DOTA: Dragon's Blood

Netflix hit the gaming phenomenon Dota and created an engaging anime series that captivates fans of the game and anime adaptations. It is a beautiful fantasy world with elves, bandits, mages, and dragons, likable characters, beautiful artwork, decent and intense R-rated action, captivating exploration, and an interesting story that definitely grabs and never becomes boring, and I am grateful for the short 30-minute episodes. I am more of a fan of the game, and I don't actively watch anime series, but I enjoyed this one. The design of the dragons is amazing, and once blood starts splattering from them, there is nothing to complain about. 8/10. (27.03.2021)

[Season 1] Definitely more entertaining and better than I expected, as I didn't have a high opinion of the Korean studio Mir. Add to that the fact that I knew a little about the world of DOTA from my sometime gaming about 15 years ago (i.e. nothing) and 8 episodes should have satisfactorily introduced me to that world; I was expecting a flat romp with lots of winks towards the party people. I didn't get so much as a threadbare explanation of the origin of the characters/world, though I enjoyed the more elegant crossing of storylines led by likeable main characters. Personally, I didn't feel that it was inflexibly clinging to gamer satisfaction: the good-looking and flashy action was just right, and in fact I found many of the intentions and decisions quite human and logical, which is even more unusual for a fantasy venture; I genuinely rooted for the characters. On the other hand, I found no added superstructure, nothing that in any way impressed me, lifted me out of my chair, and left me straight up drooling for a sequel. In any case, it went by briskly (faster than the aforementioned and similar Castlevania), painlessly, and didn't offend me in the least. A better 3 stars (14.04.2021)