X
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 2021
- TV-MA
- Netflix
DOTA: Dragon's Blood
Season 1 Premiere: Mar 25, 2021
Metascore
Available after 4 critic reviews
8.0
Where to Watch
Where to Watch
Top Cast
At its best, Dragon’s Blood lives up to that [opening] shot, concocting vibrant visuals that evoke the game’s rich history, but, for the most part, the show loses itself in inaccessible esoterica. Like war, exile, and scaly metamorphosis, it’s all quite messy.
Though DOTA: Dragon’s Blood features some interesting elements here and there, overall it attempts to weave too many plot elements into one episode, which will undoubtedly become an issue as the series wears on. It’s also somehow less interesting than playing the game.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 135 User Ratings
8.0
82% Positive
111 Ratings
111 Ratings
7% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
10% Negative
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 135 User Ratings
8.0
82% Positive
111 Ratings
111 Ratings
7% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
10% Negative
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
Show was way, way more interesting than I expected it to be. The first 2/3 of the first episode are the worst in the entire series, but it ends with a bang. After finishing season 2, I am hungry for more. If you want a high fantasy universe with interesting characters and intense action, this show will absolutely deliver on repeat, every episode.
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Awesome start. Let's hope theirs a lot more to come. Just a few DOTA characters to start but I think it will ramp up fast. Great animation and story.
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Most of the characters in this show are enjoyable to watch, but that doesn't mean the plot is perfect. In my opinion, it could have added at least two more episodes to flesh out Luna and Selemene's characterization but I guess we just have to wait for a second season to even see that happening.
The animation is a mixed bag, the fighting choreography at first is just on fire, the first two episodes blew me away. It reminded me how Studio MIR animate "The Legend of Korra" back in the day. However as episodes go by, the action scenes seem to degrade especially the war between the two factions. The dragons looked pretty actually good with their 3D CGI animation, but for some reason, Terrorblade was worse for me.
There were also scenes between transitions that are so short, it annoys the heck out of me when it transitioned to another one. The music is decent though. Maybe one of the problems is why is the show even subtitled "Dragon's Blood" when it's mostly the story of Selemene's.
Anyway overall, I enjoyed the show but it could have been better. We just hope the second season will be better if there's one.
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After remembering this was a thing, I gave it a shot and I can say I'm not disappointed inthe end result. I've played a little bit of DotA when moba's we're still my thing and although at the time I found the characters' backstories laughable at best and Shakespeare-esque at worse, I think they did a great job with what they had to work with.
But the show feels like it's moving a little too fast and I don't exactly get a lot of time to attach to these characters, unless I'm actually a fan of the game. I had the same feeling about Castlevania up to season 4, but I really do think that two more episodes would have tied everything together nicely.
The CGI also has to go, it's so incredibly ugly, the villagers in episode 8 and the lip flops of the dragons strike me in particular as goofy and weightless. I don't know what the budget of this series is, but I've almost never seen 2D and 3D combined and done well, unless the models are semi-hidden by energy fields and whatnot to better blend them in. You have traditional hand-drawn animation in twos or threes vs those buttery smooth models for the drakes and Terrorblade and it's a shame, because it makes the experience feel a little bit cheap, I'm talking Master Raindrop levels of cheap. Still a good watch, not gonna lie, but for outsiders it's just action with some predictable character developement thrown in to justify the murder rampages. Season 1 feels more like an experiment to see how many would tune in, so let us hope that season 2 - should it ever come out - gets better from here.
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Terrible dialogue, bad art (the side of character's noses can be horrific), animation varies from good to bad, and occasionally only has clips, and the story occasionally forgets what it was developing, just dropping a plot. With people doing up to three voices in a single 25 minute episode, it easily rips you out of immersion. But one of the most childish things in this was the use of Jiggly-cam to make a scene seem more frantic that it is. When used in live action it is bad, but in an animated series it is inexcusable. Overall, this is more like a crowdfunded fan project rather than a profession development. That sums up most Netflix developed shows these day, unfortunately.
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like most of us, i'm into dota, so when steam spammed me with dragon's blood, i gave it try. i've tried to like it, like really hard, but i gave up eventually. if i compare it to another somewhat fantasy netflix series like dragon prince, though that is for a younger audience, it is not only better animated, it has better writing, simply better plot twists and ideas, tbh. so, is dragon's blood bad? nah, but more like a meh. i assume that if you try to create a lol tv series, you'll suffer the same difficulties. so kudos to the creators of dragon's blood. but it's just... not as good as, say, dragon prince, or the witcher series, in terms of storytelling and overall quality, i mean.
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Production Company:
- Kaiju Boulevard
- Netflix Animation
- Studio Mir
- Valve
Initial Release Date: Mar 25, 2021
Number of seasons: 3 Seasons
Rating: TV-MA
Awards
ReFrame
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination