by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
Netflix certainly seems to have found a niche for themselves by bringing a series of video game adaptations to their streaming service. Adding to the recent releases of Arcane and The Witcher, it’s dropped the second season (or book) of DOTA: Dragon’s Blood, based on the DOTA 2 game.
I reviewed the first book as part of my Animation Celebration series here on Siftpop.com, so I’m going to assume you’ve seen the first season if you continue past this point.
The story picks right up from where book one leaves off: Davion is in the control of the dragon knights and the elves are changing course after a climactic final battle. Studio Mir, producers of The Legend of Korra, Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts, and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, are back to crank out the second season.
Having enjoyed book one of the series well enough, and the successes of the other previously mentioned series, I was looking forward to see if they could build on the positives of the first season. Unfortunately, I found that the negatives that kept poking their head up in the first season were more annoying in book two. Whereas there was enough visually interesting fantasy action to paper over the flaws, I didn’t get enough of it in book two. You expect a sequel season to ramp up the action, and while the threat level is certainly raised, none of the action felt as dynamic or exciting as the first season. While there are some cool new dragons introduced with some intriguing powers, it just couldn’t get me as invested as I was previously. Things do step up in the second half, but too late to fully redeem it. The over-the-top anime-style animation is still present, but it just seems like its missing something. Maybe after two seasons of this show and multiple seasons of Castlevania, this type of Netflix fare is just starting to lose its luster.
Or maybe my recent experience with what the service could offer when it comes to animation has been spoiled by how clearly above this Arcane is.
As a result, the dialogue and some of the pacing issues were harder to ignore in season two. The book — despite having eight 25-minute episodes, not a large ask in relative terms — somehow manages to feel both rushed and like a slog. The story moves along at a rapid pace, jumping from character to character. There’s a density to things that had me struggling to work my way through it, despite its short length. The pacing got off to a rough start, as the show throws you right back into the series where it left off. Having binged book one just four months previously, the fact that I was lost as the series started, trying to reorient myself to the players and where things stood, isn’t the best sign. I didn’t watch any sort of book one recap before jumping back in, but perhaps I should have. As I mentioned earlier, the dialogue never was the strength of the show, and without the boost of as much compelling action, I found it stood out even more in book two. Or at the very least, it was harder to forgive.
While at the end of the first book, I found myself excited to see where the story took out characters, the dialogue and pacing flaws found me losing interest in this new season rather quickly. Though I gritted my teeth and pushed through, the series never recovered from a less-than-ideal start. I would have abandoned ship if not for this review, and I don’t have a real interest in continuing the story, even if it does come back for book three.
I know it sounds like I have nothing really good to say, but it’s more that it failed to build off a solid book one and was driven by aspects of the show for too long that aren’t its strength. The result was an overwhelming feeling was that was more disappointment and ambivalence than anger.
Grade: C-
You can follow Jake Bourgeois on Twitter and Letterboxd