Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well this is a review I’m not looking forward to. It’s been a while since I’ve looked at something I can say with full certainty I don’t like. I’ve always made it my rule to watch anime objectively, but Chaos Dragon is one of those animes I break rule for. Released in 2015 and done under the production of Silver Link (Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!) and Connect (Strike the Blood) it’s hard to talk about this anime without giving some context. The anime is based off a tabletop roleplaying game called Red Dragon that would go on to have a light novel series as well as a free-to-play mobile game. It was created by some of the best writers in Japan such as Makoto Sanada (Rental Magica), Kinoko Nasu (Fate/stay night), Ryohgo Narita (Baccano), and Gen Urobuchi (Madoka Magica). When the mobile game was released, they released the anime on the same day in order to build up hype around it. Little did we know this would go on to be one of the worst animes of that year. How bad was this anime? It actually made me stop watching anime for an entire month. That’s right, I had to take a break from anime because it was so bad. I was convinced that if I watched another anime after this, I would have stopped watching anime all together. This is a review that’s been 10 years in the making so let’s unleash it. This is Chaos Dragon.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “ISOtone” by Natsumi Kon. To this anime’s credit this opening is good. I’m not the biggest lover of heavy rock music but this song works here. The lyrics are deep, meaningful, and match up with the anime perfectly. It’s just a shame the anime couldn’t match up with the song.
The ending is “Delta Decision” by Miyuki Sawashiro, Maaya Uchida, Haruka Terui. This ending is good. It conveys the feeling of sadness and helplessness our main character feels and the hope of peace throughout all of his suffering.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts on the island of Nil Kamui a nation home to the Red Dragon the guardian deity of the island and one of the 7 Dragons. The island is caught in the middle of a war going between the countries of Kouran and D’natia. The Kouran invaded the island from the east and conquered 1/3 of the island while the ally nation of D’natia only cared about themselves and distant themselves from the people of Nil Kamui and left them for dead (assholes. Already this anime is like an alternate version of the Cuban Missile Crisis). The nation soon became split into 3 parts. Kouran in the East, D’natia in the west, and the islanders in the middle of it all (not the best place to be). Because of this the Red Dragon went berserk and began destroying everything in its path until one day it vanished. We soon meet our main character Ibuki voiced Marina Inoue (Armin from AoT) heir to the throne of Nil Kamui (and yes I assure you despite his girly looks, attire, and voice he is a boy. It’s getting harder to tell traps apart) who doesn’t want to inherit the throne because he believes it’ll only escalate to more fighting (you’re already in a war kid, how worse could it get?). He’s staying at an orphanage with his handmaid Mashiro and a few soldiers who remain loyal to him as well as protect the people. We cut to what I assume to be the people of Kouran, moving their secret weapon known as the Dragon Eye an artifact that will reveal the heir to the Red Dragon. It’s placed in the hands of Kouretsu (a fat bastard who looks down on people) and his superior Koukaku (who is a shotacon. And what the hell is she wearing?). We cut back to Ibuki and Mashiro shopping the market with their friend Kai when all of sudden the Kouran army comes passing through with the Dragon Eye. All of sudden the eye begins to speak to Ibuki where the Red Dragon appears and tells Ibuki to form a pact with him and he shall grant Ibuki’s wish (what’s the catch?). Koukaku approaches Ibuki since he’s carrying a sword and tells him to turn it over all while touching his face (Yin-Yang: Personal space lady. I know you have a thing for little boys but control yourself). But before he can turn it over the captain of the soldiers, Fugaku, launches a surprise attack on the Kouran army and begin killing them (viva la revolution). The Kourans retaliate by fighting back and begin killing everyone in the market. The Dragon Eye attaches itself onto Ibuki’s chest where Kouretsu sees this and thinks that this was their plan all along. He calls them savages which Kai takes offense to this and tries to fight him (even though she has no weapon on her) but gets saved by Mashiro who takes a sword slash for her (Yin-Yang: She’s gonna die. (Nitsuj): Obviously). Ibuki grabs Mashiro and escapes to a chapel where he forms a pact with the Red Dragon however in order for the pact to be completed he must offer up a tribute and that tribute is Mashiro who’s totally okay with giving her life away (I should probably be sad for her death but it’s hard to feel sad for a character who only had like 5 minutes of screen time. We never got a chance to really know her). With this the pact is complete and Ibuki fights against Kouran where he easily beats him.
In episode 2 we see the Revolutionary Army celebrate their victory (what victory!? Yall didn’t do shit). Ibuki is still a bit shaken up about killing his best friend and Kai ain’t too happy about it either. But their problems will have to wait as they plan to move out before enemy reinforcements show up and joining their ranks are Swallow, Knight of the Black Dragon and his assistant Meryl. They’ve been sent by D’natia as a part of the Red Dragon expedition team and they want Ibuki to join them. Koukaku is mad about her defeat and has launched a second attack on the town. She sets fire to the orphanage but Ibuki arrives in time to defend the orphans. He tries to use his dragon powers against Koukaku but he must sacrifice another one of his friends. Kai, now fully understanding what happened to Mashiro offers to be the sacrifice but Ibuki refuses to kill another one of his friends (yes, let the villain do it for you). Koukaku kills Kai and this allows Ibuki to use the dragon powers to destroy her. Now that the town is safe Ibuki decides to join the expedition to remove the dragon curse on him.
Episode 3 starts off with us meeting the other members of the expedition. First up is Lou a sexy gothic like lady who carries around a coffin (just be thankful she doesn’t talk like Chaika). The other is Eiha a member of the revolutionary army sent to be Ibuki’s guardian on the journey (oh sure give him someone else to kill). She’s wants known as a Bounded One someone fused with a demon and can control it. Swallow tries to get to know everyone by inviting them out for drinks (nothing like alcohol to bring people together) but everyone decides to go off and do their own thing except for Lou who openly goes to drink with him where we find out that any tool he touches whether it be weapons or cups they get destroyed by him (man these dragon powers are so inconvenient). We see that Ibuki keeps his distance away from everyone in the group so that he doesn’t become too attached to them and wind up killing them in the future (can’t say I blame him seeing as how he’s already killed his two best friends). The next day they all leave town on the back of an elephant for the town of Haiga where they hope to find a lead on the Red Dragon. Along the way we learn that Lou is an elite assassin who plans to feed Swallow and Ibuki to her coffin which houses the soul of her master (why does this information only make me more attracted to her?) and Swallow was really sent to kill the Red Dragon (so we can’t trust no one on this journey). They finally arrive at the outskirts of Haiga which has become surrounded by Kouran troops. Word has it the city is helping the revolutionary army and a force from D’natia is said to be on the way to conquer the city. The group has no choice but to sneak into the city and find Kaguraba the Undead Merchant who is said to have ties to the Red Dragon. Ibuki and Lou sneak into the city and into the mansion of Ka Grava where they find him all big and tin like (if he only had a heart).
In episode 4 we meet Ka Grava who we find out for the last month has been asleep due to an accident. He welcomes Ibuki and the others into his city which hosts a parade to his awakening (hey an enemy army is at our front doors and can easily destroy us and our ruler has been asleep for one month. Let’s party). Gakusho a skilled sniper (and possible lesbian) and the leader of Kouran troops hears about all of this and gets rightfully pissed off. She manages to snipe him during the parade thinking she’s killed him but no he’s still alive and good thing because the Kouran troops are planning to invade. Not wanting to see innocent people die Ibuki volunteers to go and negotiate with Gakusho himself. Eiha goes with him and they enter Gakusho’s camp with a written apology from Ka Grava which she rips apart without reading. The negotiations are failing badly and Eiha knows that if they don’t do something quick the town is going to get destroyed. She tells Ibuki to kill her which will allow him to kill Gakusho but Ibuki doesn’t want to kill her (man this dragon power sucks). We see Gakusho is a little scared herself of Ibuki’s dragon powers knowing that if he does uses them she’ll die. Running out of time and options Ibuki begs Gakusho to read Ka Grava’s letter and she does. In the letter he says that he apologizes for ignoring her army for one month and will agree to the terms of the Kouran which is allowing them to be stationed in the city as long as Gakusho doesn’t pillage or harm its citizens. With this the negotiations are a success and the city not only gets occupied by Kouran but it also gets occupied by a representative of D’natia as well (well the city may have lost its freedom but at least nobody will die). Ibuki returns where Ka Grava gathers everyone to tell them a message he received from the Red Dragon (Red Dragon: Tell the white haired kid to bang the Bounded One) but before his message he wants Eiha to tell them about the first expedition to find the Red Dragon which she was a part of.
Episodes 5-8
At the start of episode 5 we see how the first expedition team found the Red Dragon and got their forces completely destroyed with only a few making it back alive (and history shall repeat itself with this expedition). Ka Grava tells everyone about his meeting with the Red Dragon where we find out the Red Dragon for some reason is losing his sense of reason and told Ka Grava to head to Ogani Volcano should the time come. There, you’ll find the last bit of the Red Dragon’s sanity (and an army of dead bodies as well). After that, they all head out to Ogani Volcano where we see that both the representatives of D’natia and Kouren are planning to infuse the land of Nil Kamui with their dragon’s respective powers. This in turn will destroy the Red Dragon and at the same time destroy the crops of the land. They all take a pit stop in the dessert where Lou decides to go on ahead near the foot of the mountain where she runs into Gakusho. Gakusho finds out about her plan to feed Ibuki and the Red Dragon to her coffin (still makes her attractive). The two fight where Lou manages to slice her neck and leave her for dead to return to the others the next day where at night they get attacked by zombies.
In episode 6 the zombies led by a zombified Gakusho attack Ibuki and the others (hope you bought your metal bats. If not, you’re screwed). Ibuki is shocked to see Gakusho dead but at the same he’s enraged that someone killed one of his friends (when was this? Last I checked she tried to kill you). Ibuki wants to avenge her and since she’s technically still alive Ibuki can kill her and use the dragon’s power to find and kill Gakusho’s killer (finally, this power being used for something good). Just before Ibuki can kill her the revolutionary army comes in led by Hien a young soldier who kills Gakusho himself (you dumbass! You’ve been on screen for 3 seconds and already you’re pissing me off). Once all the zombies are defeated they continue onto Ogani Volcano. Along the way we find that the invasion leader of D’natia will be arriving soon to explore the mountain and Hien wants Ibuki to kill him. Hien says he’ll allow himself to get killed by Ibuki and then Ibuki will use that power to kill the D’natia leader and ignite the flames of the revolution (wow, you are horrible at this aren’t you Hien?). Ibuki says no to the plan and their talk gets interrupted by Lou which the agents of D’natia are becoming suspicious about (took them long enough. Seriously, if a woman is carrying around a coffin you know she’s trouble). They arrive at the foot of the mountain where they find more zombies who are the remains of the first expedition and members of the Revolutionary army (poor bastards never stood a chance). Hien and the others take on the zombies while Ibuki’s group continues up the mountain and get stopped by Izun a Bound One just like Eiha and leader of the first expedition. His bounded creature is a rock monster and he too is a zombie who has a claw of the Red Dragon stuck to him (that’s one nasty splinter). Ibuki wants to see if he’s still sane (no. He’s a zombie why would he be sane?) and everyone’s okay with this however Lou secretly plans to feed the claw to her coffin.
Episode 7 starts off with a flashback in Swallow’s past. As a child the curse prohibited his family from interacting with him. Eventually his own mother and father came to fear him and kept him locked away in a room with handcuffs on him and almost no interaction with the outside (his powers only destroy furniture not humans). Eventually his family went bankrupt and around this time Meryl became his assistant. As they grew up Meryl was captured and badly injured but was saved by Swallow who made a deal with the Black Dragon to save her life but the wounds she subjected were placed on him in the form of a scar on one of his legs. We return to the present where they manage to pull the dragon crawl out of Izun and try to talk to him but it’s not working (told you). Eiha decides that she has no choice but to kill Izun herself but both Ibuki and Swallow don’t want her to carry that burden (Ibuki I can understand but Swallow? I don’t think you’ve killed anybody this whole anime). Swallow takes the black dragon scales and tosses it into the lava allowing the Black Dragon’s power to take over the area. This of course stops all the zombies (way to stop the outbreak) and Swallow uses this power to destroy Izun himself. Before Swallow has a chance to kill Izun, Hien tried to take advantage of the situation and have Ibuki kill him in order to save everyone (you’re an idiot). He pretends to be a zombie forcing Ibuki to kill him but because the Black Dragon’s powers are in control of the land his death means absolutely nothing (and I’m not gonna miss him). Once everything is settled they receive a call from Haiga where the bishop of D’natia has revealed the next ruler of Nil Kamui is Inori, the little sister of Ibuki.
So in episode 8 we find out that Ibuki’s sister Inori will be the next ruler of Nil Kamui which shocks Ibuki (why? Last I check you didn’t want to be king, problem solved) because according to him his entire family died when the castle was attacked. They decide to head back to Haiga and meet her but not before getting Lou some medical attention at the fort seeing as she severely injured herself by losing her arm (comes with the price of caring around a coffin. And for trying to betray us). They return to Haiga where we see that Inori is the real deal. She was saved by Agito a guard in the castle and kept hidden for her own safety (oh okay that story checks out. I trust her). We also see that Mashiro is with her serving as a handmaid (and my trust for you went out the window). In order to get a new arm Lou gives Ka Grava her country’s dragon scale which she was told to use to infuse the land with their dragon’s power. Eiha believes that Mashiro is a zombie and tries to tell Ibuki but he doesn’t listen to her (dude, we saw you kill her and everything, she’s obviously a zombie. One that they apparently can control). Eiha decides the only logical thing to do is to kill Mashiro and she kills her the night before the assembly between Ibuki’s party and the representatives of D’natia. The next day Mashiro shows up at the assembly alive and everything (witch! It’s a witch) proving that she’s a zombie (how dare you disrespect the dead). Inori comes to confirm their suspicion and even admits that she bought Mashiro back herself (so Ibuki kills people while Inori brings them back. Quite the yin-yang thing they have going on here).
Episodes 9-12
Okay, in episode 9 we find out that Inori is a crazy bitch (no sense in hiding it). It turns out there was another Dragon Eye in the palace treasure room and when a guard stabbed Inori her blood got mixed in with the eye and she gain the powers of the Red Dragon. Not only did she gain the power to revive people but apparently she’s inherited the Red Dragon’s madness (the princess has gone mad with power) and plans on driving both D’natia and Kouran out of Nil Kamui and create a new kingdom where only the people she likes can live in (too bad all your subjects will be mindless zombies). She tells Ibuki not to trust Swallow or Lou because they plan to use their dragon’s power to take over the island (well she got one thing right. Still, one out of hundred is pretty bad) and that he should kill them since they’ll pose a threat in the future. Ibuki finding it hard to take all of this in locks himself in his room to think. While that’s going on Swallow gets a surprise visit from the Black Dragon who grants him a new power for all his hard work and tells him to bring Ibuki over to his side. The Black Dragon also talks to Ibuki in order to get him to side with D’natia but it doesn’t go so well (Black Dragon: It’s because I’m black isn’t it?). Ibuki decides he wants to see Mashiro again so he leaves Ka’Grava’s mansion unbeknownst to everyone and breaks his way into the D’natia embassy where we see that Mashiro has become a killing machine and has killed the fat bishop of D’natia (thank you). Ibuki decides to join Inori in her cause (come again? The woman is crazy) and they leave in order to free Agito the original leader of the revolution army but before they set out Ibuki kills Mashiro again (wow, killing the girl you like twice in one lifetime) to use the Red Dragon’s power and this time he does it to incarnate Mashiro’s soul so that she’s never bought back to life again (you did the right thing Ibuki).
Not much too say about episode 10. Everyone discovers the fat Bishop is dead (took them long enough). Ibuki, Inori, and Fugaku make their way to Shuka where they see that the land is becoming weak thanks to the Black Dragon scale. Eiha somehow catches up to them (that girl is either fast as lightning or they are moving slower than a snail on Sunday morning) but Ibuki not wanting to put her in any danger or risk killing her orders her to return to Haiga. Back in Haiga, Lou finally gets a new arm which is overpowered as hell (why!? You’re smart, you should have picked up she’s dangerous so why give the dangerous person an overpowered prosthetic arm?) and wants to feed the Dragon claw to her coffin. Ulrika sensing Lou is dangerous and wanting to keep Swallow and the others safe takes the Dragon claw out to sea resulting in a fight between her and Lou where Lou wins however the claw was not on the ship, it was all a setup to buy time.
Shit finally goes down in episode 11. We see that thanks to the land being absorbed by the Black Dragon’s magic Eiha’s bounded animal is using her life force to heal its wounds meaning Eiha is slowly dying. Lou comes across her and gives her Kouran’s magic which will allow her to live a little longer (not that it matters seeing how everyone in this anime is destined to die in some way). Everyone finally makes it to Shuka where everything is finally explained to us (thank God). It turns out that Inori is controlling the Red Dragon. While hiding in a village the villagers attacked and killed her because they were afraid of Kouran’s troops. Thanks to the dragon’s powers she didn’t die but went mad because of the near death experience. She somehow gained control of the dragon and ordered it to attack the land. So the Red Dragon never really went insane it’s just following the orders of some crazy girl (oh yeah, that makes its actions totally excusable now). Agito the leader of the Revolutionary Army and teacher of Ibuki saw all of this and knew she had to be stopped so he pretended to side with her in order to speak to Ibuki where he could tell him that he must kill his sister and take the throne. We also find out that he’s the one who killed Ibuki’s parents (is there nobody in this anime we can trust?). Once Inori finds out she’s been betrayed she unleashes the Red Dragon and has it kill Agito and Fugaku. She then attacks the peace conference going on in Shuka where Swallow and Lou meet and fight each other for a short time. As Inori attacks the city we see that she can’t die thanks to the dragon’s powers and Ibuki can’t use his powers because the dragon is under the control of Inori (oh please dragon, is she really all that?). Eiha shows up to fight Inori and decides to give up her life in order for Ibuki to save the day.
In the final episode it’s everyone vs Inori and the Red Dragon. Swallow receives the Black Dragon’s claw in order to stop the Red Dragon and help it regain its sanity. Despite being the most capable person there, he decides to give it to Ibuki believing the problems of Nil Kamui should be solved by the its people (where was this line of thinking when you invaded the island?). Thanks to Lou shifting the land to Kouran’s dragon (which I assume is the Gold Dragon) the Red Dragon gets weak allowing her to damage it. She then tries to kill Swallow only for the Black Dragon to save him. Meanwhile, Ibuki makes it to the Red Dragon and uses the claw to return it to its senses. The dragon recognizes Ibuki as the true ruler of Nil Kamui (or what’s left of it) and kills Eiha to use the dragon’s power to kill Inori. After the battle, we see Lou salvage the area for valuables where body gets infused with some emblem left by Inori (amd we will never learn what it is). Jumping forward one month into the future a ceasefire was agreed upon between D’natia and Kouran. Both sides recognize Ibuki as the ruler and agree to go through with the crowning ceremony. However, it gets delayed as Ibuki goes out to find Eiha. It turns out he made a deal with the Red Dragon to revive her. The only downside is she’ll have no memories of her past and be a completely new person which Ibuki is okay with because he got to save the person most precious to him.
Final Thoughts
Oh man even after all these years it still sucks. I’ll say this, some of the character designs are good and the animation for its time isn’t all that bad. But everything else in this anime is horrendous. The story is rushed, hard to follow at times and really would have benefited if it was a 24-episode anime. There’s needless drama between characters and they stupidly trust characters who they obviously shouldn’t trust in the first place. The character deaths become annoying and repetitive really quickly and lose all meaning as the anime progresses. The characters have little to no personality. Ibuki is a naïve kid who barely knows any of these characters and yet he calls them friends and gets sad whenever they die despite spending almost no time with them at all. The only likable character in this messy anime is Swallow. They actually gave him a good backstory and personality. The ending of this anime is terrible. It’s too open-ended and leaves us with too many unresolved questions. The world they’re in looks and sounds interesting but they never take the time to explain how this world works and even when they do they don’t make it clear and confuse the audience even more. I’ve heard people compare this anime to Akame ga Kill but there is no comparison. While that anime was bad I give it credit, the characters all had meaningful deaths. You always felt sad when they died because you got to know them. They all fought for a cause they believed in whether it was good or bad. I feel nothing for the characters in Chaos Dragon.
Final Score
The final score for Chaos Dragon is a 2/10. It is a shame that a series with so many great writers working on it became such a disappointing embarrassment under their belts. I hate saying this but skip this anime, it’s not worth your time. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.