Blue Dragon (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese anime television series adaptation of the Japanese-American video game series of the same name by Mistwalker. The series was produced by Studio Pierrot and broadcast on TV Tokyo. The first season ran for 51 episodes from April 2007 to March 2008. The second season, titled Blue Dragon: Trials of the Seven Shadows, ran for 51 episodes from April 2008 to March 2009. In North America, the series was licensed by Viz Media.

Plot

As Shu's village was being attacked by an unknown enemy, he and his friends, Jiro and Kluke decide to defend their home. They soon meet Zola and receive the powers of Shadow, an ability that lets them transform their shadow into a powerful monster. Shu receives one of the most powerful monsters, Blue Dragon, and they all set out to defeat their enemy.

Characters

Main characters

Gran Kingdom

Rosekstan

White Guardians

Investiture Beings

Other characters

Episodes

Production

Akira Toriyama, character designer for the Blue Dragon video game, said that Studio Pierrot approached him about an anime adaptation in February 2006. In his own words, he said: "I knew that [Hironobu] Sakaguchi had been working on assembling staff to produce a game, although at the time Blue Dragon hadn't yet been formally announced. According to the materials, it was to be a fantasy world like Lord of the Rings, with a detailed world view and story. This may be my final anime, I'm a little worried (about it). There's incredible pressure, but at the same time, there's a sense of accomplishment – that it's worth doing. Blue Dragon will be a masterpiece, not simply because I'm working hard on it, but because the staff is expecting nothing less."

Release

Based on the video game of the same title (although including several divergences from the original work), the series was announced in November 2006. Directed by Yukihiro Matsushita, written by Akatsuki Yamatoya, animated by studio Pierrot and co-produced by TV Tokyo and Pierrot, the series was broadcast for 51 episodes on TV Tokyo from April 7, 2007, to March 29, 2008. A second season, Blue Dragon: Trials of the Seven Shadows (BLUE DRAGON 天界の七竜), was broadcast for fifty-one episodes from April 5, 2008, to March 28, 2009. In 2007, Viz Media licensed the series for release in North America and Europe. An edited English language dub of the series premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network, on April 5, 2008. It also aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami Jetstream service until Jetstream was cancelled on January 30, 2009. Since then it has been discovered that Viz Media did make an uncut version of the Blue Dragon anime in English. This uncut version released by Manga Entertainment had the first 24 episodes released on DVD (exclusively in the UK) over three 2 disc DVD sets with the release date of further DVD sets cancelled due to lack of sales. These uncut episodes, unlike the US DVD releases, fully restore the original Japanese opening and closing, all edited scenes from the Cartoon Network version are restored including the original music, as well as having the option to view the series in Japanese with English subtitles. On July 22, 2011, Viz Media started streaming Blue Dragon episodes on VizAnime Tubi, and Hulu. At Otakon, Viz Media representative Amy Mar said that if the streaming numbers are good, they might release the uncut episodes on physical media.