St. Dragon Girl, Volumes 3-4

Review by Megan M.

When I read the first two volumes of this series, I liked the concept–a martial artist (Momoka) harboring a dragon spirit inside her fights supernatural foes along with her childhood friend (Ryuga)-but disliked the fact that Momoka can only access her powers if Ryuga physically unseals them and how, even then, it is Ryuga who always saves the day, no matter what the situation. In these subsequent volumes, some of that becomes less prominent but other things emerge to interfere with my enjoyment.

The initial few chapters continue the trend from the first two volumes as standalone chapters, each with a completely self-contained story. The rest of the chapters begin what becomes the series’ central plotline, centering around Ryuga’s family history and their old enemies. Unfortunately, this effectively consigns Momoka to the position of being sidelined from the central plot, peripheral to Ryuga’s more active plot and issues, with most of her focus being on her concern over Ryuga, their relationship, and her feelings for him.

There is less attention drawn to “Momoka fights while Ryuga shows up and effortlessly saves the day!” than there was in the first few volumes, but it is still a strong focus. Ryuga adjusts the spell so that the seal on the dragon will break if Momoka is in serious danger and he can’t get to her, but access to her powers is still determined by Ryuga, not by Momoka. In addition, the dragon now takes the form of an attractive young man–one who, inevitably, has romantic feelings for Momoka–so instead of allowing Momoka to be able to save the day herself, this creates yet another way for her to be saved by attractive, “better,” and stronger men.

However, the characters and their general interactions remain enjoyable and I very much like the character designs, though the heavy Chinese influence in some designs makes less sense that it does in others. The story is also not bogged down as much by repetition of the initial exposition in every chapter as it was in first two volumes, something that’s no doubt due to the series apparently having become a regular series halfway through volume three. This is a series that I think could be very good but is dragged down by tired tropes and sidelining the heroine–actively preventing her from having a proactive role in the series.

Review copies provided by the publisher. Buy these books.

Bookmark/Share