Dota: Dragon's Blood

.. but who loves fantasy, elves, dragons, magic and 2D animated action sequences of the highest possible caliber, I applaud this show. I knew absolutely nothing about this world or characters going in, but binged the entire season and can't wait for more. Of course it's a glorified commercial for the game, but when commercials are this good I couldn't care less. To produce this kind of anime with this amount of hand drawn animations isn't cheap though. So I really hope Valve/Netflix, or who ever is paying the bill, keeps doing it for many more seasons. Cause this is really good television. And to whoever designed the dragons: hat off to you.

When goosebumps appear on the skin from every use of the abilities of your favorite characters! When the game comes to life, it's amazing! It's a pity for those who will not be able to fully experience this, because they have not played Dota) But without a doubt, a great plot, I look forward to the sequel.

I have never heard of Dota or knew about this video game in any shape and form previous to binging this series - to say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. Even as someone who doesn't tend to like anime, the execution of this series was extremely well done. Plot was well paced and thickened quite nicely. I was worried that the plot would be confusing for someone who's never played the game, but everything unraveled in a way that was easy to understand. The characters are intriguing, although not a whole lot of development yet. I assume this will be touched on more in season 2 (which I am desperately waiting for!)

As someone who has probably put around 20k-30k hours into Dota 1 and 2 I must say the feeling of seeing all my heroes come to life in a show like this is amazing to say the least. It's an amazing world and it has so much potential. Now the show itself is entertaining alot of times, has great animations and some funny moments. Mostly, however, it's too hasty and you get the feeling they've had to cut out too much to fit it all into 8 episodes. I didn't quite get as emotionally involved in the characters as I hoped. The jumps from one place, both physically and emotionally between the characters, is way too hasty sadly. I do hope this show hits big so Netflix will want to invest more into coming seasons episode wise to delve deeper in the relationships and characters. Well worth the watch though.

What we've seen is just a glimpse of Dota's lore. I like that the fundamental premises were already presented albeit they could be a vague especially for casual viewers. Hint: ep 1 intro and Terrorblade's statement towards the end of his scene after the fight with Selemene

For the newcomers, or perhaps, even for those Dota fans but unaware of the depths of its lore, this season will be too hazy or too fragmented. As a typical series taken as it is, this series looks bad. Rooting on someone is looking harder, everyone seems to be immoral or has other reasons for one not to be rooted for. Such element could be explained by the lore later on. As a Dota fan, I liked how fleshed out it is. The plot may become slow but this would mean there will be more focus on character story and development. For now, we only had a glimpse of Davion's, Mirana's, Luna's, and Invoker's. We have not really seen the deeper stories for these characters. Davion, Mirana, and Luna for their future and Invoker for his general role in their universe, past and future. All the while, Dota, as the game, has around 120 heroes to offer. I'm just excited of what's to come. The community has waited a long time for this. Before, we were just watching Slacks' Loregasm series in YT for that good 'ol Dota narrative. Now, we've got an actual series that is so far not too bad. Season 2 pleasee!