Comics / Manga

Dragon Drive: Volume 2

By Leroy Douresseaux
June 1, 2007 - 12:00

Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

Reiji Ozora was a clumsy teenage boy who failed at everything he tried.  Then, his friend Maiko Yukino introduced him to the hot virtual reality game, Dragon Drive.  The first time Reiji jacked in, however, the game chose as his steed a smallish dragon named Chibi, that seemed as meek and ineffectual as Reiji, but one thing Reiji had was stubbornness.  He isn’t a quitter, and as he began to show some gumption, so did Chibi.  Next, Agent L, a special staff member of RI-ON, the company that created Dragon Drive, is showing interest in Reiji.  With her guidance, Reiji is an up and coming player and suddenly Chibi can transform into a massive warrior dragon.

As Dragon Drive, Vol. 2 begins, Agent L allows Reiji to practice Dragon Drive in RI-ON’s special training facility.  Mariko is suspicious of the attention the female Agent L is showing Reiji, and Daisuke Hagiwara, Reiji’s rival for both Mariko’s attention and Dragon Drive supremacy, is just plain jealous.  Soon, the three teens find themselves jacked into the gaming system and training together, and then something strange happens.  They’re not in Dragon Drive anymore, and the truth about the game is about to be revealed.

In Dragon Drive, mangaka (creator) Ken-ichi Sakura has created something more than just another card game manga.  With its teen bonding and teamwork, conflict resolution, potboiler action scenes, and excellent scary dragon design, Dragon Drive is the fun-to-read card game manga.  Think of this as Yu-Gi-Oh! with a dragon’s bite.  Dragon Drive would go well with the age group at which Marvel Comics aims its “Marvel Adventures” comic book line (boys: 6 to 9), but ‘tweens, teens, and perhaps some old boys will certainly dig this.  So when’s Volume 3 coming out?

 

 

Rating: A /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12