龍の歯医者

THE DRAGON DENTIST

SPECIAL

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
2
RELEASE
February 25, 2017
LENGTH
46 min

DESCRIPTION

The story takes place in Dragon Country.
Nonoko is a newly appointed dentist and her mission is to protect the dragon, the guardian of the country, from tooth-cavity bacteria.

One day, amid increasingly fierce battles with the neighboring country, Nonoko finds on the dragon's tooth an unconscious boy soldier from the enemy country.

His name is Bell, and he has been resurrected from inside the tooth by the dragon—a supernatural phenomenon that legend says occurs before a major disaster.
As Nonoko and Bell go through a series of fierce battles, they eventually learn to accept their fate.

(Source: Official Website)

CAST

Nonoko Kishii
Xanthe Huynh
Bernard Octavius
Nobuhiko Okamoto
Shibana Natsume
Megumi Hayashibara
Kanne Arisugawa
Kaori Nazuka
Yotoshio Godou
Kouichi Yamadera
Ozawa
Takahiro Sakurai
Shuuzou Satou
Yukitoshi Tokumoto
Salvador Blanco
Suzuki Matsuo
Guilleri
Kenjirou Tsuda
Soutatsu Iemura
Wataru Takagi

Episodes (2)

Episodes are being prepared. Check back soon.

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REVIEWS

seanny
80/100
A Kazuya Tsurumaki (FLCL) original that recalls the meticulous worldbuilding of Gainax's classic era.
"It's war, even inside the dragon's mouth."

Gainax is effectively dead. Imaishi led an exodus of its best animators to Trigger. Hideaki Anno and his protégé, Kazuya Tsurumaki, took the golden goose of Evangelion to Khara.

It's there that Tsurumaki (FLCL) directed this 90-minute NHK special that recalls Gainax's classic era — an adventure in a thoroughly crafted world of Shinto-Buddhist spiritualism and an alt-WWII that together evoke a familiar, nostalgic nationalism. Within that, a meditation on war, pacifism and death. There's also a perky Gainax girl with a "ko" name.

Dragons are mighty, flying isles of the afterlife, ferrying the spirits of the dead through their teeth. "Dentists", like priests, purify the holy grounds. Turns out there's a lot to purify in a time of war. When one young American soldier is reborn inside a Japanese dragon, he joins the dentist tribe who protected him from interrogation. But in this era, dragons are also impenetrable flying fortresses. The sacred is militarized, and the battlefield beckons even in purgatory.

I suspect much Japanese culture flew over my American head in Ryuu no Haisha, but like other classic Gainax anime, there's a density of world-building and action to hold my interest and even engage my thoughts after the credits roll. Little advertised, this will likely evade the radar of otakudom, but it deserves a look.

-- End of review, but there is a character minimum on AniList, so here's some additional, scattered thoughts. The art design is sharp, with smooth, abstract forms and patterns that somewhat align with the modern Eva-Rebuild aesthetic, save for the faded, simpler colors that recall Tsurumaki's FLCL. It's far more artful output from Khara than Eva Rebuild; it would be tragic if, after the completion of the last Eva movie, Khara closes shop. They are the keepers of classic Gainax's legacy, but there's so much more to that legacy than just Evangelion. And likewise, Tsurumaki himself has more to offer the world, artistically, than just more Evangelion.

As expected, the venerable Megumi Hayashibara plays a character, which adds to its nostalgia value. Her presence in anything these days seems to denote a "serious anime production", and Ryuu no Haisha certainly qualifies.
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chezaye
92/100
Originality at its finest.
Spoilers ahead!

In a war scenario, the forces on the ground and the forces in the sky are competing for a victory that seems impossible to gain, as well as very distant in time. Modern equipment and weapons that, from the ground, engage in conflict with majestic dragons who protect those who live on their back through a millennial pact. Among these people: the dentists, who take care of the dragon's teeth, precious portals that connect the world of the living to that of the dead, attacked by more or less violent parasites that have something to do with the souls of the people dying in battle. Then, the military: camped on a modern base that allows them to take advantage of the view. Finally, the peaceful monks who honor the pact stipulated with the dragon, venerating it and praying in a temple/monastery that is detached from the dragon's back and rises up, reaching the sky, at the end of a long staircase that recalls the Chinese influence on Japanese architecture.

The OST is super good, an effective portrayal of the mixture of modernity, innovation and traditional elements that this amazing special miniseries tries to bring to the viewer.

The only negative aspect I could detect was a quite weak characterization, probably given the fact that there wasn't enough time to explore certain aspects in depht. Another thing that may should have been improved (but, here again: lack of time!) is that some passages of the story and the backgrounds of the characters were kinda left in the dark, as well as some "implied" things that the audience can't really grasp. I felt kinda empty at the end, and this lowered the score I wanted to give to this show, since the finale is not as eloquent and articulated as I thought it would have been. But here's the paradox: this show is good and captivating to the point I had to sit on my sofa for a while, in order to process the fact that I was not completely satisfied with the end of it, but couldn't find any other strong reason not to fall in love with the rest. I was in a state of total bliss. Is it okay not to tell everything to the viewer? I think so.

Ryuu no Haisha is a rare pearl of originality, something that suggests how many stories we could tell without falling in the same clichés again and again, a special that may not deserve a sequel just because, in its compactness, manages to maintain a strong aura of mystery and curiosity that welcomes and greets the viewer. The story is as absurd as brilliant, a successful attempt to establish a link between modernity, tradition and myth. I am also very satisfied with the animation, colors and palette. The creativity behind the ideas that brought to life this miniseries is overwhelming.
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