High school student Ryuji's older cousin Eriko returns from abroad to drag him to the scene of an underground transaction where he gets caught up in a shoot out and car chase. While they thought they had stolen a miraculous Lost Precious from the criminal brokers, they instead ended up with a mysterious young girl, who happily latches on to Ryuji even though they have never met. With the ability to shoot fire from her arm that rivals any dragon's breath, though, she's clearly no normal girl... The first thing that strikes me about Dragon Crisis is that there's really nothing here that's new or original. Ryuji's a typical high school boy - got several of them already this season. Eriko's channelling Indiana Jones in her search for the Lost Preciouses, and if I had a few pounds for every mysterious girl who landed in the lap of an otherwise-normal main lead, I'd have my overdraft paid off. And for Lost Precious, there have been any number of other valuable artefacts over the years that have had to be hunted down. Originality? We don't haz it. But there's a certain charm here, and I found myself almost liking it. There's a decent line in background music, and the visuals are top-notch too. Eriko has an enthusiasm that makes everything move along at a speedy clip, too, so there's not an awful lot of chance to get bored - and potential love-interest Misaki adds some normality to proceedings just by being cute. D'awww. The Good: Look and feel, fast pacing, and an unidentifiable "something" that gives it a certain, limited, appeal. The Bad: Not an ounce of originality in it. Recent shows have taken a lot of stick for being derivative, but Dragon Crisis! takes the biscuit. Still, it's not derivative enough to put me off just yet. Let's see what I think in a few episodes' time, though.
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