Merry Month of Manga: DRAGON HALF

This month marks the ninth anniversary of The Manga Test Drive.  It's honestly kind of fantastical that I've been doing this for so long, much less that people have continued to read these reviews, so why not celebrate with a month's worth of fantasy manga!  We're going to be seeing our fair share of modern isekai fantasy titles over the course of this month, so let's start on something a little older and a lot different.

DRAGON HALF (Doragon Hafu), by Ryusuke Mita.  First published in 1988 and first published in North America in 2018.

PLOT:

Mink loves nothing more in the world than the dreamy dragon slayer/pop idol Dirk Saucer.  Unfortunately, she herself is half-dragon and has to compete with a haughty princess for Dirk's attentions.  So, Mink decides to head out on a quest with her friends Lufia and Pia to find a mythical potion that will make her fully human.  All she has to do is defeat a wicked king, a bunch of random monsters, a dumb knight or two, win a tournament, and take down the demon king behind it all.  

STORY:

Dragon Half might have been originally made to parody the likes of Dragon Quest and Dungeons and Dragons, but as far as fantasy comedies go it holds up a lot better than many similar stories half its age.

It's Mita's approach to humor that makes the difference.  The jokes here aren't based so much on wordplay or specific (and thus easily dated) references, but instead on good old-fashioned slapstick, some well-worn character types, and a loose sort of goofiness that's only enhanced by Andrew Cunningham's buoyant translation.  It's definitely the sort of series that throws as many jokes as possible at the reader to see what sticks, but its succeeds more often than not because everyone gets to take a turn at being the butt of the joke.  Best of all, Mink's quest to become human and win the love of her idol helps to give the plot some momentum while leaving lots of room for wacky characters to wander in as needed.

ART:

If there is anything dated about Dragon Half, it's the art.  The big hair on Dirk and Mink, the battle bikini armor, the bottom-heavy designs on all the ladies, the heavy reliance on super-deformed reactions and chibis, all of it screams of this manga's origins in the 80s.  Honestly I found it all to be kind of charming, but I can't say with certainty if younger readers without nostalgia for the 80s would feel the same.  There is some fanservice to be found here, but it's fairly tame and most of it is confined to the extras.  Mita's panels tend to be small, so most of the emphasis is on the jokes and actions versus the setting, but he never overcrowds them so neither the joke nor the jist of the plot is lost.

PRESENTATION:

There are a few color pages here, but most of them are saved for the supplements between volumes which are packed with vintage promo art.

RATING:

Dragon Half is a light and breezy take on old-school fantasy with a cute art style that is very much of its time and a sense of humor and irreverence that's very timeless.  It's an easy series to enjoy and an easy one to recommend.

This series is published by Seven Seas.  This series is complete in Japan with 7 volumes available.  All 7 have been published in 3 omnibuses and are currently in print.