Overview

Well ok, so maybe it's not exactly the newest series out there, but then, I'm old enough to remember when 'Anime' consisted of Speed Racer, Macross, and Go Lion, so I'm entitled to enjoy something that predates today's unending flood of wham-bam-ship'em-man formula hentai. Yes, that's right kiddies, Dragon Pink is an H-Anime, care of the once infamous SoftCell Pictures studio. It came - pardon the expression - before CG replaced hand drawn cels, and before nine out of ten H-anime featured what amounted to the exact same cast with different faces and different camera angles. Now, I realize that that's just the nature of adult entertainment, but it's nice to note that it doesn't always have to be true - and that there can, indeed, be more to adult material than, well... smut.

Fields	USA Info	Japanese Info	Image
Title	Dragon Pink: A Tale of Three Kitties	Dragon Pink: A Tale of Three Kitties	This DVD is currently out of print, but Amazon.com does have some copies of the used VHS version available.
Alternative	Dragon Pink
Dates		1994
Company	Softcell Pictures, Pink Pineapple
Creator	Itoyoko
Director	Fujii Wataru
Genre	Fantasy, Parody, Hentai, Bondage, Humor
Related	Dragon Pink (Manga)

Review

Dragon Pink follows the sorry lot of Pink, a former human that put on the cursed panties of Torijima by mistake, and was transformed into a litteral sex kitten. Now, some people I know would jump at the chance to become a catbabe, but unfortunately for Pink, not only are catbabes in this world sex slaves, she happens to belong to one Santa, possibly the most lecherous Hero since Dragon Knight. Not to be forgotten are sexy mage elf Pias - or Pierce depending on how easy you want to pronounce the name - and the required barbarian with a soft heart that every good RPG needs, Bobo. And of course, it should be added that this is very much an RPG world - right down to the fact that each episode starts out with some mysterious player choosing this party of misfits as though they're about to start playing a video game.

In fact, at least half the humor in this series will probably be lost upon somebody that hasn't played a pen and paper, or even just an old school NES RPG's at least once, because the situations faced in the three episodes are taken right out of the standard DM play book. I'd be afraid to have this particular DM presiding over my game, though, because even bad luck would occasionally take a step back and say, 'Hey, let's give this poor cat-girl a break, huh?' That's because our dear heroine, thanks to her transformation and Santa's unbelievable penchant for stooping to ever lower levels of asshole, winds up being the monster bait in a world where just about everything seems to have been aflicted by a bad case of nymphomania.

Of course, that being considered, there's actually surprisingly little sex in the series - though the nudity quotient is right up there with any modern h-anime. Santa may be lower than a snake's balls, but he DOES manage to come to the rescue just in time, often thanks to the quick thinking of Pias, or the sheer monster-splitting power of Bobo, which is where this little forgotten gem really shines... The character dynamic between the four main characters is excellent. For the worthless bastard he is toward Pink in normal circumstances - hey, this is a guy that tied her naked, upside down, hanging from a tree to lure out a slime - Santa does have his softer moments, and he's actually a pretty damn good guy towards other people. Pierce and Bobo play off each other remarkably well, often commenting on Santa's less than humane treatment of Pink - though naturally, neither one steps in to do anything about it.

As this is a SoftCell Pictures title, there's not really any soundtrack to speak of - just the generic set of little theme blurbs that you can find in practically all of their productions, used sparingly enough that you never really notice them as more then filler noise. The Japanese VA's are good, and the English dub VA's are competant, maybe even ok - if you're feeling generous. As long as we're on the subject of the English dub, the translation good, especially considering the source material. You can't often expect too much of dialouge out of a hentai anime - especially not from this era. But the Dragon Pink lines are actually reasonably good. That's not to say that there's not a little of the standard Engrish that can be found in almost any dub, only that the dialouge actually does a little to advance the story and characters, rather than just provide a handy excuse to keep moving.

Overall

Unfortunately the series is a bit too short to take what would have been a remarkably promising premise as far as it needed to go. Even so, it manages in its three-episode romp to touch on all the characters in just the way that such a short tail needs to. It is a good, humorous series if you're willing to not be too serious about the situation. Pink really is treated horribly throughout, and as this is a true fantasy world, rape is rather rampant in the climactic scenes. You will enjoy it more - or at the very least, understand more of the jokes - if you've even once played an RPG with a mildly competant DM or any old NES RPG. This is NOT for you if you're in the least squeamish about non-consentual sex, or have the mildest objection to S&M. That's not to say that S&M is prevalent throughout, but it is a sub-theme that can be found throughout all three episodes.