DVD Review: Dragonauts; Resonance, Part 2

The mysterious asteroid, Thanatos, is still threatening Earth and the strange creatures that come from there, Dragons, are becoming more confused about what their purpose is. The struggle to save Earth continues and the small group of Dragonauts is trying to find a way to do some very heroic things. Amidst all of this strife, there is still the relationship between Toa and Jin. The strong bonds between these two has a huge effect on all of those that they come in contact with. Will this deep love have any impact on the impending doom that Earth is facing?

Highlights

The second and final installment of Dragonaut: The Resonance, opens with Toa still being held by Prince Asim of the Gillard Emirates. The Gillard Emirates is the economic and military power that controls over half of Earth's energy supply and is a dark power that may or may not have Earth's best interest in mind.  Prince Asim is the heir apparent and is devoid of a soul. He knows that Toa is one of the original Dragons that came to Earth and wants to own her. The thing he does not understand is that the love between Toa and Jin is strong enough to break the hold he has on her. This struggle ends in the utter destruction of Mars. 

Later in the series, the story takes an odd turn which at first seems to be filler, but does have a dramatic impact on the final outcome. Following the destruction of Mars, the three main characters, Jin, Toa and Geo (Geo is another Dragon who resonated with Jin and is only concerned with protecting Toa) take up residence in a small house in the countryside and begin to live a simple life. This lasts for about a year, when everything changes. The International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA) has come up with a plan to destroy all Dragons on Earth. This puts all of our heros in the position of being outlaws and one by one they are captured. With their Dragons being held, the human counterparts decide to free them and go to the isolated Dragon testing Island,Tartarus. This sets into place some of the final bonds that will have a major impact on the conclusion.

Overall

In my comments from the review of part 1, I have to say that the women's endowments still have a way of taking center stage at some rather dramatic moments. I did find the second half of this series brought more depth to the characters, which I appreciate, and I applaud the director, Manabu Ono, along with studio Gonzo. The study of the bonds of love does get a little heavy at times, but is explored in a strange way. This cross-species love affair is sweet and lovely at times and also disturbing at others. It would have made much more sense if the love between these species was more platonic. The romantic aspect confused me, but of course, their creators made sure that the Dragons only had any personality when in a human form. I do get the point, but there is still that burning question, what would their babies look like? I guess that this will be answered in the next series, Dragonauts; The Next Generation. I'm just kidding, I know of no follow-up series coming.

All in all, I found this series to have a high quality in both the art production and the writing. As in many dramatic anime series, it was a little heavy-handed in the way it presented the basic plot line (Love Conquers All). There was a full investigation of relationships, from physical love to more platonic bonds and I did find that to be another strength.  Not just having the main focus of the story bound into the single view of love between two young people, we find the topic being breached between others similar to Father and Child, Sisters, Brothers, Homosexuals and even Grandparent and Grandchild. This intrigued me and brought an added level to the series altogether.

The second part of this offering from FUNimation has raised the bar for me. I see that with the addition of both part 1 and part 2, the series becomes much more valid and a solid addition to any fan's collection. At first I thought that this series was meant for the 16 to 25 year old male audience and still believe that those viewers are the core, but with the expansion of the plot and discussion of love on many levels, the audience is expanded and much more broad based.

ComicsOnline gives Dragonaut: The Resonance Part 2, 4 out of 5 lonely Dragon Planets.