Welcome to Ansullivan Dragonar Academy, a school with a the students are dragon riders, each contracted with their own personal dragon. Ash Blake has the unique ability to ride anyone's dragon, but he's been waiting for what feels like forever for his own dragon to be born. He's thrilled when his dragon, Eco, finally appears--but she inexplicably takes the form of a beautiful human girl. Eco's peculiar appearance is only the first unusual thing Ash faces. His life is about to become a whirwind of spies, dragon races, and unexpected attention from both the proud Princess Sylvia and the beautiful president of the student council, Rebecca. All Ash wants isto acclimate Eco to the world, but someone out there wants his strange dragon on the dissecting table!
Interesting Fantasy setting but too much exposition dumping and a lot of gratuitous nudity. I saw it was rated 16+ on the back and it’s online listing mentions “fan service”, but there are parts that come across as beyond that that don’t really serve the narrative.
If you don't like fanservice or can't put up with it, then Dragonar Academy is definitely not the book for you. This book is very, VERY laden with fanservice to the point where I can easily see where it'd be far too much for the casual manga reader. It doesn't help that there are a few scenes in the volume that made me look up to ensure that nobody was looking over my shoulder, as it definitely is pretty out there at times.
I'll lay this out here for people who are squeamish about this sort of thing. Much of the more extreme fanservice revolves around Eco, a young dragon-girl that looks like she's about 10-12 years old. Some of it is just her walking around naked (explained away by her seeing clothes as a human thing), but there are also scenes of her getting grabbed by tentacles that just so happen to rip her clothes off. It's not done in a sexual manner, but it was clearly done as fanservice for the reader. The squickiness factor is kind of softened by her being a dragon that was born with a sort of "hive mind" of sorts, (basically dragons can share their memories up until the time they're born or something along those lines) but it's still going to make more than one parent widen their eyes and take it back to the bookstore fairly quickly. If you are at all uncomfortable with this sort of thing, stay away. I took a peek at later chapters and it pretty much stays at this level.
That said, I did appreciate that the story did try to explain the fanservice, which is actually somewhat of a rarity. It's just that at times the fanservice comes at the expense of the story and at times I found myself getting frustrated with the fanservice and sexually charged jokes. Not because they were extreme, but because I was more interested in the story and wanted it to progress rather than show us another shot of Silvia's panties or give us another joke about how Ash can ride any dragon except for Eco. (A little explanation: people can only ride the dragon they're bonded with, but Ash can ride any dragon. As you can expect, there are a few "riding as euphemism for sex" jokes.)
The story is really the best part of the book and if it wasn't so interesting, this would probably fade into the background as one of hundreds of manga with cute artwork but a tepid story that only serves to show us half naked beast girls of some sort. But thankfully the story here is pretty good and I'm honestly curious to see where it goes. It doesn't stop me from somewhat wishing that we were getting the light novels instead of the manga, as I'd like to have more story and a little less fanservice. I do like that the artist here has taken the time to painstakingly draw his characters with a lot of attention to detail (even the male ones!) but I'd rather have a bit more focus on the plot itself.
Did you like the Familiar of Zero? Do you wish the genders were reversed, and there was 900% more nudity? Grats, this is for you.
Ash Blake is a student at Ansullivan Dragonar Academy. He has the potential to summon and bond with a dragon, but to his annoyance he hasn't yet. During a race and an accident, his dragon comes forth. It's a flat-chested, irate lolita character. Now he has to find out why on earth only his dragon manifests as a human, and avoid her being dissected or killed by rampaging monsters.
I give this one star mainly for the artwork. It's ridiculously hentai-styled, to the point where it deforms the characters some. You even have a veiny tentacle scene. Even without this, the plot is really thin. Eco is an expy of Louise from FoZ, but without even the self-doubt or backstory Louise has. She's just a tiny ball of tsundere annoyance out of the gate, even when there's no reason for her to be. The manga seems to condense three episodes of the anime into one volume, so you're not getting a detailed plot either. (Not that the anime itself has a deep story.)
Pretty much the only reason I can think of to buy this is if you liked Familiar of Zero, but wanted it a lot more shallow and a lot sexier. Other than that, pass.
Dragonar Academy is one of those Manga that I really got interested in out of the blue. The cover art was a bit off putting in my opinion, after all it's just a fan service cover, but if you can get past all of that there is a really interesting story. I'm a fan of high fantasy stories so I got excited about that aspect of Dragonar Academy. Shiki Mizuchi does a great job of creating an interesting world with its own rules for magic. However you have to get past the fan service (if you're not into that stuff) to enjoy the story. Ran does a great job of bringing the world to life however I wonder how much of the nudity and fan service came directly from him and not Shiki. Fan service doesn't often bother me unless it's too extreme. I feel that Ran is right on the border for me. There are moments where I say to myself "that really wasn't necessary".
So far I've kept reading the series because the art is good and the story is really fun to follow. If you're contemplating reading Dragonar Academy just take my warning to heart, if you're not ok with fan service then pass it up and try something different because this one is full of it.
For dragon lovers, this is kind of cute, in the city of Ansullivan, at the academy, all students are unique: they are Yunios or Senios (basically the grade levels) who have their own dragons! Ash Blake is a bit of a late bloomer and has not given life to his dragon yet, not to mention his mark that gives life to dragons is larger than those of his peers. Unique to Ash is his ability to control and ride other people's dragons, a skill that no one else has. When his dragon, Eco, is finally born, she has the form of a human, but is all dragon and utilizes Ash as the human "dog" he is meant to be. But even more odd things begin to happen, such as Eco being stalked/spied on and an undead regenerating dragon wreaking havoc. Ash and Eco must learn to work together to keep Ansullivan safe.
I picked this up at a used book store. I love dragons and thought this looked cute and somewhat promising. While it is cute, the plot is a bit too shallow for me. There is good set up for the next volume as well as a potential overall arcing plot, but the characters are a bit bland and I do not really find myself caring about any of them by the end of volume one. The art is nice, but almost chibi in its form in that everyone pretty much looks like a little kid, even the main characters. Eco is a newborn dragon, so that is okay, but Ash seems like an older teen with younger adolescent tendencies and a baby-face. I would say, if you have ever read Dragon Drive, this is somewhat reminiscent of that in a way, but not quite as developed or exciting.
The story could have been good, but the art -- oh my goodness. Not every female character needs to be drawn in such a blatantly sexual way!
And by every female character, I mean Every. Single. Female. Character.
Including the prepubescent girl. Who the main character acknowledges is a child. A child dressed in too-small lingerie.
The newborn dragon with the female body is constantly in various states of nudity, and she looks like she's 12, but she's not, as she was literally born yesterday. So that's gross too.
It's a pity, as the characters themselves aren't awful, but the pornified art ruins it. I felt sleazy for reading it. The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars is that most the characters are likeable and the story would have had potential if not for the PEDOBAIT ART.
A fun read about an academy where the students are dragon riders and all have their own personal dragons. It's very fantastical and it offers an escape from the real world (to a certain extent, of course!). I personally didn't find the story fast-paced enough, but maybe it's because it's the first volume in the series and it's introducing the story and characters to the reader. I do love the fantasy side of it and I recommend this series to manga readers or for anyone looking to branch out and read new material!
I don't recommend this series to younger readers, simply because women are portrayed in a more sexual way (with abnormally large bosoms, skimpy outfits, etc.). They also show a sexualized scene at the very beginning of the book and it also shows a nude woman.
I have only myself to blame; I bought 13 volumes of this crap and will force myself to read them. The, story, such as it is, is an excuse to draw fan service. Occasionally, I like the art but mostly it looks like elementary school girls with playboy bunny tits. One character is a dragon who takes the form of a girl that is often depicted as naked. I guess that's okay since it's a dragon.
Story seems interesting. This seems well planned out and not a 'we'll think about the story as we go along'. There has already been some world building. However there already seems to be an excessive amount of fan service in this first volume, I hope the second one have a little less of that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Um...they are children??? They are literally referred to as children and being kids at least 3 times???? Sooo...I was very uncomfortable nearly the entire time and will not be reading any more of this series. Stopping here. Also, the storytelling was sloppy.
I really liked the story and the artwork, however the fanservice is quite annoying and I got tired of the unnecessary nakedness all around. So, only three stars.
Great start to a series!! I love the concept of Dagonar's and the character interplay. Ash Blake is a pretty cool protagonist and the Harem element to the series is developing nicely!
Dragonar Academy: Vol. 1 takes place on a fantasy world, and in particular three countries in that world. They are the Chevron Kingdom, the Zepharos Empire, who are at war, and sandwiched between them, the Lautramont Knight Country, ruled by the Lautramont Knight Family. The fourth princess, Silvia Lautramont is one of the main female protagonists, and the class mate of Ash Blake, the main character.
In this setting, dragons are an endangered species that hundreds of years before this story made an agreement with humans to "breed" them. The Dragons are nurtured to birth by humans and other breeders, who have an unusually strong type of life-force magic, and thus can sustain the dragon they are bonded with. Ash is one such breeder, with the exception of two unique facts about him. First of all, he is an upper-class student at the Dragonar Academy whose Parr (dragon partner) still has not been born yet. This is unusual as the dragons are always born and awakened during basic level courses, and Ash is advanced level and his dragon is still sleeping. The other unique thing about Ash Blake is that he can ride any dragon. This is unheard of, as since the ancient pact between dragons and other species, each breeder can only ride his or her parr. With Ash, such relationships and spiritual connections are unneeded for a dragon to allow him to rider him/her.
These two reasons make Ash considered a "problem student" for his wierdness, though it is a bit unfair as he seems to be a good student and a very kind person. Anyways, one of the reasons for such a reception to Ash is about to be gone, and replaced with an even stranger situation. You see, his dragon is about to be born, and it is a beautiful young girl. His parr is a humanoid dragon he names Eco, the girl with undeveloped horns on the cover of the book. From here, his adventures with his new friends Princess Silvia and student president and noted Dragonar (Dragon Knight warrior) Rebecca Randall, are about to begin.
I saw this book after I read both a fan translation of the first two light novel and have seen most of the recent anime adaptation. I really liked it because it didn't follow the trend of so many other manga adaptations of light novels, i.e., in not giving much information. In other words, many manga writers who adapt other works assume that the reader is familiar with said work, and so don't spend much time on in-depth issues. At least, I think they make that assumption, because they don't always explain all that much.
Not so with this one, which really did explain many of the core concepts of the book, even if it did compress some of the essentials of the story lines in order to adapt the tale better. But those are mostly the minor details about some of the story line.
The fan service, like with the anime, can be a tad ridiculous at times, but it is more acceptable as it is tastefully done most of the time, and all the time it is part of the story or a bit of humor. In general, the artist and writer adapting the story to manga format did a very good job and this is really one of my favorite manga adaptions of recent time.
Okay...This book is rater Older Teen by Seven Seas Entertainment and for very...very good reasons. If you are not able to handle mature themes then this book is in no ways meant for you.
I like the premise of a school where students are bonded to a dragon magically bonded to them before the dragon is even born. I would like to see more about the bonds of dragons and students in the future even but this book seems to take this premise and run off the edge of a cliff for one poor young man who not only can ride any dragon but when his dragon actually appears she is a prepubescent girl who feels she is to proud to hide herself in clothes(just wait for a moment), bites her trainer while she sleeps(dragon nibbling) in a way that it looks like she is doing foreplay, is strapped to a table for study against her will, and is bound in a tentacled mass of a by my guess undead dragon that shows up in the end. Throw in slutty teacher into the mix with plenty of panty shots and partial nudity and you got yourself a book bordering straight up Hentai without actually having any adult only content.
Normally I would focus on one point of the book I enjoyed best but sadly this book although I didn't dislike it entirely didn't have anything that really stood out that I enjoyed. The artwork is alright, the fan service is over the top, and I would more yo see more dragons as opposed to dragons in the shape of young girls. Though teh scene when the princess blushed was pretty nice so I guess I'll say that was the best part lol.
I hope all of you who have it marked as to read find this book more enjoyable then I did. :)
While I found the premise interesting and would read an English translation of the original light novel if it were available, I found the manga version too heavy with fan service for my taste; the fan service bordered on hentai at times. I doubt I will read the following volumes.