The truth about the past with Maruga is revealed as the seek George’s Lost Precious.
What They Say:
Ryuji gets close to George and finds the Lost Precious they are looking for. However, taking the Lost Precious Maruga has asked for seems nearly impossible. Eriko believes her plan to keep George occupied at the beach with Maruga’s swimsuit has succeeded when a sudden incident ruins her plan. On top of that, Maruga reveals a secret about the Lost Precious. What is the sad past kept quiet by the white dragons? Can Ryuji and Rose conquer that sadness? Ryuji plans to steal the Lost Precious. Their secret weapon against George is Maruga in a swimsuit! However, a sudden incident ruins their plan. Maruga reveals a sad secret about the sword…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The nature of Dragon Crisis has me leery when I see a beach episode as I get the impression that it’ll shift gears quickly to go somewhere else. The focus on having Maruga wearing something small and tight that can come off easy to distract George makes a whole lot of sense from Eriko’s point of view but as seems to be the case with her, her plans never seem to go like she wants them to. Arriving at the church reveals quite the problem for her and she has to step in to do something a bit more forward. Throwing Ryuji into the whole thing allows her to make a move that calms the situation at the least, but the main focus is still on trying to get the Lost Precious that George is protecting.
Maruga’s story from the previous episode gets a bit more complicated as she reveals how her father killed her uncle while taking on human form and that colors the story that George has told of the legendary hero quite a lot. The details always seem to do that. This revelation has reinforced his desire to get the Lost Precious and reveals another intriguing aspect of Ryuji’s past that hasn’t been touch on in that he was once possessed by a Lost Precious. We see it only briefly as a flashback with the mask on the wall but it gives us yet another clue of just how unusual his life has been which makes his being involved with a dragon like Rose all the more possible. His simple and ordinary life was likely never actually that.
While there’s a good bit of dialogue and exposition throughout the episode, and the fun at the beach at first, it’s the last quarter that’s given over largely to the action and serious dramatic moments. Rose making her own move to deal with George with the revelation that she’s a dragon is a surprise since it has him ready to take her down because of the past history with it. Ryuji and Eriko racing there to stop events from spiraling out of control isn’t a surprise, but it’s well animated and adds nicely to the tension as everyone gets together to try and stop it all from going badly. Seeing George go over the edge and getting the connection to Ryuji’s past with the Lost Precious helps to bring it all home nicely and with the intensity of the battle it all comes full circle in just the right way.
In Summary:
This two part story has been decent but it’s felt like the show lost a little bit of its energy from the opening arc. Maruga is the real star here and she really comes across well, making you want to see more of her and her interactions with everyone else. There are some nice background bits added in that clarity the stories told in the previous episode and with Ryuji himself and that helps to make it a bit of a richer show. The humor continues to be quite appropriate to the show, the right kind of levity needed after some of the larger moments that it all goes through since it doesn’t dominate or come across that badly. This arc has been fairly enjoyable but definitely weaker compared to the opening episodes.
Grade: B
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
