General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Dragon's Dogma (ドラゴンズドグマ)

Dragon's Dogma (ドラゴンズドグマ) is a 2020 Netflix original anime series based on Capcom's 2012 open-world action role-playing game of the same name. Produced by the CG studio Sublimation, it consists of seven episodes of about 26 minutes each and was released worldwide exclusively on Netflix on September 17, 2020.¹^•² The story follows Ethan, a warrior whose heart is stolen by a dragon; revived as an "Arisen" (覚者, kakusha), he sets out for revenge with a mystical servant called a pawn, fighting monsters that embody the seven deadly sins while gradually losing his own humanity.¹^•³

Key fact	Detail
Format	Netflix original anime, 7 episodes of about 26 minutes, one season²
Release	Worldwide exclusive streaming on Netflix from September 17, 2020¹
Source material	Capcom's 2012 open-world action RPG, which had sold five million copies worldwide as of March 31, 2020⁴
Key staff	Director Shin'ya Sugai; writer Kurasumi Sunayama; music Tadayoshi Makino; animation by Sublimation¹
Producers	Co-producers Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Takashi Kitahara (Capcom); executive producer Taiki Sakurai (Netflix)¹
Rating	TV-MA in the United States; Common Sense Media recommends it for ages 17 and up⁵
Reception	83% average Tomatometer from 6 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes; 6.2 on IMDb⁶^•⁷

Spoilers

Story and relationship to the game

A dragon that appeared after more than a hundred years burned the village of Cassardis. Ethan, trying to protect his family, confronts it and has his heart stolen. Having had his heart taken by the dragon, he becomes an Arisen, and with Hannah, a pawn ("servant") who suddenly appears before him, he sets out to reclaim his heart.⁴ Along the way he battles monsters embodying the seven deadly sins, and with each victory he loses a little more of his humanity.¹ The seven episodes are named after the deadly sins, including Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, and Pride.³

Deliberate departures. Kobayashi said that simply retelling the game's story would not be interesting, so while the broad setting is shared, no game characters appear in the anime; the protagonist's childhood friend from the game becomes Ethan's wife in the anime. He did ask that the monsters be limited to the same ones as the game, and the story begins in Cassardis village as in the game. Hannah corresponds to the game's main pawn, a choice that also kept romantic elements restrained.¹¹ The anime also depicts things the game could not: the hydra, an early-game enemy balanced down for play, is portrayed as a far more powerful monster in motion.¹³

Origin and announcement

Netflix announced the series in March 2019 as part of a batch of comprehensive production agreements with three Japanese studios, Anima, Sublimation, and David Production, following similar deals with Production I.G and Bones in 2018. Dragon's Dogma was assigned to Sublimation, and the announcement described it as an adaptation of Capcom's world-famous open-world action RPG in which a protagonist revived as an "Arisen" journeys to take revenge on the dragon that stole his heart, battling monsters representing the seven deadly sins.⁸^•⁹

Capcom's involvement. The proposal came from Netflix producer Taiki Sakurai, and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, producer of the original game and co-producer of the anime, approved it straight away, saying the seven deadly sins concept was so interesting that it went right into production.¹⁰ Kobayashi said he had imagined a live-action adaptation rather than an anime, but accepted the offer in its unexpected form.¹¹ One circumstance changed between planning and release: when the anime was first discussed, the online game Dragon's Dogma Online was assumed to still be running, but its service ended at the end of 2019, and Kobayashi apologized to Netflix, calling this the largest difference from the original plan.¹¹

For Sublimation, a studio that had previously contributed CG and motion graphics within productions led by other companies, this was its first fully produced series and its first full-CG series anime; director Shin'ya Sugai acknowledged initial uncertainty among a young staff.⁹^•¹²^•¹¹

Production and music

The staff listed by Famitsu are director and episode director Shin'ya Sugai, scriptwriter Kurasumi Sunayama, character designer Kaoru Nishimura, and composer Tadayoshi Makino, with animation by Sublimation.¹ Makino, who composed the score for the original game as well as Monster Hunter, also wrote the anime's music, and an opening video was released shortly before launch.¹

The English cast includes Greg Chun as Ethan, Erica Mendez as Hannah, Cristina Vee as Olivia, and David Lodge as the Dragon.⁶ The Japanese dub stars Yuichi Nakamura (Ethan), Nana Mizuki (Hannah), Miyuki Sawashiro (Olivia), Yuko Sanpei (Louis), Suzuko Mimori (Salai), and Takayuki Sugo (the Dragon).¹

Reception

Critical aggregation was mixed. Rotten Tomatoes recorded an 83% average Tomatometer from six critics against a much lower audience score of 39% from more than 50 ratings.⁶ IMDb users gave the series 6.2 out of 10.⁷ On Anime-Planet it holds a user score of 3.099 out of 5 from 1,602 votes.²

Commentary has centered on the adaptation choices. Common Sense Media described the series as very graphic and violent, with bloody fantasy violence and one episode containing full frontal female nudity and sexual acts, and noted that its aesthetic sometimes looks more like a video game than an animated series.⁵ Coverage of audience response reports praise for the voice cast performances and the visual style, alongside complaints that the story adaptation is shallow, the pacing rushed and uneven, and that key elements of the game such as the pawn system are dropped.¹⁴

Context in the franchise

The anime arrived during a period of renewed attention to the franchise. Capcom released remastered versions of the original game for PS4 and Nintendo Switch, though Kobayashi said the anime's timing was coincidental rather than planned around them.¹¹ The original game's design document had been created by director Hideaki Itsuno in 2000, before his work on Devil May Cry 2.¹⁵ Capcom announced production of Dragon's Dogma 2 in June 2022,¹⁶ and the sequel launched in 2024, followed by a Dark Arisen expansion.¹⁷

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026