I am going to preface this by saying I did not play Dota 2 but I have played other MOBAs so I'm going to assume it is very similar. I have played WoW, so I am familiar with some of the Heroes. This has been on my Netflix watchlist for a fairly long time but I wasn't sure what to expect out of it. After all, Arcane is also based off a MOBA and that was amazing. I figured it had a fairly good chance of translating the game characters into a series. Plus, there are dragons and I'll pretty much watch anything with dragons. They're one of my favorite mythological creatures that are found in folklore and mythology in almost every corner of the world. I love seeing how different people bring their version of dragons to life.
SUMMARY
The series follows a series of characters, each on their own mission. Davion is a dragon knight who is possessed by the dragon Slyrak. His goal is to stop a demon called Terrorblade from killing every last dragon to collect their souls. Mirena is an exiled princess who is trying to recover stolen lotuses of her goddess Selemene. They were stolen by an elf named Fymryn, who received a prophecy about her own goddess, Mene. They all come together for a common goal, even though their motives and goals are all different.
PROS
I really liked the beginning of this series. The dragon hunter aspect was very interesting and the series really started with a bang as Davion slays a dragon that has been terrorizing a village. I thought the overall lore throughout the series stood out as a strong point. You could tell that the writers really put a lot of time into crafting the world to expand on what was already created. The characters had a lot of backstory and definitely did develop throughout the season. Most action sequences are exciting if not rather quick. Overall, it is an fantasy adventure that, at least in the first season, did manage to build some intrigue and be somewhat entertaining.
CONS
Even though the first couple episodes were really great, thought that as it went on, the story was really bogged down by some unnecessary side plots. There seemed to be almost too much going on in each episode, that their length didn't really lend itself to what it was trying to do. Because so much time was spent on character work and worldbuilding, the actual plot took a backseat. There also were too many characters all trying to do too many things for it to just be eight 30 minute episodes.
The animation also wasn't anything groundbreaking. The dragons weren't as terrifying as I would have liked and their glowing eyes sort of came off a bit cheesy. I also thought the series as a whole was trying really hard to come off as serious. I have zero issue with "bad language" but something didn't click there with all the f-bombs. I get that the characters were frustrated, but I really think that emotion has to be portrayed in better ways. It's almost like they were thinking "how do we get that TV-MA rating?" and figured throwing in the f-word every other scene would do the trick.
DO I RECOMMEND IT?
Long story short, no I don't recommend this. To me it is the perfect example of great idea, subpar execution. I will not be continuing on to season 2 because there are just too many other things to watch.
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