Great animated series seem to be few and far between these days. With disappointing sequels and poorly written plots, only a few animated shows are worth spending the little free time you have on watching them. Occasionally, you find gems like Gravity Falls or Star vs. the Forces of Evil and your hope in animation is restored, but then you come across watered down versions of your favourite animated series such as the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender and you can’t believe that it was possible to completely massacre one of your favourite animated series. Thankfully, one of the creators of The Last Airbender has partnered with Netflix and decided to bless us with another one of their amazing creations known as The Dragon Prince.
The Premise
In true Last Airbender style, The Dragon Prince begins the first episode by elaborating on the storyline. In a world dependent on six primal sources (the sun, moon, stars, sky, earth and ocean) Xadia, a mythical land, is filled with all kinds of magical creatures who coexist with humans. However, things take a turn for the worst when human mages found a new primal source – black magic. Black magic requires the powers of Xadia’s mythical creatures to work and human mages have liberally exploited them in order to gain hold of this new source of power.
After enduring abuse from humans for far too long, the residents of Xadia become hostile and a war breaks out. Suddenly, the once serene world is torn between the two factions of society but, when the humans manage to kill The King of the Dragons and supposedly destroy his only egg, the war intensifies. Xadia retaliates by sending out their best Elven Assassins, called Moonshadow assassins, to kill the human king. But when an unforeseen circumstance brings together one of the Elven Assassins and the two human princes, they realize that what they’ve discovered could finally end the war. Knowing this, they put their differences aside and set out on a journey to restore peace to both their worlds.
Why You Should Watch
Outside of having similar characteristics to Avatar: The Last Airbender, such as opening and closing each episode with book titles and chapters, the art style for The Dragon Prince is absolutely epic. Instead of just being a 2-Dimensional animation, the show is a combination of both 2-D and 3-D elements. The scenery and outline of the human civilization is extraordinary and leaves you wondering how much more effort the creators will put into making Xadia when they decide to reveal it.
Other than the nostalgia and great graphics, The Dragon Prince has a lot to offer. I’m glad that they’ve decided to incorporate diversity into the storyline. The characters come in all colours, shapes and sizes and it can also be seen in the secondary characters, such as the lieutenant of the human army who uses sign language to communicate.
The two princes, Ezran and Callum are one of the cutest siblings in the series. Besides the fact that Callum is voiced by the same voice actor for Sokka from The Last Airbender, the pair share a unique kind of brotherly bond even though they are half-brothers. Another set of characters that I’ve come to already adore is Claudia and Soren, who are the children of Viren, the sketchy advisor to the king. Claudia is quirky and a bookworm but still has an air of darkness around her, especially because she’s a human mage. Soren, on the other hand, is a Crownsguard and is charismatic but also a little dim. While Rayla’s character is just as fascinating seeing that she’s one of the youngest Elven assassins from Xadia, I’m yet to really warm up to her character. Still, I absolutely adore her accent.
My one qualm with the series is that it borrows too much for The Last Airbender. While I’m glad to have a show similar to the one I’ve loved, I hope that in the next few seasons of The Dragon Prince, the writers veer away from following the outline of The Last Airbender. There’s a ton of potential for The Dragon Prince and I’m looking forward to getting to know the characters more and learning more about Xadia.
Let the world of magic enchant you as you neglect your to-do-list and binge-watch the entire first season of this mystical animated series.
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