Dragon Half

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dragon Half
ドラゴンハーフ (Dragon Half)
Genre	Comedy, Shōnen
OVA
Directed by	Masahiro Koyama, Takahiro Kishida
Studio	Victor Entertainment
No. of episodes	2
Released	26 March 1993

Dragon Half (ドラゴンハーフ, Dragon Half^?) is a manga series created by Ryūsuke Mita, which was later adapted into an OVA series. It is about a girl named Mink who is half human and half dragon.

The story is very tongue-in-cheek, and pokes fun at a number of clichés 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.

Contents 1 Biographies 2 Quotes (From ADV Films Dub) 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] 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 herself and anyone around her. Without wanting to, she makes herself a LOT of enemies.

Mink - like a typical teenager - is also terribly infatuated with Dick Saucer, the handsome dragonslayer/popstar. However, because of her half human/half dragon heratige, she is actively seeking out the legendary people potion, which would make her fully human.

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.

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Jessica Calvello (English)

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.

Rouce is absolutely livid that Mink has a crush on Dick Saucer. For someone who wishes for his daughter to respect him, Mink actually compared Rouce to "yesterday's garbage". Rouce then showed his contempt for Saucer by blowing his nose on a picture of him that Mink had.

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (Japanese), Rob Mungle (English)

Mana

Mink's mother and a red dragon. As a red dragon, Mana has the ability to change her form (in the manga it states that she changes into dragon form when she is angry). 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.

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), Marcy Rae (English)

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 crush - and those of a lot of other girls. However, because the King had tricked Saucer into thinking that Mink is a red dragon, he is actively trying to kill her. However, the first time he tried, he put it off when he was late for a concert.

The second time was during the Brutal Killer Martial Arts Tournament. As luck would have it, Saucer had drunk a bottle of what was supposted to be an energy drink... but in reality was an extremely potent laxative that Rosario had given Mink (which she gave to Saucer as a good luck token). The laxative took effect in the middle of a battle Saucer was in and he spent the remainder of the tournament in the men's room.

Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese), Aaron Krohn (English)

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 to marry Mana.

His favorite method of punishing insubordinates is a stone block called "Super Crushing Press" aka "The King's Anger" (see below).

Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata (Japanese), Paul Sidello (English)

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.

Voiced by: Rei Sakuma (Japanese), Amanda Winn Lee (English)

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 half. This happened before the beginning of the story.

Voiced by: Noriko Asano (Japanese), Kelly Manison (English)

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 intelligence and Mink's jinx, it is a doomed prospect.

However, during the Brutal Killer Martial Arts Tournament, it was revealed that Damaramu had survived the initial encounter, mostly because of what he refers to as his "compact brain". Also, with a little help from Blacksmith Tony, he was rebuilt as a cyborg. But before he and Mink were to battle, he stupidly wasted energy showing off his new abilities and was knocked into the lava pit below the fighting floor.

Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka (Japanese), Brett Weaver (English)

Roshi

Damaramu's wyvern/dinosaur bird type thing. It aids him in fighting Mink and transportation, as it is large enough to carry Damaramu. However, when Damaramu was defeated the first time by Mink, he ended up as a roasted snack for Mink, Lufa and Pia.

Voiced by: Spike Spencer

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.

Voiced by: Mariko Kouda (Japanese), Jennifer K. Earhart (English)

Pia

A young dwarf girl who is friends with Mink, Lufa and a small mouse-creature name Mappy. Pia constantly wears body armor, due to her overly-protective parents.

Voiced by: Taeko Yamada (Japanese), Hillary Haag (English)

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. In the anime, he is present from the beginning, however, the manga has him enter in much later.

Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki

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, he has a talent for doing the wrong thing and using outdated methods. Fancies himself to be a great magician, but has absolutely no powers and often uses cheesy special effects (such as the old 'hot water and dry ice fog bit) to impress others.

Voiced by: Kanado Shiozawa (Japanese), Andy McAvin (English)

"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: Megumi Urawa (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English)

[edit] 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-kicked!" - 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, Damaramu...am starving. The Great Damaramu has just realized that he hasn't eaten in over two weeks! HAHAHA! How regretful it is indeed, that even in his perfection, the Mighty Damaramu cannot overcome the pangs of hunger in his mighty belly! Right Roshi? I said RIGHT ROSHI?! ...... You there, give that little mouse to me! The Great Damaramu must have it to appease his mighty stomach of steel! NO!? Don't you see that I must eat in order to remain the pride of the Armed Forces!?!" - 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

• "A demon doesn't care about story continuity, I'm gonna beat you up anyway!"-Dug Finn

[edit] 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.

• 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 "Gamsa hamnida, I am sorry". The "Gamsa hamnida" is actually Korean, but it means "Thank you". She also sings "One two three four, yi er san si"; however, this time the lyrics are correct, as "yi er san si" really is Chinese for "one two three four".

• Mappy's name may well be a reference to the video game Mappy by Namco. Additionally, Roshi's name may come from another video game character, Yoshi. It may also be a reference to the Dragonball character Master Roshi.

[edit] External links

• http://www.geocities.com/yohannbiimu/DHEnglish.html The English scanlations