DOTA: Dragon's Blood (2021)

**Some highs but a convoluted story that doesn't have time to breathe**

The story is a bit convoluted and hard to follow with the weird cuts. I guess this style of editing benefits Netflix as you have to rewatch it multiple times to understand what the hell is going on, and picking up the old story for a new season.

Season 1 is pretty good, with some nice highs like the characters of Invoker, Terrorblade and the dragons. The voice acting is excellent and mixed with the background music makes for some memorable scenes. The main protagonists (Mirana+Devon) seem too copy pasted from Castlevania. And speaking of Castlevania, the animations are just not as good, especially in the fight scenes.

In season 2 Devon and Mirana evolve beyond the annoying sarcastic/comic relief duo of Belmont/Sypha. The story takes a bit of a Game of Thrones political twist (in a good way) but kind of fails to deliver on the story arcs opened in the first season and introduces some new plot twists and characters that just complicate matters, only to have them killed before we even get accustomed to them.

Considering how far shows like Arcane have pushed the bar for videogame inspired animation series, Dota is falling dangerously behind, though I remain optimistic for further seasons.