It's hard to call this show 'good.' DotA 2's lore is already all over the place, a grab bag of nonsense slapped together for the excuse of making a MOBA. Dota: Dragon's Blood decides to play it safe, picking some familiar fantasy tropes while tactfully trickling in some elements of the DotA universe.
In the big picture, I think it succeeds in the latter. I am not sure I would've found this cartoon worth watching at all had I not played DotA for about ten years of my life. The moments of recognition, as well as the manner in which characters are presented in all their coolness, are very satisfying.
To anyone unfamiliar with the franchise, this cartoon is surely a failure, however. It seems to me impossible to argue that this show carries its weight by its own merit. Perhaps, though, that is an unfair perspective: The only reason it has to jumble several characters with sub-plots in this fashion, is because it is constrained by DotA 2's hutchpot lore.
My biggest criticism, therefore, is the manner in which it fails to capitalize on the fact that it is indeed based on DotA 2. One of the greatest things about DotA 2 (without which its characters would've been awfully stale) is its voice acting: It sports an impressive cast of seasoned and talented actors. Yet this show replaces most of them by people who do mostly do a fine job (with a few, glaring exceptions), but offer nothing too special.
In a similar vein, the characters of DotA 2 have rather clear personalities and manners of speech. Terrorblade, one of the main villains, is rather creepy because he stands upright and composed and speaks in an old fashioned type of English; in the show, he is just another gravelly villain (admittedly with some very good lines!). Invoker is an arrogant, narcissistic, erratic kind of person, with some amazing lines to reflect this ("I am a beacon of knowledge blazing out across a black sea of ignorance!"); in the show, Invoker is composed, calm, reasonable. It would've been amazing to see such a character become the erratic, arrogant person he is now, but these assets from the game were not used. They did an okay job with Luna, but unfortunately, her voice acting is lackluster. The moments that stand out to me are those of Slyrak, if only because that iconic voice resonates with my nostalgia so.
In summary, while I don't think this show should've been filled to the brim with out-of-place characters form the universe just for the sake of referencing, the show errs on the side of generic. This is, in my view, a missed opportunity. Nonetheless, the show is hard to hate: It is cute in places and references DotA 2 enough for anyone familiar of the franchise to get the occasional goosebumps.
In the big picture, I think it succeeds in the latter. I am not sure I would've found this cartoon worth watching at all had I not played DotA for about ten years of my life. The moments of recognition, as well as the manner in which characters are presented in all their coolness, are very satisfying.
To anyone unfamiliar with the franchise, this cartoon is surely a failure, however. It seems to me impossible to argue that this show carries its weight by its own merit. Perhaps, though, that is an unfair perspective: The only reason it has to jumble several characters with sub-plots in this fashion, is because it is constrained by DotA 2's hutchpot lore.
My biggest criticism, therefore, is the manner in which it fails to capitalize on the fact that it is indeed based on DotA 2. One of the greatest things about DotA 2 (without which its characters would've been awfully stale) is its voice acting: It sports an impressive cast of seasoned and talented actors. Yet this show replaces most of them by people who do mostly do a fine job (with a few, glaring exceptions), but offer nothing too special.
In a similar vein, the characters of DotA 2 have rather clear personalities and manners of speech. Terrorblade, one of the main villains, is rather creepy because he stands upright and composed and speaks in an old fashioned type of English; in the show, he is just another gravelly villain (admittedly with some very good lines!). Invoker is an arrogant, narcissistic, erratic kind of person, with some amazing lines to reflect this ("I am a beacon of knowledge blazing out across a black sea of ignorance!"); in the show, Invoker is composed, calm, reasonable. It would've been amazing to see such a character become the erratic, arrogant person he is now, but these assets from the game were not used. They did an okay job with Luna, but unfortunately, her voice acting is lackluster. The moments that stand out to me are those of Slyrak, if only because that iconic voice resonates with my nostalgia so.
In summary, while I don't think this show should've been filled to the brim with out-of-place characters form the universe just for the sake of referencing, the show errs on the side of generic. This is, in my view, a missed opportunity. Nonetheless, the show is hard to hate: It is cute in places and references DotA 2 enough for anyone familiar of the franchise to get the occasional goosebumps.