Goodbye, Dragon Life – Episode 1

What’s it about? Dolan was once an immortal powerful dragon that lived in isolation until one day humans decided to kill him.  Rather than being angry he welcomed death and hoped his weary body can finally rest in peace.  To his surprise, he was reincarnated into a human family and devotes himself to living a quiet life in his home village.  

I have a confession to make: I love dragons.  They generally just look so cool and in the hands of competent writers these creatures can absolutely be the stars of their stories.  On paper, there isn’t anything wrong with Goodbye, Dragon Life, but it isn’t terribly exciting either.  This premiere follows the basic step-by-step setup of reincarnation stories, with the somewhat uncommon tweak that Dolan was reborn as a commoner rather than a nobleman.  With countless reincarnation stories about protagonists being reborn into nobility, it’s a small distinction that could’ve offered a change of pace.  

It’s clear that Dolan is thankful that he doesn’t have to deal with tedious politicking normally associated with those in power and is genuinely happy with his current life.  Aside from that, there isn’t any deep introspection from him that makes it interesting to follow his journey. It’s honestly a shame that this premiere couldn’t do something similar to My Happy Marriage in the sense that it was able to effectively examine Miyo’s internal mindset, which helped move the plot forward in episode one.  There was a real opportunity to have a deeper understanding on who Dolan’s is as a person, but unfortunately, the series seems to be content making him into another bland protagonist that we’ve seen countless times.  

While dragons aren’t the main characters in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and Delicious in Dungeon, what’s notable about them in both shows is that they are depicted as majestic creatures that almost seem otherworldly.  That’s why this premiere is frustrating to write about because now that a dragon is the main character the most that can be said about the story is that it’s utterly forgettable.  It’s inevitable that there’ll be some mediocre reincarnation stories that’ll grace our screens each season, but usually there’s at least negative aspects worth mentioning.  Here? Nothing. Even the fan service was kept at a minimal, which is surprising because normally that’s often used to overcompensate for the lack of any narrative substance.  

I wish I could say the women characters were at least interesting, but there wasn’t any attempt to make them stand out.  By the time the credits began to roll, I was almost begging this show to throw me a bone, whether good or bad, so that I can have something meaningful to write about to our readers.  Overall, this premiere was such a snooze fest and just felt so lackluster.  There’s seriously no vision behind the story and truly isn’t worth anyone’s time.