Dragonaut's first episode is full of breasts. The second episode is full of dragons. The third episode has breasts and dragons. This is of course entirely unsurprising given the character designer's previous works: Love Hina, Gravion and recently Witchblade; the seminal Stellvia of the Universe seemingly an exception to Makoto Uno's otherwise top-heavy résumé. Abnormally buoyant female appendages aside, Dragonaut's opening episodes are filled with confusing events, terrible CG wyrms and a slow-but-steady introduction to the cold-clinical world the series inhabits.
"Competent" is the best way to describe the series. It bears all the hallmarks of a two season show that isn't prepared to tip its hand at the outset. The hook centres on a trio of creatures that came to earth from outer-space, destroying the protagonist's spacecraft and family along the way. Modi operandi set, time jumps several years into the future when Earth is threatened, people actualise/synchronise/ride mechanical dragons and the once young protagonist now has a barrel full of angst to carry around. Terminology such as "Album", "Dragonaut", "D-Project" and "ISDA" are scattered liberally throughout the dialogue to inject a kind of faux mysticism to the proceedings but fundamentally, nothing is meritorious.
That's not to say that the series is slipshod, it simply lacks the poise to elevate it above averageness. The story, while undoubtedly new, tries to cover up for its mediocrity with jargon and aforementioned voluptuous female cast. As if to drive home the point that it is fan-service prime, it has a needlessly friendly transformation sequence between a young girl and her thrall as well as bit-characters voicing the next-episode previews, spouting puerile comments about lesbianism. This is nothing more than titillation for the target demographic of pubescent boys however it's difficult not to think the story could be told in half the time and twice as well if it wasn't so concerned with female characters bending over all the time.
Creature design is continually unimpressive, the angular metal of the Dragonaut's steeds falls short of what could have been iconic while the smooth curves of Toa's sexist pink-and-white alternate form are emotionless in more than one sense of the word. The CG is blatant and detracts rather than enhances the action, creating a menagerie of Gouraud-shaded blurs. The animation is surprisingly good in places even past the first episode budget burn; ironically however, for a show that supposedly deals with extraterrestrial invaders and threats, the design feels surgical and almost hermetically sealed. Backgrounds, beyond the monolithic launch platform, are bland and uninspiring; supposed secret labs and bustling command centres are rendered with a yawn rather than any flair.
In all, Dragonaut is lacklustre and unrewarding; never offering anything beyond sedate, face-value stimulation while bludgeoning you with buxom females and unsubtle character development. The possibility of dragons in anime is the only draw this series has and it manages to strip any kind of joy from that, leaving a standard, paint-by-numbers shounen show. For those of short attention spans or simple tastes there is much to keep your eyeballs occupied, but those seeking something engaging or remotely different, there is little that won't cause eye-rolling here.