This anime is based on the bishoujo RPG of the same title that was released by ELF. Just a minor warning for those of you who intend to play the game: this anime contains a major spoiler that is considered one of the game’s biggest twists.
Unlike the game, whose point of view is that of Kakeru’s, Dragon Knight 4 the anime is done in the point of view of the mysterious knight Edo. His identity is already known within 5 minutes of show time, which really leaves nothing else if you’re expecting to be surprised by more plot twists. The story has a lot of potential as it has elements such as time travel, cursed dark fog, betrayal of comrades and what have you. Unfortunately, whoever wrote the script didn’t seem to know what direction he’s supposed to go into.
The dark fog that turned people to stone was never explained. The head villain’s purpose was vague at best. You don’t even understand why he’s after Kakeru. What’s really confusing of all is that in the first part, Maureene specifically asked Kakeru to make sure that Natasha, Kakeru’s childhood sweetheart, must also remain alive. Truth be told, I don’t really know what the significance of that request is, as Natasha did little else other than be decorative. You can actually kill her and it wouldn’t have affected the flow of the story at all.
There were so many characters introduced into the anime, but they’re also dead in a matter of minutes. It sort of reminds me of X the Movie, where you never really get to sympathize with the characters when they die because you never really got to know them. You only know that they’re there to be eye candy and to serve their obvious purpose in a hentai production. Edo, lucky bast that he is, gets to sleep with the women, which usually results in the digression of the plot. See, without these virtually useless sex scenes—I say “useless” because they don’t even show the vital body parts—the writers might have been able to concentrate on making a stronger storyline. Basically, with too many characters and too many detours, you have one heck of an anime that has been spread too thin.
It’s really too bad because I think Kakeru is a pretty good character. He isn’t as sexually depraved, or as immature, as his father Takeru (of Dragon Knight 3 fame) and he does make good use of his gray matter. I find the ending quite amusing, though, because Edo has taken advantage of so many women that when it’s time for him to go back to where he came from, all the ladies expect him to marry them (or something of that sort). Tsk tsk.
Dragon Knight 4 doesn’t really elicit any positive response from me, except probably when it comes to the beautiful art and animation. The sounds are passable. If you’re really looking for something with more depth or if you have been a fan of Dragon Knight for ages, I would recommend you either play the game or watch the earlier animated installments.
Individual Rating: rt/Animation: 8 Story/Plot: 8 Characters: 9 Sounds: 5 Ecchi Level: 7
