English Dub Review: Dragon Goes House-Hunting: “A Dragon in Trouble”

Overview: In a desperate need of money to care for Pip, Letty (Michael Kovach) goes with Dearia (Steven Kelly) to a trading merchant town doing different jobs for the people there. But with Letty more resembling that of a scaredy-cat than a strong, noble dragon, they may end up being more than he bargained for. 

Our Take: With Letty’s funds all exhausted on account of all of his recent expenses, he turns to doing different odd jobs in a trading town. As a result, we are treated to what has become a staple of Dragon Goes House-Hunting: A montage of all the goofy shenanigans that the big red dragon gets up to as a result of his predicament. In this case, it’s all the jobs that quickly go awry because it’s Letty and that’s just the way things are for a big blubbering dragon like himself and as usual they are damn funnier because of it. From making Minecraft style cubes (and even cheekily wondering why people are into building with them) to serving as a hotel concierge to frightening all guests. Or pretending to be summoned by a beginner mage or acting as a training dummy by getting hit from attack spells, it is yet another classic case of Letty being put through the grinder and being a frantic mess. And if you have stayed with the series long enough, you will know it as pure comedic gold.   

As the blocky reference may have indicated, there are various other funny pop culture references throughout this episode, such as open world games, classic JRPGs and even that of Star Wars: A New Hope. They are not too on the nose either. Also because they are consistently clever they never distract and take away from the humor as a whole. 

Lastly, Dearia ‘s tale of how he became the demon lord was surely unexpected in its sheer absurdity with him chosen after being drawn from a lottery contest. And all because he wanted a consolation prize of pocket tissues. The comedic irony couldn’t be more befitting of a show such as this. Truthfully I was expecting something darker and more tragic. And in hindsight I don’t really know why considering the tone of the series. However, that could still stand in regards to the details of Dearia’s past relationship with his old dragon buddy and his past nature are teased for later on. Hopefully, it’s not reduced to a simple conversation with his old friend about how he used to be because that would be incredibly poor and underwhelming in regards to story and writing respectively, especially with everything being told to us rather than actually shown. Lastly, Pip and Letty getting captured will probably lead to Dearia breaking them out and more crazy hijinks and crocodile dragon tears that the series is known for. 

“A Dragon in Trouble” delivers a strong showing with plenty of good laughs from the main duo, clever writing and amazing nerdy references throughout.