When it comes to Netflix and their video game adaptations, Arcane, Castlevania and The Witcher instantly spring to mind. But Dota: Dragon’s Blood, the anime based on Valve’s 2013 MOBA Dota 2, was a pretty entertaining romp when it premiered last year. Good thing, then, that new episodes are coming next week to give fantasy fans another fix after they’ve finished going through The Witcher yet again.
Last season, things ended on quite a cliffhanger for several characters, with Mirana (Laura Pulver) becoming ruler of her people just as an elven rebellion was kicking off. Davion (Yuri Lowenthal) got captured by his fellow Dragon Knights soon after so they can snatch the dragon soul of Slyrak (Tony Todd) out of the Knight’s body. Much as the Knights want that, Davion and Slyrak’s bond may be the only thing that can stop Terrorblade (JB Blanc), especially now that the demon’s on a rampage and killing other elderwyrms (very old dragons, like Slyrak) to steal their souls. The only one who seemed to win at the end of the season was Invoker (Troy Baker), and as the trailer shows, he’s gone and awakened Vahdrak, the Elderwurm of Chaos.
It’s possible that like me, you have overlooked Dragon’s Blood when it came out last year. If that’s the case, it may have been a mistake, because the show looks pretty rad. Comparisons between it and other fantasy shows will be inevitable, but the tension between Davion and Slyrak, and those big ass dragons, helps give Dragon’s Blood a different feel from some of its other fantasy brethren, animated or otherwise. And it doesn’t hurt that it looks quite gorgeous: Studio Mir’s work is always a visual delight, even when the shows themselves are rather narratively frustrating, to say the least.
The new season of Dota: Dragon’s Blood will hit Netflix on January 18.
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