Young pilot Hisone Amakasu gets the surprise of her life when she learns that dragons exist, and one has chosen her to be its pilot. We begin with Hisone (Misaki Kuno), struggling to choose her career after school, finally deciding to join the Air Self-Defense Force. Cutting to later, Hisone has successfully made it, and is nervous after a superior, Akishima, asks her to take an application to Flight Leader Kakiyasu in Hangar 8. Akishima assures her she'll be fine and that she'll lender Hisone her moped, but the latter suddenly rambles about how she's never been to this wing and didn't know Kakiyasu even existed, though she still agrees to help. Akishima and another talk of their surprise about Hisone seemingly being chosen for something, with the other officer also noticing a bad luck sign in his tea. Struggling outside to find Hangar 8 on a map, Hisone is approached by an old woman who gives her a strawberry Yakult, a drink from Japan, and points out a wooded hill as the likely area she's looking for. Hisone heads there and finds a dark, empty building with only a steaming pool inside. To calm her nerves after hearing noises, she watches a video of her cat Goro on her phone, and the water suddenly starts bubbling behind her. She turns around after hearing noises from the water, finding a dragon, Masotan, staring at her, and before she can do anything, he swallows her. She wakes up later to the commander, Hiroshi Sosoda, explaining that they've been trying to find a way to coexist with "Organic Transformed Flyers," i.e. dragons, for centuries. Having OTFs helped the country, but also made them attack targets, so OTFs were disguised and hidden, appearing in things like kites and kimonos. He finishes up explaining that the airforce was eventually given the responsibility of keep the OTFs hidden, and gets a blank reaction from Hisone. Sosoda assumes she didn't hear any of it, and another officer, Remi Kakiyasu, says it's natural, considering Hisone was swallowed, then vomited back up. Hisone reacts to the word "vomit," making Sasoda to think she's more bothered by that than the dragon itself. Despite her clearly being frightened, he declares that she has great judgment skills in strange situations and so will become a dragon pilot. She is taken back to the hangar, now seemingly better prepped, and meets maintenance man Haruto Okonogi, who compliments her, saying she must be special if the dragon chose her, as he's been too picky to have one for three years. To keep from overheating, the dragons have to fly, but without a pilot, they couldn't let Masotan out, and their method of cooling him with the pool has reached its limit. They lift Masotan out of the water and Sosoda tells Hisone to try touching the dragon like in E.T., but she is too scared so Masotan leans in and sniffs her. Everyone is impressed at first, but Masotan then chomps her down again, forcing the soldiers to make him vomit again. Kakiyasu takes Hisone to her new quarters while telling her to not reveal the dragons to anyone, and the girl tries to tell her superior she can't handle the responsibility. Hisone looks over at a typical anime bully, complete with scowl and squinted eyes that make her look like a female Katsuki Bakugou. She offers the girl her yogurt, and the latter sucks it down before insulting her for not keeping it cold. Kakiyasu reveals her as Airman 2nd Class Nao Kaizaki, and though she tells them to get close, Nao tells Hisone she'll bully her. The two have Hisone watch a tape showing how to position herself while piloting, with a mat she's on showing that she'll be inside the dragon. Kakiyasu urges her to memorize the ejection procedure, as in an emergency she'll be going out the back. They head back to the hangar, where Hisone learns their current way of camouflaging the dragons is to make them look like jets, which she says makes it seem like cosplay. To her surprise, Hisone is told to prepare for a ride, as she has to learn how to camouflage the dragon and control it like she saw in the video. She stands frozen with her helmet for a time, confusing the others, before exclaiming that she can't do it. The waiting men are forced to hold back an enraged Nao, and when Kakiyasu claims Hisone has plenty of chances to back out before, Hisone snaps that she tried 15 times. She gets up in a shocked Kakiyasu's face, pointing out she was reassigned without being consulted and her term was extended, which isn't legal, and that she could get on social media and cause them problems. Along with the shock of dragons and everything involved, she talks about meeting an "elementary school bully." Nao tries to protest, but Hisone stops her with a hand, saying the former doesn't meet appearance regulation and that she only handed over her yogurt because she thought Nao was a child. She finishes her rant on the subject of the yogurt, saying she prefers orange flavor to strawberry, and storms out, leaving everyone dumbfounded. Haruto finds her in a shack leaving her mom a message about how she's quitting, and she reveals she has a personality problem: she always says whatever she's thinking. Because her parents always told her to speak her mind, she feels it's a good thing to do, but she can get brutally honest, giving examples like that he smokes to appear older since he looks young. A seemingly sad Kakiyasu later sits at a desk forced to listen to a man from another unit talk bad about the OTFs, simply telling him to take it up with Sosoda. Hisone tries to go AWOL, but stops by the hangar where she hears Haruko telling Masotan he understands why the creature chose her, since they both have power they have to hold back to not hurt others. When he leaves to make calculations, Hisone enters with her helmet. She says she doesn't know why Masotan chose her but accepts it, and realizes her has kind eyes. The two connecting leads to a more dramatic moment of bonding that almost goes poorly but leads to a decision from Hisone and learning why he chose her. This series feels like it'll be a lot calmer and cuter in a way to me than what I've mostly been watching for a while.
There's a lot of comedy throughout, especially from Masotan constantly devouring Hisone, and Hisone being unable to contain her thoughts despite her meekness. All the characters seem to approach things more lightheartedly, with no one aside from the typical bully even berating Hisone for her fear. Despite it being a military section, no one, again minus Nao, is constantly angry, and their excitement about Masotan accepting Hisone leads to joke moments, especially because of her having difficulty speaking her mind effectively. I personally like how, despite the heavier moments with Hisone after her outburst, the majority of this show focuses on comedy. It seems mainly aimed at children but is done in such a way that older audiences can also enjoy it as a way to just have simple fun. The art and animation are also a major plus in this show, as both are fantastic from start to finish. The art style feels like an older fashioned kind of anime at times, which I like, and provides beautiful visuals of everything from landscapes to the airplanes themselves. This is especially true at the end. I don't want to give away what goes on, but the final scenes give some of the most gorgeous animated shots I've seen in a while, and would have been great for some breathtaking screenshots. This scene also has some of the most fluid of the impressive animation, showing the kind of technology available to these people and how the dragons are camouflaged. A short section at the beginning showcases the jets, pilots, and mechanics, and the planes are quite impressive to see. Along with the art comes great sound design as well, with excellent fitting sounds all throughout, especially from the sound of the jet engines. This is the kind of thing I've missed for a long time that I think is great for kids to watch, despite it also being for adults. A common argument against critique of things mostly meant for kids is just that: "it's for kids." It seems a typical idea that if something is meant for kids, it doesn't need nearly as much effort as something for adults. But I've always hated this thinking, as some of the most impressive works have been "for kids," as we've constantly seen from giants like Disney and Pixar. Though Japan of course has its reputation for having weirdness and a lot that is obviously not meant for kids, there are also people like the great Hayao Miyazaki who have crafted gorgeous films that are perfect for kids and adults. Like those, this show has art and animation that obviously took a lot of work, along with entertaining comedy along with some heavier moments, all without any kind of cursing or such that would offend parents. With this, I'm happy to say I'm looking forward to seeing more of this show when I feel like just sitting back and feeling happy.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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