Wahfuu Review! Dra†KoI

Grade A Dragon Waifu Deluxe!

Despite all the hype I had heard, I was fairly uneasy about going into Dra+Koi. A bit because of its reputation for being sex-filled and short, but mostly because of the boy-meets-girl romance focal point.. I don’t know if it’s because I have had bad experiences with romance stories or if it’s because I simply don’t like it as a focal point. One thing was for sure though, I was pretty skeptical of Dra+Koi despite all the hype I had heard about it. Come to think of it, I had no real reason to actually be a skeptic. If anything, I should have been excited for this little cocaine filled adventure. Yet, the combination of petty gripes with romance and my own questionable intellect all culminated in me going into Dra+Koi with almost zero expectations.

I wish I could go back and punch myself in the face.

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MOM PLEASE.

First, I feel like I should mention something. That being that Dra+Koi is completely and utterly out of its mind. Actually, it might be totally possible that it’s in its mind, but whatever is Dra+Koi’s mind has taken some phenomenal drugs. This has to be one of the most extreme examples of ‘fast pacing’ I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Let’s not confuse this with other crazy counterparts though. This isn’t like My Girlfriend Is The President where nothing is ever serious and things only ever get more outrageous. This is more of a.. serious type of crazy, if that makes any sense. Dra+Koi you can still manage to take seriously despite feeling like you just walked into an asylum (although the first fourty minutes or so is a bit questionable in this regard). This also leads to Dra+Koi actually being quite funny, although all the swearing can sometimes make it feel a little bit juvenile, but I believe that was a translation choice and I’ll be damned if it didn’t at least somewhat fit the atmopshere.

So, yes, I guess some of the preconceived notions ended up being true. Dra+Koi is indeed a romance filled fantasy that moves so fast that it may leave you and your neighbors with vertigo. The writing style, also, doesn’t really seem to know what it actually wants to do. At times it is, dare I say, amazingly poetic and sometimes very thought-provoking, and sometimes it’s absurdly nonsensical and reverts back to the games crazy house. Despite itself, though, Dra+Koi is rather charming and endearing, a lot in part to it’s surprisingly good main heroine, who despite getting dealt with a rather small game is actually quite good and fairly well-developed considering the circumstances. Dragon waifus are pretty cool.

.. Now, lets immediately forget any and all incoming accusations of me being a furry for a quick second and ask the question; Is Dra+Koi good? Does the crazy dialogue, the romance, the fantasy, dragons, short time and whippity woo wah huzzah all mesh together?

Well. Yes.

Surprisingly well.

Dare I say very well?

So fierce!

Y’know, when you actually go through the surface of Dra+Koi, and I can’t believe I am going to say this, Dra+Koi actually gets kind of.. deep! When you get past all the chuu2 fighting and the crazy dialogue and whatnot and whatever, it’s actually really, really romantic in the weirdest of ways. It explores tradition. How love interacts with tradition. How you should learn to love and enjoy your days despite it all and potentially even give tradition the middle finger. It also rather cleverly attributes all this into the age-old story of how the hero acquired the magical sword and slayed the ancient dragon. Even if it is just a boy-meets-girl love story, that doesn’t mean that’s all it has to be.

The ending is rather cliché and a bit predictable, to be sure, but it was really nice and was really good for the whole dragon/hero structure. Not to take anything away from the bad ends though. They are rather worth the time and the read, the last one in particular being very poetic and quite ball shattering if I do say so myself. I was kind of partially hoping for something shocking but I wasn’t dissatisfied by it at all. It was rather satisfying and pretty nice to see unfold.

So, yes, Nitro+ has once again defeated me and my stupid bias against romance works. Saya no Uta was also really romantic despite its sheer grotesque imagery and significantly darker tone, but it was also a rather romantic work with the showcasing of what it actually means to make someone a ‘part of your world.’ Nitro+ Really are just a bunch of softies at the core, aren’t they? It’s a bit amusing, really, with all the reputation of them being grimdark and 2edgy4u.

Dra+Koi does indeed try to tell you something. It’s rather idealistic, maybe too much so for some people. It’s impressive in itself to see something so short with such a concrete message. So much so that I kind of wish it had slowed down on the crazy pacing and the like and focused more on the poetic writing and Dragon waifu message of learning to love and spite tradition. It probably could have slowed down a bit. It is definitely part of its charm, to be fair, but I don’t know, I like the romantic strongpoints so much that I feel a bit greedy for more of it. Maybe I’m a softie at heart too as well.

I like and don’t like where this is going.

OVERALL THOUGHTS, REVIEW AND WHATNOT?!

Dra+Koi was a really big surprise. The only real flaws I think I can point out are things that I don’t really think are flaws, to be totally honest. It’s pace is breakneck and its length is depressingly short, but are they really objective flaws when that was the whole intention and worked with the whole experience? I’m not totally sure, really. Of course, Dra+Koi is a bit too short to be anything truly mind blowing and really breathtaking, to be sure.

Anyways, it might be because I’m looking a bit too far into Dra+Koi that I find it so engaging and charming. It’s highly possible, I’ve done it before. I just see a lot of charm within Dra+Koi. It made me think, made me d’aww, made me laugh and made me ‘wtf’ over the short time it was with me. I’m amazed, surprised, and a bit gobsmacked at how good I consider Dra+Koi. It really shouldn’t be. It was a third of a fandisc for gods sake. What the hell happened here? Why did I just have sex with a dragon? How does that even happen?!

TL;DR: You should all go read Dra+Koi. It’s pretty good. Go do it. Stop doing what you are doing and go do it, it’s like 2 hours long what the hell stop wasting time.

(Also if you want to hear more about why Dra+Koi is the best boy meets girl love story ever you should go take a look at this guys review of it because he explains it in better words than I do with less typo’s and grammar issues.)

Well, nobody said love was easy.