus far it is by no means large on the fanservice as other animes - Certainly there is no “jiggle counter” as in Mai Otome Zwei for example! However the characters could be covered up but the designers seem to be rather happy to let things hang out… And really I can’t see many people complaining about that!

In all due to the designs, animation and a plotline with plenty of scope, the first episode set things up for the next one which hopefully focuses a bit more on characterisation and obvious chemistry between Jin and the pink haired Communicator. I’ll keep an eye on this series to see how it develops.

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