Dragon Half

Dragon Half (ドラゴンハーフ) is a manga created by Ryūsuke Mita and serialized in Monthly Dragon Magazine from 1988 to 1994. It was adapted into a two episode anime OVA series in 1993. ADV Films licensed the anime series in North America.

The story follows Mink, a half human/half dragon teenage girl on a quest for a potion which will turn her into a full human so that she can win the love of the legendary dragon slayer Dick Saucer. In the manga, in order to get the potion, she must slay Azetodeth, the greatest demon in the land.

The story (which is a parody of the Dungeons and Dragons genre) is very tongue-in-cheek, and pokes fun at a number of anime clichés, most notably its overuse of super deformation and its wide range of genres in a similar way to anime such as Excel Saga. Much of the manga contains references to role-playing games and occasionally either other manga or anything that begins with the word 'dragon'.

Ryūsuke Mita's favorite animal is the dragon. As a result, several dragons play an important role in the manga, most notably Mana and her father, Titan.

The story
Mink was born to a man who used to be a skilled swordsman and a female imperial red dragon. At age fifteen, she falls in love with a singer named Dick Saucer; but because he is also a dragonslayer, she has no choice but to get a potion that can change her into a pure human. She can only get the potion, however, if she can slay the most powerful Demon Lord in the land, Azetodeth, and go to his palace known as the Demon King's island. Not only does she have to reconstruct the Gourd of the Saints, an item that can seal Azetodeth, she also has to be aware of Princess Vina, her rival for Saucer's affections. Mink is aided by her friends Lufa, Pia, and a fairy mouse named Mappy on her quest.

After a number of adventures, mainly a conflict with a vampire and her four handmaidens and discovering Dick Saucer's past, Mink finally comes face to face with Azetodeth. She manages to seal the Demon Lord away with the Gourd of Saints, and although she gains the potion, she chooses to remain half-human, half imperial red dragon forever. Instead of using the potion herself, she gives the potion to her friend Lufa, who had been turned into a toad by the Demon Lord's magic.

Locations

 * The Demon King's island
 * A island where Azetodeth and his three sons live. This island has tall rugged rocks and is surrounded by a wall that prevents anything that goes through unless it goes into the main entrance which is difficult to find or a gate guarded by a receptionist named Suzuki who is beaten by Mink and runs off. The island is first seen at the end of Chapter 13. After making several more cameos, Mink finally gets on the island in Chapter 50. There is also a castle which is completely destroyed by Azetodeth in Chapter 64.


 * Village of the Red Lightning
 * The village where Mink and her family and friends live. It is shown in the beginning having a river flowing through it and mountains surrounding it, and is shown again in the credits.

Items

 * The Gourd of the Saints
 * The Gourd of the Saints is a bottle that took 200 years for Mink's dragon great-grandfather to make. It was broken into three pieces which transformed into three holy artifacts 2000 years ago. The artifacts were Parza's holy grail (a goblet), Lorelo's Ball (a black ball that 'provides super-screw') and Gill's crown. The Gourd of the Saints is extremely important as it is the only one that can seal Azetodeth away.

The three holy artifacts
There are three sacred treasures required to resurrect the gourd known as the three holy artifacts(Sango no Jingi in the Japanese version). They are loosely based on the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Parza's holy grail represents the mirror of wisdom, Lorelo's ball represents the Jewel of Benevolence and Gil's crown represents the sword of valor. However only Lorelo's ball and the jewel of balevolence correspond to each other in the story.

Anime
The first OVA, Dragon Half: Mink's Journey (ドラゴンハーフ～ミンク旅立ち), was released on March 26, 1993. The second, Dragon Half (Final): The Brutal Killer Martial Arts Tournament (ドラゴンハーフ(後編)～凶殺武闘大会), was released two months later on May 28, 1993.

The OVA series is based on sections of the first two volumes. There were originally going to be 4 OVA episodes but there was not enough interest so only two episodes were produced.

Staff

 * Original Story: Ryūsuke Mita
 * Director: Shin'ya Sadamitsu
 * Screenplay: Shin'ya Sadamitsu
 * Character Design: Masahiro Koyama
 * Music: Kōhei Tanaka

Music
The ending theme song, My Omelette, was written to the music of Beethoven (Symphony No. 7, 4th movement) and sung by Kotono Mitsuishi while in character.

Manga
The comic was released in two versions. The first was as seven standard tankōbon, and the second was a wideban release comprising three volumes which included extra galleries and interviews with Mita not found in the original releases. The manga consists of 65 chapters. After Dragon Half ended, Ryūsuke Mita created a sequel called Dragon Half Z about Mink's seven-year-old daughter Pink.

The manga is available in several countries but is only available in English as a fan scanlation. There are two reliable websites - Dragon Half in English (Last updated August 10, 2006) and Ahojed's scanlation project, the latter that started in early-mid 2006 and is updated every week and takes notes often in the form of a page added at the end of a chapter.The most unusual thing about the manga is while manga volumes have character profiles and a blurb, Dragon Half does not, not even in the Trilogy edition! Another unusual thing is many characters fail to appear in the anime.

The artwork is also unusual; at the beginning, it was similar to Osamu Tezuka's art but starting from Volume 3, the character's designs changed and over time, they became more bishōjo/bishōnen and more detailed.

Differences between the manga and the anime

 * In the Japanese language version of the OVA and manga, the "People Potion" is called the "Pido Potion".
 * In the manga, King Siva and Rosario plan to kill Mink because she killed one of King Siva's assassins (and Rosario's childhood friend) by accident.
 * Lufa tells Mink and Pia she borrowed her lightning cane from her grandfather, but in the manga she got it from a treasure chest following an innkeeper disaster.
 * In the manga, Dick Saucer is 17 but in the OVA series, he is 20. Mink is 16 in the OVA but in the manga, she is 15.
 * The brutal Killer Martial Arts tournament is called The 28th Malice-Slay Championship in the manga.

Other significant differences

 * Princess Vina's hair color is purple in the OVA but in the manga it's pink.
 * Pia and Lufa's parents are not shown in the anime, but are shown in the manga.

Trivia

 * The aspect of Venus in her human form; the mother of the princess Vina is similar to Princess Milk of NG Knight Lamune & 40.