Dragons. Sex. Dragons. Sex. Mmm, dragon sex.
What They Say:
Rike, a real dragon knight, leaves his lover so that he can quest for his very own dragon. When he discovers the dragon, Karin, he finds that she is not only a giant fire-breathing lizard, but she also has the power to transform into a beautiful blond girl. When his former lover, Princess Lilia, sees the two of them together, she becomes mad with jealousy. A group of demonic creatures sense her dark feelings, and uses them to seduce her with power. Rike and his new ride have one big problem. Lilia’s deal with the demons has opened a gateway between Earth and the demon world. Both volumes available for the first time on one DVD!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language in stereo along with the English dub, both of which are encoded at 192kbps. The audio mix here is a pretty basic stereo mix that feels pretty full, with no real directionality for the most part. It’s pretty par for the course for this era and doesn’t offer much but handles what it has well so that it doesn’t become a problem or distract. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout both tracks and we noticed no distortions or dropouts.
Video:
Originally released in 1995 and 1996, the transfer for this two-part OVA series is presented ni its original full frame aspect ratio. Its another trip back in time with Pink Pineapple before they got into the shiny world of CG hentai. The transfer here is pretty decent for the most part, with solid if somewhat dull colors. Cross coloration is pretty much non-existent but there’s a fair bit of aliasing during panning sequences, which can get a bit annoying during some of them. There’s a bit of dirt and dust in various areas of the print as well, so this is likely one of those best it’ll ever look kind of releases.
Packaging:
The front cover features a nice shot of the two leads, with Karisu getting the most eyeball time since shes completely naked and with angelic-like wings spread out. Rike is also on the cover but fully garbed in his warrior clothing. It’s a decent looking cover, one where you just might miss that adults-only warning if you only give it a glance. The back cover provides a couple of paragraphs of a summary of the shows main plot as well as a number of good screenshots. The production information and technical listings are all clearly listed as well. The insert has the chapter listings on one side while the reverse are just box art adverts.
Menu:
The menu system is pretty minimal here, with the main menu being a simple static piece showing the artwork from the cover (with much more vibrant colors) with no music or animations playing. With nothing else on the disc really, access times are nice and fast and the layout is pretty standard stuff.
Extras:
None.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Dragon Rider is a fairly amusing two part OVA series that features some nice looking animation and character designs. Being a mid-90’s release, you can see the influence of AIC in the designs here, particularly with the women. And honestly, that’s not a bad thing.
The story here takes place ten years after a massive long war between the Dragon Knights and the Dragon Devils, the Devil’s being evil nasty creatures who invaded the world and pretty much had their run of it up until their eventual defeat and sealing away of the three leaders. All was going well in the ten years since, up until one of the Dragon Devils managed to get inside the castle where the seal was kept and said seal was broken, freeing the three big bad guys once more.
With evil on one side, there must be some good guys to fight against the scourge. We’re introduced early on to our blue-haired Dragon Knight in training, Rike. Rike’s out hunting for a dragon of his own, as once he finds one he can become a full fledged Knight. His introduction comes as he’s hanging out at a villagers house during his travels, where he’s just helped a young attractive blonde girl named Karisu. Her mother, who looks nothing like her, jokingly pawns her off on Rike, which flusters him well enough.
Their time isn’t all fun though as some of the lower level Dragon Devils attack the village and start killing and raping left and right. Rike does his best to fight things off, but when Karisu’s mother gets killed, Karisu ends up ‘transforming’ somewhat, and wings sprout from her back and she starts attacking demons left and right. It’s here that Rike learns that Karisu is actually a dragon who was abandoned sixteen years ago and taken in by her adoptive mother. With that now behind her, she decides to become Rike’s dragon and joins him on his journey back to the kingdom.
And there’s fun at the kingdom! The young magical princess there, Lydia, is Rike’s lover and doesn’t take kindly to Karisu being there, even though Riki and her haven’t done anything. Rike’s falling for Karisu though, but he’s still got the hots for the hot Lydia. It’s around this time that the Dragon Devil’s infiltrate the castle and free their larger members, and the spread of the battle begins to take center stage.
There’s a number of good sex sequences throughout these two episodes, but there’s a lot of plot and story going on here as well. There’s a fair amount of non-consensual sequences as well as consensual ones, and the animation and general mood of the sequences are well done. It’s not outstanding material, but it’s a bit beyond couples hentai due to the fantasy element and the non-consensual sequences.
In Summary:
Overall, this was a fun little two-part show that had some interesting characters, some bad dub acting and some good monkey business between the various characters. It’s not a life-altering hentai, but it wasn’t a bad way to pass a late evening.
Features
Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: C
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: C
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Kitty Media
Release Date: October 29th, 2002
MSRP: $29.95
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
