Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 1×01 Review – Episode 1

I mean, I’ve never imagined waking up one day and realizing I’m somehow stuck inside a dragon egg. And neither did the protagonist of the Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling anime, making for a fun premiere.

Unlike the other new anime, Jack of All Trades, Party of None (from what I can tell), Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling does involve the lead character getting a completely different body while operating inside a video game. And yeah, I liked how the character remembered what video games were and seemed quite skilled at making his way through an RPG setting.

Before I proceed with the review, do take note that I will be using he/him pronouns when talking about the (as of yet) nameless lead character because that’s how they were being addressed by the narrative. He did bring up how he wasn’t sure about their gender, particularly the gender of the dragon body they’re in, but again, from how the narrative was handled, I’m sticking to he/him pronouns until things change.

The episode opened with the lead opening their eyes and realizing they weren’t in their bedroom. I liked the lead’s surprise upon understanding they were indeed inside a dragon egg and how they were only capable of rolling around.

I appreciated how the video game setting was made apparent from the start. From their Stats to the Tutorial Guide, everything was presented in a somewhat familiar manner for the lead as well as the audience. It really looked like he was playing a fantasy RPG while trying not to die because he wasn’t sure if death was permanent or not.

The inclusion of the Tutorial Guide, with the guide’s voice being called God or a Divine Voice, was a welcome creative decision. The Divine Voice did a lot to quickly build such a fantastical world and the accompanying rules. We got to know about two basic foes capable of being defeated by an Egg and a Baby Dragon. The Dark Worm had a cap at Level 8 and was known to eat Eggs. The Grey Wolf had a cap at Level 15. Along with levels, creatures also had Ranks, denoted via letters. The Little Rock Dragon that showed up at the end of the episode was a C Rank enemy.

Of course, you gained experience by defeating enemies. Gaining certain titles could play a role in giving you extra experience points after completing specific tasks.

Another interesting thing was how basically every action could be considered a Skill and be quantified. Getting sick from eating poisonous mushrooms helped to build the Poison Resistance Skill. Taking actions without thinking played a role in leveling up the Klutz Skill. Surviving falls boosted Fall Resistance. You get the idea. There was also the Lying Skill, which the lead realized was a thing after the decision he made during a fateful encounter with a young mage (which I’ll talk about in a bit).

Giving the Divine Voice a sense of humor was the cherry on top.

Heeding the voice and being experienced with RPG titles, our lead was able to level up and begin their life as a dragon hatchling, complete with new abilities and skills. A gripe would be how quickly he leveled up, but in hindsight, while it might be enjoyable when playing video games in real life, I can understand the anime staying away from the grinding gameplay of most RPG offerings out there.

The main mystery involved the reason behind the lead character finding himself in such a predicament. I’m curious to learn more about how he got stuck in a video game. Did someone send him there? And if yes, why?

Also, I don’t know if it’s because I’m familiar with certain storytelling elements or not, but I found myself side-eyeing the Divine Voice. To be fair, I thought of it as your usual Tutorial mechanic, but the moment where the Divine Voice encouraged the lead to select becoming a D- Rank Baby Dragon (with a lot of evolution possibilities) instead of a D+ Rank Small Dragon (limited possibilities) when it was his time to evolve out of his Egg Form, I was like, “Yeah! Something is up!”

The Divine Voice was all about wanting him to become as strong as possible. Again, why him?

Giving in to his dragon instincts, such as eating defeated creatures to gain HP, while necessary, seemed to tap into his dark side. So, I won’t be surprised if he’s forced to fight against the ever-growing darkness inside of him down the line.

As for the human characters, our lead encountered a party of three adventurers, including a human mage named Myria Milleania. The creative decision of how the lead wasn’t able to understand human speech and the muffled sounds he heard instead… amazing!

This is the kind of creativity I live for when checking out new content.

The lead’s initial interaction with the party made me laugh. I knew his trying to be cute wasn’t going to work, especially because his type of dragon was considered a delicacy to them. However, even though he got injured, his not attacking the party members in retaliation helped Myria realize that something wasn’t right. Wanting to help an injured baby dragon, Myria used up her already limited Mana to heal him.

The lead’s clearly going to have a crush on Myria. Which I’m “Meh!” about. Having said that, as of right now, I’m looking forward to seeing how the two will interact properly after they both learn to understand each other’s languages.

The moment when he tried to stop Myria from rushing after her party members after hearing their screams made sense. Even though he’s the lead, he’s aware enough to realize how you don’t go around attacking enemies with way higher HP in such video games. However, Myria didn’t listen, and the episode concluded with our lead needing to face a giant Rock Dragon who had just knocked out Myria and her team.

Our lead knew that there was strength in numbers. It was his initial reasoning for introducing himself to Myria and her team in the first place. So, let’s see if he’s able to distract the Rock Dragon long enough for Myria and her party to work together with him to defeat such a powerful foe.

Did you watch the first episode of Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling season one? What did you think of it?

Do share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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