Dragon’s Dogma (2020 Anime)

Studio: Sublimation Director: Shinya Sugai Writer: Kurasumi Sunayama

The Netflix anime adaptation of Dragon’s Dogma is much smaller in scope and simpler in plot than its game counterpart. Gone entirely are the apocalyptic elements and the broader cyclicality of the world, replaced instead by an exploration of the seven deadly sins, with an episode for each sin. The main character is a man named Ethan who has struggled with being an outsider. A dragon razes his village, killing his expecting wife and unborn child and stealing Ethan’s heart, making him into an arisen. Hannah, a pawn, appears to help him. The pawns are under-explained here — their role is simply to help the arisen, but how they came to be and why is never approached — and we don’t get a good explanation of the arisen until a twist near the end.

In truth, the story ends up feeling a bit more meaningful than that of the game, which gets a bit lost in convoluted mechanics around its central conceit. This is a simple exploration of human morality, folly, and fate, and it works alright in that capacity. It’s certainly not incredible — the animation has a bit too much of the computer touch to be particularly appealing, the music is generic and ignorable, and the commentary on the human condition isn’t particularly deep or novel — but it’s entertaining enough while it lasts. It’s far enough away from the game that it feels more like a new IP inspired by Dragon’s Dogma than a proper adaptation. Each episode includes a large monster that Ethan has to do battle with, much like the game, but the true monsters here are human sins (ironically, given the totally gratuitous level of sex and nudity). I can’t say I really recommend it, and diehard fans of the game looking for a more direct adaptation will be disappointed, but I appreciated the quieter, more contemplative approach.