Screenshot: Netflix / Kotaku
I started screaming at Kotaku Slack when my colleague (and freelance writer) Isaiah linked a screenshot of Dragon Age: Absolution. My favorite western fantasy role-playing game gets an anime adaptation? Write me down. But then I started watching the trailer and my enthusiasm immediately faded. Absolution does not look like a show created for fans of the source material.
Dragon Age: Absolution is a six-episode anime set in Tevinter Imperium, a nation where wizards rule people without magic. Netflix has promised to include a completely original cast and stay true to knowledge. The show will be animated by the same studio behind The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf on Netflix.
I wanted to like this so much. But as the camera moved over incredibly common-looking buildings and characters, I became desperate. There is a striking geometry in how BioWare designed the cities in the games, and Tevinter’s conceptual art will show its architecture as narrow and claustrophobic. If you told me I was watching a trailer for DOTA: Dragon’s Blood, I would believe you. I didn’t see anything to suggest that this was an adaptation of Dragon Age.
I bought the art book Dragon Age: Inquisition shortly after the game came out and I want the characters in Absolution to look something like the conceptual art of Inquisitor # 24. Even covertly, I associate the characters in the game with strong silhouettes. I didn’t see a single memorable character in the whole trailer. It was so awful that I began to wonder if I could tell two wizards apart. Voltron: Legendary Defender had similar problems with the uninspired character design.
Of course, I’m not blaming the staff here. The studio’s anime Witcher looks significantly better than the Dragon Age trailer. This is a difficult time for Netflix animators, and the shows are definitely influenced by how much budget they are given. Netflix recently fired 70 people from its animation department last month, and animation projects such as Wings of Fire, With Kind Regards From Kindergarten and Antiracist Baby have been cut. Even if Absolution does well, we may not see a second season. Just look at what happened to Tuka and Bertie.
After all, this is just a trailer. Maybe the history of Absolution will compensate for how lukewarm I feel in terms of visual elements. But anime is a powerful medium because it seeks to combine storytelling with visual storytelling. Forgiveness is already difficult at the door.
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