The Gist:

An ancient power was hidden away long ago during a battle between good and evil. Now the evil has resurfaced and new warriors must uncover their hidden shadow power to defeat the Darkness.

The History:

Blue Dragon began as a console RPG developed by Mistwalker and Artoon and distributed by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. The game was released on December 7, 2006 in Japan and then migrated to North America on August 28, 2007.

On November 12, 2006, anime and manga adaptations were announced, with Viz Media acquiring North American rights for both. The manga was released in the U.S. on February 5, 2008 under the title Ral & Grad. The anime series, Blue Dragon premiered on Cartoon Network on April 5, 2008 and can also be seen on Toonami Jetstream. The first DVD volume was released on September 16, 2008.

Manga vs. Anime:

Since the Ral & Grad manga series hasn't yet caught up with the anime in volumes released, its a little difficult to tell how the two will play out. Ral & Grad does bear some similarities with Shadow Powers but presents a much more ancient and fantasy-drawn world than does the Blue Dragon anime.

It should also be noted that while both the anime and manga are based on the RPG, they do not stick strictly to the game timeline and there are some distinct expansions of content not included in the game.

How to Watch:

The first season of Blue Dragon premiered on Cartoon Network in April of 2008 and can be seen on Toonami Jetstream.

It contains 51 episodes.

See all the Blue Dragon DVDs

Genres:

Adventure, comedy, fantasy

Learn more about anime genres and themes

Studios:

Studio Pierrot, Viz Media

Rating:

A (All Ages)

Learn more about anime and manga age ratings

The Review:

If you think Blue Dragon looks familiar, you'd be right -- the original character design was done by none other than Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame.

And those of you that know me know that I am a die-hard DBZ fan if there ever was one, so trying to compete with Dragonball Z just won't work, even when the art is done by the genius Toriyama himself.

But Blue Dragon doesn't try to compete with DBZ at all and in fact branches out on its own story line. It's not such a unique storyline, though -- evil overlord wants to rule the Universe and seemingly ordinary humans discover they have a hidden power to help them win the battle of good and evil. Okay, so it has been done a time or two with different variations, but Blue Dragon brings its own twists into the mix, and I gotta say -- I really like this show.

The artwork is (of course) fantastic, and I'm enjoying the characters (even if they do remind me of some Z-fighters near and dear to my heart). This one's rated "A" for all ages, so it's an easy watch and the younger kids will enjoy it too -- just ask my five year old.

But even with the A rating, Blue Dragon has plenty of action and makes for quite a fun watch. It did, however, cause me to wonder what would happen if Toriyama decided to recreate his famed DBZ guys in new scenarios the same way Clamp does with theirs?

Now there's an anime I'd like to see. :)