Dragon Pink

Dragon Pink
Dragon Pink
ドラゴンピンク
Genre	Erotic, Comedy
Manga
Written by	Itoyoko
Published by	Fujimi Shuppan
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Penguin Club, Hot Shake[1]
Volumes	4 (incomplete)
Original video animation
Directed by	Takashi Takai Wataru Fujii
Studio	Pink Pineapple
Licensed by	SoftCel Pictures (original) Critical Mass (new)
Released	1994
Episodes	3
Anime and Manga Portal

Dragon Pink (ドラゴンピンク^?) is a three part erotic anime OVA series, released by Pink Pineapple in 1994, based on an incomplete manga by Itoyoko 1990 with four volumes released which has been translated and released in Spanish by Norma Comics only in Spain. The three OVA episodes are based on the first chapters of Volume 1 of the manga. It was also made into an adult computer game Dragon Pink - The Zero Castle in 1992.

The story takes place in a world modeled after (and evidently parodying) that of a generic computer role-playing game. The title character is a catgirl slave named Pink, who belongs to a "hero" named Santa. They are accompanied by an axe-wielding barbarian warrior named Bobo and a female elf mage named (depending on translation) either Pias or Pierce. The series depicts their adventures, and sexual escapades, as they travel around the world embarking on various quests.

The feel of the story is distinctly humorous: for example, it is revealed that Pink is a human woman who was transformed into a catgirl after donning the "Cursed Panties of Torajima." Much of the humor is broad and goofy in nature, but is also good-natured in its portrayal of the main characters.

The adventures/quests are not overwhelmingly imaginative in nature, with Pink frequently serving as a damsel in distress while the barbarian, hero and mage act out their roles true to the dynamics of role-playing games. As is typical of hentai, many of the damsel-in-distress scenes have a distinct sexual bondage element, as Pink is almost always bound nude and frequently sexually molested in various ways by her captors. The plotting and characterization are not simply devices to string the sex scenes together, but actually build a coherent story.

Plot summary

Episode 1: It begins with Pink being used as a lure to keep a lusty monster named Monster Mage Viken off guard in a cave. The group's mission is to destroy Viken and collect the cursed Sword of Triton that he guards. After they succeed, the group goes to the town of Tajif where Pink wants to shop and get some new clothes. The shopkeeper is angered by a "cat-slut" coming in his store and yells at her to get out. Pink runs back to the inn, crying from the shopkeeper's rude behavior. Santa follows her and comforts her (amongst other things) before they rest.

That night, Santa goes out to hunt something to make Pink some clothing. Much to his dismay, the first thing he encounters turns out to be a helltiger. Bobo appears and helps him kill it, demonstrating he is always there for him. He gives Pink a dress made from the helltiger's fur the next morning, demonstrating how much he cares for her. As they leave the inn, the party is surrounded by Tajif's guards, and taken before the queen. There, they are accused for being responsible for some girls who have gone missing recently, as Santa and Bobo were both seen outside the night before. They state their innocence and agree to embark on a quest to rescue the missing girls.

A new mission begins, as the party vows to rescue the missing girls, not knowing something very dangerous is going to be in their way. Luckily they find the girls, but also encounter the villain behind the kidnapping, a Slave Witch. Santa and the party fight hard to defeat her, but the Slave Witch has something up her sleeve—a doll that regenerates her energy. Pink manages to grab the doll before it began to recharge, and Santa kills the Slave Witch by using his sword on a large red orb, which happens to be its heart. The party is victorious and they rescue the captured girls. Santa hoped to receive his "suitable reward" by making love to the queen only to get smashed in the head by an angry Pink willing to keep Santa in line.

Episode 2: Santa and the gang use Pink as bait to defeat a kusarimame, a green monster that looks like a pile of goopy slime. With Pierce's fire spell, the monster is destroyed and Santa gets a mid-level magic pearl worth a lot of Gorts. Pink pulls the cart from the forest where they fought the monster to the nearest town, where she slides down a hill and ends up ramming them all into a tree. In the process, Santa's purse (which holds the pearl) was lost.

Upon arrival at the town of Gatashi, they decide to treat themselves to a fancy expensive dinner, except for Pink, who was fed cat food. When it comes time for the check, of course, Santa finds his wallet that held the Gorts and the pearl was gone. Pink is left as collateral and he goes to find some quick way to earn money. They then collect the "honey" of a Honeymoon Fairy, which is enough to buy Pink back.

When they return to the shop, however, the owner, thinking they had skipped town, has already gone and sold Pink! She is going to be sacrificed to the evil Water Goddess Yuarisla of a nearby town. Yuarisla usually enters her sacrifices and takes their life, but she decides to "play" with Pink before devouring her. Just as she finishes, though, Santa arrives in the nick of time to fight Yuarisla in both mortal and giant crab form. It is a tough battle but Bobo and Santa finally deliver the final blows to destroy Yuarisla and her gargoyles and successfully rescues Pink. When Pink commented that Santa came to save her, he replied he only saved Pink so he wouldn't pay for sex when he can get if from Pink for free. Pink, infuriated with the remark, smashed Santa hard in the head.

Episode 3: While walking through a forest, Santa and the others encounter a demon girl named Sina being raped by a rapewing, a giant bat-like monster. With Pierce "powering up" for a powerful spell with Bobo's help, they defeat the rapewing and Sina tells the crew that her family and friends are being held captive in a nearby cave filled with treasure.

The adventure from that point on is a cross between a Dungeons & Dragons-style dungeon crawl and a Scooby-Doo-like haunted house. Santa ties a leash on Pink so she can lead the way (and get attacked first by any monsters). However, it was Santa that walks right into the first trap, taking Pink with him. Pierce & Bobo are attacked by Slave Knights, demonic armored warriors each with an innocent young girl at their core. Bobo & Pierce had no alternative but to kill the girls to end their suffering for being used as the cores for the Slave Knights.

Meanwhile, Santa & Pink are captured and molested, respectively, by Nymphomania, The Slave Queen, a naga-esque female. Santa was held over a pit of snakes dangling from a rope. When Pink caught the rope, Nymphomania used a Dildo Cobra to dispose of Pink. Pierce & Bobo came to the rescue at the last second before Pink lost consciousness and Santa began to fall. Seeing Pink severely wounded, Santa became enraged uses a special Sword Dancer technique to obliterate the cowering Nymphomania. After Pink recovered, Santa & Co. rescue the kidnapped girls and find the treasure, but the dungeon collapses and the treasure was buried underneath. After returning Sina to her family, the adventurers wander off. Pink managed to save a jeweled necklace from the treasure horde before the dungeon was destroyed, which Santa chased after her so he can sell the necklace for a profit.

Manga

Dragon Pink's manga version presented some characters and events that were not animated then for the OVA. For example, it explained how Pink became a catgirl by putting on a cursed pair of panties the party finds in a chest after defeating a monster in typical run-of-the-mill RPG fashion.

After volume 2, Bobo and Pierce retire and have a baby, while Santa and Pink suddenly disappear and meet new companions in their quest, like the cursed princess Delta, who can change herself to an attractive, naked and powerful woman while she is covered by blood, Anne, a young and vital girl who has a crush on Santa and uses a whip, and the sisters Silver and Gold, who seeks "the key" that seems to be Pink. Surprisingly, the manga version eventually changes from a humor RPG hentai parody to a darker from the first volumes to the last.

Additional information

• The character's names are rather obvious puns: Santa, being anything but a saint; "Pierce the Elf" lending itself to a waggish joke; Bobo being a Japanese term for wild and unruly hair (particularly pubic hair); and Pink can be taken as a reference to female genitalia. In the first manga volume, Itoyoko explained through a mini-comic how difficult it was to choose a name for the main character and how she was named Pink after a suggestion of his editor.
• The demon girl Sina in episode three bears a striking resemblance to the main character Mink from Dragon Half. As it can be seen in the manga, Itoyoko, the author of the Dragon Pink manga, says "Thank you" to Dragon Half's author Ryūsuke Mita for "lending" him the Mink character for that scene.
• Music throughout the three episodes is borrowed from, and reused in, a variety of other Pink Pineapple releases.
• In the first chapter of the manga and the OVA, it can be seen how a guy (Itoyoko himself) customized the party of his team like, for example, first Final Fantasy style.
• The first pages of the fourth and last volume of the manga showed a guy inserting a supposed Dragon Pink game into a Super Famicom and loading a "saved game".
• Pink herself has appeared as a cameo in other of Itoyoko's manga:
  "Shikan Byoutou" features Pink (as a normal human) as a homeless girl hired by a young and eccentric doctor as his live-in maid and reluctant test subject for some sex-based experiments. It's worth to mention that even if her new "master" (and his huge butler) use her as a toy, Pink still stays there by her own will.
  "Alice in Slaveland" introduces Pink as a grinning, aggressive, leotard-clad version of Cheshire Cat. She kidnaps Alice and takes her for a sex party at the Mad Hatter's place, but after forcing the nubile Alice to drink a love potion, Pink and her gang discovers too late that they are no match for Alice's lust. (The aftermatch shows a stumbling Alice picking up her clothes and leaving, while the Mad Hatter and his friend the Rabbit are reduced to dried up husks. Pink lays naked on the ground, KO'ed and with a foaming mouth.)
• Other series of Itoyoko included "Let's Kurumi" and "Dynamite Milk".
• In the opening of episodes 2 and 3, the Japanese translation had Santa listed as "hero", Bobo was listed as "soldier" and Pierce was listed as "witch". Pink's outfits ranged from "bride", "priest" and "martial artist" before seeing her in a skimpy costume and deciding to make her "cat-slave".
• Pink's stats are LV 1 VP 1, Santa's stats are LV 1 VP 15, Bobo's stats are LV 1 VP 20, and Pierce's stats are LV 1 XR 15.
• Santa breaks the fourth wall explaining his party's missions to Sina in episode 3.

Reception

• Mania.com says the story helps it stand out from other hentai, giving it some extra depth. The reviewer calls it a pleasant show which provides plenty of good hentai sequences as well as some fun fantasy adventure moments.^[2]
• Homemade Mech gives it a 8/10 saying that the hentai has some charm to it.^[3]

References

1. ^ Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917. Revised and Expanded Edition. — Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2006. — P. 163. — ISBN 978-1933330105
2. ^ Mania review by Chris Beveridge October 12, 2002
3. ^ Homemade Mech review for Dragon Pink 28th Apr 2004