Dragons of Wonderhatch Episodes 1-2 Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“In my dreams, I am flying…. I realize I’m not flying freely at all. I’m falling towards the sky.”
High-school student Nagi often dreams of a different world where fish fly in the sky and dragon-riding warriors zoom past clouds. Little does she know that this world is real and is called Upananta, which is in grave danger due to an evil villain. Unfortunately, its greatest hero, Akuta, falls to Earth and doesn’t know how to get back home. Looking to rescue Akuta, a spirited Tyme also finds his way to Earth, landing at Nagi’s house with his dragon, leading to an epic intersection of two very different worlds.
Directed by Hagiwara Kentaro, the 2023 Disney fantasy series “Dragons of Wonderhatch” (Wandahatchi: Soratobu Ryu no Shima) blends the real world with anime, so while Nagi’s life is set in regular human japan, Upananta is a colorful animated universe with fantasy figures, which is a little like Dragon Ball Z. Nakajima Sena plays teen Nagi, while Mackenyu and Okudaira Daiken portray the human versions of dragon-riders Akuta and Tyme respectively. In this series, there’s a clear boundary between the animated Upananta and Earth, and when Upananta inhabitants find themselves in Japan, they assume human forms.
Ironically titled “The Final Battle”, episode one first introduces Nagi, who is troubled by her dreams and often faints when the visions get too much. Nagi realizes her mother too had similar symptoms and tries to ask her father about it, with little avail. Then viewers are plunged into the fascinating animated realm of Upananta, and the visual contrast from Nagi’s life is striking as hell. Akuta leads a band of dragon-riders to go to war with Jairo, a nefarious villain who has sealed off a place called Pytonpyt, leading to the slow collapse of Upananta’s many floating islands. While Akuta rides a fierce giant reddish dragon, his biggest fan, the younger Tyme, rides a cute blue baby dragon called Guphin, whose character illustration & personality looks like a mash between Squirtle (from Pokemon) and Night Fury from “How to Train Your Dragon”. Jairo attacks Akuta, throwing him to modern day Japan, and Tyme tries to find a way to his idol.
With a 45-minute runtime, the pilot episode takes its time to set up the primary premise, which really doesn’t become clear until the second episode. So it’s a good thing that Disney released the first two episodes together, because the most interesting twist in the tale only comes at the end of the second edition. The makers include a lot of easter eggs and direct references to several popular manga creations, which would be fun to spot for some fans. For example, an eccentric character Saira (Sumire) who lives in Upananta, loves to collect stuff from the human world, so she is gifted an Astro Boy toy (a good salute to Manga master Osamu Tezuka). While the animated parts of “Dragons of Wonderhatch” is comical and fun to watch, things unravel at a sluggish pace in the human world. Although the cinematography for the regular live-action parts is also visually appealing.
Seen last as the enigmatic Roronoa Zoro in “One Piece”, Mackenyu once again seems to be playing a similar character – an asocial hero who loves to fight. While he definitely delivers whatever brief he has been given, Akuta’s adventures in the human world are rather mundane, and the one fight he gets into is shabbily choreographed, with confusing camera moments that do nothing to improve the violent sequence. Hopefully, the character’s trajectory will improve in the coming episodes. Meanwhile, Okudaira Daiken energetically voices Tyme, however, the actor doesn’t appear in the human world until the second episode, so it’s too soon to say anything about his actual portrayal of the character. Although, he definitely promises to infuse the mundane world of earthlings with a lot of joy, life and action.
Titled “The Secret Room”, episode two of “Dragons of Wonderhatch” is only 32 minutes in duration, much shorter than the first, but feels a lot longer due to its slow pace. Those who are looking for a fast-paced action-packed series that combines the anime world with the human world might be left wanting for more, but since episode 2 ends on a fun cliffhanger, I am expecting the series to get a lot more exciting in the next few editions.
You can stream “Dragons of Wonderhatch” on Disney Plus.
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