Blue Dragon Volume 3

Young Shu – whose dream in life is to become a Knight Master – has left his village to travel with Zola, a female Shadow Wielder, and her apprentice Jiro, in her quest to defeat the evil tyrant Nene. It seems that Shu – and the other companions they meet along the way – may be the descendants of ancient warriors who fought the forces of darkness in the distant past. Shu has already freed a Shadow of his own, the powerful but unpredictable Blue Dragon. Zola has led them to the kingdom of Jibral where a unique copy of the Book of The Beginning is kept. The ancient Book contains seven extra pages which may hold the answers she’s searching for about the origins of the Shadows. However, it seems that they are not the only ones after this information, for by the time they reach the palace library, the pages have already been removed. When the suspected thief is found murdered, the mystery only deepens further.  

Invited by Knight Master Conrad to join Jibral’s army in an allied attack on Grankingdom, Zola decides instead to confront Nene himself in The City. But General Logi springs an ambush at the border with his elite team of Shadow Wielders, the Independent Flying Squad. Desperate duels ensue and Shu soon finds himself pitted against the formidable Logi himself and his Shadow Valkyrie. And here his ability to control his own Shadow is called into question again as, just when he needs its help the most, the wilful Blue Dragon proves singularly uncooperative.

Further perils await the travellers within Nene’s palace laboratory where they discover that the children stolen from the villages are being kept prisoner, their life force slowly drained to create new Shadows. A terrifying encounter with Nene leaves our heroes in desperate peril, as the tyrant’s fearsome war machine sets out to wreak havoc on the world outside. Is Nene too strong to defeat? Have they left it too late? Convinced that the answers lie in the Extra Seven pages, Zola leads her battered companions on to the city of Logic in Metia which is famed for being a place of scholarship and libraries. For if they are six of the descendants of the legendary Seven Soldiers of Light, who is the seventh?

Shu, preoccupied by his own problems with controlling his wayward shadow, summons Blue Dragon to try to find some answers of his own. But it’s too late to ask any more questions; as Nene’s robot soldiers launch an attack on Metia, Shu decides to fight back. And even though it will mean revealing their location to General Logi, Zola’s stirring battle cry rings out, “The warriors have come back to save the world.”

It’s a relief to find that ‘Blue Dragon’ cranks up the pace in these eight episodes, offering some sizzling duels between the Shadow Warriors and new opponents, General Logi’s Independent Flying Squad. However, the bright palette of colours and the cast of young protagonists tend to reinforce the impression that this is primarily a children’s series (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) that has somehow been awarded a 12 certificate for a few brief moments of fanservice (Bouquet is the main culprit here.) I really don’t understand why ‘Samurai Deeper Kyo’ has been awarded a PG, and this is a 12. All the elements of a typical children’s fantasy adventure are to be found here: superhuman powers, extremely evil enemies, trash-talking duels, plucky young heroes, and a multi-coloured variety of different Shadows to battle against. It’s derivative in anime fantasy terms but passes the time amusingly enough; I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to call it ‘Toxic Waste’ (SFX really didn’t enjoy it!) And Toriyama’s character designs are always worth watching, even if every time Shu summons Blue Dragon, I half-expect our hero’s hair and eyes to blaze gold and his muscles to bulge impressively in Super Saiyan mode. 

But one episode encapsulates for me the dramatic limitations of this take on the magical quest format; separated from his friends, Shu encounters one of Nene’s warriors, Lieutenant Dragnov, who helps the exhausted boy. Sadly, the opportunity to create a sympathetic character in the enemy lines is hastily thrown away (presumably to show how downright evil and unsporting his fellow officers are) instead of being developed to produce some genuinely interesting conflict in Shu’s mind.

On the music side, the stirring score is by Nobuo Uematsu (who also wrote the soundtrack for the original game) and Megumi Oohashi. Although the first notes of  the irritating opening song ‘Oh Friend, My Friend’ are enough to make me press the skip button prestissimo.

This second set comprises volumes 3 and 4, including eight episodes (#9-16).  

In Summary
A standard sword and sorcery adventure that lacks subtlety and originality but nevertheless manages to serve up some impressive Shadow battles.