AquaHaze

Dog Days was one of those series that pleasantly surprised me. At first I thought the series wouldn't get anywhere, but it sure proved me wrong. As the weeks passed by, the series just kept getting better, and it just goes to show that first impressions aren't everything. Dog Days starts off like a number of fantasy series, with our protagonist getting summoned to another world to assist with a war that is currently going on. Although the word “war” makes it sound like something big is going on, a war is more like a game with a protective barrier to prevent anyonefrom getting seriously harmed. However as the series goes on a catastrophe begins to develop and the characters are forced to stop it. When the series first started, it looked like it wouldn’t actually have a plot because the series was all happy, cheerful and Flonyard (the name of the alternate world)seemed like a perfect world. However one plot twist would change all that and gave the series a foundation to build a plot on. The plot twist itself was also unforeseeable because it completely changed the mood from happy and cheerful to something more serious and dark . It just goes to show you that things aren’t always what they seem. The plot itself is pretty simple, doesn’t over complicate things and is pretty easy to follow. The story is also paced well too as it doesn’t try to squeeze it’s plot into 2 episodes like some series, and because of this the plot actually has time to develop. However I think that there could have been a little bit more added to the story if they had they introduced the plot a bit earlier, but nonetheless the story is pretty solid.Dog Days also excels in an area where I’ve seen a number of series fail, the ending . Not only is it really emotional and heartwarming but it also gives hope for a possible second season. Despite getting off to a slow start, for a 13 episode series the story is really well developed and well paced. Not masterpiece work but the story definitely exceeded my expectations for this series. The animation was beautiful, the vibrant colors really added to the happy and cheerful mood that the series had initially. Also during battles the visual effects used to animate the magic are visually appealing too. The fights themselves are well done too. The opening really fit the anime because of the heroic feel it had to it. The ending sounded more sweet and had a really catchy rhythm. All the voice actors matched the character they were playing. The insert songs in the anime were pretty good too. All around a pretty solid job on sound. With the exception of the protagonist and the minor characters from earth, all the other characters are half animal. However they still look like humans, they just have animal features like ears and tail which make them look cute. I’ve noticed that a number of recent series have these weak and useless protagonists that really don’t do much, but this is not the case in Dog Days. The protagonist Cinque/Shinku Izumi is called the hero for good reason, he’s always ready to fight and plays a significant role in many of the battles. For a human he has incredible strength and speed and looks like he can be on Ninja Warrior (search it on youtube if you don't know what it is). He’s also able to handle the other character’s emotions really well being able to cheer them up when they are down and really is a nice and likeable character. The main female Millhoire F. Biscotti is a gentle, soft spoken and well mannered princess but she does have some unique qualities that seperates her from most typical princesses. During the middle of the series and toward the end she did fight the demon with Cinque/Shinku showing that she can fight and defend herself. Also as an added bonus, she can sing and songs she sings are always nice to hear and on top of that being half dog makes her and a lot of the other characters pretty cute. A lot of other characters also play a role in the story instead of just being pushed to the side. Ricotta helping with her artillery support and trying to get Cinque/Shinku home, Éclair assisting Cinque/Shinku in battle and also Leonmitchelli who’s secretly trying to prevent the catastrophe. To be honest when Dog Days first started, I thought it was fun to watch but kind of stupid. However as the plot slowly revealed itself, my desire to watch Dog Days also increased. The random comedy at times was also hilarious and overall was an enjoyable watch. Dog Days started out slow but once it got going it never looked back. The plot that was presented may be simple but it’s well paced and well developed and definitely worth the watch.

SteelMaverick

On a personal note, I had quite high hopes for this show. With a good amount of successful anime stemming from being original anime series, Dog Days, having that element, combined with having an excellent seiyuu cast and being animated and directed by the staff from the animation studio Seven Arcs, seemed highly promising to deliver a successful show. However for the most part they did not. Story and Setting Dog Days is a 13 episode original series which revolves around a boy called Cinque or Shinku who is transported into a medieval fantasy land called Flonyard as a hero of the country Biscotti, to fightagainst the nation of Gallette. From this premise, it was possible for the show to develop into something complex, but the setting of the show, being light-hearted in a manner suiting children, nullified most prospects of there being any serious conflicts or development from the get-go. As viewers will soon discover in Episode 1, war between nations is almost perfectly safe, with inhabitants either turning into animal fluff-balls or having their clothes blown off, a somewhat hilarious foil to the seriousness of actual warfare. However, this is not to say that Dog Days is a show completely suited to children. Seven Arcs being Seven Arcs, there are traces of fanservice here and there and a darkish twist when the 'villain' emerges. The story, being set in a medieval war-like setting gives way to the strength of the series, that is the action scenes. Most of the fighting and action scenes were nicely choreographed with bows, swords, staves, shurikens and even magical artillery as weaponry. There was much flashiness, especially from the character's special Seal Cannon moves which are comparable to the much loved beamspam from the Nanoha series. The action was also quite prevalent throughout the series with several episodes being fully devoted to fights between the characters. Despite the action, I have criticisms of how certain fights were completely skipped and looking back now, I felt the series could've been improved if they choose to extend the fights instead of focusing on minor show elements such as fanservice. The overall plot though is unfortunately very shallow and unimaginative and is something I have to be very critical of. There are perhaps only two major important points in the story, one which is resolved in the time span of one episode and the other is full of glaring plot holes and unlikely coincidences. This brings me to the pacing of the series. Dog Days can either drag out one conflict or story element for several episodes, or resolve another story element in a single episode. This I found was quite detrimental to the series and marked a serious flaw in the storyboard and directing of the series overall. My final opinion on the story is that I'm quite disappointed with it. It had potential to become something interesting and complex, but Seven Arcs decided to pull off the same twist too many times. Attempting to garner sympathy for the 'villain'. Characters Character designers these days are attempting to add more and more different elements to the characters and their outfits and designs and for the most part they are quite successful. Dog Days also follows in this fashion, creating a very large cast of different unique and mostly flavourful characters with their own quirks, features and personality. Each major character who participates in combat (that is to say the great majority of them) possesses their own unique Seal, which is displayed as an emblem when they perform special attacks. Each character also fights in a unique style which is separate from the other characters using a large variety of weapons from bows, magical artillery, giant axes to even anchors. The characters also all have separate personalities, despite some being archetypical, it was strange yet pleasant that Seven Arcs managed to juggle all the different natures of the characters together. For example, our male hero, Cinque, fights with his divine staff/sword (and no it's not Raising Heart) Paladion with incredible acrobatic, athletic manoeuvres and with his multiple Seal Cannon techniques such as summoning a divine jetboard or playing with flaming sticks. It's actually quite refreshing to have a male protagonist like Cinque who doesn't get beat upon or is a hesitant sissy when the action comes and for actually making a likeable male protagonist in the sea of boring males protagonists out there, Seven Arcs deserve some credit. My only criticism is with such a large cast of characters, it's nearly impossible to give all of them the screen time that fans would desire. The character Godwin Dorure, who is voiced by Norio Wakamoto, is one example of a character I would've liked to have witnessed more. I felt other important characters such as Yukikaze and the Countess d’Arquien also needed more screen time. My final opinion on the characters is that I'm pleased with depth of uniqueness most characters possess in things such as personality, fighting style and appearance. With such a large cast of characters, viewers will probably find a character they'll like to cheer for, although this brings me back to my criticism of the amount of screen time characters get. Art, Animation and Music The art and animation for Dog Days isn't a strength but nor is it a weakness. There are a few pluses for the show, notably the fighting and the art for the seal cannons and their emblems. They are very flashy and pretty to look at, and the design for the Emblems have quite a bit of depth to them. One of the more average aspects of art for the show was the rather uninspiring backgrounds. With the potential of the fantasy setting, Seven Arcs could've been considerably more creative then the very average backgrounds of floating islands, blue skies and clouds and lush green battlefields which is used quite a bit throughout the series. A minus for the show in the art and animation department was the crudely drawn faces of the grunt soldiers which features throughout almost all the episodes and in one of the later episodes, a singing scene which the animation really goes downhill. What I feel is an underrated, or rather unmentioned aspect of Dog Days is the music. The battle music is slightly similar to music I've heard from games, such as Megaman, especially the music from battles which is to say they're of good quality. The music in general feels appropriate for the scenes they're accompanying and adds to the atmosphere. Overall, there's nothing super flashy to mention about the art of the show aside from the special moves. The animation was average in most parts aside from large dips towards the end of the series. The music is a praiseworthy aspect which accompanies the progression of the scenes well. Conclusion In the end, Dog Days shapes itself to be a a bit mediocre at best. There's nothing inspiring or largely original with its story or background and the only real strength it has are the characters (which is the case for a lot of shows nowadays), the action (which it decided to skip out a lot of) and the music. For action fans, Dog Days may intrigue you with a decent amount of action. For fantasy fans, Dog Days is likely nothing new and there's probably better shows to watch out there. Enjoyment-wise, Dog Days proved to be a mildly entertaining light-hearted series with the action and a few comedic scenes here and there and gets an enjoyment score of 7.5. However from a critical perspective, Dog Days fares worse with a score of 7.