Dragon Half
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|} Dragon Half is a humorous anime about a girl named Mink who is half human and half dragon. Dragon Half originated as a manga written and illustrated by Mita Ryuusuke. The series is available as a manga but is not in English.
The story is very tongue-in-cheek, and pokes fun at a number of cliches of anime, most notably its overuse of chibis and its wide range of genres in a similar way to anime such as Excel Saga. Only two episodes of the animated version were produced, "Mink's Voyage" and "The Brutal Killer Martial Arts Tournament".
For the most part, the story revolves around the character Mink, a child of the most unusual circumstances... the union of a human and a dragon, and her quest for the legendary People Potion to win the love of Dick Saucer!
Characters Voices
- Mink - Kotono Mitsuishi, Japanese - Jessica Calvello, English
- Dick Saucer - Yasunori Matsumoto, Japanese - Aaron Krohn, English
- Lufa - Mariko Kouda, Japanese - Jennifer K. Earhart, English
- Vina - Rei Sakuma, Japanese - Amanda Winn Lee, English
- Damaramu - Akio Ohtsuka, Japanese - Brett Weaver, English
- Rouce (Ruth) - Takeshi Aono, Japanese - Rob Mungle, English
- Mana (Mink's mother) - Kikuko Inoue, Japanese - Marcy Rae, English
- Dug Finn - Megumi Urawa, Japanese - Tiffany Grant, English
Biographies
- Mink
- Daughter of Rouce the Red Lightning and Mana, a red dragon, and the star of Dragon Half. She is like your typical teenager, except for the fact that she is half-dragon. She can fly with wings that disappear until needed, can breathe fire, and is overall very strong and resistant to most forms of damage. She also seems to be jinxed, bringing all sorts of misfortunes to anyone around her and herself; without wanting to she makes herself a LOT of enemies, for instance.
- Mink - like a typical teenager - is also terribly infatuated with Dick Saucer, the handsome dragonslayer/popstar.
- Notably, In order to eat during the quest, anything that is slain by her or the group, except Damaramu, is cooked and eaten shortly after the battle ends.
- Rouce the Red Lightning
- Mink's father, who was at one time one of the greatest knights in the kingdom. Originally, the King had sent Rouce on a mission to slay a red dragon who had invaded the land. But remarkably, instead of killing the dragon, Mana, he fell in love with her and married her.
- Rouce retired from the knight business and now he and Mana had settled in a quiet valley, where they raised their daughter Mink. Occasionally, he and Mana would get into an argument, for which Mink yells at them to stop.
- Mana
- Mink's mother and a red dragon. As a red dragon, Mana has the ability to change her form. As a result, she can change her form into a beautiful blonde woman; the only evidence that she is a dragon is her small fan-like dragon ears. She also puts Rouce in his place when he freaks out or acts like a pervert.
- Dick Saucer
- Dick Saucer is a famous dragon slayer, as well as being a pop idol. He is the epitome of a pretty-boy, walking around singing his theme song, and is the object of Mink's - and a lot of other girls' - crush.
- King Siva
- Also known as "the King", he can be best described as "balder than a baboon's ass with a face like a squashed frog" (ironically by his daughter Vina). Princess Vina's father, the King is possibly the stupidest person ever (except for Damaramu) and will bend over backwards just to satisfy his spoiled daughter's twisted desires. He also has a desire to kill Rouce the Red Lightning for defying his decree... and marry Mana.
- His favorite method of punishing insubordinates is a stone block called "Super Crushing Press" aka "The King's Anger" (see below).
- Princess Vina
- Slime-half daughter of King Siva and Venus, Princess Vina had spent most of her life in the form of a slime creature. It was only by studying black magic that she was able to achieve a human form, but this form can be undone if she gets hurt sufficiently.
- Vina is Mink's rival for the affections of Dick Saucer, and is also very defensive about her father. In her own words, anyone who offends him can expect to be "royally ass-whipped!" This girl is spoiled rotten and will stop at nothing to make Mink's life miserable... and win the affection of Dick Saucer.
- Venus
- A slime creature who had fallen in love with the King. In order to win his affection, she had used the legendary People Potion to change herself into a beautiful human female.
- Naturally, the King had fallen in love with Venus and the two married. She gave birth to his daughter, Vina, but died of a broken heart that she was born a slime. This happened before the beginning of the story.
- Damaramu
- The definitive dumb muscle. He constantly brags about his (next to non-existent) greatness as a fighter, talking of himself in the third person, usually as "The Mighty Damaramu". He is sent by the king to hunt Mink, but due to his considerable lack of intellignece and Mink's jinx it is a doomed prospect.
- Roshi
- Damaramu's wyvern/dinosaur bird type thing. It aids him in fighting Mink and transportation, as it is large enough to carry Damaramu.
- Blacksmith Tony
- You never see this character, but he is important to the story. He is ingenious for making mecha suits and creatures.
- Lufa
- An elf and Mink's best friend. She has wonderful healing powers, but absolutely no skill with a lightning cane - she usually hits everything BUT the target! Is also rumored to have a crush on Mink.
- Pia
- A young dwarf girl who is friends with Mink, Lufa and a small mouse-creature name Mappy. Pia constantly wears armour, due to her overly-concerned parents.
- Mappy
- Pia's pet mouse. Mappy acts as Pia's bodyguard whilst traveling, able to transform to the size of a grizzly bear at will. This tends to deter Lufa from whacking Pia when she gets on her nerves, as Mappy often whacks Lufa straight back.
- Rosario
- A priesty-type person, and probably the court magician. He is the King's right-hand man in dealing with Mink. Fortunately for her, has a talent for doing the wrong thing and using outdated methods. Fancies himself to be a great magician, but often uses cheesy special effects (such as the old 'hot water and dry ice fog bit).
- "The King's Anger"
- Though technically not a character, "The King's Anger" deserves an entry in its own right. The King's Anger is actually a large block of stone that is dropped on anyone that annoys the King. With the pull of a cord - one of many which are dotted all around the palace -, it appears from nowhere.
- Dug Finn
- Master demon and son of Azetodeth the warlock. Rodent-type thing. Very skilled in magic, but is still a kid at heart. Voiced by ADV voice actress Tiffany Grant.
Quotes (From ADV Films Dub)
- "Your ASS is TOAST!" - Damaramu
- "MOM, DAD, WILL YOU STOP THAT? IF YOU WANT TO FIGHT, WHY DON'T YOU DO IT OUTSIDE?" - Mink
- "...And all who call my father a squashed frog will be royally ass-whipped!" - Princess Vina
- "I summoned you here because there is someone I wish to become very, very dead." - King Siva
- "I saw Mink's goodies!" - Dug Finn
- "I'm starving. I just realized I haven't eaten for two weeks. MWA HAH HAH HAH.. so regrettable it is, that even I, Damaramu, cannot overcome hunger. You! Give me that mouse! Damaramu needs it for his stomach of steel!" - Damaramu
- "I hate cheesy crackers." - Dug Finn
- "Don't worry, I'll be good extra baggage!" - Pia
- "Okay, the brown demons are under control." - Dick Saucer
- "Hey Roshi, come on over here, big boy." - Mink
Trivia
- The creators were so aware of how short their run might be that they actually parodied the cutting of storyline parts, by having Dug Finn berate Mink for supposedly slaying Azetodeth, only for Mink to point out she didn't, since they cut that entire part of the plot, with Finn actually watching the tape of the first episode to prove the fact.
- While the storyline was resolved in Japan, with Mink giving up on the People Potion and marrying Dick Saucer anyway due to some kind of irony, no full English translation of the Dragon Half manga is known to exist as yet.
- The People Potion storyline of the anime was very quickly forgotten in the manga, with the storyline of Mink slaying demons, that they cut entirely from the anime, being the actual ongoing storyline in the manga.
- The theme song, 'My Omelette', was a parody song written to the music of Beethoven and sung by Kotono Mitsuishi while in character. While it was translated in subtitles, it was not substituted for the English release.
- In the theme song, Kotono Mitsuishi sings the phrase "Gam sa ham ni da, I am sorry". The "Gam sa ham ni da" is actually Korean and means "Thank you".
- The anime is only two episodes long (both of which are available subtitled and dubbed in English) due to disinterest in Japan.
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