DOTA: Dragon's Blood

Defense of the Ancients - I still remember that mod for Warcraft III (FeelsOldMan), however, I never would have thought at the time that it would become a successful standalone game that would start the whole massive MOBA craze. I even watched some of those DOTA 2 competitions at one point. If it is played by someone who actually knows what they are doing then it can be quite entertaining to watch, even though the concept may seem terribly simple at first glance. It is like team (which is probably why I was never really into the game, personally) chess (or perhaps it is more like that game where you push each other), where the individual's skill is actually the deciding factor. Oh, and it has also been around a long time, during which DOTA has been taken over by the slightly more colorful League of Legends, so it is, therefore, necessary for them to reach new players, and I think that is why we have this show now. I imagine real fans of the game are going to like this show a lot even though I personally do not know much about the lore around the characters, and I can only remember a few of them. True aficionados are going to be able to recognize the various abilities of the characters in the game and discover and name some of the passives and the ultimates. I think they are just going to enjoy it a lot more than I did. For those less fortunate, those who do not know much about this TV series or DOTA lore, it will probably only feel like an average good-looking fantasy show. I personally appreciate that the characters are anything but black and white and that many of them are endearingly complicated. That is why I found this TV series often surprising. So even though I really do not know much about DOTA, this advertisement appealed to me, entertained me, intrigued me, and even though it probably is not going to get me to play the game again after all these years, I would still happily watch more of the show and enjoy some of that additional lore they added that probably was not in the game... 6.6/10. (30/04/2021)

Overall, I still feel satisfied. This show's narrative is more and more convoluted, there are many chess pieces on the board, and they often move in ways I would not expect them to. Everything feels both thoughtful and surprising, and the only thing that keeps the narrative from feeling truly immersive is the short running time. I would have liked more screen time for various things because, as it is, it all feels really quite rushed, sometimes a bit chaotic, and yes - truncated. Still, it is a spectacular show, an attempt at an epic fantasy adventure with the plot spread out on several fronts and well-written characters, and I liked some of them a lot and got angry at some too. The characters managed to develop as a reaction to everything around them. The characters’ changes and decisions, along with the constant shifting of power from one side to the other, were what I enjoyed most with this show. Although the quality of animation and constant action managed to keep me glued to the screen as well. I enjoyed the second season, even though I felt like it went by really too quickly, and everything was way too rushed and frantic. There was a lot to say, and some of the subplots seem to have reached a satisfactory conclusion, even though others raise new questions, so hopefully, there will be a third season, and I am not going to miss it. The only thing that scares me a bit is whether I am going to remember all this in a year. It has a decent convoluted narrative, although with the way it just keeps constantly throwing information at the audience so much I am afraid I am going to forget a lot of it after a while. I think I will have to do what I did before season two when I watched season one again to remind myself of everything. 7.5/10. (19/01/2022)

I can’t make up my mind whether I liked the last season of DOTA. The resolution of the whole story that was spread out over the previous two seasons came after just two episodes, and the rest was just this weird study of a tragic man's struggle against fate. After the second episode, I asked myself "What’s left to say now?" and I'm still not sure if I'm satisfied with the answer I got. Was it necessary? Well, maybe. At least considering one of the characters, it does make some sort of sense, and it adds one more important message about the meaning of life and the nature of an ideal world, which I don't think is a bad thing. Was it fun to watch? Not really, only at certain moments. I still think it was a very good fantasy, but this final part didn't blow me away as much as the rest of the series. It didn’t feel like something significant was happening like in the previous seasons. Instead of a satisfying ending to an epic heroic saga, it was more of a relationship/family drama. Plus, I saw the ending coming a mile away. It was still good, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. Animation-wise a great show, content-wise it's weaker for me. 6/10 (11/08/2022)