Drifting Dragons

Drifting Dragons (Japanese: 空挺ドラゴンズ, Hepburn: Kūtei Doragonzu, transl. 'Airborne Dragons') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Taku Kuwabara. It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine good! Afternoon since June 2016 and has been collected in nineteen tankōbon volumes as of February 2025. The manga is published digitally in English by Kodansha USA under the Kodansha Comics imprint.

An original net animation adaptation by Polygon Pictures was released on Netflix Japan on January 9, 2020. The same day, the series' first episode premiered on Fuji TV's Ultra programming block, and continued weekly until March 26, 2020, with the final episode's television airing. It was followed by an international Netflix release in April 2020.

Characters

Mika (ミカ): Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (Japanese); Billy Kametz (English)
Takita (タキタ): Voiced by: Sora Amamiya (Japanese); Cassandra Lee Morris (English)
Jiraud (ジロー, Jirō): Voiced by: Sōma Saitō (Japanese); Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Vanabelle (ヴァナベル, Vanaberu): Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese); Colleen O'Shaughnessey (English)
Gibbs (ギブス, Gibusu): Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)
Crocco (クロッコ, Kurokko): Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese); Jake Green (English)
Niko (ニコ): Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)
Berko (バーコ, Bāko): Voiced by: Kōsuke Toriumi (Japanese); Doug Erholtz (English)
Capella (カペラ, Kapera): Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (Japanese); Christine Marie Cabanos (English)
Gaga (ガガ): Voiced by: Kentarō Kumagai (Japanese); Kaiji Tang (English)
Faye (フェイ, Fei): Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa (Japanese); Tony Azzolino (English)
Badakin (バダキン): Voiced by: Takashi Matsuyama (Japanese); Jonah Scott (English)
Oken (オーケン, Ōken): Voiced by: Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese); Alejandro Saab (English)
Soraya (ソラヤ): Voiced by: Yūto Uemura (Japanese); Bryce Papenbrook (English)
Mayne (メイン, Mein): Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese); Reba Buhr (English)
Hiro (ヒーロ, Hīro): Voiced by: Junya Enoki (Japanese); Daman Mills (English)
Yoshi (ヨシ): Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese); Chris Smith (English)
Lee (リー, Rī): Voiced by: Hiroo Sasaki (Japanese); Kyle McCarley (English)
Katja (カーチャ, Kācha): Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (Japanese); Kayli Mills (English)
Nanami (ナナミ): Voiced by: Sayaka Senbongi (Japanese); Kira Buckland (English)
Ascella (アスケラ, Asukera): Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese); Cristina Vee (English)
Ura (ウラ爺, Ura-jii): Voiced by: Kiyonobu Suzuki (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)

Media

Manga

Drifting Dragons is written and illustrated by Taku Kuwabara. It started its publication in Kodansha's good! Afternoon on June 7, 2016. Kodansha has published the series into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on November 7, 2016. As of February 6, 2025, nineteen volumes have been released.

In North America, Kodansha USA announced the digital release of the manga in November 2017. They also announced the print release of the manga in March 2019. The first volume was published on December 17, 2019.

Volume list

Chapters not yet in tankōbon format

Flight 102: Round Dragons & Bait (丸い龍と囮, Marui ryū to kotor)

Anime

An anime ONA adaptation was announced on March 15, 2019. The series was animated by Polygon Pictures and directed by Tadahiro Yoshihira, with Makoto Uezu handling series composition, Kyoko Kotani designing the characters, and Masaru Yokoyama composing the music. The series' 12-episode run premiered on Netflix Japan on January 9, 2020, which was the same day the series began its weekly television run on Fuji TV's Ultra programming block, as well as KTV, THK, TNC, UHB, and BS Fuji. Yoh Kamiyama performed the series' opening theme song "Gunjō", while Akai Ko-en performed the series' ending theme song "Zettai Reido". It ran for 12 episodes. The series premiered on Netflix worldwide on April 30, 2020.