Character Profile: Carmine

Carmine is the true protagonist of the anime, appearing in both chapters as the partner and friend to two different female characters (who could be considered the heroines of their respective episodes). Along with the countless thousands of dragons who came to the human world, he is a defender of humanity against the scourge of demons. Of course, his initial arrival wasn't greeted well and he faced a difficult beginning.

When he first arrived in the human world in the God Chapter, he was still an egg in his mother's arms. The Japanese SDF shot and killed his mother (like they did with the other 21 dragons who came to Hokkaido), who left the egg in the care of a human girl, Riko. His egg had already cracked open during the ruckus, so the first he got to see after being born is his mother's bloody end.

From there, Riko hid him in the building at her school that she uses as her refuge from the world. She named him Carmine (for his red scales) and began to bring him food every day so he could grow big enough to destroy the city like she wanted (Riko tells the young dragon that she's been waiting for someone like him to fulfill her dream of destroying everything). When their perfect secret of blissfully knowing each other comes to an end (thanks to Sgt. Sagara's investigating), the true reason for dragons coming to the human world is revealed.

Carmine, along with all the dragons from his world, came to the human world from their own realm (unknown by name) to protect the human race from the coming of the predatory demons. He is able to tell both Riko and Sagara all this after experiencing a sudden rapid aging to his teenager years. The aging happened because Carmine needed to become strong enough to get the two humans to safety before the building was destroyed by a demon attack. It also allowed him to speak to them, though he says he just finally remembered how to (which brings up some complex questions as well as controversy about the dragons).

Following saving the two humans and the mass human slaughter in the streets of the city, Carmine and Riko teamed up to fight the instigator of the demon invasion, the Demon King. It ended up costing Riko her life.

Several hundred years pass and the Demon Chapter begins; Carmine has aged considerably into a formidable dragon warrior. He becomes the partner to a young human girl named Rulishia and fights in a dragon tournament called the Ryuto (where dragons duel with each other). He is given the name Vermillion by Rulishia and ends scoring victory after victory. It's in the time they spend together outside of battle that we learn more about what kind of dragon Carmine has matured into as well as what dragons live for. His friendship and good times with Rulishia are cut short, however, when the return of the demons is made imminent in a premonition he has. After an actual attack by Demon Beetles made on a human and a dragon settlement as well as the current area he and Rulishia are fighting in, he departs to do battle against the demons as the leader of the dragons. This sadly is where the anime stops without a definitive ending.

Carmine is strong and formidable as one would expect from a dragon. He has great melee skills as well as use of a large firearm (his favored weapon). He, along with all dragons, can use a fire breath weapon (which incidentally is blue in color, perhaps to indicate dragons eradicate demons if looked at in an sacred aspect). Because he is fairly aged in the Demon Chapter, he is very wise (although most dragons traditionally are when they get older) and seems to have answers for almost any dilemma.