English Dub Review: To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts “The Dragon’s Daughter”

Overview:

One of the Incarnates returns from war to his family.

Our Take:

Considering what we found out last episode, I knew this episode was going to go wrong maybe five minutes in. I knew exactly what was going to happen too, but that certainly didn’t make it any less tragic the second time around.

This time we meet the protagonist, Nancy, one of the daughters of an Incarnate that turned into a dragon. She accepted her father’s monstrous form after the war, but as his urges became more bestial, the town started to trust him less and less. Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong with absolute certainty, he was slowly losing control. When Hank comes to kill him, Nancy’s father fights and dies. Still, Nancy is a kind-hearted girl, and she believes in the humanity of her father, appearance or not. She can be violent if she needs to be, but it seems that for the most part, she is more reactionary than aggressive, and she wants to find the truth.

Most importantly, we see the reactions of those close to the Incarnates. The rhino’s mother was still very afraid of what her son could do, and she had to hide her fear. The townspeople as well, all of them were clearly not sure what to do, but they didn’t want or know what to do about it. When the monster is killed, the mother mourns her son in despair. She is upset over the loss of her son, her child, not the monster. Even if their family member is slowly becoming inhuman, their remaining family may still love them, care for them, mourn them. What Hank is doing may be understandable, but he is also hurting people that he leaves behind. It may be a necessary evil, as there is no cure for the Incarnates, but it’s still an evil nonetheless.

While I haven’t finished it, I did start to read some of the manga when it first came out in print in English. In that, this segment was the introductory chapter, not Hank’s backstory. Given that Nancy is the main character and not Hank (although Hank is certainly the driving force of the story), this was a strange decision to make. I suppose it’s to make certain that Hank is credible right away, but it still feels a little strange to shift the focus away from Nancy. Still, that does the story to be explained easily without much hassle.