English Dub Season Review: Mysteria Friends Season One

They seem to be very good friends.

Our Take:

(They’re dating)

I couldn’t have started this at a better time, because I just started playing Granblue Fantasy a month ago, and while I don’t have Grea or Anne on my account, I was able to get a little bit of a feel for them. In that case, this was a good thing, because I needed a bit of an introduction to this series.

The series centers around Anne, a princess, and Grea, a half-dragon, and the bond they form in being students at the same academy. While Anne is highly respected and confident, Grea is more shy and withdrawn, sometimes being embarrassed by her draconic heritage. The two of them are extremely close, and they spend their days together at the academy, covering things from the fun stuff, like a day at the beach, to combat during a monster siege.

While I’m playing Granblue, I haven’t played Rage of Bahamut at all, so I only know the characters, not the setting. Unfortunately, this series expects you to at least be familiar with Rage of Bahamut, as no real introduction to any of the characters are given. It seems that this series is taken from what I assume to be one of the more popular events in the game. The series is mostly glimpses of Anne and Grea’s lives in the academy, and them spending time together. There’s no real plot, so it just reads as individual slice-of-life sequences. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but considering there’s no proper introduction to who these people are (or in the case of some of the side characters, what their names are), it’s hard for someone with minimal knowledge or no knowledge to get into the series. As a result, I felt a lot for Anne and Grea, but not really for anyone beyond them. The other characters were nice to fill in the background and show the academy beyond the duo, but I definitely don’t recall any of their names. I imagine that this series is fantastic for people who really like the Bahamut series or the spinoffs that sprung from it, but it’s not exactly friendly for those going in blind.

At the same time, there really isn’t much information that you need to enjoy the series. Since the main attachments are formed to the main characters, both of which get plenty of screentime and insight into their personalities, it’s fairly simple to follow what’s going on just by focusing on them. There is definitive time progression, but the episodes don’t flow into each other the way most traditional shows would- it feels more like snapshots than anything else. The framing device is what appears to be a diary compliments this very well. Each episode is only about fifteen minutes, with the core parts being even shorter than that, so they’re small and uncomplicated. Since there is little lasting drama, as there is no real lasting story, each episode is self-contained and fun, so they don’t really need to be watched in order. The only things that you need to know are that Grea doesn’t want to let Anne sleepover because she’s self-conscious about her tail and that the two of them form a connection through a lonely piano.

All in all, it’s fun and cute. Anne and Grea are positively adorable, and each episode is a nice little window into their lives and hijinks. While I wouldn’t say that this is a fantastic series, as there are some flaws in getting the audience acquainted with everyone, it’s a very pleasant one. It’s sweet and makes you feel good, and sometimes you need shows like that. I do love my plot-heavy complex stories, but this was a nice, relaxing watch. I’d say it’s worth a try if you need to pass some time and want to watch something to cheer you up.