Streaming: Funimation
Episodes: 12
Source: Manga
Story Summary: No matter how great or small, all creatures need a place to call home. Letty, a red dragon, is left having to find a new one after he manages to let his family’s egg get stolen by monster hunters. After wandering the land and getting into trouble one too many times, Letty finally gets a tip about an elf named Dearia who lives at the foot of Yggdrasil, and seems to have a knack for housing the many fantasy creatures who inhabit their world. Letty wanders for days to find Dearia, only for Dearia to find him; after some so-called heroes hassle Letty, the powerful elf lets loose on them and… neutralizes the threat. Perhaps now that Letty has met the person he seeks, he can finally find a place to call his own.
Impressions: When I was going through a tough spot in my life, my parents graciously let me move back in with them until I managed to get over those bumps in the road. After a couple of years, I was ready to head back out into the world and find a place to live that I could call my own. My situation was partly my choice; I think my parents would have let me stay longer if I’d needed to. That said, there are just certain things that are difficult to deal with when you’re sleeping in your childhood bed. Letty’s situation in this series is much less by choice, but I think his situation speaks to a fairly common truth; with few exceptions, there’s a point where we need to leave the nest and deal with handling our own problems in a place of our choosing. Granted, it’s a luxury that not everyone has, since housing gets more expensive by the year. But in fantasy worlds the financial aspect is much less of a concern.
I enjoy fantasy series in general, though I find too many of them get overly-concerned with very dull details regarding stats and armor and the same kind of mythology that a lot of anime seem to copy-paste from each-other or from classic RPGs. What I really enjoy is the fantasy sub-genre that’s more concerned with the oddball details that enrich fantasy settings. For all its other flaws, Interspecies Reviewers was a pretty good example of this concept, focused mainly on the sexual habits of fantasy creatures. Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon is one that’s aimed at more general audiences that revolves around something I truly love – food. Dragon Goes House-Hunting reads to me as one of those types of series that aims to examine the seemingly mundane aspect of fantasy habitats in a fun way.
This episode gives a good overview of the types of places that different creatures call home. Harpies live in tree houses attached to giant trees. Dwarves live in cavernous mines beneath the earth. Sahagin live below the water’s surface. There’s an overriding feeling of “oh yeah, that kind of makes sense” that permeates those parts of the episode. This will either be very fun or very boring depending on the type of anime viewer you are. I do like my share of action and adventure, but I also like nerding-out about speculative minutiae, so I felt right at home.
For me, really the only pain point was Letty. I don’t mind weak characters, but I do get kind of annoyed with whiny ones. I can imagine being the softie in a family of hard-asses is probably tough, but there’s just something about a crybaby dragon that bothers me. I think it’s partly just my personality; I’m an anxious wreck much of the time, but I also have a brain that can switch into crisis mode when needed and handle what’s forced onto my plate. I’m pretty self-sufficient in that way, and it’s a trait that’s served me well. When I see a character who does nothing but flail, despite my ability to empathize with most people’s situations I just don’t have it in my heart to deal with that kind of behavior. Whether that will become a deal-breaker for this series is only speculation.
Pros: While the fantasy world in which the story is set is pretty typical-looking, the small details are nice. There’s a scene right at the beginning of the episode where a married couple of slimes discuss the benefits of the cave they’re thinking of buying. They’re all aspects that we as humans might not find appealing, but to a couple of low-level creatures who forever run the risk of being stepped-on, things like weird compartments and escape routes are natural considerations.
Cons: Fundamentally this is a series about a very dull subject. Add to that the fact that most anime is aimed at Milennials and younger, a series about buying a house (and having a choice in the matter and enough funding to be able to do it) might be a little iffy when so many people are struggling to do the same in real life. That said, it could also end up being aspirational, or just a nice escape from the problems of real-life, it’s difficult for me to say.
Content Warnings: Fantasy violence. Mild nudity.
Would I Watch More? – This is the kind of series I’ll have to be in the mood for, and will likely just binge when I have some time to so so rather than watch weekly, so it’s on pause for the moment.