Dragonar Academy (Japanese: 星刻(せいこく)の竜騎士(ドラグナー), Hepburn: Seikoku no Doragunā; lit. "Star-Marked Dragonar") is a Japanese light novel series written by Shiki Mizuchi, illustrated by Kohada Shimesaba, and published by Media Factory under the MF Bunko J imprint. The first volume was released on June 25, 2010, with a total of 20 volumes available in Japan so far. A manga adaptation by the illustrator, Ran, began serialization in Monthly Comic Alive during its June 2011 issue. It was one of five MF Bunko J light novel anime adaptations announced at Media Factory's Summer School Festival event on July 28, 2013. It has been licensed for North America by Funimation.
Contents
Plot
On the continent of Arc Strada, civilians called Breeders raise and train their Pars (スティード; lit. 'steed'), dragons bonded to Breeders via a magical link called the Astral Flow. Races of dragons are born from Breeders who are deemed worthy and marked with a Seikoku (西谷義; lit. 'Star Brand') at a young age by the Mother Dragon at the Orphan Rite. Breeders may eventually achieve the rank of nobility by helping their Par become a Maestro, or Holy Dragon.
Learning to ride and tame dragons comes easily to most students at Ansarivan Dragonar Academy—except for Ash Blake, a first-year student who is known by his classmates as the "problem child". Despite Ash having an unusually large seikoku that marks him as a future dragon master, his Par had never appeared, until now. While challenging a fellow student, Princess Silvia Lautreamont, to a dragon race, Ash's dragon appears, but in a form different than any dragon ever seen before—a beautiful girl. Ash names her "Eco" and soon discovers that this new dragon has attitude to spare, as she promptly informs him that she is the master, and he, her servant. Ash's problems with dragon riding have only just begun.
Characters
Main characters
Ash Blake (アッシュ・ブレイク, Asshu Bureiku)
Voiced by: Kōji Takahashi (Drama CD/Anime) (Japanese); Aaron Dismuke (English)
A 16-year-old student at the academy whose dragon Par hasn't awakened. He is known as a problem child due to his tendency to react violently to any perceived insult to his yet-to-be-born dragon. Despite his poor reputation, he has an unusual talent—a phenomenon called Chalice that makes him the only human (aside from his sister, Linda) able to ride other people's dragons. As a child he had no interest in becoming a Breeder, but he met Silvia Lautreamont—who was determined to be a Breeder—by chance during the Orphan Rite and assisted her in finding the Mother Dragon. After finding the Mother Dragon, he is chosen to become a Breeder; not Silvia. He was given the dragon Par (later named Eco) by the Mother Dragon who was aware of his ability to ride any dragon.
After saving the town during the Necromancia incident, he is deified as the Arch-bearing "Silver Knight", which corresponds to a noble rank. He is later knighted by Paladin Oswald, granting him the title Dragona shortly after accepting the position of student council general affairs. He is also called the Knight of Avalon due to him being Eco's master. In his second year, he takes the student council president position where he becomes the founder of The Independent Order of the Avalon Knights.
Eco (エーコ, Ēko)
Voiced by: Mariya Ise (Drama CD/Anime) (Japanese); Lara Woodhull (English)
Eco is a special dragon Par, who takes the form of a human girl. Although she develops a fondness for Ash, she treats him as though he was her servant, much to his annoyance. Eco is fully aware that Ash is her master and that she is the "pet" (as she describes herself), but she doesn't want to admit it because of her pride. She also believes that if she submits that she will be nothing but a "tamed pet" and will never be loved as anything more than just a pet, which is not the kind of love she wants from Ash. Eco accesses Dragweiss, a place where she can gathers the ability to give Ash a magical suit of armor known as an Ark and when she does, they also receive an Ark Weapon infused with elemental power.
Ansarivan Dragon Riding Academy
Rebecca Randall (レベッカ・ランドール, Rebekka Randōru)
Voiced by: Marina Inoue (Drama CD/Anime) (Japanese); Alexis Tipton (English)
Third-year student and student council president. Her dragon Par is a Maestro named Cú Chulainn. She is a powerful Arch Dragonar armor-user capable of summoning an unstoppable spear named Gae Bulg. She likes teasing Ash to make the other girls who like him jealous. However, she may have feelings for Ash as well. When she graduates from the academy, she leaves the position of student council president to Ash.
Raymond Kirkland (レイモン・カークランド, Reimon Kākurando)
Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (Drama CD/Anime) (Japanese); Austin Tindle (English)
Ash's friend and a self-proclaimed "ladies' man". His Par is an Earth Dragon named Brigid. He, Ash, and Maximilian have known each other for a long time and were once roommates when they were younger. Raymond is one of the very few students outside the student council to know about Ash's identity as the famous Silver Knight who had saved the town from a Necromantia dragon. In his second year, he takes the position of general affairs while Ash is promoted to student council president and has a seat on the Order of the Avalon Knights.
Jessica Valentine (ジェシカ・ヴァレンタイン, Jeshika Varentain)
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Anime) (Japanese); Skyler McIntosh (English)
Rebecca's childhood friend who sees her as her rival. Although Jessica acts like she's from nobility, the truth is the Valentine family have been servants of the Randall family for generations, and Rebecca threatens to expose her whenever she causes trouble. She was the president of the Silver Knight Fan Club, and when she finds out that the Silver Knight is Ash, she wishes to bear his children in order to gain nobility. To cover it up, Rebecca has her resign as president of the fan club and join the student council. Her Par is a Hydra named Rhiannon.
Lautreamont Knight Country
Oswald Lautreamont (オズワルド・ロートレアモン, Ozuwarudo Rōtoreamon)
Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (Anime) (Japanese); Barry Yandell (English)
The head of the Lautreamont family and the current ruler of the country, called the Paladin. He is a widower and a very cheerful man who dotes on his children but is often scolded by Silvia, which he seems to enjoy—it reminds him of Silvia's late mother Elizabeth. He asks to meet Ash at the continental congress and grants Ash knighthood but warns him not to pursue a relationship with Silvia. The Paladin was unable to bear seeing his only son Julius killed for the crime of murdering his dragon, and so he banished Julius instead without realizing the reasons behind his son's actions.
Veronica Lautreamont (ヴェロニカ・ロートレアモン, Veronika Rōtoreamon)
Voiced by: Aya Endo (Anime) (Japanese); Martha Harms (English)
First princess of the Lautreamont family and the eldest of the four sisters. Nicknamed the Iron Blood Valkyrie, Veronica always wears her armor except while bathing or sleeping. Silvia is terrified of her due to the harsh training Veronica subjected her to when she was little. Although Veronica was not selected as a Breeder, she decided to train her body and hone her swordsmanship to compensate for the lack. Despite her harsh treatment of Silvia, she loves her sister dearly and, according to Julius, even has pictures of Silvia and a Silvia doll in her room. She apparently does not respect her father and wishes for Silvia to be the next Paladin, the country's ruler, telling her to "try to make me kneel before you".
Julius Lautreamont (ジュリアス・ロートレアモン, Juriasu Rōtoreamon)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Anime) (Japanese); David Trosko (English)
The only son of the Lautreamont family. He was supposedly executed for the charge of slaughtering his own dragon but was secretly spared and exiled by Oswald instead. The reason he killed his dragon was because he realized that his dragon, Mordred, was the reincarnation of an evil dragon. Unfortunately, this caused Mordred's spirit to possess him, thus creating the persona of Milgauss. He was later freed when Mordred chose to possess Eco instead.
Zepharos Empire
Klaus Viderhausen (クラウス・ヴィターハウゼン, Kurausu Vitāhauzen)
Voiced by: Eiji Miyashita (Anime) (Japanese); Robert McCollum (English)
A nobleman sent to represent the Zepharos Empire in the continental congress. He took Julius in after he found him wandering after Julius lost his memories and became possessed by Mordred.
Milgaus (ミルガウス, Mirugausu)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Drama CD/Anime) (Japanese); David Trosko (English)
A masked man working for the Zepharos Empire. Milgaus is capable of summoning a Necromancer Dragon, a resurrected corpse of a dragon. He is later revealed to be Prince Julius, who was thought to have been executed many years ago but was in fact secretly spared by the Paladin and exiled. He was possessed by the spirit of the dark dragon king Mordred until Mordred tried to gain control of the Dragweiss.
Anya (アーニャ, Ānya) / Shamara Kiltzkaya (シャマラ・キルツカヤ, Shamara Kirutsukaya)
Voiced by: Asami Shimoda (Drama CD/Anime) (Japanese); Sarah Wiedenheft (English)
An assassin and head of the Tantalos tribe who works for Milgaus and is very dedicated to him. After being saved by Ash, Anya develops an interest in him. She is later revealed to be Avdocha's long lost sister.
Dragons
Navi (ナヴィー, Navī)
Voiced by: Yui Sakakibara (Drama CD/Anime) (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)
Navi is the overseer of the Dragon Workshop and has access to all of the knowledge of past dragons. She appears as an older version of Eco. She is later revealed to be the incarnation of the Dragweiss, the repository of all dragon knowledge. Once Eco matures, she will absorb Navi, thus gaining access to the full knowledge, wisdom, and power of the Dragweiss. By doing so, she will direct the future of the dragon race. According to Navi, Navi's current appearance is what Eco will look like when the latter grows up. Navi thinks it would be fine if Ash ended up marrying both Silvia and Eco.
Mordred (モルドレッド, Morudoreddo)
Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda (Anime) (Japanese); Chris Rager (English)
Mordred was the dragon Par of Prince Julius Lautreamont. As his dragon grew older, Julius discovered that Mordred had a malevolent aspect to his personality that was born from his ancestral memory as a descendant of the dark kingdom of Nehalennia and that it was slowly taking him over. To that end, Mordred conspired with the prince to kill himself, hoping that it would also kill his evil side.
Unfortunately, Mordred's evil side was able to escape the death of its body and possess Julius. When the Paladin spared Julius's life, he unwittingly allowed Mordred to survive as well. Mordred later tries to possess Eco in order to fully revive himself, but Navi resists his attack, which allows Ash and Eco to defeat and forcefully expel him. His spirit flees and is last seen flying to the east. In the manga series, Mordred is later revealed to be female who also has a humanoid form that resembles an evil version of Eco with heterochromiatic eyes and navy blue hair along with a set of ark based on her dragon form.
Nuada (ヌァザ, Nwaza)
A legendary dragon, Nuada was resurrected by Milgaus to fight Ash and his friends. According to his legend, he was the Par of a sick girl. Believing his master was about to die, Nuada cut off his Astral Flow with her. Astral Flow is the link that allows a dragon to absorb Astral—the magical energy required by all things to survive but no longer produced by extremely magical races like dragons and elves—from its rider. Nuada left for the Willingham Mausoleum, where he died alone, not realizing his master had recovered.
Media
Light novels
Dragonar Academy began as a light novel series written by Shiki Mizuchi with illustrations by Kohada Shimesaba, published by Media Factory under their MF Bunko J imprint. The first volume was released in Japan on June 25, 2010, and the last on November 25, 2015, with a total of 20 volumes published.
Drama CD
A CD drama was released by Media Factory on October 24, 2012. The drama is split into two episodes: "Eco the Dragon Girl" (エーコは竜の娘, Ēco wa Ryū no Musume) and "The Streets of Ansarivan" (アンサリヴァンの市街区, Ansarivan no Shigai-ku). The opening theme is "Astral Flow" by Haruka Shimotsuki, and a short version of the song was featured as a bonus track. The full song was later featured in Uta J (うたJ; lit. Song J), Media Factory's album commemorating MF Bunko J's tenth anniversary, released on August 29, 2012.
Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Ran began serialization in the June 2011 issue of Monthly Comic Alive (released on April 27, 2011). The first bound volume was released by Media Factory on October 22, 2011, with a total of thirteen volumes published under their Alive Comics imprint. The manga is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment under the title Dragonar Academy. In July 2020, the manga became one of seven titles to be removed from Books Kinokuniya in Australia for claims of promoting child pornography.
Anime
An anime television series aired from April 5 to June 21, 2014, on AT-X and at later dates on Tokyo MX, MBS, TVA, and BS11. The anime series is animated by C-Station and directed by Shunsuke Tada. The opening theme is "Seiken Nante Iranai" (聖剣なんていらない, I Don't Need a Holy Sword) by Yui Sakakibara while the ending theme is MOST Ijō no 'MOSTEST' (MOST以上の"MOSTEST", A "Mostest" More Than Most) by Mariya Ise, Ayane Sakura, and Marina Inoue under their character names. The series adapts the first four volumes of the light novels. The series is licensed by Funimation in North America and aired on their TV station.