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Enjoyable, but a bit predictable and dry
Ah, Dragon Booster. I remember racing home in eighth grade to catch new episodes when they came on at four-thirty. I remember eagerly anticipating what would happen next, and trying to predict the sort of turns that events would take. Looking back as an adult, I can say that despite true moments of funny, heartwarming and awesome, there are stale and confusing areas that, as a writer, make me cringe.


As I said, there were some crowing moments that deserve a mention. On the funny side we have Lance and his flash stick, most of Cain, and Artha's early moments. A moment of Heartwarming that particularly stands out to me is when Moordryd foils his father's plan because of Lance and his Crewmates. And two EPIC moments in the last two episodes: Moordryd and Artha transform in front of each other then race off to save their fathers in Episode 38. In Episode 39, Moordryd decides not to cheat and pulls a You Shall Not Pass on his father's wraith dragon, leading to a tie game and entry into the academy for both of them.


I'll start with the protagonist, since he's got the most to atone for. Artha Penn is, throughout the story, often either perfect or a complete jerk. And to combine those two traits at once is difficult at best. He never seems to learn his Aesop, has bad jokes, and is one of the flattest characters around. Even when he does get character development, it pushes him more towards The Messiah. I find him consistently hard to be a character to get behind and follow. Is it any wonder that Moordryd gets all of the fangirls?

Aside from Artha, other problems arise when it comes to world building and plot. I especially found the "3000 years ago" grating, and after taking a History class, that feeling is only compounded. As well as the implausible history, the mechanics of the world - mag energy - seem to jump around a lot on the sliding scale of magic vs. science. And a twenty kilometer high city - even if it is situated in a huge canyon, I'm sorry but that's too implausible for me. The plot also shifts to favour either Artha or Moordryd, almost to the exclusion of the development of other characters. And the plot itself never moves forward.


ART: 6/10 (could be better) MUSIC: 7/10 (Decently likeable) PLOT: 5/10 (Suffers the most here) TOTAL: 6/10 (Could be worse.)
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