Drama Digest
Dino Girl Gauko is a children’s animated drama series created by Akira Shigino for Netflix. The show revolves around a teenage girl ‘Naoko’, who transforms into a dinosaur when she gets angry. The first season of this series was premiered on 22nd November 2019 and the recent second season was released on 20th March 2020.
The Feel-Good Part
The 2-D animation with a simplistic outlook is quite attractive and suitable for children to understand as they are more attached to flat colourful pictures than the complicated 3-D animations. In the way, Naoko struggles with her anger issues, and the odd things she does to her environment can be something to learn.
The Disappointing Factor
There is more focus on Naoko’s temper than the emotional and fun part. Due to this focus, children might adopt the violence. They will think that getting angry will lead to acceptance of whatever they want to do. There are 19 episodes in total, each lasting 9 minutes. This makes the show both long and short in terms of episodes. Instead, the storyline would have done better if there were fewer episodes and more time was given to each.
In-depth Analysis
Naoko Matsui (in Japanese) and Corina Boettger (in English) play the principal character “Gauko.” I watched the English dubbed, and the voice-over was suitable for Gauko’s character but was not convincing enough. The story is happening in Japan. We have seen a similar setting and location in the famous animated series-“Doraemon”. But, here in Dino Girl Gauko, though the animation is flat, the settings such as the houses, the markets do not match the storyline. It tells a different story itself. Some of the side characters are just written to make Naoko angry, while some are there to calm her down. Every episode plays these musical chairs. Naoko’s parents are just there for the sake of being. We don’t get to see them often. They are an important part of her life as well as the series. The writer could have given them to interfere more on screen for the emotional learning aspects. We are in 2021, the language and tone of the characters are too silly. Children nowadays are quite mature than their looks. Won’t they get bored watching stuff like this?
Star Power
I love Naoko more than her angry version of ‘Gauko’. It is very relatable that how a child can get lonely as everyone avoids them for the things they can’t control.
Overall Opinion
We have encountered a person converting into a monster or animal previously in various literature, cinema and television. So ‘Dino Girl Gauko’ is nothing new in 2020. There is something to learn from the protagonist, which is controlling the emotions. We’ve seen Naoko struggle to control her rage, as well as the consequences of her actions. Parents can talk to their children about emotional management, as this could be a valuable lesson for our young generation. Thus, this animation series on Netflix can be a learning and a simple entertaining source for children.
