Shounen, but with dragons     Sep 25, 2007     reviewed by TheRoyalFamily    

The title pretty much says it all. Same general thing of tournaments, training, getting stronger, fighting, friendship, saving the world, etc., but with dragons. Decent, if relatively uninspired, character designs, and the same with the story. I.e., typical Shounen Jump fare. If you like that kind of stuff, you'll like this, and if you don't, you won't.

The dragons are thusly the main differentiating thing. And they almost do, except that they are treated almost like digimon. Whenever a dragon is introduced, there is a caption with its name, type (wind, earth, dark, etc.), and a description of its abilities and such - just like it's a game. And it literally is, at least for a while, before it becomes this-children's-game-is-crucial-to-the-fate-of-the-world-type stuff. A shame, really, because the dragons are pretty cool.

This review may seem to focus on the negatives, but it isn't bad. It's just that if you have read any Jump titles, you already know what's good about this series. And there is definitely potential for it to get dark really quick. It's definitely worth a look.

TheRoyalFamily also recommended: Naruto, Yu-gi-oh!,
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A Bunch of teenagers save the world....again!     Jun 19, 2008     reviewed by T    

If you've ever played an RPG....you already know the basic plot to expect. Teenagers, unnessecary character development, and a save the world theme. Of course, with dragon drive, you get that AND a bit more for your 8 bucks. Dragon Drive starts us off with a Boy named Reiji, your typical slacker who isnt going anywhere in life.

At first he doesn't seem all that smart, nor powerful when we first met his weakling dragon chibi. But over the course of the story we see semi-predicatable sub-plots that show an increase in drive AND power. While the beginning cast doesn't play a major role, they do bring along with them some interesting subplots. The art is also pretty cool, if you look at some of those dragons, you'll be going oh wow. If for nothing else, get this for the DRAGONS!

All, Dragon Drive is generic at best, but it's the moments between Reiji and the other characters which earns it a 4. It's a good manga if you can handle a semi-predictable plot, if not you best look else where.

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