KING SIVA
KS
The ruler of Mink's homeland once ordered his greatest knight Rouce to kill the imperial red dragon Mana. Rouce married her instead, which Siva has taken very personally ever since. The King is vain, impulsive, devoted to his daughter Vina and remarkably easy for Rosario to manipulate with plans that should not survive five seconds of scrutiny. His attempts to eliminate Mink create much of the OVA's conflict, although describing any of them as a master plan would be generous.
KING THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
BRUTAL KILLER MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT GUIDE //
Open page →Mink Enters the Tournament to Fund the People Potion Quest
Open →Episode two gives Mink a brutally practical obstacle: adventures cost money. The Brutal Killer Martial Arts Tournament offers a 50,000-gamble prize large enough to keep the People Potion search moving, so Mink enters.
Naturally, the tournament also gathers almost everyone who has a reason to make her life worse. Dick Saucer is there. Princess Vina is there. Damaramu returns rebuilt as a cyborg. Dug Fin enters as an actually dangerous demon warrior. Rosario and King Siva are still trying to turn the event against her.
Naturally, the tournament also gathers almost everyone who has a reason to make her life worse. Dick Saucer is there. Princess Vina is there. Damaramu returns rebuilt as a cyborg. Dug Fin enters as an actually dangerous demon warrior. Rosario and King Siva are still trying to turn the event against her.
Why it matters
The tournament is not a detour from the quest. It is Dragon Half's version of travel expenses.
DRAGON HALF COMEDY MECHANICS //
Open page →Damaramu's first encounter with Mink ends with his own energy blade driven through his head. In most fantasy OVAs that would be the end of the henchman.
Dragon Half brings him back as a cyborg in episode two and explains the survival with the most Damaramu answer possible: his brain was so compact that the blade barely damaged it. He then wastes so much energy demonstrating his upgrades that Mink vs. Mecha-Damaramu becomes another opportunity to remove him from the tournament.
Dragon Half brings him back as a cyborg in episode two and explains the survival with the most Damaramu answer possible: his brain was so compact that the blade barely damaged it. He then wastes so much energy demonstrating his upgrades that Mink vs. Mecha-Damaramu becomes another opportunity to remove him from the tournament.
Why it matters
Damaramu is not funny because he is weak. He is funny because every upgrade gives his incompetence a larger machine to operate.
Mink is embarrassed by the part of herself she cannot easily hide, while Vina has a concealed mixed-species problem of her own. She is half slime and maintains the appearance of an ordinary human princess through magic.
That makes the rivalry wonderfully dishonest. Vina uses Mink's dragon heritage as ammunition in their competition over Dick Saucer while hiding a heritage that is no more conventionally human than Mink's.
That makes the rivalry wonderfully dishonest. Vina uses Mink's dragon heritage as ammunition in their competition over Dick Saucer while hiding a heritage that is no more conventionally human than Mink's.
Why it matters
The joke underneath the rivalry is that both girls are measuring themselves against an imaginary standard of normality for the benefit of a man who has done very little to earn this level of effort.
MINK'S IMPOSSIBLE QUEST //
Open page →Rouce Was Sent to Kill Mana and Married Her Instead
Open →King Siva once sent his greatest knight, Rouce the Red Lightning, to kill the imperial red dragon Mana. Rouce found Mana, fell in love with her and abandoned the assignment so completely that the two eventually had Mink.
That backstory explains almost every absurd relationship in the OVA at once. Siva still resents Rouce. Mana is the dragon heritage Mink thinks is ruining her love life. Rouce is proof that a dragon slayer falling in love with a dragon is not even unprecedented in Mink's own family.
That backstory explains almost every absurd relationship in the OVA at once. Siva still resents Rouce. Mana is the dragon heritage Mink thinks is ruining her love life. Rouce is proof that a dragon slayer falling in love with a dragon is not even unprecedented in Mink's own family.
Why it matters
Mink is trying to become human because she thinks Dick could never love someone with dragon blood, while her own parents are already living evidence that the premise is not nearly as hopeless as she believes.
Dick Saucer Is Both Dream Boy and Natural Predator
Open →Dick Saucer is a famous singer, a glamorous celebrity and an accomplished dragon slayer. Mink is already obsessed with him before the two are properly thrown together, which means the joke is built into his job description.
King Siva exploits that contradiction by convincing Dick that Mink is the dangerous red dragon he should be hunting. Mink then has to deal with the surreal problem of being attacked by the person whose posters she would probably still keep afterward.
King Siva exploits that contradiction by convincing Dick that Mink is the dangerous red dragon he should be hunting. Mink then has to deal with the surreal problem of being attacked by the person whose posters she would probably still keep afterward.
Why it matters
Dragon Half turns the usual romantic obstacle into a fantasy-species problem. Mink's crush is funny because every new fact about Dick should make her reconsider it, and absolutely none of them do.
